///Indie Journal Daily///

Saturday, September 06, 2008

The Halls of Knowledge, part seventy-three

Macksennett told young Vantarvian, who had sat on a seat in a makeshift pew, that he had a daughter. That daughter was sold to slavery because Macksennett had no money. The girl's mother had run off with a band of blind bandits who had taught themselves to ride horses through thick woods without bumping into anything.
The men who had purchased Macksennett's daughter were Arabs who grew fond of the girl and did not sell her off to wicked or perverted men who would buy such girls from Arabs. The girl grew to be fifteen, followed by sixteen and seventeen and she was sent off to school in Spain, where Macksennett was living because he was wanted in America for impersonating a veterinarian and selling animal organs to a man impersonating a surgeon.

In Spain, Macksennett ran into a girl who looked like him, only she was beautiful. He approached her in front of the school she attended and said, "You have beautiful eyes."
"Thank you kind sir," she said.
"Your hair is so fine," he said.
"Thank you kind sir," she said.
"Your skin is fair."
"Thank you kind sir," she said.
"Your hands are dainty."
"Thank you kind sir," she said.
"Both of your eyebrows are balanced perfectly above your eyes."
"Thank you kind sir," she said.
"Your shoulders are even on either side."
"Thank you kind sir," she said.
"Your lips move to speak like a dove's wings in a sudden breeze."
"Thank you kind sir," she said.
"Your nose does not run."
"Thank you kind sir," she said.
"You could be the daughter I sold to slavery. Only grown up."
"Thank you kind sir," she said.
"You shouldn't thank me for that. I mourn the day I sold my daughter to slavery because, well, for one thing, I could have gotten more for her. She was beautiful, kind of like you, only younger. I threw up blood the day they took her from me and here I am, still poor, still lonely and without a plan for the future. And still without my Justine."

The girl fainted.

~To be continued

Frank Cotolo 8:53 PM