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fyn gula
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(fall down the rabbit hole one more time with me if you will. where were we?)
the old man, concerned with helin's failing condition was off to get something to ease her discomfort. but before he did, he made sure he stayed to watch her open the envelope containing his best find, the italian booklet,
"who are you in the wizard of oz?"
helin thought the wizard of oz was very cool. she remembered copello reading the l.frAnk baum story to her when she was little and when she saw the film, she was not disappointed as she was with most films made from novels. she felt it could stand on its own as a classic. the witch scared the shit out of her and if a flying monkey were to come and sweep her up you might as well just drop her because she would be dead from fright anyway when it reached the castle.
"can i look at it?" she asked. the picture on the front of the lion lifting dorothy out of the poppy field always made her tired when she saw it in the film.
"please do," the old man answered.
"unfortunately it has few pictures."
helin was a bit insulted by that innocuous statement. she was not intimidated by text, reading was her main source of entertainment. her parents threw their television off a cliff near big sur when she was still in diapers. by twelve she had completed seventy-five works of classic literature. at school, her elocution was the bright stars we gaze at in the fields of midnight, unable to think of anything but the story we are hearing. we listen and we are transported throught the door, leaving this world behind without even saying goodbye.
and the fact that the booklet was in italian made no difference. she was fluent in six languages.
when the old man saw her consumed
with her reading he said,
"i'll be back." he didn't like the way helin looked, pale, anemic, as if something was sucking the life out of her. he swallowed hard because he knew with a sinking feeling, it had to happen.
"life is rarely fair," he thought to himself. "the innocent suffer
and must sacrafice their love on the altar of destiny."
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