Reign Storm

History

Preserving the knowledge of mankind. Yes, yes, yes very important. Vital! {{Holding up a finger.}} Possibly. {{Furrowing brow.}} People have to know, have to know, have to know. Still so many books around and yet… so few remain. {{Moving piles of books back and forth.}} I think the visitors must be storytellers. We all, aren’t we? I mean verbal storytellers.  The books, they do not interest them. They cannot see, cannot see that these small things mean so much, very much. They don’t understand, can’t see, the power of words. The power. Of Words. Words have meaning. But they don’t have words, do they? They have clicking, and tsks, and whistles. They are of no value to them.  Smoke and mirrors. They are ignored. So many lost in the fires. In the chaos. I see people using them for warmth. Fed to the flames. Not Nazi’s. Just survivors. Aren’t we all? Loads of those Japanese comics, Mainga, or something, if I remember correctly. That too is knowledge of a kind. It tells us about our interests and desires. Hopes and dreams. Truth out of lies.

            Who are we if not the stories we tell? And them? I can’t tell if they have a past. All I see is their present, taking. Taking. Taking everything that was ours. World Historical Sights. {{Pulls out a book and flips through the pages.}} The Temple of Diana in Evora, Portugal. Some other object and place. The stepped temples of Manchu Pichu. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey. Rome, Paris, New York, Tokyo. All of them. The great cities of the world burning. Burning. Burning. Like the books, actually. Huh, funny, eh? You think the Great Barrier Reef is still in tack? Did their sonic blasts take the coral reefs too, I wonder.

Would you like to see my collection? The Bible. Lots of those. So many. Different kinds with different words. Same message. I find those a lot. I give them away. Not in a religious sort of way. First, people love getting gifts. It makes them happy. Second, it makes everyone feel better. Feel better. It’s not so bad. It will get better. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, mind, and strength. Would you like one?

I didn’t used to read. I thought like they do, what was the point. Value. Priority. Imaginary people and places. People and places from long ago. What’s that to me? I didn’t see, didn’t see, didn’t see. What do they say? This is who we are, who we were, what’s to become of us now.

This one here, I keep near my sleeping mat. “A Night In: Cooking for Your Family the Italian Way.” I’ve never been to Italy. What was the point? Did you know there is a principle in science called the Mediocrity Principle? It’s true. What it boils down to is that wherever you live is no better than any other place to live. No matter what the storybooks say.  Why spend all that money to see all those dead places. Dead places. Castles and temples. Gone, gone, gone. I love the pictures in this one. So rich in color. You can smell the tomato and basil. {{Deep breath in.}} Mm, so good. {{Rubs belly and pats it}} Love it!

Ah, “Spoon River Anthology.” {{Reaches for another.}} Now this one, this one is so different, so unique. It’s my favorite. It’s a collection of epitaphs from this tiny town in the south. They is crazy down there. But you see, we see, who they were through time. It’s a history of the town through the crazy things they wrote in death. Strange. Beautiful. So happy. So happy someone saw that and put it in a book for me. I love them forever.

“A Road Less Traveled.” I remember talking about Robert Frost in high school, that was awhile ago, but I remember {{tapping temple with forefinger.}} So what, some guy can’t decide where he wants to go. Where are we going? I didn’t care where he was going, or why. Why you going there, Robert? Thanks for the update. Now, now, now I see the trees. The smell of leaves, wet and soft. The well- worn path. Can I go with you? Take me with you. You can’t leave me here!

{{Sigh}} “V for Vendetta.” What’s the word, apropos? ‘Cept instead of people versus their government, we are people versus the visitors. Oppressors, takers, thieves. I don’t like it. I don’t like it. So much death. Why do the good guys have to die? Die to live. Alive.

“Steam Engines and Their Workings.” 1922. What a great year. I wished I had been there. I’m working on one myself. How things work. They just did. Now they don’t. It’s up to me. 1922, before the microchip. Before things needed wires and power grids. The EMP can’t reach me. Me, EMP. Heh, heh. I’ll steel the coal myself from one of the yards. They’ll never know. Never know I was there. In and out, in and out. Like, like, a ninja. Gone before you know it.

“Frog and Toad Are Friends.” {{Laughing. Hugs it and then holds it out to read the cover.}} These guys, they are my friends too. {{Tears streaming}} I’ve lost lots of buttons but I always find another, even if it doesn’t have four holes. Wish I could sleep through the winter. Wake me when it’s over. {{Sniffling.}}

I’m sorry.

{{Pushing a stack over, toppling the books for the one on the bottom.}} Fantastic pictures. {{Flipping through the pages.}} “The Great War: Remembered.” How did they know? A book about the past telling us the future. Strange. Everything changes and nothing changes, isn’t that what’s said. I remember. Today, just today I saw. I saw. The horror, the horror, the horror. {{Tosses it violently against the wall.}}

“Strunk and White.” We mustn’t get sloppy now. Just because everything’s falling apart. Falling. Falling into entropy? No need to be rude. Besides without Strunk and his buddy White how can we go on? Who will tell the others. A letter to the people of the future. Punctuation is just good manners really. They need to know what we meant to say and how can they know if there are misplaced modifiers.

Preserve the knowledge. I didn’t care. Now it’s gone. I want it back. All of it back. Even if I never get to see it, I want it to stay where it belongs. Where have we been, where am I going?