In a peaceful world, Eve and Jezebel shared a large suburban house on one of the string of islands that nobody knows about, somewhere in the middle of the ocean.
"Now that we've graduated from grade-school, what do you think we should do?" asked Jezebel. "I, for one, was thinking of getting a summer job, just to begin to save some money."
"Forget that," said Eve; "let's go exploring."
So they climbed into the seats of the heroic venturer-shaped iron mechanism that the goddess Venus had gifted them on Valentine's Day a couple years ago. While they both pulled levers and pressed buttons on the control panel to make the machine move about, they kept sipping whiskey from tulip-shaped glasses with tapered necks.
And it came to pass that, over the course of their outings, Eve became adept at the physical sciences, and Jezebel mastered the art of human psychology.
Now, as they were venturing thru the vast mutant ferns in their heroic iron mechanism, lo: they espied a burning tyger! Then, while observing this creature, they received a visit from two government mercenaries.
"Hi, can we help you?" said Jezebel, holding open the bamboo panel.
"Step aside, madam. We're here to interrogate your commanders," said the angrier looking mercenary. "See these badges? We're from the government, which is run by corporations from other countries."
Jezebel looked perplexed for a moment, but then she regained her composure and answered: "Eve and I are the sole pilots of this Iron Gyant. My name's Jezebel. Call me Jez." She held out her hand for each of the bureaucrats to kiss.
So the interrogation went smoothly, and the ladies' visitors were wholly satisfied. All that happened is that the angrier mercenary asked tough questions all day and night for six sundowns straight, regarding whether the ladies would be willing to help people or not. Both Eve and Jezebel answered honestly that they would love to be of service; Eve would gladly employ her knowledge of the sciences to aid any damsel who found herself in distress; and Jezebel explained that she was eager to use her expertise in human psychology to cure any troubled being, even non-humans.
"Then do you think that you can help me and my partner here?" asked the angrier of the two mercenaries from the corporate government, on the last day of the interrogation.
Jezebel gave a nod and immediately began to analyze the angrier man by asking him a series of questions that were probing yet compassionate; she thereby guided him thru his psychological hangups until he arrived at enlightenment. (As for this man's partner, it turned out that he was actually born with a pleasant nature and thus needed no guidance: once he saw that his angrier comrade had loosened up and was now serenely smiling, he himself relaxed as well and admitted that, hereto, he was only feigning anger in order to fit in with the mercenary culture.) — At this point, Eve appeared with a fresh tray of whiskeys, so they all began to sip their drinks and converse.
FIN
Now that the story's over, I ask my class: What do you think shall happen between the ladies and these newly reformed gentlemen? Do you think that they will become fast friends and continue to trample around the universe, fighting crime in their Iron Gyant (after installing two additional seats to the cockpit for the male angels, of course)? OR, do you think that the pair of government mercenaries, after finishing their drinks, will stand up & stiffly salute Ms. Evening & Ms. Jez, then shout adieu with tear-filled eyes & leave forever? — My own personal guess, speaking as the author & official interpreter of this story, is that the warriors followed the latter course and abandoned the womenfolk: they returned to their positions in the Transnational Corporate Militia, where they inflamed the envy of all their fellow mercenaries by flaunting their newfound sensitivity.
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