Dogs

I am feeling upbeat about the last few pages of writing. It's going well. I have a true character in the Boy. He is there, palpable, I think. I liked what I read yesterday--2pp on the Boy's arrival in Chamula. Intro to the dogs of Chamula. To be honest, it's the most I've written about these particularly blessed dogs. Not much made it into the script about the Chamula dogs.

It's funny. I have a great deal of pent up dog writing in me. So many dog shows, cleaning the kennels at home and at work, my dog Sammy. Our dogs Kelly, Clancy, Pride, Howdie, Max, Ruffy, Toby, Rosie, Charles. And all the experiences that followed. On bikes. On islands in Thailand. In pueblos in southern Mexico and the Yucatan. In my house, our dog, Cody. The Milo Sanctuary and Olim. Other dogs on our farm. Shangu and the BB gun. The killer shepard mixes, responsible for the death of our beloved cat Blossom.

Old Yeller. Cujo. Benji. It just goes on and on. It's rich, I tell you.

I found when I began to write the Dog Intro it flowed easily, as easily as I'd hope for the rest to flow, too.

Aristotle’s Poetics for Scripts

In 2004 I began to be attracted to the idea that Aristotle's Poetics could be adapted to help me write screenplays. I quickly grabbed a copy from a local Ithaca bookstore on my way out of the country and started taking notes on the plane. It was a good fit. Here are the notes I took. [Subsequently, I see that someone else has had a similar idea--and that it's published. Way to go!]


All human beings by nature desire knowledge. [Metaphysics]

• Sensation
• Accretion of sensation via memory through experience
• Derive universal judgments from experience

The human desire for knowledge is the engine that drives a movie. 24 fps, but how many ideas per second?

But be careful! Time the dissemination of knowledge. Always moving forward through knowledge.

TEKHNE – conventionally translated as craft, skill, art

A productive capacity informed by an understanding of its intrinsic rationale.

Evolution of human culture is the evolution of tekhne.

Necessary skills-->recreational arts-->satisfaction of need to know (e.g. mathematics)-->philosophy

Philosophy is a descendant of primitive myth making responses to an astonishing world.

The relationship of myth to philosophy implies that great poetry (A.) aspires to reveal a truth about the world or our relationship to it. Perhaps mimesis includes imitation of philosophical truths (of course via plot, character, reasoning, etc.).

Humans produce poems, and as such can be a tekhne since it is an activity with its own intrinsic rationale and it can be rendered intelligible.

YET, a poet need not have a reflexive understanding of his craft to do it well.

The idea of tekhne and only a loose relationship to the reflexive understanding of craft is interesting. Further: the relation of the artist to the aesthetician.

Poets must be able to project themselves into the emotions of others—a natural talent, or even a touch of insanity, are necessary for this.

Metaphor depends on the ability to perceive similarities.

• Metaphor is the most important feature of poetic language
• Similarity perception is a natural gift and cannot be taught.

The production of good poems, still, is an activity that can be understood.

Imitation

MIMESIS—Imitation, the root of the visual arts is in the human desire for knowledge. [Rhetoric]

Humans are by nature prone to engage in the creation of likenesses, and to respond to likenesses with pleasure (satisfying the innate desire for knowledge).

• Imitation need not be a straightforward copy of object.
• The similarity between object and likeness may reside in more abstract or oblique correspondence.
• The object of likeness need not exist.

Poetry is concerned with 'the kind of thing that would happen, not with what has happened'.

Aristotle's History of Poetry

• Why poetry? Imitation, natural evolution process. Human instinct for rhythm and melody.
• Poetry is better with structure.
• Poetry is better if more dramatic than narrative.

'The poet in person should say as little as possible; that is not what makes him an imitator.'

Evolution toward plot and structural coherence, and more truly imitative dramatic mode.

The Analysis of Tragedy
3 primary constituents of tragedy

Plot: ordered sequence of events making up the action being imitated.

• Character: an agent's moral disposition.
• Reasoning: the agent's interpretation of a given situation.

Other constituents to realize the plot's potential.

• Diction: the spoken part of the play's verbal text.
• Lyric poetry: the sung part of the play's verbal text.
• Spectacle: everything visible on stage. (least important to Aristotle)

'Spectacle' is a part of tragedy in the sense that tragedy is potentially performable; the poet has a duty to ensure that his text can be performed without visual absurdity.

Come up with own interpretation of 'spectacle'. Heath's is not sufficient.

The primacy of plot over character

'Tragedy is not an imitation of persons, but of actions and life.'

Good and bad fortune depend upon action.

Talents must be exercised.

PRAXIS means action. For the Greeks, it meant actions and a state of being at the same time. There was no delineation.

The choice of the action to be imitated is more crucial to achieving tragedy's effect than the way in which the imitation is realized in words.

Argument One
• Tragedy aims to excite fear and pity.
• These emotions are responses to success and failure.
• Hence, action is the most essential thing in tragedy.
• THEREFORE, plot is the most important element.

Argument Two
• Tragedy is impossible without plot.
• Tragedy is possible without character. (Not without humans!)
• If character is dispensable, it cannot be as important as plot.

'We do not pity lack of talent, but lack of success.'

Plot: The Basics

Completeness: 'a whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.'

An ordered structure.

• The plot consists of a connected series of events: one thing follows the others as a necessary consequence.
• The plot consists of a self-contained, connected series of events.
• The first thing in the series is in some sense self-explanatory, and is not a necessary consequence of something else.
• The last event in the series brings the plot to a definite end, with no further necessary consequence in the series. Closure.

The concept of beginning, middle, and end applies to plot, not to the play.


Magnitude: what is the correct magnitude of a tragic plot?

NOTE: the time available is a determining factor, but is a contingent fact about the organization of a particular theatrical event, and throws no light on the art of poetry itself.

Upper limit of magnitude: what the audience can grasp at one time. They must be able to remember what is in the plot.

Lower limit of magnitude: determined by the need for the plot to include a change (from good to bad, or from bad to good fortune). Plot must have sufficient scope for such a change to take place.

The Change of Fortune

At end of chapter 7, plot is 'a series of events occurring sequentially in accordance with probability or necessity'.

Unity
Any imitation is unified if it imitates a single thing. Chap 8

The function of a poet is no to say what has happened, but what would happen. And what is possible in accordance with probability or necessity. Chap 9

• There is nothing to prevent some of the things which have happened from being the kind of things which probably would happen. The two classes overlap.

It is interesting to consider the concept of a plot as a singular thing. But zoom way out. And relate the idea to the Hollywood notion that a film should have a very short pitchable description.

'The kind of thing that would happen does not mean an individual event, but a connected sequence of events.'

The connection is more important than whether or not the action actually happened.

'Poetry tends to express universals.'

• This doesn’t mean generalizations, but it is true that a person like Orestes would necessarily or probably kill hi smother in such circumstances.

Truth is stranger than fiction. Often truth can be more unconventional than fiction since fiction relies upon connections that must be ‘probable or necessary’ and truth is simply a list of occurrences.

'Poetry is concerned with particular sequences of events; but the connection between those events means that they instantiate universal structures.'

Philosophy is directly concerned with universal truths, but poetry's concern is indirect; the universality of poetry is a by-product of its aim to construct effective plots.

The universalization of a conventional falsehood may produce an effective plot.

Reversal and Recognition

ANAGNORISIS—recognition, a change from ignorance to knowing.

PERIPETEIA—reversal, a change to the opposite in the actions being performed, as stated (astonishingly). An astonishing inversion of the expected outcome of an action, still with the necessary or probably connections.

TO THAUMASTON—Surprise, amazement, wonder: Astonishment

'Tragedy is an imitation not just of a complete action, but also of events that evoke fear and pity.'

Effective: 'things come about contrary to expectation, but because of one another.'

Simple plot

• Events are 'in the sense defined continuous and unified.'
• There is a change of fortune
• There is no reversal or recognition.

Complex plot

• Events are 'in the sense defined continuous and unified.'
• There is a change of fortune.
• There is reversal or recognition.

The Best Kinds of Tragic Plot
The best kind of tragic plot is one that arouses fear and pity. Chap 13

Tragic change of fortune
There are 2 variables in this change determining our emotional response to it.

1. Direction of change
2. Moral status of person/s involved in change.

Good to bad, moral to wicked.

Ideal character or subject is a virtuous person, but not one who is outstandingly so.

HARMARTIA--error, making a mistake or getting something wrong in the most general sense of the word.

Serious 'harmartia'

• Errors made in ignorance or misjudgment.
• Moral errors, not implying wickedness.

The relationship between characters 'enhanced tragic effect when people inflict harm on those 'closely connected to them.' Chap 14

Tragic plot is more likely to evoke fear and pity if a person inflicts harm on a 'philos'.

PHILOI—someone closely connected as friend or family, bound by ties of mutual obligation.

MIAROS—disgust, which conflicts with a sense of pity.

• The agent actually goes through with the harmful act or not.
• Whether the agent knew what he or she was doing or not.

Through psychology we have developed other ways for the audience to believe that the agent has acted in ignorance. E.g. Temporary insanity, Twinkies(tm), etc.

[Aristotle] Plots based on acting in ignorance are superior to those in which harmful action is either planned or carried out with full knowledge of the circumstances.

[Aristotle] Best of all if the injury is planned in ignorance and the plan not carried out. It is better if the identity of the intended victim is discovered before injury is inflicted, so that disaster can be averted, rather than after the injury when disaster can only be lamented.

Best if a moderately virtuous person moves from good to bad fortune. Chap 13

Next best: double development in which good characters ultimately enjoy good fortune and bad characters end up in misfortune.

It is best if bad fortune is imminent, but does not occur. Chap 14

The Pleasures of Tragedy

OIKEIA HEDONE—characteristic pleasure

[Aristotle] 'The tragic poet should not seek every pleasure from tragedy, but the one that is characteristic of it. The poet should produce the pleasure that comes from pity and fear, and should do so by means of imitation.'
Distinguish tragedy's characteristics from what is appropriate to other forms (e.g. comedy).
Distinguish characteristically tragic pleasure from the other pleasures that tragedy arouses.

What tragedy offers is complex and multi-layered.
Review pleasures of tragedy, its layers.
Verse, part sung (rhythm and melody)
Spectacle
Imitation and recognition (cognitive pleasure)
Connection of sequences
Universal pattern
Katharsis, or pleasurable relief

[Heath] inference that the experience of tragic emotion is pleasurable in itself. (paradox)

KATHARSIS—pleasurable relief
Heath’s explanation of katharsis doesn't ring true here. Especially the point he makes regarding the 'correcting' of emotions. That those most out of balance will get the most effect from katharsis is needless.

Requirements for Character
1. People of high status and good moral character.
2. Appropriateness: must be a good example of its kind.
3. Character should be homoios or like.
4. Characters should be consistent.

HOMOIOS—like

Other Parts of Tragedy

Really unhelpful section.

Tragedy: Miscellaneous Aspects
Recognition

• Accidental
• Integral to structure

Unexpected and (nevertheless) necessary or probable increases astonishment and emotional impact. Chap 16

'Intimate connection between cohesion of the plot and the emotional impact at which tragedy aims.'

Turn the story into episodes.

Complication and Resolution

DESIS—complication, or ‘tying’.
LUSIS—resolution, or ‘untying’.

Complication: everything up to the change of fortune.
Resolution: everything from the change of fortune forward.
Complication and resolution are not part of the play, but part of the action, embodied in the play’s plot.
Complication may include events prior to the start of the play itself.

[Aristotle] 'Many poets handle the resolution badly. Resolution should arise from the plot.'

Arbitrary resolution: Deus ex Machina.

Epic
Unified plot, as with tragedy.
Homer's unique brilliance in plot structure 'episodes diversify his composition.'

4 types of epic plot

• Iliad: (1) simple, (2) based on suffering.
• Odyssey: (3) complex, (4) based on character.

Though Aristotle gives priority to plot over character, he recognizes the contribution which character makes to the quality of a poem.

Relationship of astonishment to the irrational

Irrationality generates astonishment, astonishment gives pleasure.

• Irrationality can be included in parts of the action that lie outside of a play.
• Irrationality can be included in the action of an epic.

In neither case will the irrationality be seen by the audience. Keeping irrationality out of sight of the audience makes it less salient, and helps keep the impression of connection in tact.

'Homer taught other poets the right way to tell falsehoods.'

• Smuggle irrationality into a poem.


• Exploit human tendency to make fallacious inferences expecting events to be connected and may allow the fallacy to pass unnoticed.

Also, a seemingly irrational act can spur the audience to search for connections.

Prefer probable impossibilities to implausible possibilities.

But how to test probability, plausibility, or possibility?

Or distract attention from irrationalities by the brilliance of the writing.

The birth of the relationship of propaganda to poetry ‘sometimes a false impression will be more effective than the real thing’.

If impossibilities have been included in a poem, that is an error; but it is correct if it attains the end of the art itself... if it makes either this or some other part have greater impact. Chap 25

Irrationality, if concealed, can enhance the effect of a poem.

3 Principles: The object of poetic imitation

1. Poetry is not bound to imitate what is the case, but can imitate what ought to be the case, or what is said to be the case.

--It is enough if the plot of a poem conforms to the underlying universal patterns to which events conform in some imaginary or fictitious world.


2. The medium of poetic imitation is language.


3. The distinction between the standards by which poetry and the products of other tekhne are to be judged. Eg. Zoological drawings and artistic paintings of animals are not judged on the same basis.

Is Epic or Tragedy the Superior Form?

According to Plato mature, experienced older men prefer epic poetry. Later proponents of the epic form stated that acting is vulgar, only required to appeal to low grade members of the audience. Without acting tragedy becomes a type of epic poetry.

Aristotle's arguments that tragedy is not inferior

• Weak audiences encourage 'a degenerate tendency of tragedy to turn toward characteristically comedic pleasures'.


• Epic recitations can be vulgar, too.
• Tragedies don't require performance.


• A performance can be vulgar, but isn't necessarily the fault of the tragedy.


• Tragedy is a more concentrated form. (warning: flawed argument)

Comedy
Comedy is an imitation of both morally and socially inferior people.

It deliberately incorporates moral badness in its characters, since comedy aims to evoke laughter and 'the laughable is a species of what is disgraceful'.

ANALYSIS: Finds she is old and has bad teeth

Okay. I just read through the TEXT: The Boy and The Maestra. You get a chance to see something that I normally don't reveal. Things as they appear fresh from the cheese factory. In a way it's disheartening to see my work in this form. I hope that for others, it is inspiring. This is writing as it happens, without any editing in some cases. This is what happened at Cafe Mediteraneo one night. The thing is, I can see clearly from this side to the polished piece of writing. And I know that if I let up now and start to edit too much, I am not going to continue on with the creative momentum I have (or will have again shortly).

Cliff's Notes for Che's Guerrilla Warfare (pt 2)

This is the next installment of my notes from Guerrilla Warfare. It will take us through the end of the main essay. The appendices will follow in a later notes set.

WARFARE ON UNFAVORABLE GROUND

Fundamental requisites are the same as before, but the forms must change. Focus on extraordinary mobility. Strikes at night.

Range of man at night: 30 to 50 km.
Weapons of choice: Automatics. And lots of them.
Tactics of choice: Mine the roads. Destroy bridges.

Attacks, less aggressive in light of unfavorable ground,

Automatics preferred in night attacks. Determining factor is concentration of fire, rather than marksmanship. Goal is annihilation of enemy.

Ensure restoration of ammunition before fight begins.
Compatibility of guerrilla arms with enemy arms and locally available ammunition is crucial.

Optimum guerrilla band is 10-15.
This number "can hide anywhere and at the same time can help each other in putting up a powerful resistance to the enemy."

Need speed. "[V]elocity of the guerrilla band on the march is equal to the velocity of its slowest man. ...The guerrilla fighter on the plain must be fundamentally a runner."

Absolute secrecy. "Guerrilla fighters on the plains must live in conditions of absolute secrecy for a long time, since it would be dangerous to trust any neighbor whose fidelity is not perfectly established."

Single group not necessary. "The election of the guerrilla chiefs and the certainty that they coordinate ideologically and personally with the overall chief of the zone are very important."

Abandon weapons? If weapons captured are not easy to carry, such as heavy 50mm machine gun, abandon them after they have served their tactical purposes. Of course, it would be nice to prevent their use by the enemy.

Easy access to supplies. The normal supply of food and materials required to support a peasant population will easily accommodate a guerrilla band with little additional effort required.

Messages: Code v. Oral. More important messages require encoding. Transmission by mouth will distort any communication.

El Cliquero: Self indoctrination should be continuous.

Eliminate any recalcitrant enemy soldier... for he is dangerous. The guerrilla band must be drastic.

Suburban sabotage. Concentrate on prescribed sabotage, not enemy attacks (unless small number of enemy is surprised).

Implements of sabotage.
Hide them in secure places that are easily accessible when req'd.
Good saws
Large quantities of dynamite
Picks, shovels
Apparatus for lifting rails
Adequate mechanical equipment

Outlaws. The suburban guerrilla band is a group of men already outside the law.

Suspense. The development of violent events will relieve the period of suspense.

Destroy an unjust order. Replace the old with something new.

Ownership agrarian society. Reform is the foundation of the social structure that the guerrilla will build. The banner for the fight will be agrarian reform.

Guerrilla is an ascetic. Stoicism imposed by difficult conditions of warfare. Austerity born of rigid self-control to prevent a single excess or slip.

Phases of war
1) Guerrilla fighter will be a guiding angel, fallen into the zone. Helping poor, bothering little.
2) As war continues, former sympathizers will place themselves diametrically opposed to the struggle. Guerrilla fighter makes himself into standard bearer of the cause of the people. Punishing every betrayal of justice. For ex., redistribution of excess private property.

Issuing bonds of hope. Always pay for possessions used for the social good. Use Bonds of Hope (so called by General Bayo, trainer of Cuban forces in MX-1956) to create a common interest between the creditor and the debtor.

Grow revolutionary convictions. As the potency of arms grows in the duration of the conflict, so should the guerrilla's revolutionary convictions lead him to make the outlook of the inhabitants a part of his life, understanding the justice and necessity of a series of changes.

Guerrilla interacts with his people. As a product, a progressive radicalization appears to accentuate the revolutionary characteristics of the movement and give it national scope.

Guerrilla fighter qualities.
Inhabit the zone, know it.
Night fighter.
Cunning, stealthy.
Surprise!
Cause panic.
Use weaknesses (learn to pinpoint weaknesses)
Treat a wounded enemy with care. Unless.
No prisoners. Set them free if they are not a notorious criminal.
Always be prepared to risk life. Never be incautious.
Always be prepared for enemy reinforcements.
Optimism.
Adapt.
Comprehend quickly and adapt instantly.
Never leave a guerrilla down.
Tight lipped.
Indefatigable.
Bear privation.
Adapt to become part of the land.
Peasant class is ideal.
Age: Max 40 years, Min: 16 years, Ideal: 25-35 years.
Child soldiers in extraordinary cases.

Keep guns dry, clean, and inventoried.

Source of Revolutionary Ideals
Peasants: the right to have and work their own land, enjoy just social treatment.
Workers: to have work, to receive an adequate wage, to enjoy just social treatment.
Students & professional people: Abstract ideas such as liberty, etc.

Daily life.
1) Normal life is the long hike. In the mountains, hike during the day, camp at night in a clearing near a water supply.
2) Eats when he can and everything he can.
3) Hammock under the open sky. Use a sheet of waterproof plastic sheet over hammock.
4) Protect knapsack, gun, ammo.
5) Good shoes.
6) No contact for days. Few opportunities for regular cleanliness.
7) Guerrilla odor. Find it in the hammocks.
8) Break camp rapidly, leave no trace.
9) Food is not interesting. Meat when possible.
10) The battle: what they live for, the climax of life.

Prefer a moving, nervous enemy.
Since the vanguard leads the way, make it a point always to attack the vanguard to ensure that no one wants to be a part of the vanguard.

Equipment.
Waterproof nylon sheet
Line
Hammock
Blanket
Jacket or coat
Rough work trousers and shirt
Shoes (best possible)
Knapsack

Use any extra space for food.

Some personal food.
Lard, oil
Canned goods
Preserved fish
Condensed milk
Powdered milk
Sugar
Salt
Seasoning: onion or garlic

Utensils.
Plate
Knife
Fork
Canteen for water

Gun care.
Grease for gun
Cloths for cleaning
Rod
Belt for ammo

medicines.
Antibiotics
Something to lower fever, aspirin
Something to deal with endemic diseases of area
Injections for poisonous animals of region
Surgical instruments
Wraps for sprains

Smokes
Soap
Compass
Mapas
Extra nylon cloth for all equipment in case of rain
No change of clothing
Teeth care: tooth brush and paste
Book (what is el Cliquero's book?)
Machete
Gasoline for starting fires

Notebook and pen
String, rope
Mending supplies

Water is the enemy of all things: food, ammo, medicine, paper, clothing.

You will be bored.

ORGANIZATION OF GUERRILLA BAND

Leader: Comandante 100 men
Capitan 30-40 men
Lieutenant per 8-12 men squad

Corporal and sergeant omitted due to reminder of Batista's sergeant's revolt.
Immediate successor is always known in case chief falls.
Food supply must be distributed justly and evenly.
Distribution by those attached directly to command. Very specific rules.

Equipment. Guerrilla fighter carries his own equipment. General equipment carried either by designated special transport unit or by evenly distributed across units.

Watch.
Special watch teams
Also, each platoon keeps its own watch
Choose high vantage point
Construct defenses for watch if length of stay permits (or demands!)
Resistance to mortar attacks: reinforce refuge with materials from the region

Discipline.
Go to bed and awaken at set hours
Eliminate games with no social value
No alcoholic drinks
Camp kept clean
No trace of inhabitants upon leaving
Cover up evidence of fire
Policed by internal order chosen from combatants of greatest revolutionary merit

During the march.
Complete silence when required
Vanguard leads by 100-200M
Leave a man at each turning point
Rear guard follows, separately
Watch dangerous side roads for reinforcements (each platoon should do this for themselves, too)
Establish a march order for the column's platoons to follow each time

Night march.
Even more strict silence
Distance between combatants shorter
Light is the enemy of night fighters

Prepare for the attack.
Drop all unnecessary things
There is a plan
Observed: orientation of base, number of men defending, etc.
[Attack may be to lure reinforcements into harm.]
Night prefers a direct attack.

Molotov cocktail.
3x kerosene
1x motor oil
Bottle
Waste cotton sprinkled with gasoline
Shotgun launcher: dowel rod in cartridge (packed with felt) 1/16 in reinforcement Disks to hold bottle at end of rod
Range: 100M+

End of attack, return to supplies.

Nomadic life produces.
Deep sense of fraternity among men
Dangerous rivalries among groups, platoons; damage to unity of column
Channel to produce beneficial emulation
Need education, esp at beginning of struggle
Lessons in morale to forge characters

Each experience should be a new source of strength for victory and not simply one more episode in the fight for survival.

Example is greatest educational technique.

Promotion based on.
Valor
Capacity
Spirit of sacrifice

Conduct.
Valuable during each approach of an inhabitant's house.
Watch entrances and exits to a town when inside it.

Encirclement is a test.
1) No "encirclement face"
2) Relax
3) Know countryside
4) Be united in ideology and emotion with chief
5) Take cover
6) Slow advance of enemy
7) Impede action of heavy equipment
8) Await nightfall
9) Explore and choose best road
10) Depart using most adequate means of escape
11) And absolute silence

TEXT: The Boy and The Maestra

He became more interested in school. He had learned--for the most part--how to avoid the naive, inflammatory spiral that lead to a beating. He made awkward attempts to learn the way local children spoke.

After classes on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the School Director, Maestra Carla, studied with him in her oficina. There were grey rings below her eyes, from smoking he thought, and further he thought how much of a dinosaur she must be still to smoke. In her tutoring she used many words he hadn't yet learned, and when he did know the words, she used them in phrases he didn't understand. Maestra. At home he thought of her as "My Esther" and eventually as "MyEsthra" with the lisp he had been taught in his Chicago school. The thoughts came as words out of his mouth like drool as he playacted in Spanish. The world was a tremendous sleepy fiction and he practiced to blend better into the dream. He remembered that his father never liked his Spanish teacher in Chicago. Señora Wel-ton.

"We don't learn Spanish to go to freaking Spain. We learn it to speak with americans. I don't want to hear you lisp just because a tongue-lame king of Spain once did."

At school he had taken pride in the clarity of his american Spanish, even though it had meant lower marks from Señora Wel-ton. It would serve him well in Mexico.

"Who spoke Spanish to you like this? This accent?"

The Boy didn't know how he should understand the Maestra. She made him ashamed. He closed his book and thanked her for his lessons.

"You are a funny little man." She put her hand on top of his book, preventing him from packing it in his valise. His valise was from Guatemala. His father told him there had been a sad story about the valise, but had died before he could tell the Boy the story.

He tried to pry the edge of the book up with his fingers. Each feeling echoed off the reality he was in, causing him to take another step back, realizing there were many reflections coming in waves and each was battering the previous. He was tired. When her smell came to him he began to cry. Smoke and sweat and a sour warmth hit him like two dowel rods full force in the back of his nose. He wasn't prepared for how forcefully the memories would come back. Her perfume, dormant under her hair, stirred when she comforted him and it fell in a heavy mist like late cocktail party goodbyes on his neck and burning his eyes. He pushed against her chest and she locked her arm around the back of his head, making him buck more wild and turning his arms sideways away from her breasts, forcing him to give in to her comfort.

"No, no," was all she said. She kept him pressed against her warm throat, her jugular vein pulsing and writhing under her trim jaw. When she relaxed her hold, he struck hard enough to draw blood from her lip and nose. Her face froze to watch his. She held up her hand to stop him and then she slapped down across his nose and mouth. She pulled him close to her again. Her blood stuck to the side of his hair. His lip throbbed thick. "No," she whispered to him. Her blood was like war paint on his cheekbones. They both took pride in the clarity of the symbol of blood. Playing in the park near his old home they used to practice dying. Blood made dying more real.