Silently she peers into the Room of the Living. There it is'the Great Viewing Cube. All she has to do is stop its emanations and the last of the twelve labors will be completed.
"Arrrrrrg!" Diving onto the cushioned settee she grabs the Cube’s Distant Manipulator from the zombie who views passively. They struggle briefly. His eyes plea for her to stop, but she manages to wrest the controls from his hands. Her thumb glides over the buttons and hovers over its destination. The creature gasps desperately as she presses the button and all life is dissolved from the Cube. The zombie withers from the room.
She smiles as she picks up the bound treasure from the end table and opens it to the first page. She has earned her reward. This is a victory of which even Nike would be proud.
"It was the best of times." She closes her eyes for a moment and reminds herself that she has won'beaten each of her rivals, the Quotidian Distractants, who vie over her free time. She reads on. "It was the worst of times." Her mind drifts back over the day’s battles. The first seven labors were against the Quotidian Distractants’ most persistent member, Jobligation, wielder of Tedium, the element of exhaustion. But she is strong and tenacious, and ultimately wins each battle through persistence and patience.
"It was the age of wisdom." Returning to camp, she found the Three Witches of Repast: Pla-Nor, Coo-Kur, and Klee-Nupper lying in wait. She has a long history with these hags and is quite familiar with their ways of wearing her down. Facing them requires wit, sweat, and determination. Descending into her laboratory'equipped with frost safe, heat box, water flow tube, and counter-space'she conjured her flawless concoctions. After a brief respite of engorgement, she proceeds. Displaying no signs of weakness she clears and sanitizes all vestiges of the spells. The Three Witches retreat, defeated for another day.
"It was the age of foolishness." Next she recalls the disheartening labor of Requiting the Bills. It was a great shifting of accounts; pushing funds down over here, conjuring them into existence over there'constantly hoping to somehow avoid the Wrath of the Overdraft. She presses on.
"It was the epoch of belief." Now with the final defeat of the Viewing Cube, she has arrived, exhausted, but savoring the priceless jewels that are her reward: a few moments to herself and a soft, leather-bound book. She reads on. "It was the epoch of incredulity."
Creeeeeak. She stops. It is the door behind her. Without looking she knows it is the Prime Distractant'against whom she is powerless. She gently closes the book in resignation, smiles at her own defeat, and listens:
"Mommy, I can’t get to sleep."
- September 2001
References - None (yet)
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