In some ways you could've been one of those girls. You don't look that different from the chest up.You have the blonde hair, the blue eyes, the eyelashes that would make for a pretty decent flutter, were you inclined in that direction. But you have a limp, a cane, and a built-up "special" shoe keeping you from Perfection.

erika, eleven pages *is* pretty long. Why don't you email it to me-- do you use Word? I'm pretty sure I can crack almost anything open-- and I'll put it up on a web page as a text file, and then people can read it at their leisure.

cereal:

My professor thought I was taking notes in class. But instead I was writing this poem! See if you can guess its cunningly-concealed trick. And then tell me if it's annoying.

UNTITLED POEM: TWO WORDS


I.


Stripping away yr skin I am
Touching the soft parts exposed to air. I'm not
Interested in the pattern of questions, the sad weight
Notched against my back. Not considering an ending. Not 
Getting away with this yet.


II.


Stay with this. Trail a finger down
The long curve of a spine, a shoulderblade.
Ringing it loose. Tucking away. Romancing the breath 
In the space between the legs of the clock. One last second,
Nettles tangling out of, sweep it away.
Gobbling at you like some goddamned bird.

No, not yet, but I'll look again. And insent, Lizard.

Okay. I'm not at home right now, and consequently I have no FTP access; it'll happen as soon as I get home tonight, all right?

Not a problem. It's been hiding since I knew Buffistas, one more day= no big. Although you and I go back a bit, to MWT etc.Thanks again.

See if you can guess its cunningly-concealed trick.

STING, STRING - you're playing the Elizabethan first letter code thingie game.

I got it, I got it too! Only because Hec got it first you'll just have to trust me.

Hey Erica, this might seem incredibly petty and nitpicky, but your story has a number of missing spaces.

Like in this bit:

Your movements in the kitchen are both slow and deliberate.Katie takes this as a struggle;most able-bodied people do, in your experience.

there's no space between "deliberate." and "Katie", or between "struggle;" and "most". Maybe it's to do with your computer problems, but I just thought I'd mention it because I couldn't help being a little distracted by it.

It's now up at [link] (give me a moment to finish downloading the new Telnet client so I can reset the stupid permissions thingie so yis all can view it.) erika, I really hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of putting those spaces where they should have been, hit me if I shouldn't have? It seemed like a nice idea the time. I'll change it back if you care, I still have the original.

[unfunny doublepost!]