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“We are what we think we are, we become what we believe we
can and we achieve our greatest dreams through the encouragement of our peers”
~ Katrina Gurl

Jupiter Hammon’s first published work, an 88-line broadside, came out in Hartford, Connecticut in 1760—when Phillis was only seven years old and ten years prior to her first broadside publication, entitled “Elegy on the death of Whitefield.”

Born a slave on the Henry Lloyd Manor on Lloyd Neck, on Long Island in New York, Hammon (October 7, 1711 – ca. 1790) was educated in the household and became a trusted bookkeeper for the mercantile family, whose commercial interests spread from Boston to the West Indies and from Connecticut to London. He was also a preacher among fellow slaves.

December 25, 1760 marks the date his first work was published: “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries,” a broadside inscribed “Hartford Ct.” “A Winter Piece,” prose contemplations, was published the following year. Four or five other works published subsequently, through 1787, including addresses to Phillis Wheatley and “to the Negroes in New York State,” and some undiscovered verses celebrating the visit of Prince William Henry to Lloyd Manor House in 1782, prior to the defeat of the British.

The original of Jupiter Hammon’s 1760 work may be found in the New York State Historical Society. A full account of Hammon, including a biographical sketch, poems, and critical analysis of his works, may be found in America’s First Negro Poet: The Complete Works of Jupiter Hammon of Long Island (Associated Faculty Press, Inc., Kenniket Press, Empire State Historical Publications Series, 1983, Port Washington, NY – compare prices to buy the book). [information re-posted from black static facts]

Jupiter Hammon’s Poetry:

“An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries”

Salvation comes by Jesus Christ alone,
The only Son of God;
Redemption now to every one,
That love his holy Word.
Dear Jesus we would fly to Thee,
And leave off every Sin,
Thy Tender Mercy well agree;
Salvation from our King.
Salvation comes now from the Lord,
Our victorious King;
His holy Name be well adorÕd,
Salvation surely bring.
Dear Jesus give they Spirit now,
Thy Grace to every Nation,
That hanÕt the Lord to whom we bow,
The Author of Salvation.
Dear Jesus unto Thee we cry,
Give us the Preparation;
Turn not away thy tender Eye;
We seek thy true Salvation.
Salvation comes from God we know,
The true and only One;
ItÕs well agreed and certain true,
He gave his only Son.
Lord hear our penetential Cry:
Salvation from above;
It is the Lord that doth supply,
With his Redeeming Love.
Dear Jesus by thy precious Blood,
The World Redemption have:
Salvation now comes from the Lord,
He being thy captive slave.
Dear Jesus let the Nations cry,
And all the People say,
Salvation comes from Christ on high,
Haste on Tribunal Day.
We cry as Sinners to the Lord,
Salvation to obtain;
It is firmly fixt his holy Word,
Ye shall not cry in vain.
Dear Jesus unto Thee we cry,
And make our Lamentation:
O let our Prayers ascend on high;
We felt thy Salvation.
Lord turn our dark benighted Souls;
Give us a true Motion,
And let the Hearts of all the World,
Make Christ their Salvation.
Ten Thousand Angels cry to Thee,
Yea louder than the Ocean.
Thou art the Lord, we plainly see;
Thou art the true Salvation.
Now is the Day, excepted Time;
The Day of Salvation;
Increase your Faith, do not repine:
Awake ye every Nation.
Lord unto whom now shall we go,
Or seek a safe Abode;
Thou hast the Word Salvation too
The only Son of God.
Ho! every one that hunger hath,
Or pineth after me,
Salvation be thy leading Staff,
To set the Sinner free.
Dear Jesus unto Thee we fly;
Depart, depart from Sin,
Salvation doth at length supply,
The Glory of our King.
Come ye Blessed of the Lord,
Salvation greatly given;
O turn your Hearts, accept the Word,
Your Souls are fit for Heaven.
Dear Jesus we now turn to Thee,
Salvation to obtain;
Our Hearts and Souls do meet again,
To magnify thy Name.
Come holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,
The Object of our Care;
Salvation doth increase our Love;
Our Hearts hath felt thy fear.
Now Glory be to God on High,
Salvation high and low;
And thus the Soul on Christ rely,
To Heaven surely go.
Come Blessed Jesus, Heavenly Dove,
Accept Repentance here;
Salvation give, with tender Love;
Let us with Angels share.
by Jupiter Hammon (1760)

The story Chaka Khan tells is that Wonder was going to bring them a song in the studio, and when he dropped by and played her the song, she stunned her bandmates by telling the mighty Stevie Wonder she didn’t like it; Chaka says she was 19 and pregnant, so she was a little prickly at the time. Wonder asked her astrological sign, and when she told him Aries, he delivered “Tell Me Something Good.” According to Chaka, she loved it and they worked out the song together in the studio, although Stevie is the only credited writer on the song.  [Facts from City Binge Music] 

Poetry is mine
Cause it aims to please
Engaging my thoughts
With little bits that tease

His poetry and lyrics stripes my soul
But keeps me nice and warm
And ever so gently
Enticing me with charm

Line after line
Leads me to the next
No matter what the topic
I am engrossed in his text

Some lines rhyme
While others easy flow
His poem dances through me
In sync toe to toe

His poetry is sweet
Temperamental and cool
His poetry stand by
Its own set of rules

His poetry is sexy
And sometimes raw
But mostly his poetry
Keeps me in awe…

To take a step
Outside of myself
To see myself clearer
Despite of myself

and…

Nothing slips better
From the stroke of my tongue
Than the poetry he brings
Sweet, free and forever young

Most farmers could pop right to their feet and hit the fields within minutes of waking, but Mallory was the sort to take a minimum of ten minutes to groan, roll around a bit, and ponder the idea of going back to sleep. This would have worked fine except that he was used to his bed, which was considerably wider than the couch, and on his first roll he rolled right off the cushions. Thankfully he missed the coffee table, but the floor was more than happy to rush up to greet him in a painful manner.

Dragging himself back onto the couch (which he sat on for a change, as opposed to the less traditional use of overnight sleep) he rubbed his head a few times, which only made the pain worse. It was probably for the best that he had a rude awakening, though; it meant no chance of dropping back to sleep. He had to make a good impression on his first day, after all, and Meiko wouldn’t appreciate it if he slept in!

Mallory Heisenberg had a saying : “The early bird never gets a second chance to have first dibs on the worm.” This saying mutated every time he thought of it, of course, but the basic idea remained the same.

Shaking his head a bit to clear out the sleepy cobwebs and multiply his mounting headache by 1.3, he walked over to the back closet. Not the large one where they stored winter coats and unused furniture, but the tiny closet that Meiko had emptied out so Mallory would have some privacy for changing clothes and somewhere to store his material possessions. It was a bit cramped and he kept bumping his head on the light bulb as he hopped up and down to get his pants on, but he didn’t mind. After all, they only had enough bedrooms for the girls, and he didn’t want to raise a fuss about his Living Room Couch + Broom Closet combined living space. It wouldn’t make the right impression if he complained.

Properly dressed, the next step was to take care of personal hygiene. Mallory came out of the closet (in a literal sense) and turned the corner into the downstairs hallway, making a left into the only bathroom in the house. He brought a small cup with him that had a tiny bottle of mouthwash, a single serving tube of toothpaste, and his special RealWare Dental Products issue toothbrush that had the extra bristles for cleaning those hard to reach places. Five minutes later he was fresh and ready to face the day!

Next step was to begin his official House duties. This was the part he was actually quite looking forward to. Although the House didn’t have a whole lot to work with ingredient-wise, he had thought up an excellent variation on pancake batter that would truly impress his new employers.

And so, with batter in his heart (but not his arteries) and good intentions in mind, he stepped into his new domain — The Kitchen. Feeling the innate country home need to enjoy the fresh air and sunlight of a new day, he unlocked the kitchen window, swung it open, and was knocked unconscious by the coconut that slammed into his forehead.

The sound the coconut made when it bounced once or twice on the floor was not entirely unlike the sound his head made when he hit the linoleum floor.

Unreal Estate: Chapter Two

While unconscious, Mallory had a highly prophetic dream of foreshadowing images and metaphors which, once properly decoded, would have revealed the mystery of the multiverse if not for the fact that Lorelei was shaking him awake.

“Oi, oi!” she shouted in his ear at a volume suitable for stunning an elephant. (Fortunately her bathrobe was tightly closed, or Mallory might have been stunned for other reasons.) “Mal! You alive in there? If you’re dead, who am I gonna get to clean my room?!”

“I think I’m alive,” Mallory replied with much uncertainty as one eye slid open. “Where am I– ah! Window! Big tree! Urbana’s overgrown with big, funny looking trees–”

“Relax, kiddo, we’re not in Urbana anymore,” Lorelei said, stepping back to let Mallory pick his own self off the floor without any help whatsoever from her. “We’re in I’s Land now. Meiko moved us last night while you were asleep, we’ve got a job to do here. Good thing too, the house fund was running low…”

Mallory pulled himself up by the window sill… careful not to bump his head against the huge green palm leaf that had swung into the open window when he had opened it earlier. His eyes adjusted to the light — it was brighter than the dull sunlight that trickled down through the towers of Urbana. The sky was actually a bright cyan (a generic relative to blue in the ‘groovy’ phylum) with a golden yellow sun that didn’t hurt to look at, despite being so bright. There wasn’t a cloud in sight… and rather than pavement and buildings, all Mallory saw as far as his eyes could reach through his glasses was sand, surf, and wooden buildings.

“A.. a beach!” he recognized from the grainy streaming videos he’d see on RealNet’s Travel Video Network. “We’re parked on a beach!”

“Yeah, I’s Land doesn’t have much in the way of docks,” Lorelei complained, as she took a seat at the kitchen table (which had been converted back to an eating surface after yesterday’s fateful Ping Pong match). “You just pick a spot of sand, negotiate with ‘em to clear away from it, and WHAM. No power or water hookups. I hate it, the toilets revert to using the internal tanks and end up smelling awful… Mal?”

“What? Yes?” Mallory asked, wrenching his eyes away from the sights of paradise.

“Food?” Lorelei suggested. “C’mon, houseboy. I know it’s early but let’s get up to speed, mmm?”

“Foo– aah! Breakfast! I forgot!”

“No, you were unconscious. There’s a difference.”

“Pancakes, pancakes…” Mallory chanted to himself, scrounging through the meager food stocks of the House. “I think I have enough here to make pancakes for five–”

“Three.”

“Three?”

“Meiko already left, and Kisei doesn’t eat with the rest of us except at dinner time,” Lorelei explained, drumming her fingers on the table. “So that means you’re feeding yourself, myself, and–”

“Eiiiko-chaaan!” a musical voice piped in with, as the young girl popped in from the hallway filled with pep. She skipped over to a seat and hopped up, while simultaneously pulling a pink plastic pocket wireless workstation from her overalls, keying up the morning stock quotes, and ordering her meal. “I want Chocolate Frosted Chocolate Choco-Chunks Cereal! And a bagel and orange juice.”

“And I’ll just take toast, I’m in a hurry,” Lorelei spoke, her fingers drumming a bit faster. “Light, not dark, with just a bit of butter.”

Mallory reoriented his Gears of Customer Service, sliding the drawer with the batter spoon shut. Bread was plucked from another cabinet and plopped into the toaster with precision and skill while his other hand hunted through the cabinets for a bowl. “Chocolate.. err… one bowl of cereal comin’ up! And a bagel and orange juice and toast. Have it for you in a minute!” he announced… before pausing. “Err… Meiko and Kisei are gone, then?”

“Kisei doesn’t eat with us except at dinner, like I said. She’s not really the type for light social banter over eggs and bacon. She’s not really the type for any banter whatsoever with any of us. Or any contact of any kind whatsoever unless it’s needed for a job…”

Eiko shrugged, while performing six stock transactions at the tap of a fingernail. “Kisei doesn’t mind me,” she commented. “She just doesn’t like you because you’re mean to her. And she respects oneesama even if they aren’t bestest friends…”

Mallory sighed, as he set the completed Cereal + Bowl + Milk + Spoon in front of Eiko. “I don’t think she likes me very much, though,” he noted. “She really gave me the cold shoulder nose in the air with the silent treatment yesterday…”

“The wha?” Lorelei spoke, raising an eyebrow ‘o confusion. “Anyway… I’m not surprised. You’re goofy. She hates goofy. I don’t mind goofy guys as long as they’ve got a good… …err…”

“Hey! Are you making another sex joke like Meiko-oneesama told you not to make in front of me?” Eiko asked, perking up adorably at the possibility of getting Lorelei in trouble.

“I like guys with good… hair,” Lorelei lamely finished. “Hey, hair boy, toast?”

“Toast!” Mallory announced, placing a plate of fine china topped by four precisely sliced triangular pieces of golden brown toast with rich, creamy butter which had been spread evenly with a skilled sweeping wrist motion.

Lorelei sat in speechless silence as what could be described as the Purest Ideal of Toast glistened in the sunlight of I’s Land before her. She prodded it lightly with one finger… a perfect number of crumbs falling off, just enough to give it a tasty texture, without being messy. “…you cook other stuff as good as you make toast?” she asked, curiously.

“No, I’m actually ahead of my class a little in soups and stews and behind the others in breakfasts,” Mallory admitted. “I got a C minus when I made triple layer syrup in the middle waffle surprise for my final exam last year. It was stickier than it was supposed to be–”

“WHOA!” Lorelei exclaimed after swallowing the last bite of her toast. “I say DAMN that was good!! Thanks for the grub, Mal, gotta go now.”

“–smoother than that,” Mallory finished, staring in horror at the living food vacuum. “Err. Teacher also said we should enjoy our food with even, slow bites–”

“Teacher didn’t have surfing and sunbathing to do, did he?” Lorelei asked, pushing in her chair. “I do. By the way, I was supposed to look after Eiko today but I’m going to be far too busy so I leave her in your capable hands. If she’s missing an eye or caught on fire when Meiko gets back she’ll be pretty angry.”

“Really?” Eiko asked, looking up. “I’m going to play with Mallory-oniichan today? Great! We can go to the beach and make sand castles and stuff!”

“–huh?” Mallory intelligently inquired. “But… but I have to clean the house today! And couldn’t she go to the beach with you if she wants to make sand castles?”

“I’m going to a nude beach on the other side of this island,” Lorelei explained. “I actually haven’t a thing on under this bathrobe, and– Mallory? You okay? You look a little pale.”

“Let’s go make sand castles, Eiko!!” Mallory happily and enthusiastically demanded. “I’ve never been to a beach before, it’ll be fun! Ha ha!”

“Wai! I’ll go get my bathing suit on, and I’ll meet you in four minutes!” Eiko chirped.

“Right! You do that! And I’ll go…. um… bathing suit..?”

Lorelei grinned at the hapless boy. “You don’t have one, do you? Not a lot of beachfront property in Grünwald? You could always come with me to my beach, then, nobody would mind there…”

“I… errr… um… I have to look after Eiko!” he reminded her in a not so clever twist of logic. “Sorry, can’t go. Um. But… can you tell me where can I buy a bathing suit in I’s Land?”

“Mmmm… you could borrow mine, houseboy. I’m not needing it today. You might look cute in it…”

“Oh, okay! That would be very helpful!” Mallory said, with genuine relief. “I don’t think we’re exactly the same size, but… err… what? Is there something on my nose?”

“You really know NOTHING about the worlds beyond your crops, do you?” Lorelei asked, while giving him That Look.

“…no, I don’t,” Mallory admitted, hanging his head. “I’m trying, really… I’m sorry to disappoint–”

And to his surprise, she laughed out loud.

“Skip it, skip it,” Lorelei suggested, turning off the vamp act. “And you can buy a pair of MEN’S trunks at the tailor’s shop around the corner. Take heart, okay? You’ll pick up on this stuff eventually. Doe-eyed innocent determination like this doesn’t grow on trees… take it from an expert.”

***

After stumbling wildly through Urbana in a stupor of confusion, Mallory had decided he required a new approach to new realities. Instead of simply reacting to things around him as he bumped into them, he would study his surroundings intensely, trying to figure out the Hows and Whys of the worlds he walked in a logical manner of observation and analysis.

This is to say that instead of staring straight ahead, he rubbernecked and gawked at everything with a ‘Gee whiz’ expression. Not too far separated from his previous methodology.

There certainly was a lot to gawk at in I’s Land. The climate and the sky, those he had already gawked at; the layout of the place he had not. It reminded him a lot of Grünwald, with a variety of buildings of a variety of styles scattered here and there, loosely connected by sidewalks and roads and paths. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason to the town map… as if structures were placed by randomly lobbing a rock into the sand and saying “Okay, there.” Sidewalks connected to dirt paths connected to sandy dunes connected to asphalt roads like in Urbana… and none of them had helpful green signs with street names, unlike Urbana.

This became a problem when Lorelei’s “Around The Corner” actually turned out to be “Down That Path On Your Left And Around A Corner And In The Alley Between Two Buildings You’ll Find A Small Unmarked Door.” He had to inquire about the tailor shop’s location from the occasional street musician… or rather, the FREQUENT street musician, as it wasn’t uncommon to spot someone sitting/standing next to a building drumming on some bongos or playing a guitar. Music floated from every corner of the town, and despite each musician playing a different song… it all flowed together in a steady, harmonic way.

“That’s Lander Dub,” Eiko had explained (in between complaining about the delay in getting to the beach). “It’s a really cool kind of music that they make here! And it all kinda sounds the same but you never really get tired of it…”

With all these distractions, it would have been easy to forget the original quest: Obtain swimwear. Mallory eventually got back on track, found the shop, and walked right in expecting to see the polished department store feel he’d seen in Urbana and on various video streams…

The tiny building had clothes in it, yes. On some scattered racks, draped over tables and chairs, hanging on the walls, hanging from the ceiling fan which rotated slowly to circulate warm air around the room. But beyond that, Mallory would have never guessed it for a commercial enterprise.

He had to call out “Erm, hello?” two or three times before the shopkeeper appeared.

“Ey mon?” a woman in her thirties replied, leaning in from a door to the back room. “Finishin’ my brunch, be with you, yeah? Time be time.”

“I wanna go to the beeeaach,” Eiko whined, stomping one sandal’d foot, which caused the plastic shovel in her sand bucket to rattle around. “Mallory-oniichan, this isn’t any fun!”

“Ah, I’m sure we’ll be ready to go any minute now,” Mallory replied, putting aside the fact that he wasn’t sure how to get back to the beach after wandering this far.

Twelve minutes later the shopkeep emerged, finishing up a sandwich. After taking the last bite, she did not stroll to the counter as there was none, but walked right up to Mallory with a big smile. “Okay, mon, what you be wantin’? I-and-I’s got a little of everything, and I’s can be makin’ it for you custom if you need something I’s not havin’.”

“Err… men’s bathing suit?” Mallory asked. “I was told you’d have one…”

The shopkeep snatched up a pair of shorts Mallory had been looking at for the last ten minutes without realizing they were intended for swimming.

“Trunks, here you go,” she said. “So, what’re you offering?”

“Pardon?”

“In trade. For the trunks. Don’ need much, so don’ worry if you don’ got much… you know, that’s a nice sweatshirt.”

“Eh? What, this?” Mallory asked, tugging on it by one of the many holes in the fabric. “It’s kind of old…”

“The yin-yang,” she said, invading Mallory’s personal space and tapping it with a finger. “Righteous symbol. Far enough to the left of Babylonia, good Shinto, that. We’ve got it in Iism too, upside down, but we got it… all things have a balance, find it to find what you need in life, yeah? You want to trade the shirt? Don’t need a shirt to go swimming, right?”

“This is.. Err kinda personal to me,” Mallory replied. “I’d rather not trade it, it’s got sentimental value. Besides, it’s probably not worth much money, since it’s so old and has so many holes–”

“How about if I sew ‘em up for you?” she suggested, studying the frayed thread up close in a way that made Mallory uneasy. “Patch it up nice, make it look like new. Don’t have to give it to me, but I’s enjoyin’ a good challenge, so that’d be a good trade in itself. Deal?”

In a blatantly obvious way, it reminded Mallory of his experience with Mellow Fellow the taxi cab pilot… a casual sort of capitalism, a trade, and an effort to keep everybody happy. Something about this clicked with the simple farm boy side of him, as he tugged off the sweatshirt (which was too hot to wear in this climate anyway) and handed it over.

“This isn’t a very stable negotiation,” Eiko warned, putting in her two credits. “Transactions for goods are best handled via legal tender and contract agreement such as receipts, in order to be smoothly handled in a court of law at a later time in the event of negotiation breakdown–”

“It’s a deal,” he agreed. “Don’t worry, Eiko! I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll be back in… uh… a few hours for the shirt, ma’am. I’m not sure exactly how long, though–”

“Don’t worry, mon,” she said, folding the shirt over one arm.

“Time be time?” Mallory guessed.

“That it be,” she said with a cheerful smile.

***

Much to Eiko’s disappointment, the shaky deal was quite solid. Mallory used a changing room in the back to put on his snazzy new purple swim trunks, and one stroll with a few mistakenly taken forks in the road later, they had reached The Beach.

Even the half-concept of a beach that Mallory held from seeing them on the tiny view window of his Video Network Player didn’t match the real thing. There weren’t any garishly colored sun umbrellas or bouncy women in small bathing suits that made him feel nervous. There weren’t any beach chairs or towels or boxes streaming pop music or food vendors or boardwalks or shops selling local curios and huge, tacky plastic sunglasses… instead there was:

Sand.

Surf.

People.

Which was in his original idea of a beach, but not quite like this. The sand wasn’t immaculately groomed into dunes and such; it was natural beach, patchy in spots, quite nice in others. The surf he was expecting even if he didn’t understand what force kept pushing the water onto the shore, nor why it kept receding. But the people…

These weren’t tourists; he had enough analytical prowess to figure that out. These were simply local folks who lived here and happened to be out enjoying the beach that day. Occupying a spot of sand a ways away was a Lander Dub band; a guitar, three or four types of drums and a guy strumming something that made low, bassy tones. They didn’t seem to be playing songs that start and end like Mallory would hear on the music-oriented streams — it was one continuous jam that somehow pulled itself along in a group harmony, like flocking birds with unspoken mutual understanding…

In a way, this new arrangement of elements made for a better beach than Mallory was expecting. He had nowhere to sit except on his butt in his new trunks on the sand, but that didn’t matter. Everything felt quite relaxed without being forcibly fun. He could “dig” it, as his ten minute friend Mellow Fellow would say.

Eiko certainly could dig it in the literal sense, as she skillfully mixed parts of sand with parts of water to make a rudimentary form of building cement suitable for temporary beach-bound structures.

“Oneechan doesn’t take me to the beach very often,” Eiko was explaining, as she used her shovel to carve a nice 45′ slope off the top of her sand-house. “We don’t have enough time or money, because every time we move the house, it costs us. We usually only move around when we have a job somewhere… Mallory-oniisan, are you listening to me?”

“What? Err, what?” Mallory replied, taking his eyes off the oddly hypnotic way the water kept rolling in and out near their spot on the wet sand. “Ah, yes… my dad mentioned Transients have to spend a lot of money to move around.”

“Oneechan doesn’t like that word,” Eiko warned, waving her plastic shovel at him. “She says ‘transients’ usually is a bad word and people say it when they want to make fun of us. Just because our house moves around doesn’t mean we’re bad people!”

“Oh, no, of course not!” Mallory protested, waving his arms in panic. “I didn’t mean it that way, honest! Cross my heart and hope to stick a needle in my eye–”

“ONIISAN!”

“Er, yes?”

Eiko cocked her head cutely as she studied him. “You’re really hyperactive. Meiko-oneechan says I can’t have a lot of sugar in one day or I get hyper. Do you eat a lot of sugar?”

“Err… no, not usually,” Mallory said, settling down a bit. “Sorry, I’m just trying to adjust to all this…”

“You also apologize a whole bunch. I don’t think oneechan likes that. She likes people who stand up for themselves.”

“I… guess I’m not making a great impression on her, am I?” Mallory asked, shoulder sagging in defeat.

Eiko shrugged a bit, trying to smile more to perk him up as she refilled her sand bucket. “Don’t worry! Lorelei-san was right, you’ll get used to it in time. Ne! Do you like my sand-House?”

“Ah… it’s very lovely, Eiko-kun!”

“-chan!”

“Eiko-chan,” Mallory corrected, recalling Eiko’s quickie lesson in Adorable Adapted Nihongo she gave him on the way over here. “I thought people built sand castles, though? Like you see in storybooks with round towers and princesses sleeping on mattresses with pee on them and stuff?”

“I like building sand-Houses,” Eiko replied, packing the next ‘brick’ for the house with her hands. “Like ours, but bigger and it stays in one place. Meiko-oneechan says one day we’ll live in a house like that… we’ll just stay in one place and not have to move around all the time. Then when we go all over the multiverse it’ll be for fun, not because we have to…”

Forgetting the brick in her hands for the moment, she turned her eyes up to study Mallory intently.

“ER, yes? Do I have something on my nose?” he asked, brushing his nose as a preemptive measure. He glanced to the side, wondering why the Lander Dub band had picked up all their instruments and moved about twenty feet towards land…

“Are you going to marry oneechan?” Eiko asked simply, interrupting every single train of thought he had.

If it was possible for the human jaw to distend so far as to hit the ground, Mallory’s would have. As it is simply hung open in a less impressive manner.

“Wh.. what?!” he exclaimed, barely heard as the waves rolled in closer, tide coming in. “No, no, I’m… what? I’m just your houseboy and Reality Engineer, not her boyfriend, I mean, I don’t quite see how those things would relate or how you could get that idea and anyway I don’t think she likes me very much although I’m doing my best and I hope I get in her good graces sometime but you can’t rush things and the early bird gets the silk purse out of the– waagh!”

“I was just wondering because of what I saw in her Future Perfect,” Eiko replied, placing the brick onto the sand-House roof. “I snuck a peek at it this morning before she left for work, and… ano? Oniichan? Oniichan, doko wa?”

Look left, look right… and Eiko didn’t spot him. Look behind herself and she saw Mallory washing out to sea.

It’s stated in Twoday’s Guidebook (a fine travel compendium for the discerning tourist who wants to only visit realities approved by RealWare) that the seas of I’s Land are remarkable in two aspects. One, they’re always a comfortable warm temperature that’s not too hot and not too cold, but always refreshing after a hot day on the beach. Two, to make surfing easier, the midday tide rolls in quite swiftly rather than tapering in and out. Say, ten seconds swiftly.

While this is very handy for folks doing wakeboarding, surfing and jetski riding, it’s not very good for farmboys who have never been fully immersed in water outside of slipping in the bathtub.

Fortunately for Mallory, while Eiko didn’t have the manpower needed to drag his sorry ass out of the deadly, vicious one foot deep surf, someone else did.

Coughing up salt water and sputtering and remembering to thank the spirits he was supposed to be believing in, Mallory clung to that arm like a drowning man clings to the arm of a rescuer. He shook water and sand out of his hair, fumbled down in the muck for his glasses, rinsed them off a bit, put them on, and…

“YO!” Mellow Fellow greeted, grabbing Mallory and crushing him in a friendly hug. “Didn’ expect to see you here, mon! How it is, yo? I’s wonderin’ if I’s ever seein’ you again! S’matter, you look pale and stuff…”

“Gah,” Mallory greeted in return.

“ONIICHAN!” Eiko wailed, running up to join them — and beat cutely on Mellow Fellow’s back with her fists.. “Wah! Let go of my oniichan, strange man!”

The taxi cab pilot set Mallory down, backing off. “Easy, easy!” he said. “I-and-I’s cool, don’ worry! Mallory’s a righteous friend of Mellow Fellow’s so you don’ be worryin’ none, okay? You Eiko Mirai, yeah?”

“What’s it to you?” Eiko asked, still suspicious as she gave Mellow the Evaluating Eye she’d learned from her sister.

“Your sis sent me, dig? Needs you at the negotiatin’ table. Go get changed, right, I’ll take you there.”

“Only if Mallory-oniichan is coming!” Eiko warned.

Mallory fumbled with his grasp on things as one would fumble with the soap in the bath after being laminated with a thin layer of oiled plastic. “ER, I’ll come along,” he agreed. “No problem. Don’t worry, Eiko, ah… I-and-I’s cool too?”

“Righteous!” Mellow exclaimed, slapping Mallory’s hand in some bizarre bonding gesture he knew nothing of.

“Well… okay,” Eiko agreed, tentatively.”Keep an eye on my bucket and don’t let anybody knock over my house! I’m going back to the house to change, I’ll wave when I’m ready.”

“Right, right. Have fun! Err, not that you’re specifically off to do anything fun, I mean, uh… so!” Mallory said, switching chat-subjects back to Mellow Fellow. “Mellow! Ah… it’s good to see you again! You’re from around here, right?”

“I’s from I’s Land, yeah. Actually… I’s hirin’ your boss for this job. I’s and the Elders,” Mellow explained, walking back to their sand-House encampment area. “We got some truly unrighteous trouble here in I’s Land right now, Mon. The vibes of Babylonia comin’ down to hamper us…”

“Really? Trouble?” Mallory asked, looking around. “I haven’t seen any trouble today. I mean, nobody seems worried about anything, either… everybody I’ve talked to has been really friendly. This is a great place to live, Mellow-chan!”

“…chan?”

“Err… anyway, I’ll have to tell you about my home sometime. It’s a lot like this; small community, people who know each other, err, not quite as friendly to outsiders, but–”

“This… this place is righteous, I’s agreein’,” Mellow said, losing some of the jovial tone in his voice. “I’s travellin’ far and wide, reality to reality, and I’s never findin’ a place that fits in my heart like I’s Land. It’s home. But we’s got troubles, definitely… I’s doin’ my best to help, but the cab, it only brings in a small amount of the monies of Babylonia. We don’t get some more of the monies soon, man, we’re… hrm. How to explain…”

“I think it’s gonna have to wait,” Mallory spoke, shielding his eyes from the sun with one hand as he peered House-wards. “Eiko’s ready to go. Err I have to change out of my trunks and dry off too, don’t I?”

“Meiko didn’t say to bring you, mon, jus’ Eiko. But if you wanna come…”

“I think I do. I mean… maybe I can help?” Mallory offered. “I’ll only take a minute, I swear!”

“Eh… time be time,” his friend said without the usual vigor. “And I guess it be nothin’. ‘cept to some people…”

***

My mind backtracks and rewinds
To a time before time
When I would do anything to make you happy
When I would go through anything
To see you smile
And maybe, just maybe
You would do more than hug me
Than just look at me
Maybe I’ll get a kiss
And be like Oliver twist
And ask for more my sweet mi amore
And always love you nevermore

Running up three floors
Two buses
And one metro north
All so I can see you
All so I can watch you smile
And believe that you love me

But just like drowning
We eventually ran out of breath
Or I did
The one I thought would save me
Left me to die
Die alone, in pain, in misery
Without any company

After I washed ashore, I realized it was never more
And you just did your thing a cheated
Like some cheap whore
And on that day when I took one metro north
Two busses
Up three flights to the floor with your door
I saw that you don’t love me no more
I saw that I wasn’t yours no more
But I’m not the type to even up the score
Just know I’m no longer yours

From then to now
I don’t know how
I just left and took that bow
And so you want me back now
To say that I treated you right
To say I missed those days that turned into nights
To say I still care about you with all of your might
But I’m sorry its getting late, and I don’t talk to strangers so goodnight

You left me all alone again
My desire for two is now one again
Laying here by myself again
Burning up inside again

I’m tired of doing me all over again
Moving my hands by myself again
Touching my spots myself again
Moaning and screaming to myself again

Empty showers once again
Dressing myself up extra sexy again
To go to work feeling like this again
Not knowing when I’ll see you again

And the hours tick on by again
And my mind starts to wander again
To all the places we did it again
Reliving those times again

On the roof of my building again
Inside that empty elevator again
In the backseat of your car again
A hidden part of that park again
In that restaurant’s bathroom again
In the backroom of your old job again
In the stairway of my building again
All this and other places again

Even while eating lunch again
I feel the fire in my body again
And my eyes start to wander again
So many sexual fantasies again

Almost done with work again
But I can no longer help my hands again
And down they go again
Under my desk to tease me again

Now that I’m finally home again
I strip myself down again
And admire all the curves I got again
Next thing I know I’m at it again

I wish you would stay here and let me feel you again
Let my smooth body be on top of you again
Kissing you and touching passionately again
Feeling the warmth of your body rise again
To be in the throws of passion again
Forgetting about time again
Enjoying you while enjoying me again
Cumming over and over and over again

Just as I finished loving myself again
I hear that familiar ringtone again
Saying “I’ll be coming over tonight” again
Makes my heart skip a beat again

Soon I’ll be lost all over again
Becoming more and more addicted again
Somewhere inside me I’m saying “please not again”
While the rest of me will be saying “please, not again”

What If my world crumbles without you? What If everything I do is about you? What If I need you in my world? What If I want to be your girl? Huh! What If I was to tell you that? Would you catch me or let me fall?

What If you ask and I say I’m fine, but when really I’m breakin down inside? What If I want you to be mine? What If without you, I wont survive? Huh! What If I told you that? Would you believe it or think it was a lie?

What If I really miss you alot? What If I told you that you’re all I got? Huh! Would you push me to the bottom or pull me to the top?

What If I long to be in your arms? Or I love the way you lure me with your charm? What If I tell you that I mean no harm? That I just wanna be the one that you phone home? What If I love everything that you do? What If I told you that you are my boo? Huh! What If all these things were true? Now tell me baby, What would you do? Now I’ll leave the rest up to you!

BY ADOLPH UTELLUS HUDSON

LIES DECORATE THE COVER UP

YOU DANCE AMIDST INIQUITY

HAPPILY PRETENDING TO BE FRIEND

AND YOUR PAST IS NOT ENOUGH

STILL HATING SOMETHING DIFFERENTLY

LIKE THE BIRTH OF AN INTELLIGENT BLACK MAN

WHY MUST YOU CRITICIZE MY THOUGHT

AS IF YOU EARNED THAT RIGHT

FEEBLE MINDS FABRICATE A CURE

IN YOU LIES YOU HAVE BEEN CAUGHT

JUDGEMENT WAITS TO STRIKE

THE THOUGHT OF AN INTELLIGENT BLACK MAN IS PURE

I SEE THE WAY YOU LOOK AT ME

THEN TRY TO ADVERT YOUR EYES

I SEE THE FROWN OF SCORN UPON YOUR FACE

YOUR PRESSURE BOILS STANDING NEXT TO ME

YOUR MIND IS CONSUMED WITH LIES

AN INTELLIGENT BLACK MAN INFILTRATES YOUR SPACE