Eccentricity and Black Book IV

Comrades,

Essentially, the latest bit of the Black Book story will be posted very shortly, straight after I ramble about my life a little. It never occurred to me that one day I'd sigh and think to myself that I'd chosen a fitting title for my blog but that is what is one my mind these days. I'm a writer and I suffer for recurring mania and these manic times are horrendously blissful and perhaps the only thing that is better than this lovely mania is perhaps the calmness that only the dead enjoy. Oh dear, how did the morbidity manage to creep in this time?

News, news! I just heard from an old buddy of mine and we giggled happily on the phone for ten minutes. I'm reading excessively and writing furiously and the coffee is flowing just fine. Last night, with Edgar Allan Poe on my mind, I wrote a tiny story which is more like a creepy scene and I wonder where all these ideas come from but there are many more stories on the way and by the way, on the active front, I am going to make a heartfelt effort to get something published. I want to be rich and famous and entitled to be as weird and eccentric as I like.

Friends, thank you for bearing with me and here is the latest part of that delightful story...


Black Book IV

Does that make sense?'

Sidhi nodded and gestured for me to stand. 'It makes sense. Come, let's walk a little. These are beautiful woods.' I stood and she nudged me to the pathway. I loved having her near. It was reassuring in the best way. 'I understand what you're saying but would it also be logical to say that there's an element of truth when I say that you have something in common with everyone?'

I couldn't help but laugh. She stared at me and raised her eyebrows. 'Even the odd psycho?'

'Is that so hard to believe?'

'Well, I don't like to feel I have anything in common with psychos.'

'If you have something in common with them, does it make you one?'

'No, I'd hope not.'

'So we can say for the time being that you have something in common with everyone?'

'I'm with you so far.' I treaded around a pool of water. I needed my shoes clean for school tomorrow after all. I noticed Sidhi was barefoot. Didn't she worry about cutting her feet or dirtying them? Sidhi probably would have dismissed such things as not being worth the effort of worrying about them. She, I would say, might have said that there were bigger things to think about. I loved her casualness, that was for certain. She stopped suddenly and glanced around. I heard silence, the distant bird, the rustle of a loose leaf, and still she stood, waiting. I didn't dare speak until she relaxed completely. 'Is something wrong?'

'No, not wrong exactly. Just keeping an eye out, being cautious.' She jumped over a log just like a kid. 'We've established you and everyone else on this planet have at least one vital thing in common right?'

'Yes, but what's left now is what is that one thing and that's what I'm waiting for you to tell me.'

'A decent disciple likes to discover things for their self,' Sidhi declared with a grin showing most of her tiny teeth.

This time I was the one who paused. I was sure I'd been in this part of the woods before but I'd never seen anything like this. One tree stood out between the rest. It shot off upwards and the other trees prevented me from seeing just how tall this particular tree was. That wasn't what caught my breath. This tree glowed. I mean it was bathed in golden light, light like sunlight, but this was no ordinary sunlight. The air around the tree was alive, full of energy, and I simply gaped and Sidhi smiled faintly in my direction. 'Has this tree always been there?'...



Yoomi