112 The Priest and the Vrŏzzōzite: Part Three
For Sunday, April 21: Day 112 of the Story-a-Day Challenge
The priest slid open the little Confessional door and remembered the smell the last time this visitor had come.
"Vrŏzzōz, my tentacled, other-worldly friend."
Vrŏzzōz.
"What brings you today?"
Only talking.
"Just to talk?"
No, I want to discuss talking.
"How so?"
About bad things.
"Bad things happen."
But you talk about them.
"Well, yea. They are topics to address--to solve."
What are the worst things you discuss?
"Oh, let's see...murder, rape, abuse, wars...things like that. And you? What are the worst things you talk about?"
We don't.
"Really? Why not?"
I invoke Helen Keller. Anne Sullivan showed her W-A-T-E-R was water.
"Yes, it meant "water."
No, it was water. It became water. In her mind.
"Yes, but it's still a construct that means water. A reference."
No. Not a reference. Identity. Your universe is just data, becoming your universe in your sensorium. Outside of that, it's just waves, electromagnetism, and infrared. You don't just read these data--they become.
"The Universe...for each of us. I see."
Do you? Talk about murder, then.
"Alright. Someone kills someone and there's anger and loss and the pathos of tragedy."
Does it hurt, like a loved one was murdered? Like you were killed?
"No, it's just discussion. We'd feel different if a loved one is murdered."
Not like W-A-T-E-R?
"No. I don't identify with murder on the primary level like a victim would. It's a secondary level. Or tertiary. There's distance."
Not like W-A-T-E-R? When you reach for a cup, you're not being secondary or tertiary. You're directly accessing the identity of water. You skip the transitions from data-to-concept-to-water. Why not with murder? Why does water quench but murder not imbue you with its full horror?
"I suppose we straddle between concept and identity, as needed."
You mean as convenient.
"Wow. So, let me ask you...what's the worst thing you can talk about?"
I can't say it.
"Why not? It's just a word?"
Have we not discussed this? If I say it, I am accessing it; I am identifying. I suffer. W-A-T-E-R.
"Well, then, don't discuss it."
We don't. It's why no problems get solved. It's why you will pass us. You can solve horrible things without being horrible.
___________________
THIS SUBMISSION
Standalone, or as the companion piece to "The Priest and the Vrozzozite Part One" at https://vocal.media/fiction/110-the-priest-and-the-vrozzozite-part-one and "The Priest and the Vrozzozite Part Two" at https://vocal.media/fiction/111-the-priest-and-the-vrozzozite-part-two
For Friday, April 26, Day 117 of the Story-a-Day Challenge. Now well into triple digits!
365 WORDS
All pictures are AI-generated, but the rhetoric is not!
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There are currently three Vocal creators still participating in the Story-a-Day Challenge:
- L.C. Schäfer, challenge originator
- Rachel Deeming
- Gerard DiLeo (myself)
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About the Creator
Gerard DiLeo
Retired, not tired. In Life Phase II: Living and writing from a decommissioned church in Hull, MA. (Phase I was New Orleans and everything that entails. Hippocampus, behave!
https://www.amazon.com/Gerard-DiLeo/e/B00JE6LL2W/
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Comments (1)
But what is this W-A-T-E-R that he's talking about? 😅