EPISODE XX
Rose tries to help a dog.
Buffeted by wind, pelted by rain,
Mad Dog flies on alone. He beats his wings
Against the thinness of the air, as pain
Twists at his tendons, squeezes at his lungs.
At last, he banks his wings; he lets his tail drop;
He stalls out in mid-air, gives up the chase.
The others fade into the light of Hale-Bopp
And disappear into the mists of space.
He shivers, as the mighty space ship passes
Taking his comrades back to where it's dwelt
For eons, amid ice and frozen gases
In the Oort Cloud, not far from Kuiper's Belt.
Its tail streams out, pushed by the solar wind,
It's swinging back away from its perhelion.
Mad Dog gazes, contemplates his end:
From here, it looks to be Aristotelian.
And now his soul is victim of a chill
Far deeper than the icy core of comets;
His strength has left him—likewise has his will
To stay aloft. For two whole days he plummets.
He emulates the fall of Icarus,
He pitches, tumbles, warps, careens and sprawls;
His feathers strip away: naked, indecorous,
Bloodied, ashamed, half-comatose, he falls.
Rose finds him broken, babbling. She swaddles
Him in her leather overcoat, and takes
Him to her sanctuary, where she coddles
Him with hot poultices against his shakes.
Gradually, his consciousness returning,
He peers around like one who's lost his mind.
Through sobs and moans and wails of frenzied yearning,
He cries, ”I'm still here! I've been left behind!”
Rose coos to him. She strokes his feathered cheek,
She says, ”Be grateful you escaped the fate
Of Roland and Howalachuk and Jake,
Down at the morgue, with tags around their feet.”
Mad Dog wails on: “No, that’s what would have cured me!
That was the plan! Those were their outer husks!
Our leader, Mr. Applewhite, assured me
We’d shed them as an elephant sheds tusks.”
“Dear bird,” says Rose, “remember Bob’s old crony,
The Devil?” “Sure,” says Mad Dog. “He’s the one
Who said he’d make my fortune—what a phony! —
A record deal, my moment in the sun,
Hits for Garth Brooks and LeAnn Rimes, a trip
To Vegas—what a load of shuck and jive!
The only cut he got me was the flip
Side of a Fred Koller 45.
For that, my soul? Not such a good deal, is it?
But why bring up that character tonight?”
“I know him,” Rose says. “When he used to visit
My place, he used the name of Applewhite.
Too often calumny can lurk behind
A portrait drawn too well in a bland mask—it
Hides motives cruel dark. I fear you’ll find
Your friends have gone to hell in a handbasket.”
Mad Dog is struck dumb. Applewhite the devil?
He looks to Rose for help. “What can this mean?”
“Bob and he are rarely on the level;
They’re trying to distract you from Carlene.”
© Tad Richards
