Beam Curvature

feeling his vitamin injection a new adventure begins a slapstick epic of unfathomable implication here unfolds as the rat gnawed curtain rises at Ye Bone and Gristle among the clattering of wooden pints of bitter ale the floor show a fatigued and spent collegiate symposium a haggard attempt at ecumenical largess aimed at raising the unwashed to an occasional and transient grasp of the larger dimensions that haunt our daily addictions Prof. Zlotto emeritus deluxe brooded over his maps summoned by the tedious self-appointed constabulary to pry somewhat delicately into a mystifying case of good judgment deferred with a view towards an increase in immediate cash flow revenues wagers placed on foul play or the whim of ill fortune were the options undergoing fuddled prehension we have before us opined Z expansively from center stage an antebellumite absolutist abandoned by fortune skirting the Queen's tariff crushed white and cold by a bulging bale of contraband Carolina cotton observe the eyes fully crossed the smirking grimace while grasping a message in a mangled scrap of menu none of the Bone and Gristle's brain trust could tease rhyme nor reason from its random hatchings Sumerian birdclaw temple cypher went our Professor fragments from the time of the Great Watery Peril the gathered lumpenproletariat gasped and murmured Zlotto's flawless command of forgotten history was the object of awe and an untidy fealty my appraisal shall go no further than this room insisted Zlotto drawing his finger across his windpipe aye wheezed the unsteady avid archivists of civilization the hearth's peat flames glinted off Z's gold tooth smile a million dollar asset with the neighborhood gorgons fluttering hearts batting about the succulent stamen Z pondered aloud over the runes inscribed in red ichor my certainty was never under hazard went Zlotto what we have here beneath the lantern of exposition is a blighted invocation of the Blind Mother of Witches the tenured and tweedy astigmatics drew breath as one a petition of supplication borne on ancient trade winds Zlotto's hard gaze scanned the struck dumb congregation It says only this as one body the throng leans a full inch closer only this fill in your blanks