Wednesday, August 30, 2006

ANTOINETTE FINDS HER WOODEN BOX

It’s a very busy day in Antoinette’s internet company, we are in her office, she just got back from a trip to the bathroom, another telling sign, Antoinette has long black hair, jet black, she is beautiful, though her business personae dulls her essence, but you can’t miss her, precisely the opposite of Lauren, Lauren has blond hair, short, she is very slim, and her body language is curt, Lauren could have been an Olympic athlete, she looks all American, Antoinette could have made the pages of any men’s magazine, and for sure has generated many infatuations within her life time, but she is fully unaware of her beauty, even of her worth to the company, yes she has accomplished much in her lifetime but she doesn’t seen to care for any of her wonderful diplomas or her business success, she does it more because it is what she knows how to do, there doesn’t seem to be, nor was there ever any passion within her for it, no, she works, and gets the job done, but neither now, nor a bit more than three and a half months ago did she feel passionate about her work. Her history with men is equal, she has fucked quite a sum full of them, but it is only sex, she can’t seem to capture the passion of a relationship, that was Lauren’s real attraction, Lauren always seemed to have a relationship going, that is up until the incident, then relationships ceased for Lauren, she can’t seem to forgive men for their weaknesses, nor can she forget, but what comes naturally to Lauren is unnatural for Antoinette. Antoinette hasn’t ever had a meaningful relationship, her gorgeousness shines but has been dimmed by her austerity measures, she cuts everything short, she does not live to have more than a moment with a man, she doesn’t feel it is possible to release herself, she can’t even phantom why men find her so attractive, as once she was overheard “what is the big deal.” Another time, a while back, she cut her hair really short, this only showed that her beauty was really radiating from within, she looked even more marvelous, and when she regrew her hair she looked even more marvelous then too, where to watch her walk into a room was to watch faces of all sexes turn in awe, yet when she cut her hair she told a friend “I am just tire of my hair getting all the attention.” Somehow that rung true to her way of being, it was as if always she was downplaying her beauty, down playing the fact than in any room she was the most gorgeous the most wanted the one with the greatest allure, she could not comprehend that, she did not register that as an affirmation of her essence, she disdained men and women alike that admire her. We are in her office, when she went to the restroom she did not fix her hair, she did not bother to comb it, she did not bother to refresh her lipstick, now before us, her hair making chaos seems worthy of love, and her lips baring all of their sumptuousness argue that we shall lose our composure, while we wait for Captain Ogle and Detective Lauren to make their helpless appearance. Just hold still and keep your eyes on the lady with the black suit.

The intercom phone rings, Antoinette picks it up as she has done hundreds of times, her coral face not moving more than necessary, silence, then, “there is a captain Ogle and detective Lauren here to see you.” Assuming that this is merely a visit from a very old and uncomfortable exfriend, she ushers them in with civilized nobility. They enter the sumptuously austere office, and she greets them with a comfortable smile. She remembers the captain from back then, he wasn’t a captain then, but it was obvious then that he was going to be captain, and they shake hands like long known business partners. She doesn’t, however want to shake Lauren’s hand, the hesitation is obvious, neither does Lauren want to share the hand shake, both hands meet against insurmountable rejections, even as they crush into each other, forced smiles claiming anguish, something is making us both do this and we both know we don’t want to do it, and that something that is making us do it is what this captain represents, the functional greetings cease.

The captain speaks: “We are here in less than fortuitous conditions, nothing that we want, nothing that we would want to do, but it falls under our jurisdiction and both Lauren and I felt that if it had to be done, best that it be done by us.” Lauren, sensing that the captain was having an ordeal that he might not be able to overcome, stepped in, perhaps to happily to smooth matters, “Karen, I am deeply sorry before hand, but we are here to arrest you on behalf of the SEC for questions that have risen over your stock sales and their timing, which may imply that there has been insider trading and tampering with investment reports.” Yes, we had neglected to mention that Michael’s investigative diligence to help his monosolipsistic sweetheart had turned out an interesting twist, they were really on to something at the SEC level, there had been reports, by investors as well as by stock analyst that Antoinette’s company had in fact manipulated the stats on reports that would eventually determine investor confidence in the company. Antoinette, by virtue of the fact that she was the responsible party for the report was a heavily incriminated suspect. Upon finding this little nasty fact, Michael had phoned Lauren to thank her, “Why your case of a life time might just as well be my case of the year too. Thanks for the tip, I owe you lunch.”

At this point Antoinette doesn’t really know that she is really going to be arrested, she heard the words, but she doesn’t really conceive that this is either real or valid in any context; in the business world lies are told all the time, there is no reason for her to suspect that she has done anything out of the ordinary, she is not aware that there are forces that go back to the seventh century that are now governing the eventuating happenings and that such has implications which even common law can’t address, is short, injustice may be done.

Lauren reads her habeas corpus and takes out her hand cuffs, rapidly enough for Antoinette to radically change frame of mind “what the hell are you two talking about?” she looks at Lauren stiffly and “Lauren what does this have to do with?” history enters the moment, but Lauren must not let it enter, “Karen please I am only doing my job here.” All replies must stay cold and brief, Antoinette still can’t understand what she must get a hold of, “insider trading, please this is ridiculous.” Ogle speaks, “look lady we are just doing our work you have to come with us, either on your own free will or if not by force, you’d be kind to make it easy for us.” Antoinette grabs the phone out of pure instinct from the thousands of times that the business partners have helped each other, she quickly dials the president’s direct line, doesn’t wait for him to say hello, “Rick, come to my office quick!” When Rick gets there, lovely Antoinette is already in handcuffs, held by both Lauren and Ogle. Rick’s eyes open wide, “what is going on here!” Captain Ogle retorts “look what we are doing has, at least for now, nothing to do with you, you want to help the lady get her a nice lawyer.” Saying that, Antoinette shouts out something about the accusations being hailed against her, but she is rushed out by her captors. It is worthy to note here that as these two cops made their way through the hallways of Antoinette’s company, there were a few smiling faces, Antoinette had made it to the sumptuous top office, but there were a few disgruntle employees from her wake.

Habakkuk was waiting, he had not been notified that Antoinette would be there, but he was there. Ogle looked at him with long and estranged eyes, Habakkuk did not wait for appreciation or commentary, he looked at them and said “today is the day.” Captain Ogle and Lauren, after years of working with each other knew what to do, they walked Antoinette straight into the room, element of surprise, there was not going to be any immediate SEC questioning of this prisoner, and Lauren and Ogle knew that there was much that could happen if they did not hasten to carry out their intended plan, so they walked her into the room, and when Antoinette saw the wooden hut like box, and she turned her head every which way, fully aware that something uncivilized was happening and that she might as well be a character in some Kafkaes novel. But neither Ogle nor Lauren were here to give account, they rushed her into the wooden hut, and Lauren said “you will have to remain here for a few hours until we are ready for questioning.” The captain tried to ease the situation some by saying, “sorry it is not a better cell but the prison has been full ever since they have us putting everyone that smokes pot in jail we can’t get any empty space.

Karen is still remarkably unsullied by the chain of events, she still believes that reasonableness will come to its senses and halt all these nonsense. But in the dark of her wooden box instead of reflecting upon the crimes of which she is being accused, she begins to study the wooden walls, she touches them where some splinters find refuge in her, and she smarts the ouch, but moves her hands up and down throughout the structure to conceive some form of escape or as if to feel it and understand it. The wooden box does not release any information to its victim, Antoinette breaths upon it, occasionally her body touches it and you can hear the wood make a sound like the murmurs when wood touches a chimney, yet Antoinette’s body and essence has not accepted any form of defeat, her essence ekes passion, edges passion into the dusty wooden structure, and at no point does this passion not cease to touch the center of the wooden box, from every body contortion the center of the wooden room oscillates and rings through the cosmic that the superstrings must release this woman, this woman must be released.

Karen hears the door open and close.

She hears footsteps. Then silence.

Habakkuk, looks at the wooden box, he is not searching for anything, he knows precisely whom and why she is inside the box. Antoinette from the other side nears her ear to the wood so as to make out any sound, she knows someone is there, she doesn’t speak, some how she knows it would be inappropriate to speak, the room unfolds before Habakkuk, it appears as if the real walls that consume this space have disappeared, now there is only Habakkuk in an huge empty space, with this wooden box before him. Antoinette clings her ears to the wood, more splinters remind her that there are limits to their mutual unity, breathing now heavily she presses her lips against the wood, hoping that the wood will talk to her but her sumptuousness has no effect here, the cosmic might not be urged by sensual magnificence and specially not by a sensual magnificence that has relegated itself to the business world. Habakkuk, walks around the box, her lips feel him walking through the tremors that rise through the wood, tremors, he walks, slowly, always staring at the wooden box, walks around it once in thirtyfive minutes, walks around it, once in fortyone minutes, she continuously inching her body and lips and cheeks into the wooden essence, he walks around one more time this time in one hour and thirty two and a half minutes, then he stops, not in front of the side where lies the door to the wooden box but rather coming at it from behind it he arrives next to it. He begins to touch it, just as from the other side she is touching it, as he presses his right hand on it, so is she pressing her right hand upon it, and then his cheek touches the wood as he attempts to listen to the vibration of the superstrings, the centered cosmic energy radiates towards him so well that he places his lips upon the wood and just as he is doing so, unknown to both so is Antoinette her lips plugging away the porous surface of the wood, Habakkuk senses something and pauses, he inches backwards, then proceeds to walk around the wooden box, feeling with his hands as he goes, and then he pauses by the door, a crevice that would allow him to see her, if only there were light in the room, but the room is still dark, she breathes through the crevice, he breathes through the crevice, he places his palm to catch her breath, and then places his palm, with her breath held within, against his heart.

Habakkuk, walks out of the room after thirteen and a quarter hours precisely, both Captain Ogle and Lauren are anxiously waiting for him. He looks at them, a nondescript look and remarks with obvious exhaustion, “it is she.” And he walks out, captain and detective staring into each other.