Obscurity

“Oh, my Jet!”

Mother rushes to me and hugs me.

Dr. Meyable shakes his head at me.

“Jet we have been looking for you.”

That disgusting man frowns at me. He takes me into a small room. A small room that has a brown desk, has a black chair, has another chair, has another chair, has a shelf, has a book, has plenty of books, but the small room doesn’t have a window.

Mother sits in one of the chairs. She tries to make me sit too. I shrug my smoldering mother off. I cannot breathe. Mother is smoldering me. I cannot breathe. I shrug her off. I shrug her off.

“Running.”

“Jet, about your condition, unfortunately the results indicated that…”

My mind wanders. This disgusting, horrid man! He’s going to take me now I know it. I must think of a plan.

“…until you’re better. Don’t you think so, Jet?”

Mother nods. I look at that disgusting man.

What is this? That disgusting man. He thinks this is a game. A game. I can outsmart him, I can. I’ll play along his little game. I shall, I will.

I laugh as I make my way to Dr. Meyable.

And so, the game begins.

“What will you do when the curtains fall?”

Mother gasps. The disgusting man stares at me.

I laugh as I begin to circle him. Circle, circle, circle around him. Because I am circling around him, I notice he is backing away. Backing slowly. So slowly, he is backing away.

Dr. Meyable is truly hilarious.

“You can’t buy a tomorrow, doctor. No, doctor, you can’t. You can not.”

The disgusting man looks at me. I smile. His face twists.

“Jet…”

His voice is low, but I know it is an empty threat. He’s like a kitten hissing. Hissing, hissing, hissing.

I hate cats. Evil creatures, they are.

Mother rushes to me. She holds my shoulders.

“Jethro, please sit – ”

Ah.

“Jethro, Jethro, Jethro…”

I sit on the table.

“Do you know what that means? My mother named me, she did.”

The disgusting man says nothing, his beady eyes are watching me. He’s trying to predict me. What am I going to do, he thinks. In the corner of my eyes, I see mother watching me. She worries too much. Too, too much. What a silly woman.

“I’m sorry doctor. I am not so cruel. I am no heartbreaker. But at most, I can be a jawbreaker. One who breaks jaws, I can.”

That disgusting man still says nothing. He gets out a pad of paper and a pen. Writing me a love letter, are you, you disgusting man?

“Moon frames empty bones when doors close.”

The disgusting man opens his mouth.

I interrupt him, of course. I do.

“Nothing chairs can slip between.”

“Jethro.”

He talks ever so slowly! I laugh, I laugh.

“Jethro, it is of Hebrew origin and the bajootile of the scrane keeps the scratch skritch.”

Dr. Meyable isn’t saying anything. No, he is far too busy writing on a piece of paper.

Paper. Scrunch. Bin. Tick. Tock.

“Time is ticking away.”

I glance at his disgusting writings.

Disgusting.

They look like chicken scratches. How can one read that horrid scrawling?

“Break the lamppost, rip the trees.”

Dr. Meyable looks at me. I glare at him. Mother sniffs.

His murmurings are annoying me.

“Stop it.”

Mother looks at me. Her mouth forms a closed, confused frown. The disgusting man stops writing. He looks up at me.

“Pardon?”

“Stop talking. The tashskews must shut so noise will stop. Stop talking.”

He stares at me. His mouth forms a frown.

But he doesn’t stop talking. No, he gets louder. Disgusting man!

“Stop talking, talking, talking! Disgusting man, stop talking!”

That disgusting man does not stop talking! No, he gets louder, louder, louder. A scream. He is screaming. Loud, loud, loud. Stop!

I cover my ears.

Why is the screaming louder, louder, louder? Disgusting man, do you think you can take me?!

I kick the desk.

Finally, that disgusting man’s mouth opens.

“So you hear voices.”

I stare at that disgusting man. Then I realize it.

It was not he who was talking.