Enjoy this chapter from the book. One will arrive each Wednesday until Phil’s journey is complete.
Two days’ walk across The Property brought me within sight of the magnificent Red Hills. Jutting from the plateau, their tops smoothed by ageless winds, shaded in bands each signifying eons, they were a marvel to lift any man’s spirits.
And my spirits needed lifting. Since buying my permit and entering The Property, I’d suffered increasing anxiety, defensiveness, unease. Had I caught a bug from Egon?
I’d seen no other person since him. Last night, overcome by an inexplicable fear I’d been burgled, I conducted a full inventory of my gear. All there. Still uneasy, I used my twine to secure each of my few possessions to a ring on the backpack before putting them all back inside. Today, I patted the bag every few paces, fearful I might misplace it.
Between the Red Hills and me stood what looked like the same shack Egon had built two days ago, miles behind me. As I neared, I saw Egon sitting within, smiling and keen.
“Welcome, sir! Have you come to visit our exhibit?”
“Oh, what is it? Is there a museum in the hills? Perhaps I’ll give it a look.”
Eye roll. “Sir. The Red Hills are the exhibit.”
“Then yes, I do plan to…um…visit the exhibit.”
“One ticket, then?”
Hmmm. “Egon, I have no money, neither souls nor other currency.” I found myself more annoyed than I’d been at the last shack.
“Ah. I’m sure we can work something out. First, an item of business. Could you please examine this picture and tell me what you see?”
He held up a photo showing three men—one naked, one in a red robe, and one sporting a blue jumpsuit with spangles. All scowled at the camera and struck me as unpleasant types. I reported as much to Egon.
“Does one appear more disagreeable to you than the others?”
“No.”
“You describe one as wearing a red robe and another as wearing a blue jumpsuit. Would you not characterize the first as being a Red and the second as being a Blue?”
“No. It’s just the color of their outfits.”
“Right. It’s as I suspected. Your glasses are broken. I shall issue you a refund for the specs, which you will return to me. This will cover half the ticket price.
“To enable you to pursue your ambition of experiencing our exhibit, we will arrange—here, on the spot, you needn’t wait—a short-term finance facility for you. There is, of course, interest, which compounds based on a rule I could explain, but you couldn’t bear listening to or begin to understand. There is also a forfeiture provision, which involves redeeming one human soul if payments fall behind the attached, indecipherable, schedule. This is all explained in the form I shall ask you to sign. Are you agreeable to this?”
So many questions. Most immediately, what glasses?
“Egon, I don’t wear glasses.” I flinched as his hand flashed to my face and withdrew...a pair of unattractive but authentic spectacles.
“I’ll take these regardless, sir. Here is the financial contract. In my other hand is a ticket for entry. Do you agree?”
The form was in the same non-language as my permit. I knew of no way to reach Mountain City without passing through the Red Hills, so my choice was obvious. Signing, I thanked Egon and took my ticket, ready to continue on my way.
“You’ll note, sir, your ticket is valid for entry tomorrow. The exhibit has closed for the day. We provide a free camping facility in the area to my front, your rear. You may stay the night there.” Egon’s eyes left mine and glanced over my head. “Next!” I turned, but no one was in sight.
Without investigating how hills close for the day, I retreated several hundred yards to set up camp, struggling to digest the past ten minutes. How long had I been wearing those glasses? How was I unaware of them? What was their purpose?
Enough. This confusion invites a new wave of fatigue. Will my sleeping mind bring understanding my waking self lacks?
✽✽✽
When I woke this morning, I noticed a message from the Stranger in my notebook.
I’m sorry about breaking your glasses on our second evening. I also apologize for not pointing them out to you or explaining them. The Man gave them to you on the river, but you forgot.
They’re called P&E Specs. Invented, patented, marketed, and serviced by the Man. The “P&E” is for Polarize and Enhance. Although light waves reach you with many different orientations—some oscillating “up-down,” some “right-left,” some “top right—bottom left,” and so on, polarization excludes all rays except those that slot through the glasses’ selected angle. From your perspective, it’s as if the excluded light and the information it carries don’t even exist.
Information—not just light, but all sensory input (don’t ask me how)—in the dimensions the Man most cares about or identifies with (or most wishes you to care about and identify with) passes through these glasses, to the exclusion of all else.
The second step of their functionality is to enhance the differences that exist on these chosen dimensions, so they reach your senses amplified, as it were, relative to their magnitudes in reality. They have proven worryingly effective in sewing Red v. Blue mistrust and stoking associated hostility. Mistrust and hostility serve some well.
After your cactus wine in the morning, you’ll receive a new pair of quite different glasses in the tribute bowl. Please try these out, but by all means, don and remove them at will. Discovering their function is up to you. I recommend that, whether you wear them or not, you pay careful attention to what happens tomorrow.
Continued best wishes for your journey,
TS
P.S. I cannot join you in the Red Hills, but a dear friend is there and may find you tomorrow.
More facts, but no less confusion. How could I have been ignorant of those glasses? I’ve been toyed with. Dare I play with the promised new ones?
One thing is clear, though: color is color and nothing more. Anyone who identifies with it can go ahead, but I’ll not endorse the label. Any person who tries to organize humanity by it will have no follower in me.
✽✽✽
I’ve drunk my wine. As promised, my new glasses arrived soon after I’d emptied the bowl. Off I wander, into “the exhibit” and my adventure’s next stage.
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