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CHAPTER 14

THE DREAM OF JEREMIAH

There is a garble of back-sound: the mutter of overheard conversations, street noise, the sound of a subway car entering a station—all of it barely possible to make out.

Underlying it all, and increasing in volume, is an unearthly bit of pre-singing.

As the dream progresses, something martial and stirring and uneasy may make its way in.

EMILY (Fading): We’ll be back for him, in the morning.

HANANIAH (Fading): You’re leaving him here.

EMILY (Fading): We’ll be back in the morning.

HANANIAH (Fading. To Ruthie): This is—no.

PERSON A: You cannot burn enough Danish embassies in my opinion.

PERSON B: Because what it is you’ve got this sheath of muscle right? Right on the bone.

PERSON C (Lightly sarcastic): Cool. Thank you Dr. _______.

PT: Me and some of the guys would go down to the quarry in the morning, just at sunrise, the sky’s just turning pink, and the water down below you is black; we stripped down, our nuts were all shriveled up

PERSON B: Dr. _______. That’s right. Dr. _______ to you. Thank you Dr. . . . . . . Dr. Bedhead.

EMILY: They said “shoe your feet, your bare torn feet, here are sandals put them on” but I said no

PT: It’s freezing cold. You dive in a coward, and you break out of the water raging.

EMILY: They said here, “your throat is dry, here is water, drink, drink the water, quench your—”

RUTHIE: But I said no,

PERSON A (On cell phone): Oh, okay

PERSON D (Simultaneous): It takes a certain person / certain people

PERSON A (On cell phone): Where are you?

RUTHIE: I must be shoeless, thirsty, heedless—

PERSON E: The Lord hath opened His armory and brought forth the weapons of His indignation.

THE NON-PROPHET (Sharp. Urgent): Make bright the arrows; gather the shields.

PERSON F (Also urgent, but in a different way): Mom? I can hold my breath for twenty-eight seconds. That’s my highest maximum.

PERSON G (Compelled): One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another.

Revealed:

The Whore of Babylon. She takes up her song in earnest. The Scarlet Beast is near.

And, The Non-Prophet is doing a flamenco dance.

THE WHORE OF BABYLON (Sings):

Thy soul ached for me and

you cried out for me

I did not answer thee

but laughed from the dark hillside

there are lions in the forests

and wolves in the evenings

You were in longing for me

and I did not repent thee

You were an astonishment

a desolation

I ran in the wilderness

I was an exhilaration

a leopard has found the city gate

and pushed it open with her maw