>>> Item number 19108 from WRITERS LOG9310C --- (88 records) ----- <<< Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1993 01:00:02 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: SUB: Mirror, Mirror, What's This List? Sort of a story, in a backwards kind of way... (alright, it's polemical. kinda. comments?) tink ------------------------------------------------------- Mirror, Mirror, What's This List? Copyright 1993 Mike Barker Magic Mirrors - 99 Cents Special Today! Under the sign, the bin in the magic store was jammed with little mirrors, dark in their gilded frames. The boy's eyes were wide, and he had one hand clamped in his jeans' pocket. He was short, and young, and probably had a parent somewhere worriedly looking for him. "Hey, mister, what kind of magic do these do?" The man was skinny. He sniffed and twitched his lips, looking around the store, then finally looking at the boy. "Those? Why, those are.. wait a minute, I don't remember unpacking those." The boy reached down and picked one up. In his hand, it lit up, and strange writing scrolled across the face. It fell out of his hand and back into the bin. "Oh, yeah, uh... those. Well, these are genuine magic mirrors, imported from far away, and.." "But what kind of magic do they do, mister?" The man sniffed again, then shrugged. "I'm not sure. Sometimes they send me stuff without instructions, you know, kid? Look, why don't you just buy one and figure it out?" The boy reached towards the bin, and picked one of the mirrors up. It fitted his hand, and the face lightened. He looked into it and started laughing. His other hand came out of the pocket and swung toward the man. "Here - one dollar and four cents, right?" The man took the money automatically, still staring at the bin. "Uh, yeah. That's right. Well, enjoy your purchase, sir." Outside the shop, the boy sat at the curb and looked again. This time he wrinkled his nose at the writing covering the face of the screen. Then he rubbed the frame, and the writing changed. He rubbed again, and it changed again. He soon learned that rubbing one spot made the writing go forward, and another spot would make it go backward. He played with the spots, learning different ways to jump around and look at the writing in the mirror. At first, it was fun, and he rubbed and pondered, skipped and backed up, and wandered throughout the mazy script in the mirror. But after a while, he grew bored with some of the writing, and rubbed faster, skipping more, looking for something new and exciting. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but somehow he was sure it wasn't there yet. Then one day as he rubbed, and rubbed, and peered closer and closer at the mirror to read faster and faster, it happened. He fell through the face of the mirror. He was reading about a land of magic, and he stumbled right through the words "What kind of things do you want" and "Welcome to the land behind the mirror", caught his toe on the molding around the mirror, and fell in. The blob inside waved six keyboards, two pens, and several pencils when he bounced off of it in the narrow space between the blob and the back of the mirror. "Mirror the behind land the to welcome" The boy shook his head, and the blob tried again. "Want you do things of kind what?" The boy ignored this, and poked the blob. It shook. "Why don't you write what I want to read?" The blob waved a brush. "Read to want you what write I don't why?" The boy scratched his ear, then reached out and poked the blob again. "What are you, anyway?" The blob shuddered. It quaked. Then a hand reached out and gripped his hand. "Anyway, you are what?" He grabbed the hand and pulled. He pulled hard, and it pulled harder. Then he screamed as he felt himself being pulled right into the blob, and everywhere stretched out behind the mirrors... Today Special Cents 99 - Mirrors Magic! --------------------------------------------------------------------------