Fantastic Metropolis

By Thursday Muriel looked more beautiful than ever before—I know this is hard to believe. That afternoon I lifted the wig from its case and placed it on her. Draped the blue veil across the preserved flesh of her chest. (I, too, can be practical, my dear, see? I can make plans, follow through, take charge. Do what needs be done. And finally have become an artist of sorts in my own right, I suppose.)

The doorbell rang.

Thank you all for coming.

Glasses clink. Steaming cups are raised. There is enough food here to feed the city’s teeming poor. I circulate among our guests, Uncle Van, Mrs. Abneg’s sister, cousins and nephews, close friends. Some, I can no longer speak to, of course. To others I present small boxes wrapped in bright paper: a toenail or fingernail perhaps, sliver of bone, divot of pickled flesh.

Yes. She looks beautiful, doesn’t she?

Outside, whispering, night arrives. No whispers in here, as family, friends and mourners move from lit space to lit space. They manipulate Muriel’s limbs into various symbolic patterns. Group about her. Pictures are taken.

It’s time, Muriel’s brother says, stepping beside me.

And I say, Please—as instantly the room falls quiet.

I want to tell you all how much I love her.

I want to tell you we’ll be happy now. Everything is in place.

I want to tell you how much we will miss you all.

Listen…

One day you’ll walk out, a day like any other, to fetch laundry, pick up coffee at the store, drop off mail. You’ll take the same route you always do, turn corners as familiar to you as the back of your hand, thinking of nothing in particular. And that’s when it will happen. The beauty of this world will fall upon you, push the very words and breath from your lungs. Suddenly, irrevocably, the beauty of this world will break your heart; and lifting hand to face, you will find tears there.

Those tears will be the same as mine, now.

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“Dear Floods of Her Hair” first appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction and was reprinted in Time’s Hammers: The Collected Stories.