(All That Happens) Before The Epilogue
He takes the knife with him upstairs, and turns on the bedroom light in a silly moment of distraction and reverse habit, and, too tired to flip the switch again, collapses on his dusty bed. He sneezes three times and falls asleep in the light.
The piece looks like an empty handle; handsome, though simple. A comfortable grip for hands of all sizes, and perfectly balanced out beyond the hilt, to its invisible point. The blade can only be seen with closed eyes.
It is (a year ago. It is) now.
He is walking through a lavender field alongside a cinnamon sunset, toward the steaming cave closet of the Beast So Scary, that can be heard sucking The Love of Pretending out of children’s skulls. The knifemaker grips his weapon firmly, and closes his eyes so he can enter the cave. Then he hears a woman scream. And he opens his eyes again. Again.
Exactly seven minutes later, having just entered and immediately exited R.E.M. sleep, he bounds out of bed and runs through the dark, not stubbing his toes on any chair legs, door frames or cabinetry, and locks the bloody knife in the safe, with The Knife That Cuts Time.
As head of Rager Records, Steve “Rager” Simmons convinced his production and marketing teams to convince one-hundred and seven Former Pop Music Artists to divorce their spouses and leave their children and come out of retirement, back into the Music Industry, whereupon twenty-two bands and their Original Lineups each recorded a Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (with no further volumes ever intended) featuring Your Favorite Classics and Bonus Tracks of New Material. Album sales went Uranium—a new sales quantity award of 1 billion units—and all arena and stadium sports events were canceled for the next 10 years to make way for the week-long Rager Über-Rock Fest tour.
Consequently, all other categories of music were stripped from store shelves to make way for the exclusively sold Rager Record label material. Every radio station went off the air for a week, and returned under a New Sound to play a continuous cycle of Classic Rock. Even though everyone said, “I just hate the new (KKZE 101.9),” they continued to listen on a regular basis. Personal music collections were reduced to a slim stack of twenty-two discs or tapes, thus fulfilling the Sixth Sign Before the Second Flood as there came about the utter extinction of all other types of music (including, but not limited to: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Goth Rock, Hard Rock, Glam Rock, Prog Rock, Brit Pop, Chamber Pop, Indie Pop, Jangle Pop, Lo Fi, New Psychedelia, Noise Rock, Post Rock, Synth Pop, Post Punk, Power Pop, Heavy Metal, Hair Metal, Industrial Metal, Grindcore, Rap Core, Nu Metal, Thrash, Death Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Speed Metal, Punk Rock, ‘77 Style Punk, Cow Punk, Hardcore Punk, Emo, NY Hardcore, Oi!, Pop Punk, Psychobilly, Riot Grrrl, Ska Punk, Electronica, Acid Jazz, Ambient, Big Beat, Breakbeat, Downbeat, Dub Techno, Trip Hop, Drum ‘n’ Bass, Jungle, Electro Funk, House, Happy Hardcore, Industrial, Techno, Digital Hardcore, Trance, Unbeat, Jazz, Be Bop, Hard Bop, Big Band, Dixieland, Swing, Lounge, Blues, Chicago Blues, Country Blues, Delta Blues, Texas Blues, Zydeco Blues, Country, Alt Country, Bluegrass, Country Rock, Honky Tonk, Rockabilly Revival, Western Swing, Folk, ’60s Revival, Anti-Folk, British Folk, Contemporary Folk, Oldies, Doo Wop, Rockabilly, Surf, Pop, Dance Pop, Easy Listening, Euro Pop, Soft Rock, Teen Pop, Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Bass, Gangsta Rap, Turntablist, Old School Hip Hop, Pop Rap, Southern Hip Hop, R&B, Funk, Disco, G-Funk, Soul, ’70s Soul, Motown, New Soul, Quiet Storm, Reggae, Roots Reggae, Dub Reggae, Dancehall, Lovers Rock, Reggae, Ska, Rock Steady, World, African, Traditional African, Afro Pop, Afro Beat, Mbalax, Rai, Asian, Indian Classical, Bombay Pop, Qawwalli, Celtic, Eastern European, Klezmer, Indigenous Music, Latin, Calypso, Merengue, Son, Salsa, Samba, Bossa Nova, Tropicalia, MPB, Western European, New Age, Classical, Avant Classical, Chamber Music, Classical Guitar, Opera, Symphony, and Soundtracks.). Rager Records became the first music label monopoly.
One day a tall stranger (of course) in a long black coat (of course) walked into the glass tower of Rager Records International, through the immense and echoing front reception/security area, rode the elevator to the sixty-fourth floor penthouse office, moved across the room, and pulled out Steve Simmons’ heart, remarking, “I know about lies. Believe me—I do. But I’m sick and tired of people not making the least attempt at understanding the difference between a story and a lie.” And as he turned, dropping the pumping warm organ into the document shredder, Simmons reached out desperately, as though he could catch what was once his and make use of it again. Steve “Rager” Simmons gasped, and stared at the stranger’s departing figure, and died next as the murderer whispered to the immobilized body guards, “No one can truly be their own boss. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.”
