Ben had thoughts
about the Village:
“…sit. You must listen.”
CURIOUS PLACE AND NON-PLACE:
10′ x 12′ x 8′ = 960 cu ft
“Curious place, this Village.
There’s a lot of other hand/one hand elements about.
If you just love living here,
you must be crazy.
On the other hand,
if it’s driving you crazy living here,
you’re letting stuff get to you too much.
Yeah, it’s too crowded,
but on the other hand,
you have, such as it is,
a built-in support group.
“Yeah, you get a 10 x 12 room
sans indoor plumbing
…beats the doggie-do out of the back seat.
“And they do good work
which equals
we do good work
which means I am a part of something
that makes a difference.
“On my small scale, every breath is a miracle
and doing good work paradise.
“So yes, small and slow
but we like to think
we’re moving in the right direction.
And days away from
being a visiting alumni and hearing,
‘Been missing you’.”
…with a mischievous smile
and change of voice,
Ben continued…
“This isn’t a bad place.
Everybody is really nice to me,
especially the scientists.
They’re the ones who seem to be in charge.
You can always tell who they are.
They wear white coats.
They’re really nice.
“I was talking to them last week.
Told them I was a scientist too.
They said that was good,
and they gave me a white coat
but it didn’t fit.
It was too tight.
I couldn’t move my arms.
“Yesterday I told them I wasn’t really a scientist,
that I was just pretending to be like them.
They said that was nice.
They made me give the coat back
and said I couldn’t stay in the small room
…couldn’t live here anymore.”
