Me and Ms. Marie

If you want to hear the story about how I met Ms. Marie and exactly what kind of relationship we had, I could just go right on ahead and get into all that without any problem. I suppose we both have the time and it's a good day to be out anyhow, so I'll go ahead and just tell the thing.

Now let's say you travel north on i-35 coming from Texas. Let's say you keep going north over the red river--up into Oklahoma City--and after a short pit stop in brick town you hitch a right going dead east. After a good two hours of driving you'll end up in this little town called Spiro.

Spiro sits just inside the Oklahoma border, near Arkansas, and right there in that town you can go see the old Indian burial mounds. The Spiro Mounds. If you keep on going east you'll eventually hit Arkansas and, if you're on the right road, you will enter into the dead center of the massive Ouachita National Forest. Spread all throughout this region is where you start seeing a change. A sorta unnoticed transition. You begin to see towns like Heavener, Wickes, Mena and Oden showing up on the road signs. Ozan, Toilette, De Queen are nearby too giving phonetic suggestions of Creole, English and maybe even Dutch(?) origins. Nothing much looks too different though. A restaurant there, gas station here. Houses, trailers and jewelry shops. Department stores and parking lots.

But if you look hard enough, often just beyond the construction sites or county fairs, you may see the tip of a chimney or maybe the blacktop of a roof nestled in the trees. At night you could look through the overgrowth and see an orchestra of porch lights spread throughout the forest. Some lights are orange, some are blue if they are incandescent bulbs, but some lights-way in the most secluded parts of the forest-burn from lanterns or candles and dance in the background more dim but more pronounced than the others.

Everybody knew about these people but nobody would talk about them. It was well understood. The forest was badland and that was all that needed to be known. Just as the towns around the Ouachita mountains tolerated (or feared ) the rare arrival of one of these people, the hermits were never known to attack anyone who happened to stray into the forest. But if you were walking in that forest and you spotted one of those lantern shacks, your heart would sink. One day this happened. I had walked too far, completely unaware of it. I had somehow become engrossed with the tall bark columns and yellow ivy leaves.

That was when I noticed the edge of this cottage. Even worse, as I tried to run away I found that my body was actually moving closer. I began to see the makeshift shelter in it's eerie entirety. Every inch of the house was painted thick in either black or red. The window panes were bright red, along with the chimney itself. The roof and most of the siding was the darkest black, almost velvet and reflective. In the right light the walls resembled portals.

I know a spider with colors like these. There is decaying ritual here. A thousand invisible eyes. What a lovely day this day. This day. Today I think it is today. Today ha ha ha! Such joy! My jaws hurt from it. I have to eat now. My chest itches now as I feel this hunger as well.

What was really neat is that the front door was wide open, but when I got up to the door it slammed itself shut without any sound at all. A moment later the beautiful and cheery Ms. Marie answered the door with the prettiest smile I'd ever seen. Of course I had never met this woman, but it seemed like I had known her for years. She had the brightest white smile and she kept eye contact with me even as she poured the tea. Didn't spill a drop. The house was spotless and well furnished. The kitchen opened up into the living room and there, near the couch, I noticed the ribcage of a baby goat on the end table. Inside the ribs were a dozen or so red and white candles, their waxes spilling over each other to form a warm glacier over the spinal cord.

The tea was perfect and I made sure to thank Ms. Marie for making it for me. It was so nice of her and I just couldn't understand why the town folk never came out there. I wanted to ask her but didn't think it would be nice to bring up. She sat there on the opposite side of the table smiling. Her wide eyes gleaming like the tips of tiny knives. She was so pretty. I asked for more tea and of course Ms. Marie was gracious enough to make another pitcher, keeping her eyes fixed on mine the entire time. She was like magic. Didn't have to look at what she was doing or anything. Prettiest eyes I'd ever seen, I'll tell you that. Prettiest everything I'd ever laid eyes upon.

Afterwards she made some gingerbread cookies. Somehow they were ready within seconds. The gingerbread men were all perfectly shaped with little blue gumdrop eyes, their flesh still bubbling a bit, and on their tiny feet and hands were claws, which I thought was really darling. Gingerbread men with claws. That Ms. Marie was the creative type you know it.

But anyway she just sat there like a doll and watched me eat em all, the whole batch would you believe it! I ate em all and she just sat there and stared into my eyes less than 5 inches from my face, and she got closer, until I could almost feel her eyes touching my own. It was all very intimate. That's when things went dark.

The next morning I woke up naked, bloody and bruised in the forest. I stood up and realized I was right next to the river, and wouldn't you know it some guy decided to go fishing that morning not 10 feet away. Oh I bet I nearly gave him a heart attack. Just imagine sitting there, waiting for a snag on the line, and all of the sudden this naked heap of a boy stands up out of the tall grass, stares at you for a second, and then darts off into the forest, ass hanging out and all. What a crazy mess. But I wasn't embarrassed at all! That's when I noticed the changes I guess. Started to feel a lot healthier and I've been able to go on a diet, the whole nine! Was able to move out here and get a good job, and I'm sorry what was your name? Oh it's wonderful to meet you. How about we get out of here, go get a drink? You do look like such a wonderful girl. I just love your eyes. Just look into my eyes for awhile. That's right. That's good.