affame_le_geant_suffering fyn gula frau werzenwozen seemed unaffected by the symphonic grace of the human flower chorus, if not a bit proud. she had directed them in concert many times in many worlds. with deft movements of her bony fingers, the flowers' rhythm varied and the tone altered between soprano and contralto. with a particular nod of her head, her elvis costello glasses slid to the bottom of her nose, yet it seemed to be a rehearsed cue for a certain dandelion to come forward out of the gathering. i'm not exactly sure how he did it, somehow managing to wriggle with his root legs and tooth-shaped leaves as arms. with his head in full seed like an afro-do and the other flowers(one a two-lipped tulip, mwah!) quieting to a background hum, he sang in a voice much like maynard keenan and these were the lyrics to his song: "what you lose in blindness is the space around you, the place where you are, and without that you might not exist. you could be nowhere, oh, you could be nowhere at all." saumboo listened with intense concentration and though the song moved him to tears, he could not entirely agree with its message. when it was over, he thanked the chorus, and holding on to the sides of the wooden cart spoke these words to frau werzenwozen and the spegnere: "to be blind and beloved in this world where nothing is perfect," he said, running a hand through his black dreadlocks. puppertwinkle licked him a few times in support. "is to be among the most strongly exquisite forms of happiness. the supreme happiness in life is the assurance of being loved, of being loved for oneself, even in spite of oneself. and this assurance the blind man possesses. in his affliction, to be served is to be caressed. does he lack anything? no. possessing love he is not deprived of light. a love, moreover, that is wholely pure. there can be no blindness where there is this certainty." and as he finished, a spontaneous, totally unexpected burst of applause rose up from the cart initiated by the dandelion himself. "silence!" frau werzenwozen screamed, and they obeyed her without question. a look of stern disappointment washed over her face. in the wake of quietude she created, she stepped over to the spegnere and whispered something in his ear. he listened and sighed heavily. when she turned away to jump up into the cart, he shook his head, frowning. frau werzenwozen grabbed the reins, jerked them tightly and clicked her tongue loudly. the spegnere responded and the cart swung around with quick and erratic movements, stirring up dust. "watch out!" puppertwinkle yelled, but it was all happening so fast. the back end of the cart in the midst of some wild burn out crashed into saumboo's leg and he went straight down to the ground like a bowling pin. puppertwinkle went flying, hit the dirt hard and rolled head over heels, yet was unscathed. with saumboo it was a different story. he lay holding his leg, writhing on the ground in great pain. frau werzenwozen stopped the cart beside him and looked down with a smirk. "zere ist no happiness vithout suffering," she said. 020510 ... fyn_gula saumboo still has a phantom pain where his leg once was. he knows now why she had to do it. 021216 what's it to you? who go blather from