Originally published in http://thisdarkmatter.com/black-friday-fiction/black-friday-fiction-5/ Copyright © July 2015 – This Dark Matter
1 – The Opening:
Breakfast
She
drops the newspaper on my desk
and
tells me 85%
85%
of what?
I
ask
------------------------------
She
drops the newspaper on my kitchen table
and
tells me 85%
Between
the coffee and the half and half I have left out
and
the crumbs from my toast – pumpernickel rye with butter
An
article from the Wall Street Journal or some other
reputable
news source
85%
of what?
I
ask
Over
1/4 of the universe
she
says, it’s dark matter
I
thought you just said 85%
I
say
Doesn’t
matter – it’s all dark matter
she
says
How
do we know this?
I
ask
Doesn’t
matter
she
tells me, they’re coming together
1
mile beneath the earth
Who?
I
ask
The
scientists
she
tells me, they’re coming together
to
conduct experiments
for
300 days
they
will congregate
1
mile beneath the earth
in
South Dakota
the
Black Hills
she
tells me
Hiding
from Cosmic Rays
these
scholars will study and chant
and
pray and search
for
some proof of this Dark Matter
Burning
incense
with
vows of silence and secrecy
in
a trance-like state
meditating
on
the gravitational pull
It
brings things together
she
says, it’s like the glue of the Universe
And
then what?
I
ask
And
then you can finish
your
pumpernickel toast
she
tells me
2 – The Conjuring:
Invitation
I
see you looking over your shoulders
what
were you doing out there in South Dakota
1
mile below those snow capped
Black
Hills, burning incense
Chanting
the names of your idols
over
and over –
Darwin,
Dawkins
Hawking,
Voltaire
In
a trance-like state
for
three hundred days they’ve gathered
These
mystic priests of science
hiding
from cosmic rays
Shooting
out gamma rays
to
find this elusive stuff
This
Dark Matter
what
is this stuff that makes up
More
than 85% of our known universe?
they
haven’t got a clue
But
now they’re saying it’s destroying itself
inside
the Milky Way’s core
This
has now become urgent!
3 – The
Gathering: Banquet
How
would you describe your sense of vision to someone who cannot see?
How
would you explain the Grand Canyon to a blind man?
How
would you describe the taste of a Granny Smith sour apple
to
a person without a tongue, or a cappuccino to someone who cannot taste?
That
sensation … how would you describe Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique
or
Brian Eno’s Ascent to a deaf man?
What are they
doing down there?
That
sensation … to feel, to smell, the scent of fresh bread
or
an apple pie cooling in a window sill.
How
would you describe that
to
a person who cannot –
who
cannot?
What are they
doing down there?
You
can see them working feverishly in the shadows of their gamma rays
hiding
from all light and cosmic rays and other high energy particles
and
weakly interacting massive particles – we only know they’re there
by
measuring the gravity released, absolved, acquit, annul, void
What are they
doing down there?
Dispersed,
displaced, relegate,
supersede,
supplant, unmake,
usurp,
uncrown, exiled, banished, deposed,
it’s
keeping me up at night
I
cannot sleep – this dark matter is affecting me
this
dark matter – it has affected me …
You
can see the silhouettes of these mystics
dressed
in robes with cokebottle lenses
in
a trance chanting to their gods
these
monks of science in white labcoats and pocket protectors
stuffed
with a cargo of pens and mechanical pencils, a sliderule
Clutching
scientific calculators and iPads
reams
of yellow legal paper
with
calculations and inscriptions
searching
for proof of this dark matter
proof
of their very existence – of their soul
and
of God himself
What are they
doing down there?
These
pujaris ripping off their clothing
dancing
to the firepit and to the drums
and
to the gravity
bringing
everything together
existence
and consciousness and other worlds
and
otherworldliness
In
vows of celibacy
in
prayer and meditation
in
study and in trance
burning,
burning, testing procedures and hypotheses
experiments
and research
burning
and burning the midnight oil
that
fragrant incense
How
would you describe that smell to someone who wasn’t there
to
someone who could not smell
who
did not have the ability
olfactory
system gone
no
taste, no scent
those
shadows bouncing off the stone wall
deep
within the cave
1
mile beneath the earth
the
snow capped Black Hills of South Dakota
how
would you describe this scene
to
those who cannot see
to
those who cannot discern
the
colors, the shadows
bouncing
off each other
What are they
doing down there?
The
orange light, the fires
the
green flames, the blue core
the
white, the hellish red
those
men of science
these
mystic bodhisattvas
these
priests of Algebra and of quantum theory
these
searchers
How
would you describe this scene to those who were not there
to
those who cannot feel the immensity of the universe
of
the gravitational pull
of
the longing
of
the pull of the dance
and
the rhythm and the chanting
How
would you describe this scene to those who cannot feel
who
cannot know that there is something else out there
that
there is something beyond the gravity
beyond
what we know
Only
15% of the universe is not dark
matter, for Shiva’s sake
for
the wrath of Ganesh –
oh
holy Krishna, oh mighty Vishnu
how
can we describe this scene to those
who
were not there
and
do you think that these 5 senses
are
the only ones?
What are they —
4 – The Closing: Maintenance
Please
don’t forget
she
tells me, to clean up the crumbs
from
your pumpernickel toast
and
kisses me
on
the forehead
