by Zac Funstein
Karl tried to picture where someone called Filemonsen had been encountered before.
It seemed innocent enough-running down the middle of the boulevard was a central reservation, in the middle of it, just opposite them, was a children's playground, full of tubular steel frames/ swings in old faded design. The ones it was deemed suitable for must have moved or an incident occurred for this was now deserted. Lined at first with stores/ gas stations,stop signs they once called boulevard stops, the cool Deco-era buildings everywhere suggest a pre-war origin. Then it all began to fit neatly into position. Malaki Filemonsen’s denouement of secret prisons that the CIA would continued to have available to- what some laughingly called ‘alternate techniques for interrogation’, which Malaki insisted had not been legally reviewed, were not lawful, were tough, but unsafe moreover constituted an abuse.
“My story is not statistically based, politically correct, sometimes not even morally sound, Mr. Sørensem because this is a story of single mother personal pain/ plan to break the cycle of being just another baby-momma to working to be successful.”
Like Hannibal Lecter in a Mary Poppins outfit, Naja Filemonsen was an unsettling mix of prim with a healthy sprinkling of the predatory.
“Really Ms. Filemonsen I am pleased to hear that,” said Karl noting her puffiness/ swollen circles-this was someone taller than average too, of medium build plus no discernible accent it seemed to him. “If you could try to steer away from the mawkish element-try to keep purely to what interests us.”
“My father-I see. What can I add- Max Filemonsen was affiliated with the New Glauconite Practice in East Europe, who were experimenting with the medium of refining. You might argue that this is historically a male-dominated medium in general, and that Max reflected this.
My father was certain the relation between statical/dynamical electricity has shown what became known as the luminiferous.”
“I have never heard of it Naja.”
“It is rather difficult to put to a layperson Karl. Max had always found some of his best results among amateurs-luminiferous no less than any others.The internet should be a medium for unbridled self-expression, not an amplifier of dreads was his sincere belief-everyone should indulge their whims. Some assistant unwittingly found that the Glauconite could be tempered by the luminiferous-we have never cast a solitary retrograde glance since.”
The residue was hot- the cinders were so thick that we had to put on goggles but they knew immediately something useful had been isolated.
Karl had heard something about this-how as the planet warms, there will be more of this luminiferous- around, so when thunderstorms get triggered, they will be more energetic-how it could affect the outer layer of powdered rock seemed a little obscure however. Sometimes Sørensem got to enjoy the spectacle of the thunderstorm from the dry comfort of his rear porch where despite the risks to health a good impression of a cigar chewing guajiro was given, but that was rarer now since his talents were in demand.
Schools, community centers, streets, avenues, plus bridges throughout the Canadian provinces might not be named after him but Filemonsen clearly left his mark.
“Before it got used in the denim aging we tried it as a coating the give a gloss to medication. There were side effects however, habituation , involuntary movement even convulsions. We were based at Victorville in the Mojave Desert-my grandfather is Cahuilla so we know it well. We accidentally spilt a concoction containing this on the adjacent sand.
“The rest is as they say history Naja.”
“You got it-the coating gives an even finish making the industrial aging of denim much more predictable. It is my fathers desert discovery that is on the denim you found in BC. Before you ask there are only a few exclusive manufacturers that use it. I will write their addresses down.”
A pen from her top pocket was used for this.
“Retech Ltd, Kayfase Inc plus Besron Ltd all manufacture industrial standard product under our license such as you found. I wish I could say that it is one in particular.”
Naja Filemonsen gave no indication which one of these it was. Karl recorded it as a ‘strangely non-committal attitude’ in his diary. Since Retech Ltd was recorded at the top of the list it seemed the sensible one to chose. Mrs. Rachel Priester who was the p/t secretary agreed to speak to Sørensem at her acupuncture clinic. The car journey was without merit above planes flew up then down in parabolic arcs to temporarily induce reduced levels of gravity astronauts would sense away from Earth but this seemed almost perfunctory.
Karl tried to pinpoint where a Priester had been come across before. Gob Priester, an imaginary son of the real Eurythmic feminist, spiritualist, free-love advocate Victoria Priester, lost his twin brother in the Civil War so built a vast elaborate machine whose sole purpose was to ‘reverse-grieve’ so that it would bring all of history's dead alive again-this probably didn’t work but the drawings were still in the British Museum.
The chief-medico thin, gaunt with deep wrinkles-irrepressibly cheerful with an undaunted air lead Sørensem to where Rachel was:- a clean surgery with a chess board as a central feature that proudly boasted it was a replica of the one used by Che Guevara during the Cuban missile crisis provided the setting.
Mrs. Priester was a stately appearing lady who was being ‘cupped’ when Sørensem appeared.
The assistant bowed then left when Karl began his preamble.
“I had never tried acupuncture before, came in with a plethora of issues plus a general well-being that was not too healthy. My discomfort with needles initially made us nervous to try acupuncture, but Megan's approach has made me a believer in its healing properties. She is extremely knowledgeable in Eastern medicine.”
“I sense you like it here Mrs. Priester.”
“I am so so lucky to be a client at this clinic, and am so proud of them as they continue to abundantly expand, they deserve it. I am inspired to pursue my own needle treatment because of what i've learned witnessed via my treatments here. Mr. Barbosa is pleased that it's his customers who have voted for him, rather than some shabby crew of critics who don’t have any inclination; Barbosa's delighted that it justified very hard work; thrilled for what it says about his conviction that top flight, acupuncture doesn't have to be served in uptight, prissy, overly formal surroundings.”
“You seem to know a lot about Dr. Filemonsen’s technique Mrs.Priester.”
A limp offering is given.
“Call us Rachel Mr. Sørensem -I am not one to stand on ceremony.”
Members of a Priester family were crushed in Toulouse south of France when their Audi was swept away-it had been on the news but Karl doubted this was the same one.
“I trust what I sent via fax was clear enough.”
Rachel did not seem to hear however.
“We weren’t always rivals you know- Kayfase, Besron plus Retech were in harmony once as incredible as it might seem. Stephen's bullying self-pity edgy rationalism ran up sharply against Anny's fancifulness, extravagance with sentiment. Its like air-freight production-even though Airbus is well aware of the risks of overproduction, they’ll almost certainly match, or almost match, the Boeing rate. We’ve got into needless rivalry.”
“Sounds like you were in it from the beginning Rachel.”
“I don’t mean to boast using the Glauconite to smooth the grains was my inception yes that’s true! My husband Papito was no believer in what he termed my fanciful, speculative theories-it was a standing gag that not only was I having hysterical pregnancies I was coming up with all these wild crazy schemes too.”
“You can’t have any children Rachel?”
“No sadly-to our chagrin. I have had much disappointment I gave up of ever having a child like I did using the coating. Then my father became ill I was convinced it was because of this hesitancy. During his illness he showed not the least desire of pious company or serious discourse, till the surgeon let his valet de chambre said that the last rites should be read. When my resolve deepened h
owever then pa convalesced/ improved, I was convinced that it was my destiny to support the layering. My husband resisted so I had to give up. Eventually we had to undergo what is known as a trial separation I believe. Hard-line religious / moral conservatives have been working to rigidify the view of ‘traditional’ marriage to shore up its privileged status-my husband was no exception in sticking to this.”
The one listening sensed a certain sympathy with Rachel since his own father continually strives to enforce a unique rigidity upon his surroundings and his children, especially Karl’s sister Jennifer.
“Then when Papito’s youngest boy (from his first marriage)/myself lay dangerously ill, hardly expected to live, I received from him a letter, written in great haste, It was composed in a style that was rigidly formal, consistently using my maiden surname alone. It commenced with this sentence:
I have to admit that I was wrong to call your scheme a ‘fanciful plan’, I entertained this with just a little more than fictive suspension of disbelief for the sake of spite-but I was wrong.”
“Mr. Priester’s resistance was worn down incredible.”
Rachel was like a writer whose taut writing, never once failed to convey the emotional intensity of her characters' lives. Indeed an informant who was a journo who underwent an apprenticeship as a sub-editor/ reporter pared/ tautened his prose similarly.
“Naturally we now use the Glauconite coating after my little illness, but what you sent told us immediately it wasn’t ours.”
“I didn’t know that!”
“That was layered between chalk which is not our practice remotely. What we use is frozen/ rigidified too-it uses an artificial adherent but no powder-that is sacrosanct. May I say something off the record Mr.Sørensem?”
“Be my guest Rachel.”
“The real paradox and irony is that the world is becoming more/ more complex, more/more multidimensional, yet what we want is certainty, we want more/ more certainty, we want one answer. I wish I could say to you yes that is ours so you could go directly to the jean manufacturer that made the denim that our assassin was wearing. It would make your life/mine a lot easier.”
“But you can’t-I understand.”
“What will you do now Mr.Sørensem if it is not too impolite to ask?”
“Visit Kayfase Inc or Besron Ltd I suppose-little else remains to be done.”
Never one to go in without doing his homework Karl decided to find out as much as was humanly possible about the Kayfase Inc PR who had agreed to see him. Joel Rignall from Newark, NJ.Joshua Phelan who seemed to know not very much about a lot of people was more than willing to give his verdict on Joel.
The last Sørensem had seen Phelan it was in the mens suit department of Wuttor Clothing Ltd choosing a suit for his partner Angus Downey formerly of Trainer Avenue Davenport, IL who was shot fatally in the famous ‘Dun Rite Car Maintenance Massacre’. Somebody had to do this unpleasant task- Joshua was the only one who seemed to have opted for this chore. When Karl arrived at the funeral directors next Joshua was in tears because the director had chosen a flashy suit that the deceased would never have worn when alive being a low key kind of guy. Everyone that knew Angus was livid as could be. Eventually they reached a compromise opting for the Van Wijk knotted tie rather than Balthus as had been the contention. No way would Angus be seen dead in a Balthus or Prince Albert knot when alive.
When Joshua was met the incident was relived by him too.
“They called from Aidan Luttrell Funeral Directors Ltd to say ‘Mr. Downey is ready’. I never dressed so fast Karl as I did then-I got dressed myself-was in the Proton Arena before a pin could drop. I was nervous I wanted to see Angus but wasn’t sure what Downey might look like. You must have seen pictures of Marilyn Monroe or Norma Jean as was her real title after her overdose was taken Karl.”
“The actress no I can’t say that I have-bit old for us.”
“Let’s just affirm that Ms. Monroe earnt her star in the concrete outside the Chinese Theatre. That person on the coroners slab that had just had the overdose pumped out did not appear remotely like her.”
Karl did not want to get into dead actresses so demanded:
“You got to Aidan Luttrell Funeral Directors Ltd what next.”
There was little chance of Phelan knowing that Sørensem had driven past the house next to the directors recently-there was no reason for him to know. Both seemed ostensibly the same although neither was in reality, not ALFD Ltd or his brother Jason’s were. Returning there was an intense sense of grief. A deep melancholy filled him at not being there to support his brothers, either Macaire or Valentino (named after the film star).
Karl had loved them dearly-the guilt at leaving them to Eberardo’s wrath would not be ‘cleared’ by any dianetic intervention (as had been mooted) or any priest for that matter either. All Crístoforo had wanted was for someone to share his sprint style rallycross interest with, all Elihu needed was serious debt relief.
“They invited us up to the mezzanine. I ask you I was sure it was just an album cover-I ended up finding the word on dictionary.com it means ‘balcony’ or ‘entresol’. I get there-I’m not joking I was livid Karl.”
“You grabbed the rail you were dizzy Joshua. With each breath there was a loss of balance- unsure of yourself there was a twisting/ spinning. Delirious you tightened your grip on the iron rail, but the sensation didn't stop.”
“Incredible-it’s like you were there.”
“Not to worry-I believe I can guess the rest.”
“There was a gang-but these weren’t anyone gathered in a holy name. One did Angus’s makeup. The others dressed him, but I knew what they’d done was wrong from their guilty expression. There was a Balthus knot in his tie just like requested to be avoided.”
“Joshua this is very interesting but….”
“Oh yeh. Joel Rignall from Newark where was I. Wait a minute Karl.”
The mobile rang threatening to vibrate off the table but Phelan managed to stop it, then held the implement at a distance so the person on the other end could be discerned. His personality seemed to change by not a great deal.
“Yeah so you’re finally happy,” Joshua mumbled like a latter day Pablo Emilio Escobar after a while-the great Columbian drug overlord finally slamming down the device.
“Excuse us-it is my Manhattanite friend Iverna Tamez Urías who has grieved for Galeaso Urías for a while; trying to move on, Iverna is preparing to re-marry. But I digress yet again Karl. What did Mrs. Rachel Priester believe?”
Sørensem was not sure of Rachel either- her theology was not sound to him, her genius for disputation it was believed could only be diabolical.
“That the Glauconite used was the same but with chalk addition which to Priester was an anathema.”
“That’s something to do with a holiday I believe that Newark went somewhere there were strata of rock-cliffs that were different demarcation as a child. It had been closed to the public because they were being eroded too quickly but they could buy glass Model-T Fords or bendy bottles from a nearby store which had a contract with the landowner, into which could be poured sand from hoppers which would accentuate this feature. This made a profound impression upon his impressionable infant self.”
“You bought sand then tipped it into glass models?”
“I wish I had a picture to show you-it’s quite startling. This vacation I believe even a casual observer would agree is-or was rather-an influence.”
Karl was taken to Gob Priester but more succinctly his grieving machine. To grieve is to be delighted with the snapshot prints of a break then impulsively to order duplicates for someone only to be told that that person died someone once said.
“Lest you believe that Newark is straight from the old testament-a dotty fool tipping granules from one glass model to another- a parchment scroll waiting on the small, slanted desk, a tonsured scribe holding out an inked nib expectantly for your wisdom let us assure you that it is not so.”
Of co
urse I'm a professional controversialist, I'm invariably the person at any gathering murmuring, ‘Oh, let's just agree to disagree!’ but I believe that would be adjudged fair.”
Sørensem promised to put his Manual of Military Training into operation. Get into the habit of seeing, observing, things -- your attention must never be resting, but must be continually glancing around, in every direction, seeing different objects.
A discovery of a wristwatch which was near where G was found seemed to bring up up a lot of interest. For one thing it had been mislaid comparatively recently for the residue which had collected was comparably small. The further assumption was that whoever had attacked the deceased had either mislaid it in the struggle or-G had thrown it (having ripped it from the owner) anticipating that it would be found.
“My belief is that the latter option is probably the one to go for but I don’t know why this holds so much sway in us,” exclaimed the finder Renee W. Jarmon-the petite woman who was a little like an African/Spanish Audrey Hepburn-one of those indeterminate ages who seemed as if they had discovered the secret of immortality.”There is something covered wagon about this to-this wasn’t perpetuated by a European but a native of these shores that moved at night rather than during the day when they were visible.”
“What about ethnicity then?” enquired Chad N. Caron’s star pupil the Nigerian Cauã Melo Carvalho (whose mother was Brazilian) whilst using a clean dishcloth to clean the Sekonda Mens Chronograph Watch.
Renee hesitated since questions about ethnicity always raised doubts that the matter was being thrown in the sin-bin of some age or another. It was a benchmark if they needed to apportion blame then someone from a minority got hammered.
“European I would tentatively state. I checked with the Sekonda people who from their market research seemed to believe it was so, but that was a generalization. The industrial design dissuaded ethnic types who were more likely to know the reality of living in an industrial landscape for real. This was the joker in the pack too according to Sekonda.”
“I’ve never known what anyone has meant when they say something or someone is the ‘Joker’. It makes us relive that terrible incident at the theatre when all those children were shot at point blank range.”
