Baulo

Baulo was a cursed being. He lived among humans, but could never fully become one himself.

Baulo awoke to the sound of a strangers voice.

Are you alright? How did you get here?

Baulo could not answer because he could not understand.

The stranger’s name was Earl Benton. He was at this moment Baulo’s only friend on earth.

It won’t do to leave you here now will it?

Baulo lived with Earl for three years. He learned the language and learned a trade. He was a carpenter now, a fine one at that.

One windy Sunday afternoon, Earl introduced Baulo to an old friend of his. Baulo and Liola made marvelous companions. Liola returned twice a week to teach Baulo how to play piano. A lesson ran late one night. The moon glowed full through the window leaving blue squares on the carpet and mantle. Before Baulo could protest, Liola touched her lips to his cheek. Baulo instantly turned to stone, just as he had been moments before Earl discovered him.

As always, Baulo would not reawaken for another three centuries. In the mean time, his sturdy figure would haunt many obscure museums before falling into dark boxes in forgotten storage rooms.

Gravity and the Ghost

When you die, your soul doesn’t rise up to heaven. Loosed from the bond to a body, your soul does not find itself free and weightless. When you die, you find you are no longer tethered to the world on the surface. You find that even as a spirit you are effected by gravity. Then, flailing frantically, desperately, you sink. You sink down through layers of rock and sediment. You sink down past deposits of limestone and quartz. You pass from the Earth’s crust down into lakes of magma that make up Earth’s mantle. You may think that these lakes of fire are the river that will take you to the gates of hell. This is not far off.

When you arrive, you will find that the Earth’s core is filled with spirits like your own. Likely, for the rest of eternity you will remain trapped in this congested space like too many dozens of people in an elevator. You will find that the only hope that remains within the overwhelmingly dense confines of this place is the hope of new creation. Within the concentration of souls there is a concentration of energies. If you manage to form a determined collaborative effort, you will find that it is possible to change the perceived nature of your environment.

On very rare occasions, hundreds of souls may band together in such a way. When they do so, they transform the center of the Earth into the hottest place in the solar system. They transform it into a club of transcendental proportion. In this club you will have the opportunity to mingle with famous figures and the dearly departed. You have the opportunity to bond between others in ways far more intimate but far less gratifying than you could before. But most importantly, you will have the opportunity to dance. You yourself can become one with the rhythm of the cosmos. You can augment the universe with your own energies. You can unwind yourself into the heartbeat of the planet.

If you put your ears to the ground and listen very carefully, you may be able to hear the beat already, thumping and bumping deep underground.