The Wardrobe - 8. Letterparts from C

[...]

There, right back at you, waves crushing against the cliffs, dripping salt water, getting worn off and rising steep and hollowed at places above the curling white-foamed dark water and sharp ragged rocks, rising up high to some patches of long weeds, and still higher up to heather and grass, flat except for a few rounded boulders that have been there for centuries, if not millennia, like small menhirs, because the dark sea below, the rustling and soft scent of the heather and the sweeping wind make this place feel sacred in that moment, and because we're kneeling there on the edge, and looking down, trying to guess how far down it goes, and welcoming the adrenaline rush with wild beaming eyes and stealing glances at each other, and sometimes over our shoulders to reassure ourselves that we're really alone. That's how this place is sacred.
[...] I wouldn't wither away with worry if you didn't write me, but with every one of your messages I get a fix of brilliant, sparkling green and yellow liquid life into my blood, and am aware of it while reading, every time. So there's absolutely no need to apologise, I really don't care how incoherent it seems to you. But your apology adds to the fix, so I'm not telling you to ever stop apologising unnecessarily.
Tonight I saw a brilliant modern rendering of Much Ado About Nothing. Let's just say it was hilarious.
Claudio: Where is your wit?
Benedick: I have it in my scabbard. Shall I draw it?
And I had a really entertaining dream with zombies, a zombie movie, Hayden Panettiere, and two obstinate sea turtles. I'll write it down when I get around to it and send it to you. I've thought about it enough since waking up so that I won't forget it very soon.
M. has sent me seven(!) messages with parts of a philosophical essay about virtual worlds that he wants me to translate. That's real work, but I absolutely love the essay. I'm at page three now (it has six pages), and the translation is two full pages long so far. He has permission from the author to post it here. It's very good. I'm grateful and proud to translate it. I will ask M. for the author's name so that I can ask her if I may use the translation as a work sample for job applications. A philosophical essay in academic lingo somehow cuts it better than a customer info sheet about virtual penises.
What's that, M. and D. are a couple? Argh. My dreaded suspicion has become horrible reality. The bloody idiot! *slaps forehead multiple times* Will. He. Never. Fucking. LEARN.
Groan.
I'm contemplating sticking my nose into his business. ... can a friend stand by and quietly watch someone destroy himself, can he? My usual policy is to leave things alone, especially people. But that would be irresponsible neglect in this case, wouldn't it?
Gah... stop this now, C, wrong trail of thought, wrooong thinking here, stop.
Positive note. Something good. End on a positive note.
Okay.
Got one!
[...]

-

Hey!
I hope you're doing very well and are having a brilliant day. Is your foot any better? And has the adapter arrived yet? (Don't be too vicious on your foot.)
Last night's dream starred you, fancy that. Among other people, but it was glorious. You moved huge bookcases around in some sort of big brown-wallpapered box I lived in, implying that you were going to move in with me, and when you seemed about finished with that, I threw you on my bed and started snogging you. But before the good action could start a Chinese girl shoved a vacuum cleaner in my face and started "cleaning" the bed with it. We climbed off the bed and I watched in disgust how she wiped that grimy plastic thing over my mattress... And then the doorbell rang and a couple of friends arrived to watch movies. I looked through my DVDs and BluRays and tried to convince everyone of the excellence of various Asian horror films. That didn't quite work out, I got frustrated, and then another dream started. That one started out adventurous and friendly, turned adventurous and dangerous, and then at the end had an alternate reality in it, and my vision switched from my reality to that other which was something like a gory, religious-fanatic horror version of mine. Everything was the same in a way, but malicious and painful. A small group of elderly wise men in blue and white robes who were escorting a girl out of this dangerous hall we were in (there had just been a huge flood in there and she had almost been killed)... uhm those friendly but strict men flickered to having torn up bleeding monster faces with insane eyes, growling out threats about sending people to "The Ville" and "Something something Ville". Well, those dreams were really entertaining.
Keep enjoying the hunt if you're still at it, I wish you luck in finding the... things.
Have a brilliant day, [...]
Yours
C.

-

[...]

If you are camping out tonight then do it well, and enjoy the glorious foresty outsideness of it, while I imagine you lying in it, on your back on some grassy patch in the dark, looking up at more dark, with clouded stars framed by leaves and half naked ruddy twigs, listening to leaves. Maybe water somewhere. Right next to you? A few metres off, a brook running in a ditch, where insects and some frogs or toads rasp and croak and do whatever they do, for a few hours until dusk is over. Then only a slight trickle, and wind. Leaves. Millions of them. And the needled branches of pines and firs brushing against each other. Chill. A bit of shuddering with some peaceful bliss that would be inexplicable were it not for the good things that slither through your head and make you smile. Or perhaps I'm getting it all wrong. Maybe you're looking at the grass, sideways, and trying to see how dark it has to be until you can't see the individual halms anymore. Or maybe you have a fire going and are watching that, and how it's going out. Or none of the above. It's all nice to picture.

[...]

I'll still be knotted to tomorrow night though, pinned to it. You know, there's a rubber string pinned to tomorrow night, and its other end reaches into my chest and is grown into (or out of) there, and it's pulling me and then together. And I'm looking forward to smashing into the other end.
I'll keep picturing you until then, [...]