Shifting Frequencies by Chipka
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Description
She didn’t like the way they leaned on each other; she felt a change in the world…the shape of it. There were ways to become stranded, to get lost. She’d seen it happen before. She was afraid it was happening again: the world changing shape. It was in the way that they moved together: two metal filings moving along the contours of a magnetic field line…dancing together. Negotiating. Becoming something else: new things.
It had been imperceptible at first; Valencio hadn’t said very much about it. At all…but significant nights began to loom out of the fog of his personal biography: navigational hazards. She was afraid of them. She knew—like everyone—what happened to the Titanic. Icebergs and ships were never a good combination. Icebergs of biography were no less dangerous, and she was nothing more than flesh and blood: not as sturdy as a big, metal boat; she could not boast—even wrongfully—that she was unsinkable, and she saw signs of her own demise…looming. Valencio had moved into uncharted seas, and each of the icebergs were the shapes of those nights he’d started to spend with Jacobi. They’d spent innumerable heartbeats together, moving—gradually—off the edge of the normal, social world.
And she followed them, dragged in their complicated wake. She followed them through darkened and alien seas, each night between them thrusting upwards and bobbing on vast swells. One of those icebergs—one of those nights—would loom too close to her, and she’d strike it. One of those icebergs—and yes, one of those nights—might reveal the new shape of the world to her…and in those moments before sinking and getting lost she’d flounder, struggle…and—
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I don’t know who “She” is, but I know that she has something to do with Valencio and Jacobi, the characters revealed in Deep Sky Radio and in 1420 MHz. I don’t know if “She” will gain a name and a role in the primary narrative surrounding two guys going around listening to outer space on pirate radio antennas. It was interesting, however, to explore a little snippet of Her existence here. As for the image…well…it’s yet another 6-layer concoction. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it and discovering “Her.”
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week/end.
Comments (10)
Wolfenshire
I enjoy the images you make, they always have so much detail and things to look at. And of course the writing is superb as always.
durleybeachbum
So much going on!
flavia49
excellent work
auntietk
Oh man, this is totally a book cover. Wow. Outstanding image! I can see it repeated hundreds of times over in a shop window on a new bestseller. Way cool! Anything with historic images and glow-y numbers has to be good. If you're going to develop "Her," she's going to have to have a hole in her soul ... a self concept that makes her think she can't just walk away. Some connection that ties her to Valencio and/or Jacobi. I mean ... if two people I knew were like icebergs in my life, I would choose to walk away rather than be damaged by their orbits. Great characters have fatal flaws, of course, and it would have to be something that rendered her somehow unable to break away. Or maybe she's an alien agent who has to make sure V & J don't ... ummm ... upset the space/time continuum of ... ummm ... Ceti Alpha VI or something. :P
kgb224
Wonderful writing and a wonderful capture with outstanding postwork. God bless.
Faemike55
interesting narrative and image Excellent work
NefariousDrO
I like the way you describe things. I think we've all found ourselves in something like that on various times of our lives. The tone of the narration is interesting to me, though: it isn't really past tense, yet the way things are described implies that somehow, despite that feeling of doom all around her" she does emerge alive. Perhaps not unscathed, but still alive. Very interesting vignette on a life sweeping out of its control.
MrsRatbag
As always, I appreciate so well how you balance on the precipice of inference (sounds like a garage band, doesn't it? "Precipice of Inference"...maybe something loud and punky...) So much is left to the imagination, which is where the true stories are told. You are a master of this!
jendellas
Amazing image, so much to look at!!! x
KatesFriend
Curiously, this late at night, the image brings to mind the 80's music video 'Goodbye Is Forever' by Arcadia (aka. Half of Duran Duran). I think the clock faces overlaid with a classic car radio dial does the trick. The neon amber glow, all pervasive at the time of night when a song like 'Goodbye Is Forever' was normally played. Certainly not a tune for morning drive time. It's trippy, dreamy melody - like elf music - belonged in the nether reaches of the night. A time when the cosmos could sing chorus over the airwaves and your DJ was free to speak directly to you. At least it felt that way. Perhaps "She" is a kind of DJ. A guide for the listener, or the reader as the night unfolds.