Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 12:49:02 EDT From: Message-ID: <93133.124902BANNON@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: Re: [Karl] Ashes to ashes... References: <1993May11.183653.22731@midway.uchicago.edu> Hazy had been spending some time in the Southern Islands having made friends with some Tin Pot Dolphins and followed them down there for the Thronging of the species. It was an invitation too interesting to pass up. She left them because she wanted to be sure she was back in Generica for the a.p.Dragon's Inn birthday celebration. Flying in over the city in her mist form, she dodged spectacular bursts of fireworks, so as not to "dampen" the displays. They were breathtaking, huge, brilliant, and some even made musical chimes and flute-like sounds as they drifted to the ground. On impulse she decided to see if Karl was about. He wasn't the sort to go out this early in the evening, it usually took him a while to get up a head of steam. He might be at home. She arrived at his quarters and saw a young man with a melancholy air about him walking down the street away from the building. "Too bad, to be so unhappy on a night such as this," she thought sympathetically. At the door she darkened to a more solid form and banged the iron doorknocker. There was no response after several minutes. Hazy sighed. "Oh well. Friendly company would have been nice. Perhaps I should slip in and leave him a note." She smiled thinking that he would like that, especially since he had been the first one to start her on the road to literacy while on shipboard. She faded to an invisible mist and wafted down to the ground and through the crack underneath the door. She drifted about a little, seeing things she remembered here and there. His trunk. His books. Some of his scrimshaw. She figured as long as she didn't touch anything, he probably wouldn't mind. He wouldn't know she had looked around anyways. She would put in the note, "Just came in for a second. Couldn't stay. Wanted to leave a note and then hurry off to......." She stopped abruptly in the doorway to his room. There he was on the bed asleep. If she woke him up, she might get in trouble for being pushy and nosey. If she didn't she wouldn't get to talk to him. It had been a LONG time since she'd seen him. She drifted over to the side of the bed and solidified to her usual pearly gray. "Karl!" she whispered. "K-A-rl!" "K-A-R-l!" She touched his cheek with her cool damp hand. His cheek was no warmer than her hand. Then she noticed his chest wasn't moving. "Awww, Karl. My friend, Karl. Why did you have to be a human!?" She smoothed his hair gently. "Why do humans have to leave like this? Oh, I just don't like this at all." Then suddenly, she put her hand to her cheek and her eyes focused way off into the distance. A wave of thoughts had crashed into her mind and everything was all swirling around. "Dear old man, I guess this is one adventure I cannot join you on. I HOPE you take better care of yourself on this journey. It's an awful big and mysterious universe. Perhaps, somehow, our paths may yet cross again." She looked down at him once more. It seemed like she was suppposed to do something or say something. She had no idea what. Odd how different Generica was, now that she knew Karl wasn't in it. She patted his shoulder, sighed, and left. In her darker gray form she walked pensively down a dim cobblestone street. A well-dressed couple approached from the other direction. The man whispered something to the lady and she laughed. After taking a few steps past them Hazy stopped and turned to look at their retreating backs. "Karl is dead, you know!" she called after them. The lady glanced back over her shoulder and shook her head. She murmmered something to the man and he chuckled. Hazy Drifter (R.I.P. Karl)