Friday, March 25, 2011

After his awkward encounter with Paul Neuman, Dr. Gallagher brewed a cup of tea on his hot plate. Earl grey was his favorite, as he found the scent of bergamot incredibly relaxing. He sat on the edge of the bed to drink it because he had not yet invested in any other furniture. He looked out the window and noted with surprise the sudden sunshine that shone bravely through the many smudges and the desiccated insect carcasses that stuck to the screen. It was a beautiful day, and Dr. Gallagher elected to go for a stroll in order to take advantage of this change in weather. Without his galloshes in the first time in months, his feet felt lighter than ever before, like he had been training for a marathon wearing weights on his ankles. Now unhindered, he felt as if he were floating down the street.
His walk did not take him far. Following the smell of stale popcorn, he wandered toward the vacant lot that was now inhabited by a carnival. Standing in front of the entrance, Dr. Gallagher was quite literally herded through the doors by a collection of humpbacked clowns, all on unicycles. Cackling ferociously, the clowns circled behind him and left him no option but to rush through the gates in order to avoid the stampede. Once he was safely inside the gates, one clown dismounted his unicycle, rushed over to a woman and grinned hungrily in her face. His confrontation elicited a scream from the woman, at which he calmly hopped onto his unicycle and rode off. Dr. Gallagher recognized the woman as Shaunicia Santiago, one of his neighbors at Watershed Heights who was known to stumble noisily through the apartment after a night of partying. He moved his attention to the strange sights around him, specifically to the a kissing booth with the most unattractive woman he had ever seen. The overwhelming majority of her face was covered with two fat, wrinkled lips. Flakes of dried skin hung from the leathery caterpillars on her face, and overlooking them was a huge mole that seemed to be staring him down. Dr. Gallagher quickly turned around so as to avoid making eye contact with the woman, or more specifically, with the woman's mole.

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