Chapter 10:

Distraction from Distraction

“It’s a great story, Nathan, but you’re skirting the issue,” Davies accused.

“I’m what?”

“You said you’d tell me about Michelle,” Davies leveled. He looked groggy, incapable of keeping on topic, and yet...

Marvelous took a long deep breath. How long had it been since he’d voiced such a sacred memory? Such openness was rare, and never before had Nathan told this particular tale. Did Davies see this difficulty as hesitation? It wasn’t. Marvelous was beyond any hesitation. Before, he only cared to tell such tales to one person—but she was now the subject of his stories. ever again would she be the audience, which was a bitter shift in Nathan's world. “I’m getting to it,” he promised.

“Don’t think I’m gonna let you off just because you spin a good yarn. I told you about my girlfriend, it’s only fair you talk about yours.”

“I never asked you to!” Nathan noted.

“I told you anything and everything,” Davies stated, ignoring Nathan's protest. “I told you far more than I should have...”

“It’s not a question of vital statistics,” Nathan noted. “I could give you those in a flash—but they wouldn’t say a damn thing about her. She’s nothing without context, and that’s what I’m trying to give you.” he sighed. “Give me a minute to get there. I promise this is not some snipe hunt.”

“What’s a snipe?” Davies asked.

Marvelous smiled, “It’s a small flightless bird that doesn’t exist.”

“So a snipe hunt is…” Davies smiled.

“Exactly.”

“I’ve been on snipe hunts in my day,” Davies admitted. “They weren’t called such, but they were snipe hunts nonetheless.”

“Like what?”

“Soldiery is a snipe hunt.”

“You think so?”

“Trying to bring about peace by making war? That’s quite the imaginative twist! I feel it’s like trying to end world hunger by sewing everyone’s mouths shut. Or trying to make lemons out of lemonade.”

Marvelous laughed.

“People go on snipe hunts all the time,” Davies asserted.

Marvelous agreed, “Psychoto is a snipe hunt.”

“The bastard that blew up your house?” Davies asked. “You don’t think he exists?”

“I’m beginning to wonder,” Nathan admitted.

“I don’t think he qualifies,” Davies asserted.

“Justice is a snipe hunt,” Nathan amended.

“Damned flightless imagination,” Davies squinted with thought and turned his head to the side. “What do you call fictitious birds that can fly?”

“Don’t know.”

“A pipe dream?”

“That’s a terrible name for a bird—especially one that flies,” Nathan stated.

“Yeah...” Davies sighed. He tried to think of something witty to say, but came up short. Perhaps he might have, if not for the heat. The heat was melting his brain.

The two walked on, Marvelous thinking about the other side of the snipe hunt while Davies simply stared about the desert and slowly lost the train of their conversation. “What about a phoenix?” Nathan finally asked.

“Yeah!” Davies grinned, his whole face lighting up. “I like that! Just when you want to kill them, they rise from the ashes. Damned hope!”

“So what would be a phoenix?”

“You mean, like hunting the phoenix?”

“Yeah.”

“Equality. Admirable, but never gonna happen,” stated Davies. “Yet we never give up on it, thank God.”

“Privacy,” noted Marvelous.

Davies shook his head. “That sounds like the bugaboo of the famous.”

“Really? You think the public at large aren't surveyed?” Nathan replied.

Davies shrugged. “I don’t think most people would care. Indeed, I think a lot of them would secretly appreciate the attention.”

“Dear god,” Nathan muttered, quite convinced that Davies was right. “All right then. What would be the most unobtainable happy thought phoenix?”

Davies shrugged. “Maybe its just happiness.”

Nathan snorted—then realized Davies was probably right about that too. After all, how often had he hunted for happiness, only to find it now, in a forsaken desert, where he could not possibly stay? “Huh,” Nathan huffed and shook his head.

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