The Icosahedra Key and Other Tails

Acknowledgments

Of course, first let me say thank you, to you! What you hold in your hand or more likely on your tablet is a project I have been working on for a few years now. It is my fondest wish that you are entertained by what I have birthed into existence.

To my mother Barbara Jones for whom none of this would have been possible. Through my whole life you have fostered my dreams and gave me the space to grow into the man I am... A unique and odd creation like no other!

To my baba, gone these past several years, Dr. Ibin Saidi Liwaru, half of the reason I am a special person is because of your love and wisdom. Love you.

To my family: my brothers and sister, James, Ben, Jason, and Angela. I know you have all to some degree or another questioned my life path but you have all been supportive no matter where I have journeyed and for that I love you and I wish for you all the happiness that the world can provide you.

To my dear friends I love you all but a special thanks must go to Dan Nakamura, my brother Jamaal Jenkins, the discerning Kevin Kurihara, Goose and Pan and Britt, Wen, the Mad Hatter Alyn Lewis and my sister Lisa, my inspiring brother Aron Lee, and my high school D&D group: Cedric, Rommel, Maurice, Patrick, Pete, and Chris... Yes, I am a nerd and proud of it! Special shoutouts to Bill Owen my first DM, and Dr. Winn who made us all read Dune! Also, shoutouts to George, Mary, Jim, and the beloved and not forgotten Bobby McGee. Some of the best adults a kid could grow up around.

Thanks to Milton, you weren't my father, but you were an exceptional role model to be around and you are missed.

To my nieces and nephews...dream big...dream often...dream out loud until all your dreams come true!

And finally, with all my heart, my feline companions throughout the years to present: Chico, Gin-gin and Latay-latay, Little Pony, you were some of the best cats ever born and thank you for sharing your lives with me; and to my lil guy, who just turned one, Raggamuffin...cats are amazing.

To you all, the ones I have mentioned and the ones I have not, you have inspired me, and I thank you from the center of my glorious and glowing heart!

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

The Alchemist

The Silent Sitter

The Lake

CATS

The Bodhisattva Mittens

Starfish, The Wizard, The Water Square & the Castle by The Sea

Ole Mary Margaret

Ms. Maybelline

THE BARD

Tomorrow Laughs

Story of the Skull in the Desert

The 1st Riddle

Twice Sung

The 2nd Riddle

The Carving Lantern

The 3rd Riddle

The Hottest Hot Sauce

To Sleep Hungry

The Icosahedra Key

The Alchemist

Bubble,

Bubble,

This and That

Spoil the child

And create the brat,

The brew is mild

To some is wild

The Alchemist creates

And begins to make

His creation of chemicals,

His lifeless child,

His potential dream,

His blatant style,

To all is

To all not

The Alchemist creates

What some cannot.

by Bashiri Je Jones...age 16

The Silent Sitter

The Silent Sitter sat

in the seat next to me.

His paling pallid presence

felt in mystery.

A strange storm steals and thunders

the frozen fragile frames

of windows waxed and washed

in mist from coldest seas

the warp of wood

and the wheel wound right

the prow of ships

silhouette the night

and, the quiet widow prays

in candles that light away

the melancholy chill

of memories that play and spill

making minutes mince and stray

grey tones of ancient stones

leech red rimmed rust

from ingots of iron forged

dripping tears to cobblestones

filling cracks of mud and dust

bells blossom and peel

floating bodies, flotsam, and keel

stones rounded by the sea;

a piece of quartz?

an old man's knee?;

a lone seagull

with wounded wing;

a missing eye;

a piece of string

neither night nor day seen in these fogs of grey

which,

with misted fingers reach

through quiet drenched wet streets

silent in the settling

in wind's watchful wail

still the quiet's nettling

spun a mortal tale

the silent sitter sat

in the seat next to me

my greatest wish the sound

as the sitter

silent

leaves.

The Lake

                                                                                  January 03, 1946

Re:  BOB ERVIN HOWARD, transfer of care

TO:  Head of Psychiatry

      John Dibble General Hospital

      Menlo Park, California

          The patient/prisoner is identified as one BOB ERVIN HOWARDS.

We have discovered this information is inaccurate.  There are no records on either side of the South Pacific conflict of any soldier or outside contractor by this name.  It was suggested the name could be a play on a late American writer's name.

Along with this my preliminary analysis and whatever documentation that has been generated, also included is a recording, the only evidence thus far that Mr. HOWARD can speak.  After this recorded interview, my beliefs that Mr. HOWARD has some background in literature, namely with another deceased author, the poet Edgar Allan Poe.  Though I am not trained classically with literature or poetry my colleagues have filled in the gaps.  It was immediately remarked that parts this poem, for lack of a better word, bore striking similarities to the style used by E.A. Poe.  Mr. HOWARD, in this recording, uses a mix of various techniques from basic rhyming to complex alliteration, which hints at a past where the patient had some experience with higher levels of education.  The poem itself could be mere theatrics.  A rehearsed planned act, written and memorized, yet this seems highly improbable for the only outcome would be confinement, in one facility or another.

MR. HOWARD presents acute signs of not only physical deprivations.  He has obviously suffered a traumatic incident which has left him borderline catatonic at some instance, and then only later to swing cross the spectrum to a manic state in others.  He is monitored 24 hours a day and is generally kept in confinement to avoid any further altercations(see case file).  No matter his state, MR. HOWARD is non-verbal(the authorities found him wandering the city have said when asked he gave the above name then said no more), but since we can confirm he has no physical impairments that would exclude him from verbal communication, I have taken to recording our sessions in the off chance he may give a statement or information deemed important.  On the morning October 30, 1945 MR. HOWARD began to speak.  I do not know what inspired this, or what inner block had fallen briefly allowing him to regain his speaking ability.  In rare cases an individual’s neurosis may exhibit compulsions that go beyond regular classifications.  It is apparent Mr. HOWARD suffers from horrific delusions and is assuredly a paranoid schizophrenic.  Whether these are prior conditions remains for further observation and diagnosis to determine.

Though my colleagues and I have not ruled this out, there seems to be no physical sign the patient suffered any head trauma which may have affected the Wernicke's area, and inversely his language comprehension, resulting in Wernicke's aphasia.  Mr. HOWARD follows verbal directions with no difficulties, minus his observed manic.  His behaviors run counterintuitive with a diagnosis of aphasia(though they could later be classified as a new category of this condition).

The patient has some connection to the entertainment field, for at points during the session Mr. Howard appeared to demonstrate ventriloquism, with his voice sounding from different areas of the room, his lips were completely unmoving at these times.  This leaves me to believe he has been trained in theatrics either professionally or has achieved his abilities naturally through self-education.  I can further confirm this is the case with Mr. HOWARD, for several times throughout the recording he caused objects to fall or move, by some undetectable wires or some other method, and once created the effect in the air of a drifting coil of black smoke.  This would suggest more than adequate proficiency in sleight of hand and pick pocketing.  Please tell your staff to keep an eye on their possessions around him, especially all flammables: lighters, matches, cigarettes, etc.

I recommend Mr. HOWARD be committed to a long term care facility and perhaps with proper medication and treatment, an initial trial of ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY to balance his behavior with daily regimen of SODIUM PENTHOHAL and/or MEPHENESIN, MR. HOWARD could potentially find freedom from the demons that possess him.  Currently we are unable to offer such treatment at this facility and are assured shortly this facility with return to its prewar operations.

          (**note: throughout the recording especially towards the end there are certain audio artifacts or anomalies.  We apologize but this was something beyond our control as the new audio equipment had been recently provided by a special medical investigation unit the United States Army Medical Research Laboratories at the Aberdeen Proving Ground out of Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland.  All further inquiries should be directed to their operations.  We were to record Mr. HOWARD's sessions with equipment which had only arrived recently after Mr. Howard's arrival.  We were assured we need only plug in the microphones and press record.)

                                          Yours sincerely,

                                                                        Dr. Donald Petersen, M.D.

4th General Hospital

Manila, Philippines

DP:h

"Our bodies on the beach,

Our ship a smoldering wreck,

The jungle watched loud and deep,

The grit of sand on our cheeks.

Of a thousand islands

Fate had granted one.

"With what breath we had we stumbled,

Under a sun that grew and rumbled,

Into a deep and loud obscene

Till not a living man was seen.

"Immediately the jungle closed its grasp,

Heavy wet,

A living mass.

Of things that bit,

That stung,

That roared,

Far worse was the water that poured

From the sky in tearing sheets.

From eyes as soldiers weep

For our fallen not found.

The truth of a war so proud.

The rich invading smell of hot metal and oil

Forging young men for war.

"Separated, we were.

"Lost, for none knew

Of the fate of ship and crew.

Set upon by enemy in air

Without mere moments to spare

Then next awakened still breathing.

We survivors ventured into this seething

Steamy beating sea of evening

Of a verdant sick and weaving.

Its tendrils crossed our broken hearts.

"Chance of help uncertain

With the closing of its curtain.

Its curtains of waxy greens.

"Days passed.

One to next.

Falling forward our only quest

But never fast

In this held morass

So, like a dream descending.

A constant day unending.

Of a hope we kept pretending.

Pretending we would go home.

"Of our trail there was none to follow

For our hellish trek erased by morrow,

Our dead it quickly swallowed.

This coiling broiling nest of serpents

Which feed on light and water,

And life that quickly rotted

When life was there departed,

Yet the vessel still remained.

"One by one,

Ripped and ruined,

Undone by this journey of consuming,

It was slow, our recognition

The changing of our position

From oppression heat and hell,

From tight and closely held,

To an opening sun kissed swell,

To a downward stretch of land.

"And there below,

Amongst Herculean stones,

A welcome sight we came across.

"The jungle had unclenched its grasp

Into an area we could pass.

"Our haunted trance dawned understanding,

Of this new world we saw expanding,

A forgotten dream commanding

We awoke from our hypnotic wake;

In the heart of an ancient kingdom,

At the edge of an ancient lake.

"Clear, so clear

As if no reflection could appear

Of a sky now seen blue above.

"On our knees we kneeled and trembled,

Our deprivations marked resembled.

Resembled pleading worshipers assembled,

Assembled at the feet of God.

Blue and green and teal,

Those ancient still waters revealed.

Revealed a bottom devoid of murk

Nor any creatures that swam or lurked,

Water more inviting than a lover's arms.

"Charmed,

Quickly we set to work,

To quench the thirst which perched

In our throats that stung and hurt,

From the taste of the rotted earth,

And the fetid air we'd found.

"To quench the fire made

By the jungle and its blaze.

Stoked and fed while in its cage

Its maze of deepest green.

"Our fingers broke....

The still waters.

"Then....they came.

"Walking…

Never talking.

Lithe gentle creatures stalking.

Stalking us victims of the mocking

Jungle and its creeping deep.

Of exotic features pure,

They spoke without a word.

Green eyed and brown of skin

They invited us all in.

They welcomed us with ease

But filled with fear we seized

To accept their welcome hands.

"Yet our hunger did not retreat

And quickly we joined their feast,

A meal of exotic treats.

Mostly sour, yet often sweet

Such succulent bits of meat

That we sucked between our teeth.

"Time seemed to slow.

Bitter honey in the snow,

Sweet but not to know

Of the bitter fall in Spring.

The thaw the light would bring

As the amber drop ripped free.

Night finally raised her hand

As I was guided by a plan,

By a maiden's open hand,

Into a jungle now more friend

Than foe.

"But....

I paused.

Holding a moment

Freezing when Mother has called.

Sensing some disturbance

A change in the air,

That made her whisper admonishments

‘Son, you must take care!’

"I released the maiden's hand

And the opium of her presence ran

And a cloud upon my eyes...

Lifted!

And I was no longer blind.

"Dead all around me.

At the lake's edge...dead.

The water reflecting what couldn't be said.

My comrades in arms

Dressed and ready

Like hogs on the farm.

‘Steady’

I thought to myself.

Heady

The scented remains of our repast.

"I recognized others.

All our fallen brothers.

Brothers I had left behind

As they had withered and died,

But now,

Obviously saved

From the jungle's decaying dismay.

"Here they all were!

And next to them

Racks!

Set above fires

That smoldered and cracked.

That gave off sweet smoke.

That caused me to choke.

Then to invoke

All my stomach contained,

From the feast of these folk.

"No fiends!

Some twisted and sick walking disease.

Feeding dark gods, they could never appease

While wearing faces

Like you and me.

"I spun.

Fleeing in fright

As the true face of my hosts

Came into sight.

"Misshapen and lurching,

Arms too long for their frames.

Brows massive and heavy,

Heads covered in dark manes.

Round swollen bellies.

Eyes set too wide apart.

Skin painted in tattoos

Of the darkest of arts.

Some primordial race

That had been lost and forgotten,

Who never knew wheel

And were more like the haunted,

And the cursed.

Who have not been saved

By the sacrifices

Man had to make.

Being blessed with a rise

Evolving to find

A path free of the mire

While other creatures expired.

Finding Gods

And Goddesses

More like us.

Who offered us blessings

And thrones we could touch.

"These lake living things had none

At least none no sane human could love.

"No Buddha or Moses.

Nor sacred red roses.

They even stood removed

From that garden of two,

And the first act

The serpent issued.

"From the damned I ran

Clutching my life.

In my waking right hand

Clutching my knife.

The jungle played

Toyed with my soul.

Guiding me on a path I could not control.

The green opened,

And said to me...behold!

"Covered in vines,

Encircled by trees,

Shined the face of a god

That offered no peace.

It rose high against the hill

Carved from a strange glistening stone.

Larger than life, surrounded by bones.

What light there was danced,

Stars trapped under its skin.

"Impossible!

"Something so massive should not yet be undiscovered

At least by recent spy planes

In their passes and hovers.

But here it was!

"Here It was!

"’It’ was all it could be.

Devoid of physiognomy like she or he

My mind sought to define

But the more I sought

The steeper the climb.

Coils obscuring.

Parts of it stirring.

Folding fat wrinkles of flesh.

Scales or pustules or tiny sharp horns.

A thing still maturing

Yet to be born.

Frozen in some amoebic state.

A gestating embryo in space.

I couldn't tell!

The eyes!

Deep and black,

An unwanted sky.

"It saw me!

"I was sure,

Feeling its presence

In the tears which had blurred,

Clouding my vision

From this holy sight,

Worshiped by monsters

That preyed on the night.

Prayed, to some thing

No heaven had made.

"Screaming.

Writhing.

Barely even breathing.

I flew into jungle,

A fell into evening.

For how long

I do not suppose,

Finally,

I awoke from my nightmare,

Madness and tatters my clothes.

Not much more I can tell you

This was all that was shown.

The answers you seek

Are not mine to hold.

But this I can answer.

Never to go

And drink from the waters

Where no reflection may grow.

Nor eat with the people,

Who worship dead bones

Of an ancient deity

Who rests in repose…

Waiting and watching

To steal back its throne."

CATS

The Bodhisattva Mittens

Opposable thumbs.

One of the physical keystones to the evolution and rise of humankind.  Earth’s most dominant sentient species.

Opposable thumbs.

Now, there are mixed opinions as to how big, or how little, the evolution of opposable thumbs for Homo sapien’s ancestors was in terms of the creation of a truly sentient species.  Cognizant and self-aware.  Some postulate that without the opposable thumb humans would have never developed tools and the brain capacity to use said tools.

Others stated if humanity had evolved with only four fingers and no thumbs it would mean only that the tools would be different, yet the brain would have developed more, or less, the same.  The trajectory of sentience is unerring.

Felis sapien.  Common relative Felis catus. All agree, on one level or another, that their birth into sentience began with opposable thumbs, and after that things accelerated.

By the year 2047 genetics had become rather advanced.  Advanced enough that many things could be manipulated and created.  Mostly the genetic market was made up predominantly of human self-enhancements, and enhancements to a fetus's genetics in utero.  The rest of the market was divided into genetic improvements to food and food production, and the cloning of domesticated animals.

In 2050 the movie, The Big Miss, dominated the box offices, and its biggest selling point was an adorable and quirky chihuahua pitbull mix named Alexander.

Alexander was so popular that demands for his species grew exponentially. Not wanting to miss out on the potential profits, the film producers decided to clone the star of their film and offered up clones for an exorbitant amount. Over 10,000 of these clones sold.  It was a huge windfall.

For the modern pet owner it became a status symbol to have one's pet genetically modified and/or altered, and the pinnacle was to genetically create, completely from paws to claws, your pet and have it born into an artificial womb in a sterile and well-lit lab. Height, fur length and texture, eye color, immunities to allergens and built-in scent blockers to deter fleas and ticks, and other creepy crawlies which lived off blood, all options in a pet’s creation.

Frederick Kerry.  He was a financial wizard, born from wealth; and a fond owner of a few select Felis catus with high price tags and higher pedigrees. He could have anything, and there was nothing he couldn't have made, within reason and the limitations of technology. He was a man of particular and rumored peculiar tastes. A chronic bachelor, he would often date serially, preferring female companions overall. All were under legal restrictions, signed NDAs, in terms of discussion during, or after, regarding the nature of relationship and his proclivities if any, sexual or otherwise. All would admit, legally, that, he loved cats.

Garden.

Was her name.  The first of her kind, created to appease a powerful man’s desires.

Large for her species and the breeds she was blended from.  Short hair that ran gold-blond to white.  A longer than average tail, but more sinuous, prehensile, more like a monkey's than a cat's tail.  Large eyes, cobalt blue with flecks of golds and deep browns.

All this made her special and the most expensive feline yet created, but it was two key genetic upgrades which set her apart from all others making her a potential Eve of feline proportions.

These upgrades: a slightly enlarged frontal lobe; and...small hands with opposable thumbs.

They say Kerry was happier than anyone had ever seen him.  He got into the habit of throwing parties to show off his Garden.  Many guests witnessed the no expense lavishness he heaped on his pet.

This was considered the beginning of Felis sapien.

Over the next few years, others created their own Garden's, but authorities, fearing unchecked genetic manipulation of domestic species, set new limitations on how much could and should be manipulated genetically...and after allegations were put against Frederick Kerry, and his relationship with his pet, the trend died out, and years later Garden and others like her followed suit.

Yet, this was enough. Possibly, some form of animalistic jealousy sparked Felis catus to make its own natural genetic leap, as over the preceding decades more and more of this species naturally developed opposable thumbs and small fingers to match.  It didn't end there.  Those cute little meows which had bordered on actual words like momma or I love you suddenly became clear and unmistakable.  Baby talk from kitties slowly became the norm.

It could not be doubted Felis catus was evolving rapidly, when they went from 4 leg-walkers to 2 leg beginning the transformation to Felis sapien.

It was cute.  It was novel.  It was exciting.  Other pet owners looked to their canine companions, searching for similar natural genetic upgrades.  Who wouldn't find Fido cuter if he suddenly could speak when spoken to? They weren't so lucky as man's best friend remained as such: obedient and dumb to death.  Some say, it was the close indoor relationship Felis catus' shared with humans that was the truest of sparks for their awakening.  Perhaps canines were too dependent on humankind.

The Earth entered a new era, and a percentage of humankind wasn't particularly happy about it.

It wasn't easy for some to share what had been given over to them by a divine creator, or a coincidental universe.

Many humans believed Felis sapien was the height of cool and novel.  But the open door to share the world humanity had known, that started with glassy eyes and wide grins at these new beings, didn't stay open.  Some humans felt vastly inept and slow when compared to the new intelligent cats, who naturally showed more flare and wit than most humans.

Humans still owned cats.

This naturally led to the emancipation of all domesticated felines, sentient or not.  Some humans were not comfortable being called slave owners solely because of their possession of unenlightened felines whom they loved.

In a bold action, as a species, Felis sapien bought Africa and parts of Indonesia and South America. Bought might be too strong a word.  More like bartered for control through donations and direct negotiations.  Almost overnight the trade, legal and illegal, of cats large and small was completely stopped.  The barbaric custom of ripping apart, especially the large cats, for medicinal and procreative cures was nixed.  Some countries sought to stop this but failed and were compensated financially to accept the inevitable. Lions and tigers were saved, oh my! Bears weren’t so lucky.

It was only natural that Felis sapien started to adopt human qualities, and concepts of justice and social customs.

The world began to see its first human and cat couples, which led many to question laws regarding bestiality and cross species mating, if possible.  Misplaced fears of cat-human hybrids taking over the world had purists, on all sides, rallying in front of government houses and courts of law all over the world.

Keep your paws to yourself!

Cross-species love is a SIN!

Fur is murder! Of the human species!

The sale of cat toys, hairbrushes, shampoos and conditioners, hair dyes and hair treatments increased as Felis sapiens became consumers.  Even hair loss products specifically for felines became a thing.  Hair loss for a Felis sapien could be devastating.

Pets...they started to own pets.  Birds and dogs, even fish as strange as that was, but only as strange as humans that ate pork yet owned pet pigs.  Mostly Felis catus had a fondness for primate species.  It became common to see a cat person walking about with a small monkey on a leash.  As this trend began, it was met with smiles and laughter, until it was commented their choice of pets may be a direct statement about humans having owned their kind in the past.

Humans owned them before sentience, now were they trying to own humanity’s cousins?

Smiles soon turned to frowns.

Felis sapien. Average height 3.5' tall.  Average weight 44.5 lbs.  Like its less evolved cousin, Felis catus, they have eyes of varying shades and hues. Hair running the gambit from short to long, and every color except green and purple, excepted when dyed my choice.

It was known that Mittens' ancestors had Persian ancestry but from there it was anyone's guess his exact lineage.  Born full furred under an auspicious moon, though one man’s auspicious moon is another’s bad moon rising, Mittens was an avid student and devoted to solving the social ills of both feline and human.

It surprised most humans that Mittens was who he was, but in human history, though