David Naimon - A Story
Hêxamöröus
Nancy Shêng pushed upwards out of Yijing, her low-lying hometown, and departed southward. She laughed at the town’s unhappy truism that “she who pushes upwards does not come back.” Yet she planted herself here in Happy Valley, our southern town, and rooted down. She befriended its great men and superior women, had success at small thing after small thing, and heaped each into a great, high mound upon which she hoped to achieve something high and great. Her signs, “Take a Chance with Nance,” sprung from the receptive earth and rustled in the breeze from every grassy knoll and feral grove of swaying bamboo. She hoped her green thumb and spring-like touch, the aura of good fortune that she shone upon our humble and forgotten hamlet, would translate into mayoral victory.
The setting of the debate--a setting sun clinging like fire to a joyous lake, Nance wrapped in the sunny hide of a yellow cow, mayor Li swathed in the dark shadows of yesterday’s ermine pant suit--set the calendar in order. “Fellow Happy Valleyians, Ms. Shêng is not a sister Valleyian, but a stranger, a Yijingian,” Li said. “Behold the strange hatted ‘e,’ in her unfamiliar name.” Nance, unhatted, docile, restrained, bovine even, finally flipped her hide to reveal its tiger stripes, and feeling feline, flipped a coin, roshamboed, ick-ack-ocked, read her ‘paper’ palm, and having divined a response, tossed aside one of two sheaves of papyrus and read from the other. “Times change, Happy Valleyians, and with them their demands,” she said. “Happy Valley isn’t happy, not to mention it isn’t, factually or topographically-speaking, in a coulee, glen, dell, hollow or valley.”
Outside the haberdashery mayor Shêng inquired of former-mayor Tui Li, “may I call you Tui, mayor Li?” tipping her newly donned victory hat in graceful provocation (a leopard-skin pillbox to be precise, one almost spurned for a velvet shtreimel, if not for a quick consult before a scrying mirror hidden in Nance’s handbag). Mayor Shêng’s first thirty-six days (six six-day weeks) focused on small matters, fun and fungible projects of little controversy, undertakings that garnered her favor from even her toughest critics. “The firm ascends and gives form to the yielding,” they declared when Nance successfully funded a perpetual bonfire before the more beautiful side of Happy Valley’s only hill, declared the hamlet’s holiday lights strung through arboreal arms and elbows year-round, and hired unemployed arthritic origami-ists to make buoyant candle-laden paper-constructed boats to illuminate the petite canal at night. The arts flourished, and with them the artists. Small but innumerable beautification projects gave a form and grace to our little hamlet. But looking back at those golden days, even then some of it seemed, well, happenstance and strange.
Thê cêlêstial pivot of thê Grêat Bêar, thê polishêd stonês of a part-timê lithomancêr, a Byzantinê tanglê of bathtub hair, thê ingrown toênails of a dancêr—Nancê was a dêmocratic divinêr, consulting all oraclês with êqual êquation. From up high, mystêriês wêrê brought down to bêcomê laws: coffêê (and caffêinatêd têa) flowêd frêê, dogs worê diapêrs, stop lights turnêd bluê or purplê or êvên êcru, and squirrêls donnêd fashionablê tartan jackêts with nut-sizêd pockêts and pouchês. Thê town, now nêwsworthy and touristêd, was happy if not vallêyêd, happy until a fatêful caucus of thê council of dêfêatêd mayors (thêm and thêir rêliêvêd or disappointêd spousês), whêrê êx-mayor Tui stood and with a losêr’s wobblê pointêd across thê mêat and drink of thê tablê, toward thê honorary futurê dêfêatêd mayor who was always, in a gêsturê of hopêfulnêss or rêsignation, thê annual mêêting’s chair. “Futurê dêfêatêd mayor Shêng, your acts, howêvêr capricious, mêrcurial, or cyphêrical, should bê laudêd for thêir carêfully chosên small and accêptablê targêts, but your rêcênt sêlêctions, if by choicê or happênstancê, intêntion or chancê, havê bêcomê biggêr, and by that I mêan largêr, and if thêy’rê not in thê futurê morê collaborativêly considêrêd, cêrtainly could controvêrsial bêcomê. Considêr thê watêr from thê hamlêt spigot, forêvêr abysmal, dismal êvên bêforê your rêign, and yêt whilê you spill ovêr with solutions you rêfrain to tap thê hamlêt wisdom of our grêat and supêrior êldêrs who’vê sung to you in a unifiêd sing-song chorus: do not cross thê grêat potablê watêr rêsêrvoir by thê forêst with crisscrossêd slicês of floating cucumbêr and cataloupê, nor êdiblê flowêrs, nor thêir pêtals, stamêns, stêms or pistils.” Bêforê Nancê could risê to drop thê issuê, to unholstêr hêr hands in a Sphinx-likê ictus, thê two halvês of thê tablê tittêrêd in a lovêlêss split, dêfêatêd mayors and dêfêatêd mayors’ spousês lêaning Shêng-ward or Tui-ward as Tui lêanêd toward Kên, pullêd hêr husband in, and pushêd out hêr most pêrsonal plêa: “...but most of all, and bêating closêst to my stêrnum, is thê issuê, that on thê surfacê silliêst sêêms, but êvêr sincê you’vê placêd thê pointiêst of hats atop êach and êvêry instancê of our softêst and most sênstivê vowêl you’vê changêd my husband Kên, hiddên and hattêd thê utmost êssêncê of onê for whom you’vê madê no vow, and I cannot this day êvên spêak to say ‘I miss thê Kên that Kên oncê was’ without it sêêming a pointlêss tautology now.”
“Ênough with your quêstions, ênough with your whys!” Nancê criêd in distrêss, but bêforê it grêw silênt shê bêêfêd rathêr loudl in a liaison of noisê that bêcamê furthêr words that shê hopêd would bê sniffêd if not also hêard. “A town alwa s changês êxcêpt for its wêll, êxcêpt for its sourcê, which nêvêr incrêasês, dêcrêasês or dêcêasês of coursê, unlikê thosê that comê and go and draw nourishmênt from thê inêxhaustiblê bêlow, and as our ma or I am thê wêll of our wêllnêss, thê unchangêablê cêntêr of all that around us changês, thê sourcê who êxhorts êach and êvêry fêllow to êncouragê êach othêr whênêvêr our work grows stalê and êllows.” Êx-ma or Tui Li, whên Nancê finsihêd hêr vêrbal balonê , grêw pissêd at this ma or so forêign and phon , and in a furor far from friêndl shê knockêd a laz susan into a dêad-ê êd craz , goosing thê grog into a far-flung splattêr and thê jug that it camê from into a brokên clattêr just as Tui’s rust vibrato squêakêd a rêjoindêr to Nancê’s disjointêd mottos: “first ou takê Kên from mê, hatting his innards, thên ou banish our “ s” without êvên a warning, so now whên I find m sêlf têndêr, unpantiêd and rand , I can’t êvên pull Kên closêr and call him ‘m Kênn ,’ but êvên if his namê wêrê simpl Norman and minê simplê Suê, I still couldn’t sa “Norm, don’t ou know I lovê onl ou,‘ and what kind of ma or would bê so carêlêss as to makê a town systêm that was so vêr lovêlêss? But bêforê ou answêr lêt mê just sa this clêarl to ou, it’s undêbatablê to mê and to êach and êvêr all of us, ou’vê madê Happ Vallê morê prêtt and bêautiful, our spokên languagê morê dêscriptivê and l rical, thê watêr morê fragrant, flowêr , and êdiblê, thê town morê cêlêbratêd, toastablê, and lêss forgottên, thê pêtitê canal morê romantic, lêss rottên, but all of thêsê changês havê bêên donê just b chancê and nonê of thêsê chancês wêrê choicês b choosêrs, and I havê to sa wê all fêêl likê big losêrs to bê forcêd to spêak in an êvêr-worsêning rh mê, and ês in a rh thm with lêss and lêss rêason, whêrê thê sounds of our sêntêncês mêan morê than thêir mêaning, and as ou grow strongêr thosê samê sêntêncês grow longêr, and isn’t it basic thê abilit to quêstion, thê right to sa wh , for what purposê, for what rêason, and as nicê as it is to sêê our hamlêt on thê nêws êvêr sêason, isn’t it important that wê gêt to choosê?” Lifting thê town tablê up from thêir fictions and into thêir shoês, Tui’s disquisition was a talk for thê nêws, but not wavêring sidêwa s or wobbling ovêr, Nancê opênêd hêr vêst-coat rêvêaling a pockêt, from which shê pullêd out not onl a tickêt but thrêê flattênêd coins and a bullêt of lint, thên a hêêl of chêêsê so smêll it stêamêd, a colorlêss êlixir in a sphêrulê that glêamêd, a tanglê of skêp straw, not quitê a skêin, and finall a pêndulum that Nancê put into motion, which swung bêforê thêsê doodads, gadgêts and potions, and whên it finall pointêd at its objêct of choicê, a rust kê skêlêton and its crookêd kê -têêth, Nancê bêgan hêr toothsomê and most spêêch spêêch: “ ou sa ou want changê, but b choicê not b chancê, but I darê to rêmind ou ou chosê ma or Nancê, so if ou chosê to êlêct mê thên whên push comês to pull, with all said and spokên, was it trul chancê at all, or thê choicê of all choicês that changêd all our voicês, and if thê problêm is thê divining of Naturê’s grêatêr rulê instêad of consulting our innêr know-it-all fool, arê ‘wê’ ( ou choosing mê to choosê for all us) not still choosing from whom to divinê from and just how to do it, and arên’t êach of us, if wê stop to bêliêvê it, just channêls of changê for a grêatêr divinê choicê that unitês us and potêntiall êvên dêlights us, and, I finall ask ou, doês intêntion trul disappêar whên wê invitê chancê to changê us, or doês chancê mêrêl displacê us from a sêlf-cêntêrêd êcho, dancing bêsidê us in a two-stêp co-crêation lêt go, onê that allows for choicê, changê, chancê and êlation?” Êx-ma or Tui Li with a sl glêam in hêr êyê, shortl rêtortêd with quitê thê surprisê: “So as thou said, thou maê bê our maior, thou maê bê our wêll, thou maê nêvêr changê, thou maê alwaes changê us, our livês rêarrangê, our wêll-watêr maê wêll bê clêan to thê corê, thê wêll’s walls wêll-linêd and wêll-carêd for, but wê warn thêê maior, thê ball’s still in our court, wê can still dip in a buckêt with a ropê that’s too short, choosê to rêfusê thêê, to not drink what thou offêrs, to add our own chancê choicês to thê town’s changing coffêrs, to bêat thêê and dêfêat thêê dictum biê dictum, to push thêê out of our hamlêt, likê dung from a rêctum.”
Thê rêbêlliön bêgan swiftlêê likê twö öcêan öttêrs, an anönömöus umlaut têsting thê watêrs, silêntlêê sliding atöp all öf öur “ö”s fröm right undêr Shêng’s höökêd and cröökêd Êêjigian nösê, but söönêr than söön, as thê rêbêlliön grêw höt and harmönic, thê tactics bêcamê tactical, thê sintax sintactical, thê simböls quitê c:ö:l:ö:nic, and t:ö: thê :ö:ö:dlês :ö:f l:ö:ö:pêd innards :ö:f this c:ö:mpactêd t:ö:wn hamlêt, thêsê c:ö:l:ö:nizêd w:ö:rds bêhavêd likê a t:ö:nic. S:ö:ö:n wê :ö:ö:psêê-daisêd with :ö:ö:l:ö:gists :ö:n thê p:ö:ö:p-dêcks :ö:f :ö:ö:miaks, dr:ö:ö:lêd at d:ö:ö:zêê sp:ö:ö:ls :ö:f z:ö:ö:mêd f:ö:ö:tagê :ö:f n:ö:n-:ö:ö:gam:ö:us :Ö:ö:mpah-L:ö:ö:mpa maniacs, b:ö:ö:zêd :ö:n sm:ö:kêd :ö:ö:l:ö:ngs at thê k:ö:ö:kêê lag:ö:ö:n-sidê sal:ö:ö:n f:ö:rt, and h:ö:ö:têd “:ö:ö:hs” and “:ö:ö:h-ahs” at thê nêw :ö:ö:litê statuê :ö:f :Ö:ö:rt. Wê wêrê rêadêê f:ö:r this battlê, t:ö: c:ö:nfr:ö:nt thê mightêê might :ö:f hêr, t:ö: unm:ö:ö:r hêr fr:ö:m hêr languagê-saddlê, t:ö: put thê mightêê fight t:ö: hêr, but n:ö:thing c:ö:uld prêparê us f:ö:r thê sh:ö:ck :ö:f thê vêrêê flight :ö:f hêr. F:ö:r shê l:ö:adêd a big wag:ö:n, mêant f:ö:r n:ö:thing but lêaving, with hêr p:ö:ssêssi:ö:ns in grêat mêasurê hêapêd t:ö: thê cêiling, pilês :ö:f pêt turtlês, c:ö:i p:ö:ö:dlês, mirtlê griddlês, c:ö:ilêd kugêls, h:ö:ö:kêd findings, b:ö:nê c:ö:mbings, c:ö:mbêd l:ö:ngings and wall wêavings, and bêf:ö:rê wê c:ö:uld w:ö:rrêê that this was a pl:ö:i, pl:ö:t :ö:r schêmê, bêf:ö:rê wê c:ö:uld tuba an :ö:ö:mphêd :ö:ö:mpah in awêd vict:ö:rêê, Mai:ö:r Shêng thrêw hêr last lawn sign back at:ö:p hêr big pilê, swung :ö:pên hêr vêst c:ö:at with an atipical smilê, rêvêalêd hêr c:ö:at p:ö:ckêt and thê thrêê c:ö:ins within, which shê t:ö:ssêd :ö:nê last timê with a fatêful last spin, int:ö: thê shad:ö:ws cast d:ö:wn fr:ö:m thê sun, thê firê in thê hêavêns that shad:ö:wêd êach and êvêrêê:ö:nê. Aftêr a m:ö:mênt t:ö: takê it all in, thê Happêê Vallêê familêê that w:ö:uld sêêminglêê win, shê glancêd at thê c:ö:ins, castêd and divinêd, and sp:ö:kê hêr last spêêch biê spêaking hêr mind: “You think this is a battle to be won or to be won not, to champion choice over chance and cause change with your umlauts, but I leave not today because I lose in surrender, I go my own way for what you’ve done I’ve engendered: the riddle of potential is something you now know, the spirit of not-knowing takes hold in the town soul, and thus your winning is really my doing and I am victorical, my work here is done, historic and historical, and I assure you that this town as it returns to its norm, as the lines in your hexads shorten and conform, as the words in the lines all throw off their hats, as the whys in your minds all swarm again like gnats, that the language you see now as I return to Yijing, will never be the same no matter how ordinary it seems, for once one has seen it it can’t be unseen, the mystery behind words and the enigma in between. Your hamlet returns now to a town so familiar, your days and your nights less strange and particular, but in some future moment no more different than similar, on a stroll beside the canal, say, with your undiapered dog, or after a long meeting every ego clamored to hog, remember to think back to that once upon a time, when you voted for chance and you looked to divine, when a simple ‘o’ colonized became a rebellious sphincter, a little ‘e’ circumflexed a hatted intruder, a vowel umlauted two saboteur otters, a phrase rhymed and rhythmed an unbearable prison, a sentence lengthened a measure of power, the space between letters a place and a playground, where words became animals and humans strangely unbound, and with this I leave you to puzzle out together, for this story ends harmonious and with glorious weather, but instead of saying so long, cheers, or see you later alligator, adios, adieu, bon voyage or sayonara, I’ll bless you instead with a modest strange kindess before I take off forever on a road that is signless, so here’s to you Happy Valley, to you through and through, here’s to you Happy Valley, here’s to you, t:ö:ö:dlê-:ö:ö:!!!”
Author's Note: At the beginning of each of the six six-sentence paragraphs of Hêxamöröus the I-Ching coins were thrown. The resulting hexagram, while not dictating the plot, influenced the themes, tone and narrative choices of the following paragraph. Additionally, the language of the I-Ching's commentary on the hexagrams influenced the vocabulary of the paragraph written under its influence.