Monday, November 05, 2012

What The Dinosaurs See




She held the torn picture of a guitar in her hand.
She looked around. There was nothing to see but wreckage.
And there was no music, only wind over debris.

“I wonder what it’s like,” she said, “to see something, scream,
and to know there’s nothing to be done, nowhere to run.”

“We have science, Miss Stapleton. We’ll understand this.”

She held the torn picture of a guitar in her hand
and her fingers gripped it so tightly that it ripped more.






CDC OFFICIAL: “I’ll take your questions.”

REPORTER: “Is it a virus?”

CDC OFFICIAL: “We don’t know.”

REPORTER: “How does it spread? Is it airborne?”

CDC OFFICIAL: “Airborne is a possibility. We don’t know.”

REPORTER: “Is this an international health hazard or a military concern?”

CDC OFFICIAL: “Both.”

REPORTER: “Are these people alive or dead?”

CDC OFFICIAL: “We don’t know.”


Opening credits
of Zack Snyder’s remake
of
“Dawn of the Dead”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .




“How do the dinosaurs recognize you?” I ask.
“To my eyes you look like a beautiful woman.
You sound like one. You smell like one. You feel like one.
Do dinosaurs see beyond the human spectrum?
Are they sensitive to energies I can’t know?”

She smiles, I think, and says, “Do you know when I knew
what you are? Do you know when I figured you out?”

I back away. I shouldn’t have spoken to her.
But it seemed so safe. I knew I could get away.

I speak not because I have anything to say
but just to stop her from saying another word.

“I was wrong,” I say, “to think I could get away.
I know there isn’t anywhere for me to go.”

I’m moving as fast as I can without tripping.

“I understand now,” I say, “why we must not talk.”

She opens her mouth and I turn and start to run.

I’m far enough away so I can’t hear her speak.

She laughs. Her laugh is loud enough for me to hear.

For an instant I’d seen what the dinosaurs see.








DAVID: “It must feel like your God abandoned you.”

SHAW: “What?”

DAVID: “To lose Dr. Holloway after your father died under such similar circumstances. What was it that killed him? Ebola?”

SHAW: “How do you— How do you know that?”

DAVID: “I watched your dreams.”




























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