By Armine Asryan (Nane Sevunts)
****

After sitting on a rock for several hours, she stood up and walked back home. Her little doggie welcomed her. This little animal was the only being in her house except her. And even she disappeared for days, and Julie did not know where.

She then took a warm shower. The temperature of the water was close to cold, which she liked. She stood under the water for an hour. The water flowed all over her, and she felt her healthy body trembling from delight.

Julie did not eat much. An apple, an orange was quite enough for her to feel full. After the shower she put on her robe and went out to the front porch. She sat there and drank apple juice. Cigarettes were also a part of her life. It was just one of the pleasures. After the day’s marathon, sitting at the edge of the rock and taking a shower, she wanted to enjoy a cigarette and apple juice.

Then Martin came. They chatted, laughed and entertained each other. It was a long day, and they both went to bed… But Martin did not want to sleep. He wanted to have a night walk in the city, and Julie joined him. They walked in the midst of sky-scraping buildings, bars and cafes. They strolled for almost three hours, not wanting to stop. Walking with a person you care about is just as much fun as sitting at the edge of a rock or winning a marathon. They did not want it to end. They wanted to walk and walk… Finally, Martin took her in his arms, and they went back home.

It was a long, healthy sleep. There they were holding each other’s hands and sleeping with a slight smile on their face. They were happy…

They woke up together and visited a waterfall to stand under it. They screamed and laughed in joy. The water was freezing. Then they sat on the front porch and had two slices of red, sweet apple. Food was not a major part of their life. They mostly drew energy from above in the form of light rays. That was enough not to feel hungry. Apples, apricots, peaches, plums, watermelon – that was their food. They never ate meat or bread. Sometimes they would fry vegetables like peppers, onions or spinach. But that happened very rarely, after they did not have vegetables for months. Their main food was fruit. Besides that – coffee, cappuccino and different varieties of natural juice. And last but not least, a big part of their diet was water.

***

She had a guest from what is Saudi Arabia today. She took him to an underground cave designed for accepting guests. Sharp rocks illuminated, carpets on the bear ground, chandeliers, a big screen for the spacinet, plants, a huge aquarium with sharks inside – this was all in the underground cave. The sheikh from Saudi Arabia took a seat on a big pillow. They talked about life in Arab countries. He talked about his camels, wives and gold. She showed him her collection of diamonds. These were rare pieces of stone shining in the middle of the darkness of the cave. Then they switched on the spacinet and looked at his house in Saudi Arabia. They watched his wives, his children, the business at home, and he showed her how he lives there. Julie served him the most delicious fruits – apricots, figs, honeydew melon, mulberries, pummelo. He brought date plums with him, and they both enjoyed the meal together. After a couple hours of chatting, the guest from Saudi Arabia left this hospitable place and went to the world which he had created and liked.

***

Her days were full of wonders that had no end. Angels played harps for her. She travelled on a sky full of lilies, sleeping in the flowerbeds.

She did one thing after another and never got bored. It was an endless world of surprises and wonders. Once she visited another dimension and a family of “angels” hosted her. A father, mother and two children lived together on the vapors of the sky. They were the happiest beings on earth. They cared about and loved each other. They treated her with some fruits and juice, sang songs for her, and she cheered up. But that was not what she wanted. In her world, nobody cared for anyone else. Everyone could take what they wanted. There was no reason to care about each other or love. There was affection and pleasure, however. It is wrong to say that in their world they were free. Freedom assumes free from something. There was nothing to be free from in her world. Free from what? It was senseless to even utter the word freedom. The doctrine of freedom in the sense used in our time was not workable there. They were completely self-sufficient. They could enjoy life without anybody’s company. Yes, she had a mother to whom she went for affection. She sometimes cooked food for her and would sit with her head on her knees for her mother to comb her hair. They enjoyed each other’s company but each of them had their own world where they would soon return. She had the drive to be with her mother for half a day or so, or maybe a day, but no more. It would become boring. Not only for her, but for her mother as well.

(…to be continued…)

Series – Evanescent

January: If Something Can Go Wrong…It Will – Jonay Quintero Hernández (Spain)

February: The Planet of Pleasure – Nane Sevunts (Armine Asryan) (Armenia)

March: The Evening with Jackie Lee – Gennady Bondarenko (Ukraine)

April: Vuvuzelas, Walkie-Talkies and Madiba Magic – Sarah-Leah Pimentel (South Africa)

May: Remembering – Seyit Ali Dastan (Turkey)

June: 5-4-3-2-1 – Talia Stotts (America)

July: Getting Ready for Newborns – Marilin Guerrero Casas (Cuba)

August: Regrets – Kate Korneeva (Russia)

September: A Hollow Pursuit – Diana Haidar (Syria)

October: The Test – Alejandra Baccino (Uruguay)

November: The Writer’s Daughter – Lauren Voaden (United Kingdom)

December: Translation Perfect – Zhang Lu (China)

Special: Catching Water III – Javier Gomez (Argentina)

Background – Context

Transadaptation Volume 2: Conceived – Childhood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2021)

Transadaptation Volume 1: In the Middle – Prelude to a Contemporary Transadaptation, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2020)

Peripatetic Alterity: A Philosophical Treatise on the Spectrum of Being – Romantics and Pragmatists by Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)

La Syncrétion of Polarization and Extremes Transposée, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)

The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2018)

L’anthologie of Global Instability Transpuesta, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2017)

From Wahnsinnig to the Loony Bin: German and Russian Stories Transposed to Modern-day America, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2013)

Emblems and stories on the international community

Perception by country – Transposing emblems, articles, short stories and reports from around the world

Credits

Cover photo: Yerevan, Armenia – Sinking into the city – Wirestock Creators (Shutterstock)
Source: The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed

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