@¤$††«.... ....«††$¤@
#@#¤$%†«.. ..«†%$¤#@#
@##¤$%†«.. ..«†%$¤##@
#$†††††«.. ..«†††††$#
@@#¤$%†«.. ..«†%$¤#@@
#¤$%«..... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† .....«%$¤#
¤¤¤%«..... .....«%¤¤¤
@@#¤$%†«.. MOUSE GIRL LIKES SHOES ..«†%$¤#@@
@¤¤$$%†«.. ..«†%$$¤¤@
#@#¤$%†«.. † † † † ..«†%$¤#@#
#$%†««.... ....««†%$#
@#$$$%†«.. IN THIS DREAM I WAS A GIRL OF MAYBE ..«†%$$$#@
#@#¤$%†«.. SIXTEEN YEARS, TOGETHER WITH MY DAD IN ..«†%$¤#@#
¤%««««.... A HUGE BATH HOUSE / SPA / HOTEL / ....««««%¤
@##¤$%†«.. SHOPPING CENTRE. DAD WAS CONSTATLY ..«†%$¤##@
¤¤$$†..... POINTING OUT HOT GIRLS TO ME. "YOU SEE .....†$$¤¤
#@#¤$%†«.. THAT BLACK-HAIRED THING DISSAPEARING ..«†%$¤#@#
¤$†«««.... BEHIND THE CLOTHES RACK? OOF!" HE'D ....«««†$¤
¤$†«««.... SAY. HE WAS ALWAYS VERY CREEPY ABOUT ....«««†$¤
@#¤$%«.... THIS, GOING FOR GIRLS MY AGE. ....«%$¤#@
#@#¤$%†«.. ..«†%$¤#@#
#$†«...... THIS NIGHT HE HAD JUST TRIED TO WOO A ......«†$#
##@#$%†«.. GIRL HE CALLED A "MOUSE" BY BUYING HER ..«†%$#@##
¤¤$%%%†«.. SHOES, BUT SHE HAD ACCEPTED THEM ONLY ..«†%%%$¤¤
@¤%««..... TO RUN AWAY IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD. DAD .....««%¤@
¤$%«...... WAS A BIT BUMMED BUT DROPPED IT ......«%$¤
¤%%%«..... QUICKLY. I SAID GOODNIGHT TO HIM AND .....«%%%¤
#@#¤$%†«.. WENT LOOKING FOR THE MOUSE. ..«†%$¤#@#
##@¤$%†«.. ..«†%$¤@##
#@#¤$%†«.. THE BUILDING WAS ENORMOUS AND MAZELIKE. ..«†%$¤#@#
¤¤¤%%†«... WALLS, FLOORS AND PILLARS WERE SET IN ...«†%%¤¤¤
¤%†††..... GREEN MARBLE. THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE RAN .....†††%¤
#@#¤$%†«.. A MAIN BOULEVARD, WIDE AS A STREET, ..«†%$¤#@#
#¤¤¤$%†«.. FRAMED WITH CLAY VASES DARK AS OBSIDIAN ..«†%$¤¤¤#
##@¤$%†«.. AND TALLER THAN A PERSON. IN EACH VASE ..«†%$¤@##
#¤¤$%««... WAS PLACED UPRIGHT A LEAF FROM A PALM ...««%$¤¤#
@#$$†««... TREE OR GIANT FERN. THE BOULEVARD WAS ...««†$$#@
#@#¤$%†«.. DIMLY LIT, WHICH ALLOWED THE POOLS THAT ..«†%$¤#@#
¤$$†...... WERE GENEROUSLY SPRINKLED THROUGHOUT ......†$$¤
#@#¤$%†«.. EACH FLOOR WOULD REFLECT SUGGESTIVE ..«†%$¤#@#
@¤¤%%«.... PATTERNS ON THE MARBLE. ....«%%¤¤@
¤$%†...... ......†%$¤
#¤%%%««... † † † † ...««%%%¤#
##@#¤$†«.. ..«†$¤#@##
#@#¤$%†«.. FOLLOWING THE BOULEVARD, TWO FLOORS UP ..«†%$¤#@#
#@#¤$%†«.. I FOUND HER CRYING BEHIND TWO FERN ..«†%$¤#@#
@¤%†«..... VASES. SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL, AND AS I .....«†%¤@
¤%««...... APPROACHED, SHE LOOKED UP AND SNIVELED. ......««%¤
#@#¤$%†«.. IN THE NEAREST VASE SHE HAD STUFFED ..«†%$¤#@#
#@#¤$%†«.. BOTH THE SHOES. ..«†%$¤#@#
##@#¤%†«.. ..«†%¤#@##
#@#¤$%†«.. I TOLD HER TO FOLLOW, BUT SHE DIDN'T ..«†%$¤#@#
#¤%††«.... MOVE OR SPEAK. SO INSTEAD I SAID TO ....«††%¤#
#@#¤$%†«.. STAY THERE, AND RAN TO GET HER A BETTER ..«†%$¤#@#
@¤$††«.... PAIR OF SHOES THAT SHE WOULD ACTUALLY ....«††$¤@
@#$†«..... LIKE. WHEN I RETURNED, HAVING SPENT .....«†$#@
¤$%††«.... MORE THAN I COULD REALLY AFFORD, SHE ....«††%$¤
#@#¤$%†«.. WAS VISIBLY IMPRESSED. I TRIED TO SOUND ..«†%$¤#@#
@¤%†«««... COOL, SAYING SOMETHING LIKE "WHAT DO ...«««†%¤@
#@#¤$%†«.. YOU THINK, JUST BECAUSE A GIRL HAS A ..«†%$¤#@#
#@#¤$%†«.. FREAKY DAD, SHE DOESN'T HAVE TASTE?" ..«†%$¤#@#
#@#¤$%†«.. BUT MOUSE GIRL JUST LAUGHED AT ME. ..«†%$¤#@#
###¤$%†«.. ..«†%$¤###
#¤%%««.... SHE THEN TOOK ME BY THE HAND AND LED ME ....««%%¤#
#@#¤$%†«.. OUT A SIDE ROUTE TO A CLOSED-OFF ..«†%$¤#@#
#¤%%«..... ROOFTOP WALKING GARDEN, FULL OF JUNIPER .....«%%¤#
@@#¤$%†«.. AND THUJA. IT WAS A LATE EVENING, AND ..«†%$¤#@@
¤$$%†..... THE STARS WERE GLITTERING. BEING .....†%$$¤
##@¤$%†«.. CLOSED, THE GARDEN HAD ITS LIGHT TURNED ..«†%$¤@##
#@#¤$%†«.. OFF, BUT WE COULD STILL SEE OUR WAY ..«†%$¤#@#
#¤¤¤$%†«.. AROUND BY THE LIGHT SHINING DOWN FROM ..«†%$¤¤¤#
##@¤$%†«.. THE WINDOWS OF THE HIGHER FLOORS. ..«†%$¤@##
#$%««..... .....««%$#
##@¤$%†«.. SHE LAY DOWN IN A PATCH OF GRASS. I SAT ..«†%$¤@##
##@¤$%†«.. DOWN ON MY KNEES, AND THEN CRAWLED ..«†%$¤@##
¤$%«...... CLOSER. SHE LAUGHED AT ME AGAIN, AND ......«%$¤
##$$$%†«.. SAID - ..«†%$$$##
##$$†«.... ....«†$$##
¤¤¤%%«.... † † † † ....«%%¤¤¤
##@#¤$%«.. ..«%$¤#@##
¤%%««..... (HERE I AM AWAKENED BY THE MORNING CREW) .....««%%¤
¤$†....... .......†$¤
#@#¤$%†«.. †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ..«†%$¤#@#
#@#¤$%†«.. ..«†%$¤#@#
#¤%«...... ......«%¤#
#@#¤$%†«.. ..«†%$¤#@#
#$$%†..... .....†%$$#
#$$$††««.. ..««††$$$#