,,,,,,,††§                                          §††,,,,,,,
,,~††$§@@#                                          #@@§$††~,,
,,~††$§@##                                          ##@§$††~,,
,,~††$§§§@                                          @§§§$††~,,
,,~††$§@##                                          ##@§$††~,,
,,~††$§@## †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ##@§$††~,,
,,,,~††$@#                                          #@$††~,,,,
,,~††$§@@#          MOUSE GIRL LIKES SHOES          #@@§$††~,,
,,~††$§@##                                          ##@§$††~,,
,,,,~††††§                †  †  †  †                §††††~,,,,
,,,,,,~~†§                                          §†~~,,,,,,
,,~††$§@## IN  THIS  DREAM I WAS  A  GIRL  OF MAYBE ##@§$††~,,
,,,,,,†$§@ SIXTEEN  YEARS,  TOGETHER WITH MY DAD IN @§$†,,,,,,
,,,,~~†$§§ A  HUGE  BATH HOUSE  /  SPA  /  HOTEL  / §§$†~~,,,,
,,~††$§@## SHOPPING CENTRE.       DAD WAS CONSTATLY ##@§$††~,,
,,~†††$§§@ POINTING OUT  HOT  GIRLS TO ME. "YOU SEE @§§$†††~,,
,,,,,~†$§§   THAT BLACK-HAIRED THING DISSAPEARING   §§$†~,,,,,
,,,,,,††$@ BEHIND  THE  CLOTHES  RACK?  OOF!"  HE'D @$††,,,,,,
,,,,~†††$§ SAY.  HE WAS  ALWAYS VERY  CREEPY  ABOUT §$†††~,,,,
,,,,~†††$§ THIS,   GOING   FOR   GIRLS   MY    AGE. §$†††~,,,,
,,~††$§@##                                          ##@§$††~,,
,,,,,,,~†§ 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) #§††~,,,,,
,,~~††$$@#                                          #@$$††~~,,
,,~††$§@## †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ##@§$††~,,
,,,,~~†§§@                                          @§§†~~,,,,
,,,~~~~†§#                                          #§†~~~~,,,
,,,,,~~†$§                                          §$†~~,,,,,
,,~††$§@##                                          ##@§$††~,,
,,,,,~††§@                                          @§††~,,,,,