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#¤$††~~... ...~~††$¤#
¤$††~~.... MOUSE GIRL LIKES SHOES ....~~††$¤
$††~~..... .....~~††$
††~~...... † † † † ......~~††
†~~....... .......~~†
~~........ 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 - .........~
~~........ ........~~
†~~....... † † † † .......~~†
††~~...... ......~~††
$††~~..... (HERE I AM AWAKENED BY THE MORNING CREW) .....~~††$
¤$††~~.... ....~~††$¤
#¤$††~~... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ...~~††$¤#
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