####$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$####
#@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@#
#@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@#
#$†~~¨¨¨¨¨                                          ¨¨¨¨¨~~†$#
#@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@#
#@##$††-~¨ †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ¨~-††$##@#
#@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@#
#$†††††-~¨          mouse girl likes shoes          ¨~-†††††$#
@@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@@
#$†††-~¨¨¨                †  †  †  †                ¨¨¨~-†††$#
#@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@#
#$†††††-~¨ in  this  dream  i was  a girl of  maybe ¨~-†††††$#
#@##$††-~¨ sixteen years, together  with  my dad in ¨~-††$##@#
#@##$††-~¨ a  huge bath  house  /  spa  /  hotel  / ¨~-††$##@#
@#$††††-~¨ shopping centre.      dad was  constatly ¨~-††††$#@
##@##$†-~¨ pointing out  hot girls  to me. "you see ¨~-†$##@##
#@##$††-~¨   that black-haired thing dissapearing   ¨~-††$##@#
####$††-~¨ behind  the  clothes  rack?  oof!"  he'd ¨~-††$####
@@##$††-~¨ say.  he  was  always very  creepy about ¨~-††$##@@
@#$†--¨¨¨¨ this,    going   for   girls   my   age. ¨¨¨¨--†$#@
#@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@#
#††††---~¨ 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. ¨¨¨¨¨~††##
##$††--~¨¨                                          ¨¨~--††$##
#$$†--¨¨¨¨ she lay down in a patch  of grass. i sat ¨¨¨¨--†$$#
####$††-~¨ down  on  my  knees,  and  then  crawled ¨~-††$####
##@#$††-~¨ closer.  she  laughed  at  me again, and ¨~-††$#@##
##@#$††-~¨                  said -                  ¨~-††$#@##
####$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$####
#††††~¨¨¨¨                †  †  †  †                ¨¨¨¨~††††#
@@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@@
#@##$††-~¨ (here i am awakened by the morning crew) ¨~-††$##@#
##@#$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$#@##
#@##$††-~¨ †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ¨~-††$##@#
#@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@#
#@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@#
##@##$†-~¨                                          ¨~-†$##@##
####$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$####
#@##$††-~¨                                          ¨~-††$##@#