¨¨¨,=††&@@ @@&††=,¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨,=††&@ @&††=,¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨,=††& &††=,¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨,=††&@ @&††=,¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨,=††&@@ @@&††=,¨¨¨
¨¨,=††&@@# †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† #@@&††=,¨¨
¨,=††&@@## ##@@&††=,¨
¨¨,=††&@@# 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) @@&††=,¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨,=††&@ @&††=,¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨,=††& †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† &††=,¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨,=††&@ @&††=,¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨,=††&@@ @@&††=,¨¨¨
¨¨,=††&@@# #@@&††=,¨¨
¨,=††&@@## ##@@&††=,¨
¨¨,=††&@@# #@@&††=,¨¨