,,,:†††&@@ @@&†††:,,,
,,,:»»††#@ @#††»»:,,,
,,,,:††&## ##&††:,,,,
,:»††&#@## ##@#&††»:,
,:»††&&&## ##&&&††»:,
,:»††&#@## †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ##@#&††»:,
,,,»††&&@@ @@&&††»,,,
,,,,,:»††# 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) @&††:,,,,,
,:»†††&#@# #@#&†††»:,
,:»††&#@@# †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† #@@#&††»:,
,:»††&#@## ##@#&††»:,
,,,,::†&&@ @&&†::,,,,
,:»††&#@## ##@#&††»:,
,,,,»»††&@ @&††»»,,,,
,:»††&#@## ##@#&††»:,