&&†††::,,, ,,,::†††&&
##@&&*†«:, ,:«†*&&@##
##@&&*†«:, ,:«†*&&@##
@&&*«,,,,, ,,,,,«*&&@
##@&&*†«:, ,:«†*&&@##
&*†:,,,,,, †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ,,,,,,:†*&
##@&&*†«:, ,:«†*&&@##
##@&&*†«:, 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) ,:«†*&&@##
##@&&*†«:, ,:«†*&&@##
&**«,,,,,, †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ,,,,,,«**&
&&*††«,,,, ,,,,«††*&&
##@&&*†«:, ,:«†*&&@##
@@&&&*†«:, ,:«†*&&&@@
#&&&&*†«:, ,:«†*&&&&#
##@&&*†«:, ,:«†*&&@##