thrice great hermes
#16
by stanley lieber
vidya tore the page out of his notebook and wadded it into a tight ball, which he sent curving in a long arc from the top of the water tower. owing to a slight breeze its progress dwindled into a slow meander towards the snow covered ground, where it was immediately run over by a passing police car. compacted into the snow, it evinced no further signs of life.
vidya was hungry. he considered walking home for lunch but caught himself before doing anything so stupid. that left whatever was packed into his backpack, which was nothing.
he trudged the rest of the way back to school. lunch was over.
this regular rhythm had become both familiar and disspiriting. something lay just beyond the reach of his understanding, but he couldn’t say what it was.
weary of repeating the cycle, vidya checked all the way out. after school he went straight home and did nothing at all for the rest of the evening. no books, no games, no nothing.
no nothing.
