Glory Box

Portishead Glory Box plays.

The music video is a spoof. But the heart remains. The heart says it all…

“Michael looks good in that film. And it’s funny how so many of the scenes I imagined in mind came to life in the music video.” says Lacey. “They should be listening to 1920’s jazz though, by the fireplace.”

“The two men?” asks an English actress.

“Yes! And Joe Sr. is the man in the office.” says Lacey. “But it was supposed to just be his office. Not a combination of his office and Joe Jr.’s. It’s like they mashed a lot of my spiritual thoughts together into one music video.”

“But the heart remains.” says Zelda.

“Your head is a glory box.” says Michael to Lacey.

“God’s glory box.” says Lacey.

“I’m mocking myself the entire song. And my fake gay voice. Isn’t that something?” asks Lem.

“You think you sounded like a woman?” Lacey asks him.

“Don’t I? I sound idiotic. That wasn’t my real voice. …But I felt it was…chic and sophisticated. And appropriate.” says Lem.

“Why?! …Why weren’t you afraid of being hurt?” asks a Pete, incredulously. “Like…bullied.”

“I was bullied some. …But here’s the thing…I wasn’t gay. Right? Or bisexual. Or pansexual. I was actually just a straight guy. …Right? …So…men could sense that. And I intimidated them.” says Lem. “Or they felt comforted by me if they were self-hating homosexuals.” He thinks. “Like…if he’s secretly just putting on an act because he’s confused then…maybe I am too.”

“Is that why Jack loved your vibe?” asks Lacey. “On the one hand you kept arguing that he was gay…and so he likely felt you were holding him accountable. But on the other hand…he could tell you secretly longed for heterosexual sex. And so…it gave him some hope that he too was just a daffy straight dude with weird kinks or a too-curious-mind?” She thinks. “Just a nipper.” She thinks. “Not a real addict. Not a deranged homosexual.”

“He just needed to try harder or find the right woman or?” asks a Gen Z man of Lacey.

“He just needed to shut his eyes.” says Lacey. “Not think too much.” Lacey thinks. “Just…be Lem.”

“Like narcissistically be his best friend.” says the gay man.

“Yes. Just…sink deeper and deeper into his soul and love him maybe…but really become Lem.” says Lacey.

“And who was Lem supposed to be while Jack sucked Lem’s soul to fill his own?” asks Michael.

“Dead.” says a demon. “Dead in his soul, body, and mind.”

“That might be true.” says Lacey.

“I’m singing to Lacey too.” Michael says to Lem. “Doesn’t that man look a lot like me?”

Swedenborg cracks-up laughing.

“You’ve got her spinning round and round and round and round. And she tries to stop the spin. But you keep aggravating it. You won’t let it be. Because you can’t handle being wrong.” says Zelda. “And you can’t comprehend the power of Christ.”

“What are they doing?!” asks a charismatic of Zelda.

“She tries to love one man and then they arouse demons of lust and deceit to viciously attack her.” says Zelda. “Of course she’s conquered her own issues of lust long ago. And deceit. At least mostly. But not all the men she’s loved have.”

“So…men have suddenly been tempted by ex wives…and ex lovers to break her heart?” asks a possibly innocent Illuminati member.

“Yup! But Lem only lies. He doesn’t cheat. And Michael does neither. And Louis doesn’t care.” says Zelda. “Louis repents.”

“And Harold?” asks a Catholic woman.

“Harold is mysterious. And vicious.” says Al Capone. “Harold is cutthroat. And loving. Both.”

“Umm…why are you guys messing with Al Capone in Purgatory?” the charismatic asks the Illuminati.

“Because to them he’s just another dead guy. They don’t feel intimidated. He could be your grandmother.” says an actor.

“Umm…” a charismatic laughs.

“So…you guys think it’s problematic too?” a New Age witch in the Illuminati says to the charismatics reading this blog.

“The total disregard they have for the fabric of our souls?” asks the charismatic.

Silence.

“Why did you guys convince Lacey that Joe couldn’t love her?” asks a Native American witch.

Michael smiles. “I get laid that way. Don’t I?” he says as he grins, luridly.

“Nooo!” yells an actress in the Illuminati.

“Why doesn’t that just make complete sense?” says Lacey thoughtfully.

Memoryhouse plays.

“What do you mean?!” asks the charismatic of Michael.

“It’s all the laws of sin and death, my friend.” says Michael.

The charismatic looks confused.

“She loved Joe. The real man. Joe. But now…she doesn’t. She loves me. Passionately. …And that’s exactly what they’re supposed to do. Should they exist. Serve me.” says Michael. “But they’re so spiritually weak they refuse to see it.”

“It’s just a joke to Lacey. Because she worships Christ.” says Zelda dryly. “Just a dumb joke.”

“If reincarnation exist she was married to Lem and Michael.” says Scott. “And she almost married Louis. Etc.. But…it’s Christianity. And if reincarnation doesn’t exist she could have married all of them. It’s so mundane.” He thinks. “But they don’t want to see it. And instead they want Lem to have been gay, and Michael to have been a cloud or an oil painting or something and Louis to have been…a coal miner. And Harold an accountant from Queens. And…Lacey a dumb bitch who was obsessed with Mr. Blue and his elite wife and friends. A freak who had a weird, creepy, schizophrenic crush on Joe Jr..”

“But she was either their sacrifice gone wrong…or she found them.” says the Native American witch.

“They’re unaware.” says a Native American man to the witch. “What you guys did was very dangerous.” he says to the Illuminati.

Hey Kids plays.

“Into dust together.” says Lacey.

“What is she telling you?” the Native American man asks the Illuminati.

“She’s warning us of massive nuclear war.” says the charismatic Christian.

“Nah! There is no way!” says Mr. Blue.

To The Moon plays.

“My nigger get paid!” says Batgirl III.

“Dang! Then I’ll take little Miss Expensive off your hands!” says Michael.

“Michael that’s weird. Why would want Lacey?” asks A Friend of Mr. Blue. “Ewww!”

“Whatever. I have no idea what these fat dead assholes do. Take her!” says Mr. Blue.

“Good choice!” says a black pro athlete to Mr. Blue patronizingly.

“Thanks!” he says seriously. The patronizing tone is lost to him.

“So…you’re like friends with Kobe?” the charismatic asks Mr. Blue.

“That’s dumb!” says one of his “hot” mistresses. Her goal was once to pose for a magazine.

“Why?” asks the charismatic.

“They don’t even know you exist!” she responds, trying to sound stupid.

“That’s not actually sexy, sweetheart.” says a lesbian reading Lacey’s blog to the “hot” mistress. “Just answer the damn question.”

“No. They’re not friends.” she says.

“Then why do you have such authority?” Lacey asks.

“Money. And power structures.” says a man to Lacey.

“That’s in error.” says Lacey. “How very American.”

“So I should answer to you?” asks the man of Lacey.

“You shouldn’t have to ask me that. That’s ludicrous.” says Lacey. “It’s painfully dysfunctional.”

“We should be more what? Careful?” he asks.

“Why isn’t my name worrisome?” asks Michael.

“Because…” says Mr. Blue.

“You guys started the war in Russia?” asks the charismatic.

“It’s baffling, should it be real. Isn’t it?!” asks Lacey.

“You know…it is perverse.” says the charismatic. “Even if reincarnation is in the Bible. Because you’ve got people living backwards. She’s falling in love with her ex husbands?!” He laughs. “And maybe God likes that. But…they’re dead. And she’s not entirely dead technically. …And…now Russia has a tsar.” He laughs. “Are we about to be annexed back into Great Britain?” He thinks. “A pandemic. The death of the middle class.” He thinks.

“Okay. But…” starts a rosecrucianist.

“But?” asks the charismatic.

Silence.

“You’re sending us into the 1800’s.” he says. “Spiritually.”

“They have been for years.” says a perfume hater.

“What are you going to get out of making Michael a British Lord again? Should he have been one?” asks Lacey.

“Well…he gotten laid.” the charismatic says rolling his eyes.

“Did he want that?” asks the Native American man.

“What’s it like? Can you resist each other?” the charismatic asks Lacey.

“If they love me…it’s almost impossible.” says Lacey.

“What does that feel like?” he asks.

“Like defying gravity.” says Lacey.

“Like…you almost can’t resist them?” he asks.

“Like you almost lack a free will?” another Christian asks.

“Almost.” says Lacey. “My mind still exists. I process things. But…you move at a different speed. It’s like two different worlds. If it exists it’s not our physics. It’s not illogical. It’s just not solid. Or gaseous. Or whatever. It’s…closer to energy. Radio-waves. But it’s tangible to them. It’s not actual energy or radio waves necessarily. It seems.” says Lacey.

“Do we seem…funny to them?” jokes a white musk.

We Own The Sky plays.

“Yes!” says Lem.

“Everybody dies.” says Lacey.

“Martyrs. For Christ. It seems like scamming God.” says a kid who’s never been loved alive.

“And I fully get it. But The Charismatic doesn’t understand. Seemingly. …Because there’s no rest here. The idea of rest is elusive.” says Lacey. “It’s not necessarily about lack of love on our part or ignorance of love. It’s about wanting to just sleep for once.”

“And be alone. In safety.” says the kid.

Batgirl III laughs at The Charismatic. “Hey, hey!”

The Fear plays.

“Our song. Aww!” Batgirl III says to The Charismatic. She grins, showing her teeth.

“I wanted to make love to Lacey. But it’s sad.” says Michael.

“Oh well.” says Lacey, exhausted. “Should I drink gin or hot tea?” she wonders aloud.

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