Children of the Mind: An Extended Metafiction

By Paul J.J. Payack

Children of the Mind details a society in which thought is rationed, the imagination is considered a disease, and dreaming is considered a subversive activity.

Persons suspected of dreaming are summarily 'ebulized' by denizens of the Grave registration, such as one Meilgaard, who, as a matter of public record, would have 'flowers whither to his touch and toadstools sprout from his path.'

The Children of the title are a shadowy group whose members have taken to thinking freely.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 22, 2002
• ISBN: 9781469715865

Paul J.J. Payack

Paul JJ Payack?s metafictions have appeared in scores of collections, anthologies and reviews, around the world including The Paris Review, New Letters and Boulevard. Payack is currently President & CEO of yourDictionary.com, the Leading Global Language Portal, where he is also known as The WordMan.

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All Rights Reserved © 2002 by Paul JJ Payack

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

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Contents

PROLOGUE

ALL THINGS WEEPING

FORMER THINGS NOT REMEMBERED

PROPAGATION OF FAITH

FEARING THE

DREAMFUL THINGS

THE CLOUDS AND

STARS AFIRE

INTERLUDE

A LESS TRODDEN PATH

LET IT BE NO OMEN

AFTERWARD

AUTHOR S AFTERWORD

THE WIND TURBINE STUDIES

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PROLOGUE

The Children of the Mind construct a cross of seven flowers.

By day the flowers are removed by the authorities.

By night they are replaced by a cross of seven votives.

The votives are removed and subsequently replaced by seven crusts of bread.

These are removed and replaced by seven goblets of wine.

These are removed and replaced by seven drops of blood.

These are removed and replaced by seven wailings of the wind.

These are removed and replaced by seven extirpated eyes.

These are removed and replaced by seven auditory impressions.

These are removed and replaced by seven intonations of the unconscious.

These are removed and replaced by seven mirrors of the other.

These are removed and replaced by seven swallowings of the sky.

These are removed and replaced by seven breathings of a baby.

These are removed and replaced by seven minds of the children.

These are removed and replaced by seven Children of the Mind.

C H A P T E R O N E

ALL THINGS WEEPING

The Unperson awakes with a start: hair is growing out of his eyeballs. A tale is told him three times by the same voice. Each time the tale differs only slightly. The recitation ends with the words, I am nowhere; I am everywhere, at which point a second voice entones, Let them never bury our tongues! He is frightened but the lighting of a lamp calms him. Before long the Unperson drifts back into his slumber. With the light of day, the Unperson attributes the whole affair to a mild upset of the stomach.

He rises, performs his daily ablutions, and slowly descends the stairs. He begins his day, as is the custom, by distilling the extract of a wild root. As the brew is concocted, his thoughts turn to the morning newspaper. He lifts it from the table perusing it carefully, methodically searching for a clue, a hint, a thread to tie together the events that have recently transpired within the topography of his mind. A mind set, no doubt, overly influenced by the ordinary, the mundane: the urge to conquer time, the