The Beginning

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Hello there [[hello]]

<<if $name is "harlem">> <<goto harlem>> <<elseif $name is "let us lay in">> <<goto start_quest>> <<elseif $name is "featherbed and we">> <<goto tianna_place>> <<elseif $name is "rung from the heart in the">> <<goto old_apt_1>> <<elseif $name is "and out flies">> <<goto winery>> <<elseif $name is "thats me, you,">> <<goto drunk_park>> <<elseif $name is "and">> <<goto old_apt_2>> <<elseif $name is "the color">> <<goto ice_cream>> <<elseif $name is "the iris in the middle of">> <<goto old_apt_3>> <<elseif $name is "to light the way">> <<goto marcus_garvey>> <<elseif $name is "dreams that">> <<goto candle_place>> <<elseif $name is "reaching for">> <<goto magic_johnson>> <<elseif $name is "in all gold carousels">> <<goto lido>> <<elseif $name is "question">> <<goto final>> <<elseif $name is "lost morningside">> <<goto lost_morningside>> <<elseif $name is "lost tianna place">> <<goto lost_tianna_place>> <<elseif $name is "lost old apt 1">> <<goto lost_old_apt_1>> <<elseif $name is "lost winery">> <<goto lost_winery>> <<elseif $name is "lost drunk park">> <<goto lost_drunk_park>> <<elseif $name is "lost old apt 2">> <<goto lost_old_apt_2>> <<elseif $name is "lost ice cream">> <<goto lost_ice_cream>> <<elseif $name is "lost old apt 3">> <<goto lost_old_apt_3>> <<elseif $name is "lost marcus garvey">> <<goto lost_marcus_garvey>> <<elseif $name is "lost candle place">> <<goto lost_candle_place>> <<elseif $name is "lost magic johnson">> <<goto lost_magic_johnson>> <elseif $name is "lost lido">> <<goto lost_lido>> <<else>> <<goto error>> <</if>>

Before you start freaking out, this isn't the start to a proposal [[okay then, what is it?]]

I'm not really sure, I'm having a hard time remembering myself. [[and who are you?]]

I know I'm Tony, even though he's standing there with you. I'm him. [[how is that possible?]]

Yes! That's it! We lived there for a long time didn't we. I was there, recently, I'm sure of it. I was looking for you. I started in a park by water. We used to eat there sometimes on Sunday mornings when our heads hurt. Can you go there? I left something under where we would sit. The last line was especially important. Remind me of what it says. <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

Hmm no, that's not it, try again. <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

That's it! "let us lay in" what though? We need to find the rest. I wanted to talk to someone else who might have known where you were, so I went to a place where someone important to me used to live. We would stay there sometimes when I was scared. The people inside there know something. Go talk to them. Hurry, find the next one and tell me the last line again. <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

I'm not sure. I don't think he knows either. [[okay, so what do you want?]]

Help remembering. Something to jog my memory. There's a place somewhere not too far. Somewhere we used to live. <<set $name to "hello">> <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

"and we..." what? Still searching for you, I went to our old home. Realizing you weren't there, I left you something under something. Look for tape. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

Nice work, I knew you'd find it. I checked all the spots we used to go to together. I bumped into someone who doesn't really like me. Someone with a very familiar voice and disposition. Go to where that place is, they have something for you there. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

You know this old metaphor right? Sounds familiar? I didn't go too far from here. I needed to sit and collect my thoughts. It was a place where we saw probably the craziest thing we've ever seen in this city. I left something underneath a tree there. Look for blue and leave no stone unturned. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

I started to get desperate, which gave way to nostalgia, so I went to the place where I first really took care of you. You made a harness with your arms around my neck, and I carried you from room to room. Go outside that place. Look for the tree marked with green. Leave no stone unturned. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

I've been writing about you for a long time. You may not remember where I went next. It's an old spot we'd go to for something sweet. Feel under the table in the very back. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

Not ready to leave sweet memory, I went to the place where we fell in love, where we'd lie on bare mattresses and kiss in the summer heat. I left something by the tree out front. Look for the blue marking on the floor. I think you know what to do with stones by now. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

I was looking for you everywhere, so I went to the highest place I could in a park not too far from here. Left a trail of blue to another stone. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

With no luck so far, I needed something of you. If not a sight, then a scent. The smell of candles. Talk to the people there. They have something for you. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

Hot on your trail, I followed your scent to the place we could always count on for a good time, a place that supplied us with endless entertainment. Number 9, the very back, on the back of 22. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

Wanting more, I thought of another place, a place we could always count on, a place where we enjoyed each other's company over many, many evenings, a place where we've taken friends and family, where the food is always good, our spot, that place. Check the street house on the street, not the avenue. Give me the last line: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

I told you at the beginning of this that this wasn't a proposal, and I wasn't lying. What it is is your favorite thing in the world, the thing you're best at, the reason people love being around you so much. It's the first thing you want to do when we wake up in the morning, something you never get tired of, something I'm offering to you now. It's not a proposal, it's a: <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

Will you marry me?

Born in whorls of colored bracts, in subshrubs of upper lip buds and blue greens lilac in full sun Lavender, let us lay in <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

linen pillow moss, on camp cots and hammocks, on straw and chaff, bracken grass, on box spring blossoms featherbed and we <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

kiss in ritual, in written tradition, a sacrament, a puckered muscle two lips scrolls in a ceremony, the song of songs rung from the heart in the <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

bell metal box bent open, the tin cries, the shear stress of my chest's shape change, my heart copper, the lid gone run along spirits ringing gongs and sarons, and out flies <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

silence. Me, the quiet type, a stop, a hum, a rest for you, a speech cease, a word, a pause thats me, you, <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

you the vowels in my mouth, a whole score of sones and hairpin marcatos and voiced chords and dynamics, keys letters letters keys, your laugh super heavy and <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

Black as piano, as moved air along a soundboard, a galaxy of metal strings and almond shells, of logwood fruits bounced off wire, cherry dulcimer and oak apple dampers the color <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

Brown, umber, ochre, woad and rose madder, myrrh and manganese, the hull or husk of a walnut, mollisols and loess, peat and soil, melanin in the iris in the middle of <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

white, the lens yellowing, white the limestone tomb in the moon of your mind, a struck match on book backs to light the way <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

home, your home here, with me, with vermillion everywhere red the color of my mother's scarf, yarn scarlet, love blood on our saffron arm chair, our burgundy rug, our home warm brick of varied shades of canary yellow dreams that <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

we'll still be here when the hands come together for the last candle when hands are all that's left, my mom's hands outstretched reaching for <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]

yours, your hands in hers now in mine, in fingers guilded in clockwise loops in all gold carousels <<textbox "$name" "" autofocus>> [[submit]]