It wasn't where I looked
It wasn't in any room
Or in the yard.
The other cat didn't have it
Nor did my people.
It didn't come in tins or packets
It didn't come at night
It didn't come when I called.
I had a hole where it should have been that I couldn't fill.
But I think I know where it is now
And I don't have to look any more.
Gomez, the Mad Cat of La Mancha. 1991? - 14 November 2007
Arioch has a new job. No one knows exactly what it is supposed to do, but they're all terribly enthusiastic that the position is finally filled.
"You must have great plans for the temple!" they say.
Arioch smiles agreeably to hide the bewilderment. Second day on the job: not a good time to admit cluelessness. "What do you need from it?"
"Oh, you know - stuff! The temple must limpidly express the quintessential truths that we strive for, in the public's name."
"What truths?"
"Just the obvious ones."
In the lunch hour, Arioch has begun fashioning an escape rope out of old phone-cords. For some reason, phones are scarce.
After several minutes' silence across the breakfast table Arioch said, "I have a confession."
"Hmmm?" Indagari enquired around a sip of coffee.
"The coffee maker. While you were showering. I thought the water reservoir looked a bit manky so I pulled it out to give it a good clean.
"...There was a cockroach in there."
Indagari's coffee cup was placed back on the table with fastidious horror. Indagari was not one for histrionics.
"It's OK - I made your coffee only after I disposed of the corpse and cleaned out the reservoir and tubes. "
Indagari could not help but continue to stare in horror at the coffee.
"The thing is, the cockroach was mouldy and going transparent. I wonder how long it's been in there." Arioch scratched one antenna with a middle leg thoughtfully. "Still, we don't seem to have suffered any ill effects."
