Slivers - Looking
flick young boy brushing his teeth flick old woman softly crying flick businessman adjusting his tie flick young woman smiling flick two girls giggling flick someone rushing by the door flick old man gazing thoughtfully flick young man slicking back his hair flick teenage girl doing her makeup flick bleached blonde woman laughing flick large crowd in some public room flick young mother yelling at her kids flick middle-aged woman sighing dreamily flick young man putting on his jacket flick bald man combing his six hairs over flick teenage girl doing her nails flick man on toilet reading the newspaper flick empty hallway flick
He was a zillion tiny, atomic slivers of consciousness, without thought, without volition, flicking endlessly, instantly, from window to window, looking flick look flick look flick flick a zillion windows all at once flick flick flick
flick young black man walking out the door flick young woman smiling dreamily flick old man glaring angrily flick redhead twins giggling flick teenager morosely picking at his face flick businesswoman adjusting her suit jacket flick mother scolding her teenage daughter flick elderly couple smiling at each other flick towhead toddler brushing his teeth flick young couple making out on the couch flick busy restaurant at lunchtime flick tall fifty-ish man adjusting his tie in front of a large portrait …. …. ….
The sliver paused for just a moment – a single tiny instant that stretched to the mental horizon, staring at the portrait. A man, seated, a woman, standing... the man, so familiar... the woman... her eyes... faintly, so faintly, an echo of a ghost of a memory of a name floated on the air... Rose... flick flick flick
flick boy playing with a dog flick woman fixing her lipstick flick teenage girl yelling at her mum flick Shakespearean actor practicing his lines flick bank lobby, mostly empty flick cleaning lady wiping the sink flick shabby businessman fiddling with his hair flick nervous teenager fiddling with his hair flick tabby cat staring fixedly flick flick flick
The sliver paused as the echo came again... Rose... flick flick a hundred flicks later, it stopped again, remembering the portrait. Rose... The sliver *turned* and began to search for the portrait again, flicking even faster through the windows flick flick flick
A thousand windows away, another sliver heard the echo. Rose... It paused, and then *turned*, searching for the source of the echo.
And another sliver did the same. And another, and another, and another...