Obscurity, The Thirty-Ninth Chapter

In which a baby is born into the swamp.

We last read The Thirty-Eighth Chapter, in which we learned the secrets of the third Marie. If you have recently joined us, start with The Prologue.

There are some who imbibe, not in too much drink, but in too much thought. Though they take much different paths to get there, the destination can feel quite the same: reflection, regret, reverie. But on the former journey, one has only to wait for more sober feeling to come, and on the latter one must endeavor to change their thoughts entirely — and that can be a most troublesome undertaking.

To reverse one’s thoughts and feelings, to turn them from their downward spiral into an upward ascent requires a conscious shift. A recognition that those thoughts have quite gotten away from oneself and to prevail upon them to conjure more joyous feeling. To breathe in life’s most intoxicating elixirs and savor its most delightful tonics. To return from the bowels of winter into the most cheerful ease of the summer.

Indeed, in the summertime it is easy to feel those gaieties. To delight in a time of such abundance and wild freedom. To enjoy this one and precious life most fervently and most vibrantly. To drink it in with all its merriment and mirth and savor its contentedness even if it is so contrived. To…