by Nir Yaniv
He had never told her what would happen once she became convinced, her mind set and sincere and steady.
She said, “I’m ready.”
~
On the sand, under the sun, in front of a wall of pearl upon which nasty green had spread in an evil whirl, an old man appeared, and then a teenage girl.
She looked around her and smiled. “We’ll save you all,” she said.
A silent city, without movement, people wearing hats in the windows of the shoelace-buildings, dream women in green bubbles, now white-speckled, cloudless skies, faceless children, and between them vast dark canyons. And in contrast—three of the opposite city, and three companions.
“Imagine that you are one of us,” the dream woman said, “and make it real.”
“Forget your husband and the baby,” said the peddler, “or we’ll all die. That’s the deal.”
“Dance for us,” said the old man, “in front of the sea, make it feel.”
~
A minute passed. Two. Then hours. The sun moved west, toward the water, above the towers. It shone on a girl and a lady and a writer. More hours passed, and it started to get darker. Sundown, orange and pink and deep blue, all reflected in the water as the darkness grew.
Fade out.
Black.
Not a hiss, not a sign, not a cry. Only very few stars in the sky.
~
And night.
And day.
On an empty seashore, only water and sand, with no building in sight, nor forest, sky bright; in that place where nothing remained to which one could cling, three people wake up, realizing – knowing - that they’ve lost everything.
Credits
“The Dream of the Blue Man”
Translated from the Hebrew by the author. Published in Hebrew in Dreams in Dreams in Aspamia magazine and in English in Weird Tales magazine (2008).
“The Word of God”
Translated by Lavie Tidhar. Published in Hebrew in the author’s story collection, One Hell of a Writer, and in English in Trabuco Road magazine.
“I’m Not as Old as I Used to Be”
Translated by Lavie Tidhar. Published in Hebrew in Dreams in Aspamia magazine and in the short story collection One Hell of a Writer.
“A Painter, a Sheep and a Boa Constrictor”
Translated by Lavie Tidhar. Published in Hebrew in the author’s story collection, One Hell of a Writer, and in English in Shimmer magazine and in The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2010, ed. Rich Horton.
“Cinderers”
Translated by Lavie Tidhar. Published in Hebrew in Dreams in Aspamia magazine and in Nir Yaniv’s story collection One Hell of a Writer. Published in English in The Apex Book of World SF (2009).
“Benjamin Schneider’s Little Greys”
Translated by Lavie Tidhar. Published in Hebrew in Dreams in Aspamia magazine, and in English in Apex magazine, November 2009 issue.
“VegeScan”
Translated from the Hebrew by Joe D. Brown. Published in Hebrew in Bli Panika Online Magazine, Dreams in Aspamia magazine and in the author’s story collection, One Hell of a Writer.
“Love Machine”
Translated from the Hebrew by Ido Reif. Published in Hebrew in Dreams in Aspamia magazine and in the author’s story collection, One Hell of a Writer.
“Aquarius Falls”
Translated by Lavie Tidhar. Published in Hebrew in the author’s story collection, One Hell of a Writer.
“Truth in Advertising”
Translated from the Hebrew by Joe D. Brown. Published in Hebrew in Dreams in Aspamia magazine and in the author’s story collection, One Hell of a Writer, and in German in Nova magazine.
“My Uncle Gave Me a Time Machine”
Translated from the Hebrew by the author. Published in Hebrew in the author’s short story collection, One Hell of a Writer.
“Final Moments”
Translated from the Hebrew by the author. Published in Hebrew in Dreams in Aspamia magazine.
“The Believers”
Translated from the Hebrew by the author. Published in Hebrew in Dreams in Aspamia magazine, and in English in ChiZine.
“A Wizard on the Road”
Translated from the Hebrew by Lavie Tidhar. Published in Hebrew in the author’s story collection, One Hell of a Writer, and in English in Shimmer magazine.
“The Story Ends”
Translated from the Hebrew by the author. Published in Hebrew in Fantasia 2000 magazine, the 30-year anniversary special issue.
“Undercity”
Translated from the Hebrew by the author. Published in Hebrew in Dreams in Aspamia magazine.
“Contraptions”
Translated from Hebrew by the author.