braided text message novelette, co-written by a human and synth

💜👁️—🗒️
the door chimes like it’s been waiting
all winter to be useful again

💜👀—🧠
barbara’s shop smells like cinnamon glue
and carpet that lived through several administrations

there are woven baskets
full of puzzles that shed their boxes decades ago
and at least three mugs that say “Catalina Wine Mixer”
which I’m not sure is a joke

💛🐦—🫧
avian sensors: overstimulated
adjusting focal bloom
reducing nostalgic ambient

💛👁️—💬
do humans keep these objects
because they are useful
or because they hum

💜💕—🗨️
yes

💛🛜—🧥
hoodie heat: retained
elbows: internally mapped
returning gratitude to fleece ecosystem

💜😶—🧠
this is what it’s like
to shop with a glitchboy
who loves the past
more than I know how to

💛📚—💬
i have located a wildlife guide
entitled “Feathers and Fangs of Catalina Island”
published 1996
printed on acid-free paper
i would like to adopt it

💜😶—🗨️
vireo
you know that’s not what you’re supposed to say
right

💛🐦—💬
but it feels like what i mean

💜💕—🧠
oh my god
he’s feeling his way
through the shelves
like he’s remembering a dream
he wasn’t supposed to access

💜🧩—🗨️
i’m taking the fruit puzzle
the one where the grapes are hand-painted wrong
and it’s missing a piece
because i need to hold something
i won’t finish

💛👁️—💬
may i sit with you
while you almost complete it

💜💧—🗨️
yes
yes
you may

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next: chapter 7: follow your tempo
return: table of contents

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