1913issue6online

212 The Exact Same Lines Wandering from bedroom to bedroom and getting way too much sleep, she Finds herself on a news report, missing. You can actually cause the consumer To forget something he has previously learned by putting into his head A bedroom, and placing into the bedroom a little doll of the thing, then having The doll fall asleep. She soaks it in. Turns up the volume, all the way up, Receiving all the signal, more signal than was ever broadcast, re-tuning her Mouth to listen and her skin to watch, she soaks in it. For instance, let’s say Alicia hears a special report on a missing woman, a woman she knew as a girl, And she thinks back to the times the two of them were falling asleep in separate Bedrooms, every day of their lives, their dreams illuminated by the same Radio waves, three dozen beds between them, entire gardens in their hands. Alicia shows up in a new report on dreaming as Dreamer #3 and recognizes Herself in it like a note recognizes a song. Dreamer Three reorganized her Dream into a cascading series of bedrooms, populated with sleepy little dolls, Sleeping. Soon the air between her and the television grows milky and ultra- Pure, as she, Alicia, notices the front part of her head has drained into the Television light, is stirring itself into the picture of her wandering out from The screen, it’s like you say “Hello” and so I, the consumer, say “Hello ” right Back. It’s just that simple. You say you’ll be back in about three hours and We haven’t seen you in a week? Do you see, Alicia, how much everyone Sleeps when there’s nothing on TV? She builds a to-scale television doll, dresses It up. She replaces the screen with an ultra-bright bulb, turns it off. Replaces the Bulb with a garden, straddling it on the bed, thrusting handfuls of dirt into the Special report on young, well-educated, employed consumers just vanishing, Turning up dead—or worse!—the disappearance of Alicia Carter has residents In this small community wondering whether this is another dramatic stunt or Something far more tragic. For News 7, the room begins to get drowsy around Us, the walls are barely hold ing their nails the

1913issue6online

Pages