fourteenth night

i was always good at running. i was on the track team in high school. my brother used to come and cheer me on during races. "run, sherry!" he would yell. in my mind, he is still yelling that, even as the monster he has become chases after me.

once upon a time, there was a fox that could never be caught. the teumessian fox was one of the four children of echidna and nobody could catch it, no man nor beast, as it preyed upon the children of thebes. the regent of thebes, creon, set famed theben general amphitryon the impossible task of destroying the fox. and so amphitryon came upon an ingenious solution: he would use the magical dog laelaps, who could always catch whatever it hunted. 

a fox that could never be caught and a dog that could catch anything. a shield that no spear could pierce and a spear that could pierce any shield. an immovable object and an unstoppable force. what do you think happened? 

well, faced with this paradox, zeus took both dog and fox and turned them into stars, so that they could chase one another around the sky forever. this is called a deus ex machina. 

a god from the machine.

three.