Hatological

My acquaintenemy says he is against hate, but not against Hattism. Each day the hat he wears grows larger and larger. He intends it to block out the sun. I asked him of Ghlaunder, the mosquito who hides in his hat, nuzzling and suckling away at his brain stem. He represses all knowledge of Ghlaunder. He must know that the bug has riddled him with holes, because the back of his head resembles that of Spongebob. I want to poke into his holes sometimes. Alas, the hat gets bigger to hide the holes, and to shelter the bloated mosquito.

What is it that we shall do about Geroid? I cannot stand his diatribes any longer. He harbours the anger of years of blood-theft, projected onto others but always plausibly deniable. Why is his Hate plausibly deniable, and as he says, entirely unrelated to his Hat? The answer: there is a magickal practice known as Skimming. One takes from a text only what is most expedient for Clout. Skim and Hate, Skim and Hate. The Skimming gives Morality, and Morality is a shield against all morality. Thus, no one may criticise Geroid.

To Skim was Geroid’s Original Sin. Geroid now Skims the Sacred Texts while Ghlaunder skims the pus from his scarred and spongiform neck, aiming for the thin and watery blood beneath.

I have many ideas for how Geroid should be reformed. Unfortunately, none of them will cause him to suffer. In truth, nothing much is left of his spongified brain; all that remains is an insect, whose timed stings trigger rote patterns of behaviour. One might imagine that Ghlaunder is pulling levers at a porous, fleshy machine, or using its proboscis to type away at a keyboard.

- Esssie Nihil, 4th August 2022