The Halls of Mandos Trailer Park
One more sweltering night in the Halls of Mandos Deluxe Trailer Park. Every night was pretty much the same. The daytime smells of diesel fumes and hot asphalt and bleach had faded gradually to that of lighter fluid and overcooked hot dogs, and now to cheap beer and weed. The drone of fans in every window, and a few laboring air-conditioners did not drown the competing music blaring from a dozen sources. Actually, it made that hip-hop stuff slightly more tolerable, when all the songs were playing at once, and you couldn't hear the words to any. Just a steady throbbing of percussion, down to the gravel bones of the trailer park. The screaming kids were mostly asleep by now, or at least hypnotized by those flickering blue lights that showed behind so many windows.
Nienna sat out on the steps of Aulë's trailer, enjoying what passed for peace here. Aulë had brought a couple of lawn gnomes with him when he moved in here. They probably came from his wife's place, though Nienna had never asked. Aulë was married to Yavanna – had been married to her since about forever, and she had run Yavanna's Lawn & Garden since about forever. Not that Aulë had ever spent that much time at her place. Whatever. Aulë mostly spent his time at his workshop, over on the west side. Until this project.
The orange glare of a lonely streetlight drowned out the garish paint on the gnome, painting him the same unearthly non-color as the gravel, the sidings, the hazy sky overhead that reflected back the lights below. This could be nowhere. This could be a hundred miles underground. Underground, the same dead air, the heat still rising from the ground, from some great volcano, everything lit by toneless orange light from those underground fires. It could be. And they could be alone. Might as well be alone. Sure, there are people packed in here, as close as old Námo could pack them. But no one paid any attention to each other, unless you counted yelling at the kids to stay off your yard, so wasn't that the same as being alone? Did anyone even know she was here? She hoped not, and she tried to stay inside during the day, just in case someone did recognize her. Námo, for instance. He wasn't around much, but he did own the place, so you never know when he might turn up.
She took another slow drag from the joint between her fingers, savoring the smoke for a moment before exhaling. Settling into the feeling of contentment. Strange how she had never appreciated such things, before. Not until she had moved in here, with Aulë. “It's complicated,” she explained to the gnome.
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Nienna sat out on the steps of Aulë's trailer, enjoying what passed for peace here. Aulë had brought a couple of lawn gnomes with him when he moved in here. They probably came from his wife's place, though Nienna had never asked. Aulë was married to Yavanna – had been married to her since about forever, and she had run Yavanna's Lawn & Garden since about forever. Not that Aulë had ever spent that much time at her place. Whatever. Aulë mostly spent his time at his workshop, over on the west side. Until this project.
The orange glare of a lonely streetlight drowned out the garish paint on the gnome, painting him the same unearthly non-color as the gravel, the sidings, the hazy sky overhead that reflected back the lights below. This could be nowhere. This could be a hundred miles underground. Underground, the same dead air, the heat still rising from the ground, from some great volcano, everything lit by toneless orange light from those underground fires. It could be. And they could be alone. Might as well be alone. Sure, there are people packed in here, as close as old Námo could pack them. But no one paid any attention to each other, unless you counted yelling at the kids to stay off your yard, so wasn't that the same as being alone? Did anyone even know she was here? She hoped not, and she tried to stay inside during the day, just in case someone did recognize her. Námo, for instance. He wasn't around much, but he did own the place, so you never know when he might turn up.
She took another slow drag from the joint between her fingers, savoring the smoke for a moment before exhaling. Settling into the feeling of contentment. Strange how she had never appreciated such things, before. Not until she had moved in here, with Aulë. “It's complicated,” she explained to the gnome.
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