mary jo, part 3: ephraim triebwasser

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by jesse s mitchell illustrated by rhoda penmarq Ephraim Triebwasser was named after his grandfather, an ancient revered sage with a lean look and a gaunt face, or so Ephraim thought…they never met.  But that was his name and the hideousness of it had haunted him his entire life.      He walked across the length of a very large room.  He was so high up in the air, stories and stories, floor after floor.  The room was red (like his ex-wife demanded) and had very large windows (like all his friends suggested), he could see for miles, it seemed, over some of the grandest green of Manhattan.  Majestic. He was rich but he had never been to the garment district unlike his namesake.  Bookshelves of psychiatric journals and textbooks (like his father insisted) lined up along the far walls, stacks of books about Freud.  Ephraim knew a lot about Freud.  He did not find him interesting, likeable, or even all together rational, but he knew a lot about him…details…personal life…important dates.       He watches out his window and likes to think about the planets and the moon and stars.  He can’t see them but he imagines that he does: nebula, comet, phenomenon.  He does not understand how the moon and the Earth work but he loves to think about how it all moves…planets in planets in orbits of stars, stars orbiting other stars in clouds and clouds of gas and ice and molten metal and gravity.  He wished he could live like the planets moved, in tight little concentric circles, never quite touching, so fluid.  He looks out his window and rubs his sock covered feet on the smooth hardwood floor.  He smiles.  He is only 42, he thinks to himself, and he is still very healthy and looks even a bit young for his age.  He could really do anything he wanted now.      He didn’t know how the world really worked.  He watches cars pass each other on the street.  He watched the cars and traffic go around in little circles, orbiting each other.        He looked away from the window but not before he saw the entire universe explode out the corner of his eye.  It didn't matter it would take billions of years before the heat and gas and destruction made here...he had plenty of time...plenty of time to see the world.

part 4: miranda best