Maybe I just didn’t deserve Rose Heaven (I changed the name from Rosehaven because I didn’t think I deserved it). I will never live here, beyond that brief stay last winter. But…
… Murdoch’s castle remains, changed from an inferior product last year. Back to the more authentic original. Why? I sit on Dog Island with Wheeler-as-Charlene and ask her the same. “Goodbyes,” she replied. “And hellos”. Something else could happen here.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0023, 0608, Rose Heaven-
“According to my list, you’ve been very naughty this year, Mrs. Claus, very naughty indeed! I don’t know *how* you could have received any kind of present, ho ho ho.”
Mrs. Claus shook the package. Sounded like a belt. Joy!
—–
At the counter in front of the Santa’s Village dollhouses, Jane noticed the absence in Baker’s eyes; figured he was looking around the place again, creating more counterfeit stories. “One question, bub,” she decides to insert. Baker’s eyes became unglazed, focused into hers. “Who’s the Princess of this here fair land? You better say the right one. Or: out on your keister!”
Baker figured he’d be out on his keister soon enough. He wanted a couple of answers beforehand. An attempt. “Yes, of course Selena is the Princess.” Jane’s wild look in her eyes tamed down. He leaned forward a bit. “Hey, I heard you had some kind of Tragically Hip tribute concert in here the other week. I’m not a fan fan, but I always liked that one song of theirs quite a lot; quite haunting.” He decides to say the wrong name for fun. “‘Lions, Tigers, and Bears,’ I think it is called. Or maybe I’m thinking…”
“You’re thinking of the Oz movie,” said Jane sternly, noting the clock on the wall. 15 minutes till closing. Home to the cats again after that, maybe a call from Herman Fisher. The big lug. “Try again.”
“Um, ‘Lions, Tigers, *or* Bears’?”
“For God’s sake, it’s ‘Tiger the Lion,’ just the bestest song ever invented. John Cage would agree!”
“Yes, I recall now.” All art is meaningless. Real Life is the only true art.
“Sooo… you *seem* to have woken up now. Are you *woke*?”
It all depended on Murdoch’s Castle, Baker realized, but he couldn’t ask about it. Not yet. He paid for his drink and left, allowing Jane to start closing up early. Good move. There will be other nights.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0023, 0311, Rose Heaven-
“*You* again,” Jane the barmaid spoke across the counter, not seeming very pleased to see Magus Ellen once more in her place of business. “Where’s, um, your sidekick this time?”
“Sidechick? He couldn’t make it.”
“Are you going to ask about that castle again?” added Jane rapidly, not wishing to talk any more than needed to this — *intruder*.
“Nah, all that’s done.” He waves his hand in gesture.
“Because all that investigation last year got you *banned* from the property.”
“I know.”
“And *your* Princess is not *our* Princess. I’ve found out some things in the meantime. Who is this Merry Gouldbusk? Why is her skin colored gold and not normal? Who are King Tully and that Queen of his? Not *our* rulers (once more). Never have been and never will.”
Nothing more seemed to be said. Magus Ellen rose from the stool. The castle was gone, or at least changed — morphed. This was not Murdochh’s Castle in resonance with the Loch Ness castle any more. *That’s* when it changed, he realized. A moment in time. He thought from this video that *Murdock’s* castle in the realm of Rosehaven was open to the public. Apparently it was all a misunderstanding.
That’s an important key. Misunderstandings can be smoothed over. He donned his hat.
“I will speak to the Princess before leaving,” Magus Ellen then called back while walking away.
“Make sure it’s the *right* one!” she insisted with bile. The door slammed behind him.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0017, 0118, Rose Heaven-
“I’m afraid I may have to leave, Hucka D. This Rosehaven is not my Rosehaven. My Princess is not their Princess.”
“How ’bout this. You call *your* Rosehaven Rose*heaven* instead. Or Rose Haven — two words instead of one.”
“Maybe.” Baker Bloch, in character as a uniformed Ellen now, perhaps ready to revisit the… he can’t remember the name of the pub Magus Ellen and Sidechick Corea visited last year trying to dig up information about Murdochh’s castle. He tells Hucka Doobie this.
“I’ll go check,” she says, then teleports out.
—-
Hucka Doobie teleports in. “The Flock and Feather,” she informs.
“Probably doesn’t matter anyway… but thanks.” Baker Bloch stares out in the distance. If only The Mist would roll in right now and make all this better.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0017, 0117, Rose Heaven-
“Slowly but surely, Spring is coming to Rosehaven, Sandy. The snow is melting. The old link with Winterfell is weakening once more. Eversnow.”
“Herbert, please,” spoke Sandy Beech, still under contract. “I suppose that will have to be one for the blooper roll of this novel.”
Merry Gouldbusk skips over Herbert’s breaking of the 4th wall in her reverie. “And castles… they are changing too. I’m not sure for the best. Homogenization.”
“Still sulking about Murdock’s Castle, eh?” Herbert Dune looked at his nails. “There’s still Dog Island.”
“No. (The essence of) that’s moved too. I consulted the Oracle yesterday. It spoke of a Pineapple Island where the true savior of Our Second Lyfe was born. One Daniel. Or Jackson — the Oracle couldn’t specify.”
“The Tiger Oracle,” clarified Herbert. “How is DJ anyhoot?”
“He’s doing fine. He’s looking forward to spring too. When the rest of Rosehaven will homogenize with his evergreen, everliving Borderlands.”
“It’s a nice anchor,” declares Herbert. “A tale that wags the dog — something.”
“Something,” agreed Merry Gouldbusk.
—–
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0012, 0612, Rose Heaven-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanai
Lānaʻi (/ləˈnaɪ, lɑːˈnɑːi/;[1] Hawaiian: [laːˈnɐʔi, naː-]) is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands and the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the chain.[2] It is colloquially known as Pineapple Island[citation needed] because of its past as an island-wide pineapple plantation….
In 1921, Charles Gay planted the first pineapple on Lānaʻi. The population had again decreased to 150, most of whom were the descendants of the traditional families of the island.[14] A year later, James Dole, the president of Hawaiian Pineapple Company (later renamed Dole Food Company), bought the island and developed a large portion of it into the world’s largest pineapple plantation….
In 1985, Lānaʻi passed into the control of David H. Murdock, as a result of his purchase of Castle & Cooke, then owner of Dole….
In June 2012, Larry Ellison, then CEO of Oracle Corporation, purchased Castle & Cooke’s 98 percent share of the island for $300 million. The state owns the remaining 2 percent.[15]
“I have gone too far down Murdock Cherry. Collagewold influence lessening. The green A Team from Pineapple has murdered — even lasered down with their red beam — the blue Bees. Shivering commences again. Porch sitting Homer and Lady La La talk about knife fights and poisoning. The saucy eyed saucer spits out aberrant things.”
“I must return back to The Islands.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0012, 0606, Google Street View, Hawaii, Middletown
“It’s perfect Patrick. We can raise our child here on retro Pineapple Island. We don’t need Eotia Village any longer. It’s just me and you, babe. I got you and all that.”
“What about the Oracle?” spoke Patrick, wiser than ever. The baby was coming!
“Oh, that thing. Discard it. Let it go. Tigers can be found anywhere. In the jungle. In the snow. Even in the desert or wasteland. We have our baby to think about now.”
—–
“Something’s not right, Zoidboro. There shouldn’t be a lake here. And the trees should be taller.”
“Nothing to worry about. Everything will adjust. Dog Island, the new one, is right over there.” Zoidboro indicates behind them, through the feed store and across the bay. “This is the new Murdock’s Island. Pineapple. The highway ends here.”
—–
“I think the trees *are* getting taller now.”
“And the water is beginning to evaporate. See? Everything will be fine.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0012, 0605, End of Time+
If she sits in her compression chair too much longer, she may never get up.
So tightly wound around. Like a Mummy.
Only Monsieur’s visits brings her out of herself. Where *is* he??
—–
“I’ve been waiting and waiting for you, Herbert Glenn Gold.”
The full name, he thinks. She *was* upset. “I’m sorry. I’ve been busy with the king. And then with the doll houses. We found Carrcassonnee inside. The one eyed entity that use to rule Collagesity. HF showed us.”
“But you were both Gold and Platinum inside Murdock’s Castle. Time was all mixed up. *Is* mixed up. You came too close to the truth.”
“Now I know. Fingerprince. I just had to find the second dollhouse to confirm it. And the second HF.”
“Are you going inside? Forever and ever and ever?”
“I’m not sure. What would you advise?”
She paused. “Maybe we should go to the Serenity Church. Perhaps the Reverend can help us.”
—–
“He’s *here*. Zoidboro is here.” Monsieur Gold was incredulous.
“Yes,” spoke Parasol below the tone of Zoidboro’s preaching. “It’s because of the Gold and Platinum mix-up. Zoidboro’s been here for years now. Yet he has just arrived. And then: he isn’t here yet. Some realities he was never born, never had a child by that strange mutant gal-guy Patrick Starr.”
“The drummer?”
“No, that’s Ingor.”
“Ingo?”
“No. *He’s* different.”
“My head hurts. I need to sit down.”
—–
So they sat down opposite Sally Spark O Naut — who had dutifully followed Zoidboro through the eyeball cave portal — and listened to the remainder of a beautiful sermon about the dangers of shark attacks. Afterwards, Herbert Gold’s head hurt considerably more.
In fact, I think he died there. Again.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0012, 0602, Rose Heaven-
“Ahh. Justt liike Bakker Bee saidd. Here att *Cee*. Four headds as one. Sam Bee, Duncan Aaa, Parasoll, and, lett’s see, Charrlie?” Ruby Fanatsie considered again. “Banana Boyy, yess. And *I* inn the middle againn. The *centree*”.
Ruby walks further; passes the left pair of walkers and enters the circle proper. C. Right pair of walkers straight ahead.
Ruby Fantasie pauses at the right pair, then looks around, stupefied. “I have entered a collagewold! And I am talking local again. Baker B. must be nearby. Very nearby. But this is Sam Bee true enough. Basketball. Orange and basketball as one. Orange Peel.”
Ruby turned around. “Geez, Baker Bloch. You scared me! I am almost on top of you!” But Baker, I, couldn’t answer as this was collagewold and not the real wold.
Still, through the density, I was able to eek out a weak “saucer”. Ruby stared ahead down the road with this. The Pineapple Highway Road.
The spectre of Private Investigator Keat Owens didn’t phase her a bit as she continued.
(to be continued)
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0012, 0512, Middletown
“I had to get rid of the doll house, Mssr. Gold. We were getting too close to the truth.”
“That’s all right Mr. Platinum. I know where to find another one.”
—–
Across the room…
“Our view has changed. Our *castle* has changed, Norris.”
“I don’t like it. I don’t like it one *bite*.”
—–
In the other room (the *only* other room now that Murdock’s castle has shrunk)…
… Petunia begins manipulating documents so that the correct reality might return.
Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0012, 0314, Rose Heaven-
Sunklands 