Fragile Things
Neil Gaiman read us ghost stories around a campfile last night from Fragile Things. Well, it was at the Berkeley Rep, but with the lights down it felt like we were outside gathered round a fire, with a thousand of our closest friends.
Instructions, should you ever find yourself in a fairy tale....
if any creature tell you that it hungers
feed it.
If it tells you that it is dirty,
clean it.
If it cries to you that it hurts,
if you can,
ease its pain.
That day, the saucers landed. Hundreds of them, golden,
Silent, coming down from the sky like great snowflakes,
And the people of Earth stood and stared as they descended,
Waiting, dry-mouthed to find what waited inside for us
Walking out into the night air afterwards, the world seemed magical, perceptions forever changed.