An Eye Story

Roaming eye

An Eye Story

Just outside the Gothic church on the dirty side of town, an overweight woman dressed in a tight purple dress, too short for her and bulging out with unwanted body parts, as if that mattered, stood on the corner to conduct business as usual. Being a lady of the night, she came equipped with a flashy large rimed hat made of pink trimmed feathers with gold lace and matching parasol. Entertainment was her trade. She entertained men who had dollars in their pockets.

Being a voluptuous large bosomed lady, nefarious in nature, she stood out in the crowd. Customers were easy to come by.

From the corner of her eye she targets a potential client but quickly looks away. It is Mr. hobo approaching from down wind, smelling of rotted organisms and in need of something more than a bath. Teeth would do. Something that would cure ugly would do too. The tattered rags clinging to his body from built up scum and dirt repulsed her. He flashed a dollar.

She yells at the societal parasite, “My head is up here mister!” “Talk to the head!” “Stop checking out the merchandise!”

The old man is shocked at her insensitivity, her abhorrent behavior. He returns his money to the dark hole somewhere on his person and walks away disgruntled. His fear and stench follow him quickly as he disappears in the mist, murmuring curses on trembling lips as he hobbles away from wenst he came. A park bench is waiting for him in the dark to offer comfort from this demeaning ordeal.

Everything is quiet for awhile. For some unknown reason her eye pops out of its socket, bounces off her breast, rolls down the street to who knows where. The rest is history. Not really. Strange things begin to happen. You could call them odd or even peculiar.

Children in the neighborhood, (who should not be out this late at night), were playing marbles under a dim lamp light when the blue and white object rolled by. They followed the eye, thinking it must be a lost marble from somewhere else. It was barely visible by the string of lights strewn along the street.

The wayward eye continued rolling down the road. It stopped in mid air, halted there, rotated left and got away. The young inquisitors did not know what to make of it at that point. It was seen dimly but clearly rolling towards the sea gate through a picket fence.

The eye is clearly too fast to continue a pursuit. It makes another and final hard left then bounces up a hill near by then simply disappears at last sighting.

We can only guess or imagine why it took that direction. At this point since it seems to have taken on a life of its own and it was clearly free from its socket and owner, perhaps we should give it a name, like, “Left Eye” but maybe that won't do because with all the commotion and confusion going on in the moment we can't really say for sure if it was the left or right seeing body part. Was it the left or right eye that popped out of the poor unfortunate lady's head socket? Hmm. If it was the left eye maybe it is worth speculating on; that perhaps it can only go left, since that is the only logical thing left for a left eye to do under such circumstances, as bizarre as that may sound.

Should an eye know what to do in such times as these? Does it even have a will of its own to know what to do or what it has ever done in the past for that matter while attached inside the head and eye socket of the head where it originated? Everybody knows. Eyes can't think on their own. It seems to make sense.

What about the woman on the corner street? She must be startled or surprised. One moment she has two seemingly good, perfectly normal eyes, then poof, just like that, she is short one eye, leaving a lonely, vacant, empty cavity as naked and raw as her nerves must be.

There is speculation that perhaps the rough eye simply wanted freedom. Maybe it needed a change of scenery. The lady was confused and sad. It turns out she is hysterical. We can't imagine the pain she must be going through. One minute a perfectly good usable eye and then... the unthinkable, the unimaginable.

Back to the eye: It slowed down a bit to look back. It was hard to see since it was dark.

Naturally the authorities and medics were called to the scene to shed light on this mystery. The police do not have much experience in such matters. They could only fill out a report, which is pretty much all they are good for to tell the truth and for shrugging their shoulders, as is their nature and custom in these parts.

The medics marveled at the sight of the empty socket hanging limp and empty as it could be. They questioned the veracity of the woman's story. She immediately became insulted at that suggestion and profanities filled the air. She demanded justice. She demanded an investigation. She demanded a sandwich. (She hadn't eaten all day.) More importantly, she demanded her eye be returned immediately if not sooner.

There was not much they could do. All parties were perplexed. At that moment a young, well groomed, handsome man, dressed in a finely tailored, well kept business suit passed by. He looked intelligent and spoke gently. He offered his advise after hearing about the missing vision appendage.

“It is a mystery indeed.” He said. “Separated from its owner with no clue.” “We should all take a deep breath and relax.” “The missing body part is sure to turn up sooner or later.” “In the meantime lets pray.” The police were forced to arrest him on the spot. They had no time for divine intervention or speculation.

The priest from the Gothic church across the street came by. He too had heard about the incident from a parishioner and was eager to help. He came up with the brilliant idea of searching for the eye on the ground and surrounding area.

While they looked down he raised his eyes to heaven and began to speak, “The eye as we all know, is not a mind, does not think, does not reason things out.” “It simply came out in this particular instance and rolled away.” “The fact that the eye was not reported stolen seemed to be a positive starting point.” “It is true that it went missing or became lost.” “Let us pray.” The authorities had to drag him away as well.

It was difficult to discern the difference between “missing” and “lost.” A search seemed appropriate under the circumstances.

The lady wished she had stayed home this night to watch wrestling on TV. Maybe the eye would still be in her head if she stayed in bed. She certainly missed it. She felt somewhat naked without it.

As for the eye, it is still rolling around out there in the dark, moving swiftly past dogs, hobos, naughty children, not seeing the world for what it is, not able to roll around in a head as usual, being discontent and itching. Eyes are not really suited for the great outdoors, being on their own, all alone, in strange new environments, running from the law, priest and medics. It must find it all very confusing, lonely. At some point it might return. Who knows? There is a lot to see when you become free.

The woman with the single eye can only cry from the remaining one. She wipes a tear from it. Business is as good as ever. She is getting by just fine. From time to time she will walk the streets for hours on end shouting, “Eye!” “Where are you Eye?” People think she's crazy. Eyes don't just pick up and leave on their own. That would be ridiculous. There must have been an accomplice. There is always something more under the skin, under the surface of the eye lid. Has anyone checked the kids and what about their marbles for crying out loud?

Author's Note

This is not a true story so don't be concerned.