Dare I deprive the reader
of that first glimpse of Ambergris?
That first teasing glimpse during the
carriage ride from the docks?
That glimpse, and then the sprawl of Albumuth Boulevard
half staid brick, half lacquered timber?
The dirt of it, the stench of it
half perfume, half ribald rot
And another smell underneath it
(Coughs) -the tantalizing scent of fungi
of fruiting bodies, of spores entangled with dust and air
spiraling down like snow. (Violently coughs)
The cries of the vendors
the cries of the newly robbed, or the newly robed
The first contact of shoe on street out of the
carriage-the resounding solidity of that ground
and the humming vibration of coiled
energy beneath the pavement
conveyed up through shoe into foot
from foot into the rest of the body suddenly
energized and woken up
The sudden hint of heat to the air-the possibilities!
(Maniacal laughter) -and
peeking out from the storm drains
from the alleyways, the enticing
lingering darkness that spoke of tunnels
and sudden exploration
One cannot mention our move to Ambergris
without setting that scene, surely!
That boulevard became our touchstone
in those early years, as it had
to countless people before us
It was how you traveled into Ambergris
and it was how you carried them out
when you were finally left

But as fascinated as Duncan would become with Ambergris
he went elsewhere for his education
At our mother's insistence
in one of her few direct acts of parenting
Duncan received his advanced degrees
in history from the Institute of Religiosity
in Morrow {or as the historians call it
" that other city by the River Moth, "
a good hundred miles from Ambergris}
Hoo-ahh! Yeah! Hoo-hoo-hooaahh!
Yeah! No, no, no, no, no

Duncan devoted one dark
ripe little corner to the "changing facade of Ambergris"
as he called it. At first, this corner consisted
only of overlapping street plans
as if he were building an image
of the city from its bones
The stark white paper
the midnight black veins of ink
contrasted sharply with everything else in his rooms
(Maniacal laughter) No, no, no, no, no