Fantasy fiction; Science fiction; Spouses -- Fiction; Subconsciousness -- Fiction
Just at that moment one of the doors across the room opened and Toffee
appeared before the court. She was followed at a safe distance by an
extremely harrassed-looking police matron. The redhead was a study in
glitter and pink flesh. Three sequined butterflies garishly highlighted
the strategic portions of her anatomy without running any grave danger
of obscuring them entirely. A vaporish material dusted with spangles
provided a skirt of sorts. It was a dress that fairly begged for blue
lights, slow-rhythmed music and unrestrained whistles. Toffee presented
herself to the court with a spectacular flourish, then turned
peevishly to the matron.
"You make another grab at me with those horny talons of yours," she
warned, "and I'll flatten you down even with your arch supports."
The matron backed away, afrighted. "Then you keep your hands off those
zippers," she said. "They don't allow monkeyshines in the courtroom.
And just you wait till the judge hears about you breaking out of your
cell."
Toffee smiled enigmatically. She knew the matron would be deviled
with that mystery for the rest of her days. And even if the wretched
woman ever discovered the truth, she'd never believe it, though the
explanation was simple enough. Being a product of Marc's consciousness,
Toffee naturally could not exist when he was asleep. So, as she had
promised, when Marc had finally fallen asleep, Toffee had disappeared
from her cell to return to the valley of Marc's mind. However, when
Marc awoke in the morning, she had instantly reappeared. She had simply
chosen to rematerialize in the wardrobe rather than her cell.
To Toffee's mind there was really nothing so terribly mysterious
about that. Choosing to ignore the matron altogether, she turned her
attention to the judge. She waved a hand to the august person of the
bench and started forward.
"Here, you...!" the matron began.
Toffee swung around menacingly. "Stand your ground, Bertha," she said.
"You may wind up wearing those false teeth of yours as a necklace." She
turned back to the judge and smiled. "Well, here we are," she greeted
airily, "wild-eyed and bushy-tailed!"
The judge made an indignant choking sound. "Now, look here...!" he said.
"I am looking there," Toffee said. "And it's a great disappointment to
me."
"Young lady!" the judge roared. "Do you want to be charged with
contempt of court?"
"Maybe I'd better warn you, judge," Toffee said coolly. "Don't bully
me; I may forget myself and pull a zipper. That would crab your act
something awful. Besides, if you charged me for all the contempt I've
got for this court there wouldn't be enough money to pay the bill."
"Well!" the judge snorted. "Of all the...!"
"You're turning purple, son," Toffee observed mildly. "It's not half
becoming, either."
The court audience became tensely hushed as the judge reared back in
his seat and opened his mouth. But the eruption failed to come.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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