The Infinite Matrix | Michael Swanwick & Francisco Goya | The Sleep Of

Reason 13

05.23.02

the sleep of reason

by Michael Swanwick

with illustrations by

Francisco JosÉ de Goya y Lucientes

Click image to enlarge

Digital image © copyright

Davison Art Center,

Wesleyan University

DAC permission required

for any other use.

13. [Plate 54]

Silly Old Clown

What is so funny as a silly old clown? He comes creeping from the shadows

at sunset with his great big nose and his wide, wide grin. His face is as

round as a pancake. His feet make no noise on the ground. For no reason

at all, you feel a prickling at the base of your neck. You turn around ?

and there he is!

Oh, that silly old clown! He's a true democrat, who sups with equal ease

from the beggar's bowl and the aristocrat's golden platter. Doors cannot

stop him! He laughs at locks! Silently, stealthily, he slips into your

bed at night, pulls the covers up to his chin, and waits for you to turn

your head on the pillow.

His is the oldest joke there is. Some say it was invented by the Snake in

the Garden, which is why snakes still leap at you today ? just to see you

laugh. Some say Judas, when he snuck up on his Rabbi in Golgotha, was

simply making this very same jest with a kiss.

Sooner or later everyone sees that silly old clown. You might be sitting

on the toilet in a public stall when he coughs and you discover him

squatting atop the tank. Maybe you're sunbathing naked on the roof of

your house when something comes between you and the sun. Perhaps you've

been driving six hours and reach out blindly to the side, groping for the

sunglasses you left on the empty seat beside you, when he places them in

your hand.

Tonight, perhaps, you'll come home dog-tired. You'll trudge up to your

door. You'll fumble for the key. If you're lucky, it won't be sleeting.

You'll enter your house. It'll be empty. It'll be dark. You'll grope for

the light switch.

In that sliver of experience between the instant when you flick the

switch and the instant the light comes on, you'll think to yourself: The

clown! Suppose he's here! Suppose his leering face is right in front of

me! Suppose his claw-like hands are even now reaching for my throat!

And won't it be funny if you're right?

[ Previous ] [ Next ]

===========================================================================

This is the 13th of 80 stories by Michael Swanwick written to accompany

Francisco Goya's Los Caprichos. For a listing of the most recently

available stories, go to The Sleep of Reason.

The Infinite Matrix is sponsored by Matrix.Net,

the Internet's oldest and most experienced

independent performance analysts.

Hosted by SFF.Net.