Chapter 10

You doing okay up there, Gladys? 

Just because you're paranoid... 

Sounds like it. 

... don't mean they're not after you. 

Hi there. I'm the narrator. I'm one of those discorporeal corporate functions that sometimes seem necessary. I often show up when some context is needed for understanding or interpreting the text. There's lots of ways i could do that, but the underlying purpose is to fill in the gaps. Here, i'll show you. Let's start this chapter over and i'll do what i do so you can see the difference. 

As Bottle sat contemplating the question of a narrator for Nevermind, he thought about Gladys. Better check on her. 

"You doing okay up there, Gladys?" 

The response filtering back down through the floorboards sounded not surprisingly like a wisened old lady cackle-singing the lyric "just because you're paranoid...." 

"Sounds like it," thought Bottle. 

See how much smoother that feels? I give background details, clarify which character does what, close off some of the disorientation you might feel if i took a bathroom break while the story just plowed ahead all willy-nilly. And it's at the point we return to the story. I'll step aside for a while and give the floor back to Bottle. 

Skip brings up a good point. If there's a narrator here, that narrator is a nincompoop. He's not giving any context to anything, just saying "i see stupid people" followed by "i'm stupid people too." At one point he doesn't even know if he has male or female genitalia, or so he just elects to have both veterinary surgeries at the same time. The one consistent thing is that people are gross, mean, and perfectly happy to shug and say "whatever" and seek comfort over knowledge. 

This world is starting to look like no fun at all.

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