Radically Happy

Continued from Shylock’s Home.

Scene: A dusty attic in the twisting, non-Euclidean spaces of the Escheral City of Oz, somewhere near the East Pole.

A Barbie-like figure dressed in pink scurries in, searching frantically.

Nother Witch: Shylock, my love, where are you? Are you truly alive? Oh, forgive me for losing faith and agreeing to wed your brother Klein. Please don’t be mad at me. You are the only one I ever loved.

She pulls back, startled at what looks like a ghost, but on closer inspection turns out to be furniture covered in a white sheet.

She is about to turn away in disappointment when she stops, as if hearing something. She turns and stares indecisively at the sheet. Then in a burst of emotions rips it off to reveal…

Nother Dimension

Nother: [gasping] Another Nother?!

She gazes into some sort of portal, or perhaps a mirror. Except this version of herself is calm and confident, not frantic and desperate. The other Nother smiles as she touches up her hair, then turns and holds out her hand to…

Nother: Shylock!

Klein’s younger brother is — unlike the other psychic fragments — a fully-formed human instead of a mathematical abstraction.

But only six inches tall.

Nother stares in agony and envy as Shylock jumps onto the hand of the other Nother. They seem so happy. Was this why Shylock deserted her? For a more perfect version of herself?

Which Reality

Which Witch: No!

Nother jumps back, startled. She turns to see her sister, wearing a curious mixture of anger and compassion, carrying the Contraption.

Which: [grimly] I may not know much, but I know Which reality is real. I am… [looking guiltily at Tube for some reason] kind of an expert on using fantasy to hide from the truth.

She sets down the contraption and gently takes Nother by the hand.

Which: Shylock didn’t escape you — he is trapped in the Mirror of Imagination. He was terrified of his own inadequacy, and came up here to hide. The Mirror offered him a way out: an impossibly amorous adventure where he could be anyone he wanted, with anyone he wanted to be with.

Nother: [bitterly] So he is happier without the real me.

The Which Witch slaps her.

Nother: Ouch! Why did you do that?

Which:Because you were escaping into a negative fantasy instead of facing reality. Look beyond the surface! [grabs her and makes her face the mirror]

Hidden Reality

Nother gasps.

As the other Nother turns, Nother realizes that version is just a two-dimensional shell. She only exists as far as Shylock can see her.

She only exists as far as Shylock can see her.

Nother turns to Which with tears and questions in her eyes.

The Which Witch sighs.

Which:. Yes. In fact, he did you a favor. Because if you had tried to please him as both of you were back them, you would’ve ended up like her: a facade artificially constructed to win his favor.

You would’ve ended up like her: a facade artificially constructed to win his favor.

Which to Nother

Nother turns back and looks deeper at Shylock. She looks past the goofy grin of pleasure on his face, and sees the deep sadness and self-loathing hiding behind his eyes.

She frowns and turns to her sister.

Nother: He didn’t use to be this short, did he?

The Which Witch shakes her head.

Nother: No. He was always shorter than you, which magnified — but didn’t cause! — his feelings of inadequacy. But the more he interacts with fantasy instead of reality, the smaller and weaker he becomes, and the harder it is to escape.

Nother: So how can we rescue him?

Ang, Re

A giant red figure enters, following by a shambling brown one.

Ang: [gravely] You cannot. We cannot. Resistance too great.

Sweetums: [sympathetically] Shylock has poured too much negative energy into his alternate reality. The amount of positive energy necessary to pull him out would instead break the connection between our worlds, losing him forever.

Nother: [wailing] So there is no hope?

Ang: [shaking head] No. We cannot save him. One can.

Nother: [looking at Contraption] Can they? The Geni-Us? Now that they are one?

Ang shakes his head.
Sweetums smiles sadly.

Sweetums: No. The only One who can save Shylock is the One who built this city. The only One who can enter into a false reality without losing their identity.

Contraption: [mechanically] Do you mean..

Ang: Yes. The Geni-Oz!

He steps back dramatically. There is a puff of Emerald smoke. The Geni-Oz appears…

And He is nothing like they expected!

To be continued