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Christian H. Soetemann |
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‘ontic’ short stories |
© 2002 by Christian H. Soetemann and gangan books australia |
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//Grey lever The ironing board possesses a small grey adjustment lever on one side which serves to open up this object so that the process of ironing clothes &c. can begin. Hence this lever, probably made of steel, has got a distinct purpose. Yes, I do iron my clothes from time to time, and yet this lever means much more to me than a means to utilize the generally accepted function of the object we call ironing board. I let the board rest against the wall, and with sincere pleasure, I press down the height adjustment lever, not wanting to open up the board at all. My sole intention is to push down the lever. In addition to that, I enjoy regarding the grey lever, being able to refrain from pressing it down if I can control my ego functions. I realize this grey lever is there. It’s part of the world, just like the clothes, the house, the dust on the shelves, the mental picture of the lever (now that I am considering the role the lever plays in my life), like everything else that is there. The grey lever gives me a tender feeling.
//The man who searched for nothingness The man who searched for nothingness failed abysmally. He looked under carpets, amongst brushwood, outside the realm of street lanterns, but nothingness was nowhere to be found. He stared at little holes in trousers, tablecloths, shirts and linen – but there were always holes; nothingness was nowhere to be found. He turned around all of a sudden, just to see whether nothingness was laughing at him behind his back – still, nothingness was nowhere to be found. He observed sunspots, but even those turned out to be lower temperature areas amidst this giant mass of gas – so nothingness was nowhere to be found. He threw glasses and vases to the ground to wait for nothingness to reveal, but there were only broken fragments of porcelain and glass, so nothingness was nowhere to be found. He witnessed a neighbour pass away and rushed to see the corpse being carried into the ambulance – but there was a body, if only a dead one, and nothingness was nowhere to be found. The man who searched for nothingness finally gave up and committed suicide, expecting nothingness to dawn on him in the very moment of his death. But nothingness was nowhere to be found, and the presence of his corpse meant his final experiment had failed, even with him being unable to observe the result.
//Mirror magazine Did you see the man on the bench, sitting and reading a magazine? Actually, I haven’t spoken to him at all – that would have been rather embarrassing. For a moment, though, let’s imagine I would have got up from my bench, would have walked over to him and proposed the following: namely, to put the magazine on the ground, with the front cover facing the sky. Then I would have loved to take a silver safety pin out of the inner pocket of my coat. Subsequently, I would have put this safety pin on the surface of the magazine cover. It would have been a perfect fit of two objects which form a part of the world, of two present objects, both – like everything else in the world – occurring. Why a perfect fit? The cover of a magazine displayed a large mirror, and I so cherish combinations of silver objects. They happen to be there. And think of the potential pleasure stemming from a safety pin lying on the picture of a mirror, without the mirror being able to reflect. You might argue, this wasn’t a mirror at all, and as far as materialistic organization of mass goes, you’re right. This is not what we call a mirror. However, it would have made for an enjoyable co-existence of two things. In the end, of course, none of this came true. Who knows whether the man would have agreed to my proposition. I went for a more solipsist option and bought a copy of the mag myself, just to create this enjoyable co-existence in my private rooms. I heartily recommend it to you too!
//Presence of a candle The candle is white, has been fit into a silver stand. Now it resides exactly in the middle of the dark-brown wooden table. We currently do not have any information on who bought either table or candle; neither can we enlighten you regarding the question: why a candle of white colour? I’d assume it is down to the personal taste of the subject X who purchased (or even made – what do we know) the candle. At the moment, the candle is lit, thus spreading its light across the small room which contains all of the aforementioned objects. Without this situation being one that has got an obvious background or that at least suggests an interpretation as to how it might have turned out this way, we can easily maintain the presence of the candle. You might as well state the presence of the room, the table & the stand ... or whatever. Still, the candle is. There can be no debate.
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