Since I can’t find her anywhere, I go to the pier and ask the silver Cat Woman. She bows and makes whirring noises, and then points to the downtown area.

“The Promenade?” I ask her and she nods yes. I checked the Promenade, the area that is closed to cars, but I did not see her there. I return to the mall, walk down a block, and I don’t see her.

I hear someone behind me call her name. It’s my brother Dylan and Shin is with him. Shin runs up to me and explains to me that he called Dylan after he saw me on the train. He tries to tell me that I should go home with Dylan, but I tell him that I have to find the Gold Lady.

As we cross the street to the other block, I see the lovely black woman I saw at Horton Plaza. Her dress has so many mirrors sewn into it, reflecting the sunlight in so many different directions, and she is wearing a diamond bracelet and earrings along with a pair of silver shoes. Her blackness soon burns away, revealing her to be the Gold Lady.

She holds her hand out to me, and soon everything around us stops—the people, the cars at the intersection, the breeze, and even Dylan, who is frozen in mid-air running after me.

“So she is real,” Shin says to me , and the Gold Lady touches my head and heals me. I say goodbye to Shin and soon become part of the Gold Lady. She integrates me into her being. Shin asks her what he should tell Dylan and she tells him that he will be able to come up with an explanation that satisfies Dylan’s rationalistic logic. She becomes black again and everything starts to move again. Shin tells Dylan that I somehow got away. The Gold Lady puts on some lipstick and she is ready to bring the world into the 22nd century.

I ask Susan if I could use the phone to talk to the Gold Lady and she says, “No, I have accommodated your fantasies long enough. You need to talk by yourself, and you need to talk to me.”

For the past few months, she has been acting as if the Gold Lady exists, listening to me and writing things down. Susan would look at my drawings and sketchbook writings as well. Susan and I would talk in the little office time left, and every once in a while, she would say something about “normal people reality.”

Susan takes a lock of her hair hanging by her shoulder and twists it around her finger. After reading Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar, Susan should want to do something radically different with her hair. Perhaps she would like to cut her hair short or put it in glamourous waves. Or she could shave it all off and be as elegantly bald as the Gold Lady. Hair comes and goes, but the Gold Lady’s smooth head is timeless; she has no need for long hair, curly or straight. She is not restless like Susan.

As Susan continues to twirl her hair, she asks me what I’m going to do when I grow up.

“Grow up? I’m twenty-one years old.”

“I know. What I mean is what would you like to do for a job?”

Susan seems to be on the offensive about “normal people” reality today. I think about it for a second and tell her I want to get paid to draw the Gold Lady and her dresses.

“You can’t get paid to draw the Gold Lady,” Susan replies. She pauses to think and she tells me being a fashion designer or cartoonist would be a good job for someone who likes to draw, someone like me. “Have you thought about that?”

I don’t answer right away. I have thought about it but I don’t want to give Susan that satisfaction. I think about the people who make the Gold Lady’s dresses—Issey Miyake, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Yves Saint Laurent, Donatella Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Karl Lagerfeld, etc.—and if I were a fashion designer, then I can make some cool dresses. I the Gold Lady wears them, which I know she will, then I will become very famous. I nod as if Susan just told me something new and insightful. OK, I played her game, so I think it’s fair that Susan lets me talk to my friend on the phone. But she says, “No, you should think about finding your place in society and what you want to do. Going on about someone who does not exist is not going to get you very far.?

I’ve been reading The Little Prince lately, so I ask her, “What about Antoine de St. Exupery?”

She tells me it’s a book and it’s simply make-believe. She just doesn’t get it.

It’s going to be wonderful, Edmund. I wish you could come with me, but you are way too cynical and I’m sick of how you’ve fetishized (a Susan word) my pens. I’m taking my pens and notebook with mf so you’ll have to find something else to stick up your ass when I’m hone. I’m going to draw pictures of the Gold Lady and the bright lights of L.A.

I wish I could draw a picture of the Gold Lady and leave it with you. If I don’t leave now, I never will. Keep an eye out for her in the newspaper, TV, or magazines. You’ll see her when you least expect her. Give the Gold Lady a calk if you ever need someone to kick your ex-wife’s lawyer boyfriend’s ass.

Be nice to Susan, Dr. Souza, and Dr. Petersen. If you ever see Shin again, say hi. When you come up to L.A., please clean up your act so you don’t embarrass me in front of the Gold Lady and all the fabulous people. ‘Till we meet again.

Your friend always,

Benny

She is the one Supreme Being, whose lips and hips (and elegantly bald head) will always be her greatest things, and she’s dressed to kick ass—all her dresses are couture, made specially for her, and she doesn’t buy her dress off the rack.

She is a saint and much more. See her halo? That just shows she’s the Sweet Divine Thing, the World Famous Gold Lady.

She can dodge bullets faster than the guy in The Matrix and she can kick some serious ass, so I wouldn’t mess with with her if I were you.

I clipped some pictures out of a magazine to show she is real though I had to draw in the halos because they don’t show when she takes the form in the three cutouts. Susan, the medical student assigned to my case ever since Dr. Marcus was “dismissed,” has tried to tell me the woman in the photograph is a woman named Alek Wek. I just told her, “So she is, maybe that’s what she wants to be when she doesn’t feel like being the Gold Lady.”

If that is so, she is also Grace Jones and Erykah Badu. It really doesn’t matter, she is famous anyway. 

The Gold Lady has helped me get through some very hard times and I would not be alive without her. I’d hate to lose the Gold Lady though Susan keeps trying to get me into “real people reality.”

Mintaka refers mainly to the milieu – the world orbits the star system in the Orion constellation. It’s essentially an Earth-clone planet with some extremes, one that it’s “year” is closer to a Terran millenium. Of course, this complicates the calendar, but isn’t a 365 day calendar with 12 months just as complex? The people on this world are human, or very near human, and there are some unique cultures, complete with languages, religions, and nationalities. The dominant nation is Itán, which has a lot in common with our “western” cultures, though there are a few differences:

• Written language is similar to Chinese with characters and compound characters that represent words. This script is used among several cultures and is referred to as Universal.
• The main religion is called “The School of Wisdom,” a religion primarily devoted to enlightenment, but also functioning as something similar to the Esper Guild in Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man.
• Some cultural and technological developments have taken longer in the Mintakan timeline than they have in our own. There is 20 Years, or 20,000 Terran years, or recorded history.

With such a historical range, I can have stories set in any era – ancient (which can lend itself to more fantasy type stories), modern (where there can be a supernatural take on contemporary scenarios), or futuristic (which can range from near-future cyberpunk to space-faring ventures, where they meet us, or the people of Earth). The current work in progress is set in an early 21st century-like era with similar technology. Cultural assumptions, however, can be tweaked.

In the stuff I’m currently posting in the “Mintakan” universe, Hlau is a former agent from the Itánese Agency of Investigation who is faced with the mystery of his past when a string of psychicly-performed computer hacks occur. Something happened during his time in the Agency to cause him to lose him memory some time back, something related to the cybercriminal, and all he has is a piece of paper with names, places, and a few pieces of information that point to a strange religion. And the mystery will unfold from there.

With this work, I’ll post things every other day.

As for another work, Resplendence, it’s time to get that complete as far as broadcasting it goes. Next Wednesday is when we’ll see the return of Benny and the Gold Lady.

Stay tuned… More to come.

Roger, are you paying attention? I hope so because here is your lesson in how to create a glamourous, smoky eye. You always put contrasting colors together and, honey, it’s not how it’s done, especially if you believe yourself to be a manifestion of the Gold Lady. Tyra Banks would back me up here. Here you have the Gold Lady’s eyes not yet transformed. Watch and learn, read and weep.

FRAME 2:

First, you apply with the brush the light base color. Brush the entire eyelid and area below the eyebrow. Do not attempt Mephisto effect in conjunction with the smoky eye. The Tammy Faye effect is also out of the question. While any color can be used, the idea is to have a subtle but striking look with the eyelids colored the darkest, gradually going lighter the further you get away from the eye.

FRAMES 3-4:

The next step is to apply the darker color to the eyelids. Take your brush and dust the area below the eyelids, blending the secondary color with the base color. Blend until there is a gradation from darkest near the eyelashes to lightest by the (natural) eyebrows. Finish with liquid eyeliner and black mascara for luscious lashes. Do not apply blue, green, or any other unnatural colors for eyeliner or mascara. No false lashes either!

The finished look of the Gold Lady’s lashes is just stunning! L’Oreal is strongly recommended because that’s what the Gold Lady uses. From L’Oreal you can isolate l’or, which is the French word for gold. Get it?

FRAMES 2, 4, 6

Though there is no special formula, the Gold Lady’s agent told me it’s OK for to mention the avocado masque the Gold Lady makes for her head. It’s how she keeps that shine on her elegantly bald head. The Gold Lady has shared this secret with Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Lawrence Fisburne, Sinead O’Connor, and Jesse Ventura. Patrick Stewart swears by the masque and says it has kept his head nice and shiny through 16 years of Star Trek.

Here is the recipe:

One or two avocadoes
½ lime (add other ½ if desired)
Extra virgin olive oil

All one need to do is mash the avocadoes, squeeze in the limejuice, and splash in the olive oil, but not too much. Mix and mash until pulpy, throw in a handful of mint leaves if desired, and throw the mix into the blender. Puree and immediately apply to the scalp. Let the masque sit for 15 minutes, rinse, and gently dry with a soft towel.

If you are wondering if the Gold Lady really has hair but she gets rid of it to make a fashion statement, the answer is no. She has always been bald; she has never shaved her head or used a depilatory crème. Her halo does a good job of filtering out UV rays, but hats and scarves help as well. When your baldness is timeless, you must do everything you can to keep your head soft and supple.

FRAME 3

If a potato masher isn’t available, just use your fingers. That way, your hands get the special moisturizing treatment as well.

Glass bowl by Pyrex to show mixture. We don’t use Amish baskets like Martha Stewart.

The Gold Lady is the most perfect being in the world. The nakedness of the Gold Lady is the work of God. When a certain writer said the nakedness of woman is the work of God, he was thinking of the Gold Lady, of course. Her agent refuses to let me have access to any of her nudes, so I have to do a little imagination work myself. This is an attempt to show what she looks like naked.

To keep her skin nice and shiny, she uses a moisturizer made from hydrogen oil mixed with gold dust to replenish the gold in her skin. There’s also a great deal of SPF in her lotion so she doesn’t get a sunburn.

I showed Roger this picture and he said the Gold Lady doesn’t look like that. He thinks his Gold Lady drawings are better and he does not go around thinking about what the Gold Lady would look like naked. Of course he wouldn’t. He only thinks about the dresses. His only suggestion is to add some gold glitter. I disagree. The Gold Lady is a shining thing and she doesn’t need anything else to make her sparkle. The shininess of her skin, her breasts, and her butt are all perfect. The only thing that I would add to the naked image of the Gold Lady are some diamonds. Feet upon feet of a diamond necklace could be draped upon her and it would be perfect.

FRAME 1:

I asked the Gold Lady how Madonna was doing and the Gold Lady saw her yesterday. “She’s working on a children’s  book right now.” Of course, she told me Madonna was simply being Madonna, whatever that is. Madonna is always trying to manifest herself as dead people such as Marlene Dietrich and Marylin Monroe and her accent is never real. Does she really know what it feels like for a girl? Is the universe really full of stars? I’m sure she can answer these things, but the Gold Lady asks me, “Benny, don’t you think that’s obvious?”

FRAME 2:

Susan looks up from her legal pad and interrupts my phone conversation. She says, “We need to discuss some things.” I’m like, yeah right, the Gold Lady has a few things she’s got to say to me and there are a few things I need to tell her as well. Susan just looks at me sternly and tells me I better make it quick. She moves around in her ergonomic chair, pushes her legal pad in front of herself, and straightens her posture. She then twists a lock of her hair. I know she is getting impatient.

FRAME 3:

The Gold Lady tells me it’s almost over for her and and the Man with the 4-Way Hips. She tells me the Man was rumored to have seen other women behind her back. I asked her what would she do if she found out and she said it would be over. I changed the subject and asked when she is coming to the hospital to get me. She tells me a girl does not have to make the first move. I tell her, “You always make the first move.”

“I don’t have to. My intuition tells me you will come to me.”

FRAME 4:

I want to continue this conversation forever. While I talk to the Gold Lady, I imagine myself wearing this fabulous cheongsam and having on bright red “fuck me” lipstick, but I know I must soon return to reality. I tell the Gold Lady I will think about what she said though I am disappointed once again, but I will find her. I don’t know how far I must go to find her, but I know I must. I hand up and hear what Susan has to say. She tells me Dylan has been given custody over me—no more custody from Mom and Dad—and Dylan has been pushing for me to be treated as an outpatient. There are so many phone calls and much paperwork involved.

©2003-2009 shindotv

FRAME 1:

When I talk to the Gold Lady on the phone, she is in the Beverly Hills Chanel Boutique. Why is she in a boutique, you might ask, especially since she doesn’t buy her dresses off the rack, even a Chanel rack? Karl Lagerfeld made some dresses specially for her, but she could not meet him in Paris to pick them up. so he had them flown to L.A. She’s just waiting for her order and I can her the clacking of her heels. “Karl,” she tells me, “promises me these dresses will be exquisite.” Susan looks at me oddly whenever I say “Karl.”

FRAME 2:

Sometimes I have to wonder about that Susan. Reads all those fashion magazines and doesn’t even know who Karl Lagerfeld is? I wonder what she would look like in a Chanel outfit. I’m not even talking about knock-offs because anyone can wear a Chanel knock-off, but can one wear the real thing and pull it off? If Susan cuts her hair (into a 1920′s bob and wear some redder lipstick), she can pull it off. I’ve seen Susan wear shoes like those before, but I know they’re not authentic. The Gold Lady wears authentic Chanel pumps when she is in a Chanel suit. Some things should not mixed and matched.

FRAME 3:

Here you can see Susan wears her hair very straight. Too straight. It’s not even that bitchy straight that’s in style right now. She could use a little wave, some body, maybe should just cut it pixie short. Sometimes she wears lipstick, but sometimes she doesn’t, but it’s never a good color. Too bad, because Susan is very pretty and she doesn’t dress in a way that’s flattering to her. I think Dr. Souza, AKA Dr. Laura, is mentoring her fashion sense. Granted, Susan needs that ugly white coat, but what she wears underneath needs work.

Frame 4:

While the Gold Lady is waiting for her dresses, she tells me Quentin has the perfect part for her. I ask her who Quentin is and she says, “You know perfectly well who Quentin is. If I must spell it out…” I ask her to tell me more, but all she will tell me is that she gets to wear a yellow motorcycle outfit. I ask her if the Man with the 4-Way Hips is going to be in this and she says, “No, Quentin has not considered him for anything. So how does that make him feel? The Gold Lady says the Man has been overlooked lately.

©2003-2009 shindotv