THE ETERNAL ANSWER

“His Only Wish Was to Touch” by Ryohei Hase

Theirs was a love affair for the ages, the likes of which the world had never seen before and unlikely to ever see again.

Philippe was born with a very rare medical condition of having his head shaped like a giant rat skull. His emotional and mental faculties were not impaired to any degree; he could talk, think and feel. And he needed love, like the rest of us. Yet the oversized rodent cranium on Philippe’s shoulders caused him to feel shame and self-consciousness and he resigned himself to a life of loneliness and unfulfilled desires.

Salvation came to Philippe in the arms of Olympia, the one woman in the world who accepted him as he is and who fell head over heels in love with him.

Olympia’s favourite expression of affection was to pat Philippe’s head tenderly; eventually she became so used to its cold, hard texture that she would be repulsed by the feel of soft, warm skin.

To those who scorned her and mocked her choice of partner, Olympia always had the same answer: “The appearance of your loved one will deteriorate over time. The skin on their faces will sag and grow wrinkly; their chins will multiply in number; their hair will turn grey and eventually fall out. But the face of my beloved will never age. It will always look exactly the same as that blessed day when I first laid my eyes on him.”

As with most happy marriages, after a few years of unbridled joy in each other’s company, Philippe and Olympia’s thoughts turned to procreation. Despite their obstetrician’s repeated warnings of unforeseen results that their union might produce, they enthusiastically went ahead with their plans for becoming parents.

As events rolled inexorably towards their climax, a child was born – Alexander, a child of the Evolution. The infant was free from any physical defects, except for one thing. He possessed two heads so solidly fused together, that no surgeon would ever dare to attempt separating them. One head was inherited from the mother. The other head, a skull (albeit of human, rather than rodent, shape), clearly came from his father’s side.

Given such a physical form, it is not surprising at all that Alexander grew up to be a most peculiar man, engaging in somewhat unconventional activities. Due to his double head construction, he was able to experience and exist in both the Living and the Dead Worlds at once. Consequently, he did a roaring trade as a medium and a prophet, informing the grieving relatives of how their dearly departed were faring in the Afterworld, as well as spreading the Gospel of the Afterlife and letting the living know what existence really was like in the next world.

His consulting table was cluttered with heads, hearts, genitalia and other parts of the human body. These were unmistakable reminders of his role as a conduit between the two realities, for put together, these objects constituted the human body, the most powerful symbol of life, while separately, they were the most vivid mementoes of death.

“Der Wäger von Kopf und Herz”by Michael Hutter