A Butler Considers
October 27, 2015 - 214 words
“Acting is happy agony,” the butler shouted to the roomful of children. The butler was terrified of his own psyche, the dark honesties it contained, so he knew better than to remain silent for more than a few seconds. It would not do to risk an inner monologue. The butler’s name was not important. He pretended to be a Taoist which meant he was obsessed with regurgitating Taoist wisdom at every opportunity and forcing it on everyone unsolicited. He just liked what he thought Taoism meant, and part of that including refusing to name things, including himself. He was fighting his own nature. None of nature's creatures but Man does such a thing.
“You understand the paradox?” he raved, eyes glinting in subtle ways that all learned men and women could read immediately.
The children tittered together, thinking he was playing with them. The hall they occupied seemed tight and small all of a sudden.
“Happy agony!!”
Fewer children laughed this time. Some of the older ones, the ones whose home lives were not discussed, knew what those words meant.
The butler growled but was not aware of doing so. “Come this way, children,” he announced with an exclamation point, clapping his hands in quick, tight patterns! “Happy happy happy! The night’s just begun!”