Book Re-write, chapter 1

Scene 1

Open in the rain, the darkness separating from the light, and Adam is splashing down the street yelling into a cell phone that Feral's alive, Feral's alive, Feral's alive... We're in the street of some big city, any big city will do, since they all look the same. Let's say it's Vancouver.
In the rain like this, nightrain, cityrain, the cars all seem to dissolve into the pavement, the pedestrians seem to move with the raindrops and puddles, the very traffic itself is water and blurry light, orange and glowing and blue. Mystic, and holy. Because, as Feral will tell us soon enough, everything is holy... but maybe it wasn't even him who said that, since he was known to be a bit of a bullshitter at times, and anyway, you don't even know who Feral is yet, do you? Or Adam, either. Let's start with that, then.
So, who was Feral, and why was he alive? And why wouldn't he have been alive? Was he supposed to have been dead at one time?
And right away that makes this whole thing preposterous.
I mean, how can you take a story seriously, how can you even believe in any of it at all, when ridiculous things are happening like the dead coming back to life? Because there is only one fact that we would all agree is for certain, both in life and in this story, and that fact is that once you're dead, you're dead, right?

And there's no coming back from that, right?

Right?

So I will attempt to tell you this story, as best as I remember it, though it's been so long now.
And what kind of way is that to begin, telling you right off the bat that maybe I'm not even getting all of the facts straight anymore--that maybe I've forgotten things, or added things, or confused them with some other stories I heard once?

Sigh... Sigh... I'm old now. I've forgotten things. You must allow the old certain luxuries, and this is one of them. We must be allowed to forget, all of us, or else we'd go crazy.

So I don't know. I don't know. I'm sure of that much. But here's the start of this story, or the end of it, I guess, and Adam is splashing down the street yelling into a cell phone that Feral's alive, Feral's alive, Feral's alive...

Nightrain, beauty of space on concrete and silence, everything blurs and becomes one.

Adam has put his phone away and is carrying his shoes, and the rain lets up just a little but the world holds its febrile glowing glow,
taxi turns through puddle,

Adam flags it down, gets in. The door closes with a thud.


End scene one.