Devil’s Paradise, Youssef RZOUGA [reading list .txt] 📗

of modern life!
Wellwell blinks and starts chatting.
My father lived on fresh air; he’d spent all his life without ever crossing the river. Spider’s web? But he never saw any such a thing! Neither did my mother.
Am I to conclude that nowadays, only a quarter of apple remains intact?
There’s venom oozing everywhere. Curiously enough, it starts with some taste of things to come, the fish swallows the bait and oops! ... It’s the vertigo! After countless attempts, at the mercy of the sea, it’s the point of no return; fish’s lost, wriggling among thousands of intoxicated fish
Among seaweed and rocks, one thousand and one fishes easily interweave to kill time and to be madly in love with everyone, in a rush and at the same time.
It’s unusual to see an exceptional fish that looks for precious something in the bottom.
Scarcely is fish in pursuit of something specific. All fishes including me. Of course! Ha!, Ha!
But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of my search into the sea or into the garden overgrown with weeds.
It’s the world-weariness, par excellence! I must confess!
To end up at all or to come to nothing, that’s my policy in my lifetime. That’s life!
You are curious to see my black box Ufo, ha!, ha! Can you swim?
– Show ME Wellwell!
Ok! Would you follow me!
All this fish look alike.
A few words are enough to persuade anyone or anyone else.
That’s easily said. For example, see what I’ll do!
–Hi Silverfish! I love you and I’m hungry, who am I?
–You’re a shark, congratulations! lol(*)!
–Hi Goldfish! I love you! You’re called Goldfish? Why?
– Because I’m a native of the Red Sea, lol! Send me a red heart! Thanks!
–Hi Flying Fish! I love you! Give me your MSN, do you have a webcam? Send me an invitation without any delay!
– (no answer) Ha!, Ha! That stupid fish is already connected with five sharks at the same time.
– Hi Freshwater Fish! I love you! Talk to you on the phone, okay?
–Okay, you little monster!
–Hi Saltwater Fish! I love you! “LOL” is a French film starring Sophie Marceau, I had already seen the film before, lol!
– Me too, kisses!
– Hi Catfish! I love you! How to make the window-panes vibrate deep inside you? lol!
–Just try to be a mouse! Lol!
Et cetera, et cetera... and and all the rest of it
–Have you finished already?
–But I’ve already TOLD you: I’m fed up with doing the same thing all the time, I’ve got something to finish. Besides, everything I do seems to go wrong, here. It’s an obsession Ufo! Time will tell! With time, we get into a rut and give up any hope of living in peace
Furthermore, the word has lost much of its meaning. What does the word “LOVE” mean, for example? Today, this word “LOVE” is not attested in any heart.
It doesn’t mean anything.
The world about us, what’s the world coming to! In the near or distant future, it’s a sweeping war.
A state of virtual war has been declared.
The next few years will be critical.
The village is shrouded in mist.
My head too.
(*) lol = “ Laughing Out Loud” Ha!, Ha!

CHAPTER-18

Gateway of Satan.
I have to put an end to my story. I’ll do it.
Who’ll do it if I don’t? I’m just asking you to be a bit patient. It’s so annoying! Ha!, Ha! To choose between several exits seems to me something unfair. What can I do? I’m tired, that’s all.
An interesting idea occurred to me: why not to refer to a woman who lives in reality? She is a poet and teaches English. She’s called O as in Olfa Philo. I received two of her messages, a week ago. These two messages hang well together here and that’s the root of the problem or the present crisis, in virtual reality. Let me explain: I sent her ten chapters of this novel to read and then give me her opinion. Surprisingly; however, instead of answering, she deleted me from her list of friends.
Yeah, well, err…
Put yourself in my position. I was surprised or, rather, infuriated. What have I done? Nothing. Is there anything more depressing?
A deadly silence. Nothing to report.
She doesn’t want to see me again. My pride was hurt : Ha!, Ha!
So what?
I dropped her a word in her mail.
So how did she respond?
A little something but it was somehow touching. This is what she told me:
“Hi! Well, I just felt this relation was jeopardising my household, so I decided to close the door where from problems may come. I am a married woman, sincere and faithful, I don't like to wreck my marital bliss because of virtual contacts. I Know that SATAN is behind the screen and everything starts with simple contacts, then they evolve to other things, may be I was wrong to think so, but I found it safer for my family to do that. I'm so sorry to remove a so valuable and famous person like you, but I guess you'll understand my reasons.”
(Message end)

Perhaps you don’t appreciate her message dear Ufo but me, now that’s more like it! Me, who has suffered, too, as the result of a heart grief.
Without hesitation, I sent her a thank-you letter and his reply was as follows:

" Hi! Well, to be sincere with you, with myself, with my husband and with GOD who is watching me right now, unlike the devil's whispers which give us the illusion that none knows what they are doing when isolated, I informed my husband that I got rid of you and that my act surprised you and for that you respected me more and you want to use my letter as a prelude to your novel, but he is still suspicious and apprehensive of our conversation because he thinks that all women are prone to be victims of SATAN, and his networking temptations.
Actually, many people on this globe are victims of SATAN and are unconsciously drifting to the 'Devil's Paradise', as you cleverly described it and this ' virtual paradise' hypnotized my husband like all men in one phase of his life and was to ruin my life on many occasions, but I resisted and decided to fight back the satanic oppression and save my family from this paradise/ hell. I struggled with SATAN for years and years, that's why I know him very well: I know his doors, his windows, his tricks, his lies, his ¨presence and even his smell. Indeed. I'm gifted by GOD with a sixth sense and I can read in people's minds and eyes and even in people's words and messages. I can detect the presence of SATAN even behind the TV or computer screen.
If you enter through the legal door of my husband, so we can be three good friends and you'll really get INSPIRED by my 'life movie' which is full of knots and climaxes.
In fact, I have the intention of writing a short story about my life and about my unswerving struggle with SATAN, and how we were victims of witchcraft for years etc, but I couldn’t find the time and the energy to do that yet. But all the material of my written poems and my future novels are inside of me, buried in the bottom of my heart." (Message end).
In my opinion, it turned that it’s a well-matched couple but out of this so-called Devil's Paradise.
“Yes, but…” Ufo continued, “it all depends, because to combine virtual life with family life, that’s the question. It remains to be seen whether the water coexists with the volcano.
in any case, unless it rains differently, to need to let off steam, to act on an impulse or to lose track of time and all sense of reality, in Devil’s Paradise, frustrating-frustrated, all this is but a door that leads into the hell. Ha!, Ha! Don’t say I didn’t warn you Wellwell! ‘Forewarned is forearmed’ as the saying goes.
–But if all our craniums have air-conditioning!
–I hope. I hope so! In order to limit the damage, Ha!, Ha! You have just to read beyond the screen, if you can.
– Phew! You and your precious books! This new magical world has its good points.
–ok! Up to a point but to reach the point of no return, it’s a disaster! All the evidence points, contrary to popular belief, to slow suicide.
–So, can you point me in the right direction?
–I’m poorly positioned to advise you dear friend, hee hee! I’m not psychic!
He says… but it’s all a pretence of doing something.
–Things are looking bad, but try to keep things in proportion!
Ufo made no reply.
CHAPTER-19

Time capsule.
“The crops were devastated by the storm,” said Ufo, “it’s time to live in abbreviated forms.”
* What comes next?
- The earthquake.
At times like these, to give somebody a kiss or a slap in the face, is the same.
Lol man, to surf, procures him the greatest pleasure but too much screen numbs brain. He had no alternative but to obey. “When a wise old man points the finger at the moon, only a fool looks at the finger.” Ha!, Ha!
“ I’m going to have a shower,” said Ufo.
Ufo never seems to know what’s going on.
The exception proves the rule.
- I had to give way in the end. Ha!, Ha! Beyond all cure. There is no known cure. The audience was enthralled by the play. Open sesame! Flood victims, in thousands: the haves and the have-nots, extended family, guess whom I saw! An intellectual, the heavyweight specimen, in the unemployed genre, all are Victims of a libidinous curiosity, incurable. Bottle-fed babies. Premature ejaculation. The lady of the house, she grew out of her dolls, and despite that, she still plays hide-and-seek with cops and robbers. Now it’s your turn! Ha!, Ha! It’ the increase in life expectancy. How useful will it be?
They howl in rage. Mass hysteria. They’re almost the same.
Ufo remained unmoved by their tears, but how to break the deadlocked?
Open sesame! Every one seems nice, but it’s only a façade. Every one for himself. Everyone to their own love life.
“To lead a secret life, even virtual and to limp out, what is it due to? Self-destruction. This surprises me, I must confess,” said Wellwell.
I don’t like myself in this jacket
So farewell to the plague!
I love you Di!
We’ll see tomorrow
Do re mi fa sol!
You’ll be my sunflower
Yahoo!
CHAPTER-20

Gateway of triumph.
In the village where we live, there’s something I don’t understand, said Wellwell. There’s something missing. Nothing is missing, of course not, one of this round table’s legs is missing.
Where is Samara?
She’s conspicuous by her absence. She lives, nowhere else but in a world of her own. Nobody knows her whereabouts, no one. When will she be back? It’s possible that he’s dead.
Only Dina gave us a great long speech about Samara. She whipped the crowd into frenzy.
“We’ll go wherever you want, tell us where she is,” said Wellwell.
The atmosphere is electric. A murmur ran through the crowd.
The bridge over the river, as far as there; inside, the town is overlooked by the castle, you see the castle? Well, she's there.
“I have nothing to hide,” claimed Dina, “Samara is still a war prisoner, taken captive in the first day of war. It’s time she regained her freedom! It’s a matter of life or death.”
“It seems