"People let me tell ya
I work hard every day
I get up outta bed
I put on my clothes
Cause I got bills to pay
Now it ain't eas--"


      I shut off my alarm and lie half awake/half asleep thinking of 
the song I had just heard.  I swear Aretha must have had me in mind 
when she wrote this song, "Deeper Love".  I work very hard at what I 
do, and I also have bills to pay.  Trouble is I don't have any money 
to pay them.  I have no hot water or electricity-- my alarm clock is 
battery operated.  I climb out of bed wondering if today will be the 
day.  You see, I am working on a way to enter the fourth dimension.  
I've tried everything from reaching into hidden walls to walking 
through them.  The latter, I must say, only succeeded in giving me a 
terrible bruise above my eyebrow that has yet to heal.
      TODAY, I thought, WILL BE DIFFERENT.  I AM GOING TO FIND THE 
WAY TODAY OR I QUIT, AND I'LL GO BACK TO BAGGING GROCERIES AT ACME 
FORM FIVE BUCKS AN HOUR.
      I sat down at my desk and thought.  Nothing.  After eating my 
lunch I thought again.  Still nothing.  I was having a major mental 
block.  So, what to do now?  Ah!  I'll write.  That always organized 
me.  I began to write a poem about what I was attempting to do.


THE FOURTH DIMENSION

How is something so invisible
So questionable
So inconceivable
So visible 
unquestionable
and conceivable
For me?
What determines its existence?
We have one-
two-
and three-dimensions
Why not a fourth-dimension?
The brick wall
That keeps me from crossing
Must be broken down somehow
Some way
But how?


      I put my pencil down and say with my head in my hands.  
Suddenly, the floor began to vibrate underneath me.  I knelt down and 
put my ear to the floor to find where it was coming from when I was 
quickly forced down a tiny sliver in the floow.  It was as though I 
had flattened out completely in order to fit through it.  I was free 
falling for quite some time before I landed.  I looked around and had 
no ideea where I was.  I felt strange.  I outstretched my arms and 
took a look at them.  They weren't in their traditional 3-D fashion.  
Then I recognized it.  The fourth dimension!  I had finally made it!  
Yes!  I was ecstatic!
     In the midst of my joy and excitement, I got the sensation that 
I was not alone.  I looked up only to find three little men standing 
there.  They looked about three and a half feet tall and all had the 
same orange eyes and thin, pursed lips.  Their noses were simply 
holes in the middle of their faces.  The only difference among them 
was the color of their skin.  One was black, the other purple, and 
the last a leopard-type pattern.  HOW ODD, I thought.  
      All of a sudden, they began asking me questions.  Hundreds of 
them, one after another. WHERE DO YOU LIVE?  HOW OLD ARE YOU?  WHAT 
IS YOUR NAME?  HOW IS IT IN THE THRID DIMENSION?  WHAT COLOR IS THE 
SKY?  WHAT TECHNOLOGY DO THEY HAVE THERE?  HAVE THE ALIENS LANDED 
YET?  HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE MOON?  All simple question, but my 
coordination had left me and I couldn't seem to get the words to my 
mouth.  Then... it stopped.  In the blink of an eye, the questions 
were gone.  Almost as if someone had flipped a switch and stole their 
voiced as quickly as the dark comes with a light switch.  They looked 
at me.  The purple man opened his mouth and said,
      "What is more important to you--your hands or your feel?"
      I contemplated the question.  WELL, I NEED TO WALK, BUT HOW 
WOULD I SURVIVE WITHOUT MY HANDS?
      "My hands, of course.  I couldn't live without them."
      "Good....", they all said in an incredible spooky manner.
      The little men then proceeded to attack me and throw me into a 
white hole in this strange world.
      I suppose I was unconscious when I got back because it was the 
next morning when I finally came to.  When I sat up and was able to 
put together a coherent sentence in my head, I sat at my desk and 
began to finish my poem:     


I did it
My mind
Stronger than the brick wall
Has been broken hown
I have finally passed
A fourth dimension
Written on paper?
Impossible
Too extradordinary
In my mind?
The only way
to truly preserve the memory
Want to find it for yourself?
Write what you feeel
It's amazing what can happen
If you believe
The consequences, however
May be extravagant
So beware
Of the fourth dimension


      I put my sock back on and walked to my bed.  I took the 
batteries out of my clock knowing that I wouldn't have to wake up 
early the next morning.  It's a good thing too.  I don't know how 
well I'd be at bagging... no hands really complicates thing, don't 
you think?  Maybe those little men need an assistant.  I could help 
with the guillotene.  I have been through it, and you could have 
guessed, and I know how those things work.  Besides, sharpending them 
is really fun.  The sparks that come off the machine are incredible.  
And I could definately get more than five bucks an hour.

THE END!!!

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