Super Flat Times (20 page)
There are other problems as well. Some of the prayers I’ve come across have been too difficult to translate. Something about them sets my arms shuddering, makes my mouth go cold and sour. I’ve returned to the translation bunker many times, if only to see if I can build up a tolerance, but each time it’s only gotten worse. The air inside the cabinet will fizz and shimmy even as I wheel it out onto the workshop floor on a steel gurney. I so much as dip my hand into the cabinet and black out instantly from the pain. I have a terrible, unstoppable feeling these are the prayers offered by friends, family members, people I have known for years who, one day, simply vanished. My mother, my father, Uncle Ramón, Soon Ok, Philippe, my two missing eggs — I am sure their final breath has been preserved somewhere in the vaults, sealed in a serialized container, indistinguishable in every other way from the others.
Should you take it upon yourself to continue this work, to finish translating the remaining samples before they disintegrate completely (and I hope that you will at least consider this), compiling them into a second volume, I ask that you start with these samples, which I have listed by serial number and ranked in order according to the severity of the pain I experience in coming near them. Should I live long enough to read your book, I would be curious to know what these people have to say for themselves:
7. Xddf-09994.5aff.GOLR-1_steft.cvr
6. Xddf-57433.9aff.CRFQ-8_chelm.cvr
5. Xddf-33R11.Daff.PPRF-6_broft.cvr
4. Xddf-00544.Xaff.MAZ-1_nger.cvr
3. Xddf-99199.4aff.LKII-2_jlurch.cvr
2. Xddf-88893.2aff.VROV-1_joliet.cvr
1. Xddf-56654.Aaff.VALO-x_xxe.cvr
Thank you in advance,
Mi Jinxsa
The author wishes to thank the following people for their support: Cynthia Schmidt, Edan Cohen, Tom Lightfoot, Sandra Saari, Jason Bortz, Rachel Hall, David Kelly, Joanna Scott, Ken Cooper, Carole Maso, Gale Nelson, Robert Coover, Meredith Steinbach, Rosmarie and Keith Waldrop, C. D. Wright and Forrest Gander, Robert Arellano, Matthew Miele, R. J. Curtis, Judy Budnitz, Neal Pollack and Regina Allen, Michael Mezzo.
Special thanks to Ben Marcus and Heidi Julavits.
Special thanks to my family.