Fugue #129

Zed tells the Jello Mold Story.

(Everyone has heard it before, but no one interrupts him - out of respect, or some silent agreement that will allow them to mock him later, after he leaves.)

On his trip around the world following the publication of 36 Views of Mt. Fuji, Zed visited Japan. Apparently, it’s as bustly and busy there as it seems, but it isn’t very touristy. So Fujisan, an hour outside of Tokyo by train, is a major attraction, especially during the summer.

Mt. Fuji is an active volcano, and stands more than 12,000 feet above the valley, where people live and meet, hook up and look up.

What does it mean to these people? Zed asked various locals, and an older man at the base of the mountain told him to think on this: The hole in a ring frames the ring itself, not the other way around. The hole is the story, and the ring is the characters. Take sumo, for example. The dohyo, or circle, is where everything happens, and the wrestlers enter from the periphery.

Zed says that he forgot about this exchange until Thanksgiving a few years ago. He was making jello and experienced satori, enlightenment (a kick in the eye). The action happens in the mold: the jello hardens - and if you add fruit, or a layer of cream cheese between two layers of jello (say lemon and lime), it can be even more complicated. And the mold, with its two concentric circles, actually frames or provides for two set of characters. The outer ring, the main characters; the inner ring, the liminal characters. So two narratives can occur simultaneously, both informed/formed by the same frame.

Point/counterpoint.