Read Texts from Jane Eyre Online
Authors: Mallory Ortberg
okay i’ll wait
it might take a little while
things are pretty crazy around here right now
be right here
whenever you get back
John Donne
i just think it’s a little weird
you don’t mind when a flea bites both of us
but you won’t have sex with me
i wouldn’t even bite you
what
unless you wanted me to
obviously if you wanted me to i would bite you
but the biting’s really not the point here
i didn’t let the flea bite me
i didn’t even know it was there
see
that’s just how easy having sex with me is
wait
that’s not
that’s not exactly what i mean
i really don’t see what the flea has to do with us
it means we’re basically married
it has my blood and your blood in it
so
you’ve technically already had sex with me
and you might as well do it again
i don’t
wait
but there could be a lot of other blood in there too
well we might have to have sex with all those people too
what
don’t get mad at me
get mad at the flea for making me have sex with so many people
look i’ll just kill the flea
okay?
the flea is gone
oh my god you’ll kill our blood baby
but you won’t even have sex with me
Hamlet
hey kiddo
are you coming down for dinner
fuck you
okay
sorry honey
your not sorry at all
do you want me to bring you a sandwich?
i wish i was dead
okay honey
but do you want a sandwich first
what kind of sandwich
we’re having tuna fish
okay
okay you still want to die?
or okay you want me to bring you a tuna fish sandwich?
uuuuughhh
you dont get it
i’ll bring you the sandwich just in case
i dont want one if theres the little crunchy things in it
capers?
no
the little crunchy things
celery?
NO
THE LITTLE CRUNCHY THINGS
relish?
yeah
i don’t think there’s any relish in them but i’ll check
bring two
if i dont die i want one for later
okay
dont come in though
I won’t
im working on something and i dont want you to look at it
so just leave them by the door
Don Quixote
Dulcinea
DULCINEA
BESTIR YOURSELF
dragons -
dragons everywhere -
where are there dragons?
where are you?
I am beset by dragons, my love!
there has been perfidy
in this strange land of iron islands
and wraiths that drape themselves in steam
are you in the kitchen?
no kitchen could produce a bellow so terrifying
nor a stench so foul
as that of these steel dragons
i think you are in the kitchen
they perch upon nests of flame!!
yes
you are absolutely in the kitchen
that is the tea kettle
I WILL SLAY THEM ALL
please do not stab my tea kettle
ah, dear one
your concern for my safety does you credit
but a man must be brave
where is my steed
where is Rocinante
I REQUIRE SWIFTNESS
Hamlet
Part II
Did you just take a tray up to him
up to who?
Don’t do that
don’t do what
Pretend you don’t know who I’m talking about
well he needs to eat
I don’t know what to tell you
he’s a growing boy and he needs to eat
How old is he?
I don’t understand what that’s supposed to mean
I mean
how old does he have to get before he stops growing
People are always growing
He’s 37
He’s still in school!
He can eat dinner with us like a normal human being or he can
wait until breakfast like everyone else
I can’t believe you
Maybe if you didn’t let him sleep in until noon
he’d be hungry at dinner
Maybe if you talked to him he wouldn’t want to stay
in his room all the time
René Descartes
are you up
i can’t sleep
what if there’s an evil demon as clever and deceitful as he is powerful
who has directed his entire effort to misleading me
i don’t know
i guess that would be awful
go back to sleep
what if that’s just what the evil demon wants me to do
i don’t know
oh my god
what if i’m asleep already
what if i’m dreaming right now
and all of my perceptions are false
i don’t know
then I guess it doesn’t matter
so you might as well just go back to sleep
how can you think of sleep at a time like this
well i usually am asleep at three in the morning
it’s a habit of mine
maybe you just think it’s a habit of yours
maybe the evil demon is deceiving you too
maybe
what is a dream but a series of lies designed to keep us
immobilized in a dark room for hours at a time
that’s a good point
i’m going to go back to sleep and i’ll think about that while i’m
dreaming
that sounds like something an evil demon would say
guess I’ll just have to take that chance
are you really going back to sleep
are you sleeping
don’t go to sleep
i want to talk about math
William Wordsworth
hi
hey
how are you
pretty good thanks!
good
good
thats good
im glad someones doing good today
thats good
for you
how are you doing, William?
oh dont worry about me
I’m not worried
no need to worry about how im doing
I’m just asking
how you’re doing
ahhhhhhhhh
i just feel like
a cloud
you know?
like a cloud looking at flowers
oh
I’m sorry?
just a lonely old cloud
made of vapor and sadness
and whatever else clouds are made of
looking at flowers
wandering
alone
William
do you want me to come over?
no
i dont care
i dont want to bother you
it’s no trouble
how can you even visit a cloud
too busy wandering
lonely
over hills and things
do you want me to come over?
that would be nice
yes
please
Hamlet
Part III
they had the little crunchy things in them
oh honey I’m sorry
I thought I picked all of them out
well
you didnt
do you want something else?
no
are you sure?
i ate them anyway
they were okay i guess
i guess i dont mind the little crunchy things that much
:)
that girl keeps calling for you by the way
tell her im not here
are you sure?
yes im busy
im working on my project
let me just come in for five minutes so I can vacuum for you
I promise I won’t get in the way of your project
DON’T COME IN MY ROOM
okay
okay I won’t
I’m sorry honey
Hamlet?
honey?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
what if the moon was haunted
by women who had sex with demons
what
what if kubla khan made a whole dome
just for pleasure
and put an ocean underneath the ground
with no sun in it
wow
i don’t know
and rivers flung boulders up out of the earth at people
haha
flung ’em right up at people’s stupid faces
i guess that would really be something