Mary was sitting at her desk when the phone rang.
It was Officer Maladin, with some encumbering news.
She listened as he spoke, her eyes widening with each word spoken-
her fingers, once typing rhythmically, now in a nervous fidget.
Nobody knows what he told Mary
as she swore she’d never tell.
All we know is that she changed that day,
the day she thought was just like any other day at her desk.
She changed in ways that shocked the town.
She changed in ways that shocked herself.
The next day Mary came to her same desk a different person.
Or so her colleagues say.
They spoke in whispers as she entered the office.
Her hair was let down to her waist, and at her waist there was no belt!
She was wearing a free flowing skirt that dragged along the ground behind her
a beautiful fabric, multicolored, with branches and dirt that clung to the hem.
She smiled with the warmth of a woman in love, yet behind her eyes was a fierceness none had ever seen before.
And most knew Mary very well.
In a town as small as this, office colleagues were mostly grown fellow classmates, a life passed next to each others desks, first in school, then in work. They knew Mary from when they called her Meek Mary in fifth grade, Virgin Mary in high school, and Secretary Mary today.
But this was none of those Marys. This Mary, had something very different. This Mary, had something very strange.
At once the whispers turned to calls to Officer Maladins desk, demanding what happened to Mary, the sweet girl they once knew. But he responded, as always in jest, “What happened to Mary could happen to you.”
They replied with anger and dissent, demanding details, demanding sense.
He unplugged his phone when it rang off the hook, and they marched straight down the street to his nook and cried outside to no avail and proceeded to bang on his door as well. With no answer to their knocking force they broke down the gate, and found Officer Maladin sitting up straight with his eyes closed and legs crossed in his sitting room.
He smiled warmly at their presence, inviting them to sit.
They asked to him what happened to Mary and what do you have to do with it?
He replied
I have nothing to do, I have done as Mary has too, so if you’d like to sit, I very much invite you to.
What nonsense rhymes you speak they screamed
You’re the authority! You’re the police!
He replied I am no officer no more
They cried “then who the hell do you think you are?!
Eyes still closed he smiled and spoke
I am you and I am me,
There is nobody else to see.
The people were annoyed to the T
And said OFFICER MALADIN SPEAK TO US PLAINLY!
His closed eyes rolled a tear to the sea
And he replied solemnly,
As you wish, though it saddens me
I will play your game
in hope you see
This is just a play,
yet for your crying asks and many pleas
I will give you what you came for.
Ex Officer Maladin opened his eyes, walked to his desk and to their surprise
took out his gun, pointed it at the line of curious and confused townspeople and stated calmly:
What happened to Mary could happen to you. What could happen now could happen too. What are you waiting for behind prying eyes, can’t you see there is no disguise? Only our fear keeps us bound to the laws of others or ourselves. The natural laws are those inside and those we know full well. The truth about Mary, as is mine, I’ll spell it out in my old guise, is that Mary finally gives no flying fucks about the rules you’ve upheld among yourselves, so get the hell of my office, there is no case to close, only yours to open if you chose.
All the townspeople screamed at the sight of the gun, they didn’t even listen to what the ex officer sung, just went back like cackling geese, giving the office break room gossip for weeks.
There's Something About Mary