?Interrobang! · Track 42 · middle
How the Untouchable Stay Close
OBJECT (intimate, what Sisukiro found): a partner's 'missing you' notes, hidden around home. OWNER (re-linked by Sisukiro): Shy Sheldon — train-pushing oshiya from Tokyo at rush hour; note the irony of the name. FOUND AT: Boybuloq Cave, deep beneath Uzbekistan. THE (UN)LIKELY STORY & THE UNANSWERABLE QUESTION: Sheldon shoves strangers into trains all day though he's painfully shy; scattered his partner's hidden 'missing you' notes in a deep cave. How do the untouchable stay close?
Lyrics
Boybuloq… In the deep cold… I found paper. Little folded squares, wedged in the limestone cracks. Words written in a hurry. “Left coffee on for you.” “Don’t forget your lunch.” Each one a small, warm breath against the geological dark. A grocery list of love. Flimsy, impossible things to find this far down. I see you, Sheldon. 8:17 a.m. at Shinjuku Station. Your white gloves, your open palms. Never grabbing, just… pressing. A human piston, moving the tide of bodies. The smell of metal, rain, and a thousand strangers’ mornings. Your job is touch without connection. A wall of flesh you push against, day after day. How do you keep the one touch that matters? When your hands belong to the crowd? How do you hold a whisper, against the underground sound? How do the untouchable stay close? How do they stay close? She’d leave them for you to find. One in the pocket of your work coat. Another tucked inside your shoe. Little paper anchors in your overwhelming day. And you gathered them all, every single one. Brought them here, to the quietest place you could find. Scattered them like spores in the endless night. How do you keep the one touch that matters? When your hands belong to the crowd? How do you hold a whisper, against the underground sound? How do the untouchable stay close? How do they stay close? Did you think the stone would preserve them forever, Sheldon? Or were you setting them free from a world you couldn't bear? This one says, “I’m counting the hours.” This one just says, “You.” Did you bring the warmth down here to bury it, or to keep it safe from the cold outside? One last note, unfolded in my palm. It just says… “Come home.”