Cleopatra and Frankenstein

by Coco Mellors

“I get the sense you might still be a little confused about what we do here, so I was wondering if I could tell you a quick story?” Zoe nodded unwillingly. “Great! One day, out of the blue, a guy falls into a deep hole. ‘Help, help!’ he yells, but no one comes. Eventually a rabbi walks by. He lowers a Torah down and tells him to pray to find a way out.” Zoe looked toward Tali in the hopes that she would help her find a way out, but she was talking animatedly with a woman Zoe had earlier heard claim to have given birth in silence. “Next, a priest walks past and gives him a Bible. Again, no result. A psychiatrist tells him he’s stuck because he’s depressed and throws down some pills. No dice. A nihilist tells him to imagine the hole doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t work either. A politician, an intellectual, and a bunch of others try, but nothing works. Then a spiritualist, a wise man really, comes to the edge of the hole. He looks down at the man at the bottom and jumps right in with him. And that’s what this meditation is about, Zoe—someone getting in the hole with you.”