the sky is falling

among the first things Beloved said to me this morning - somewhere between "don't forget to brush your teeth," and "do you mind being on top?" - was, "we're in the middle of a world-wide crash."

in the 13 years i've known Beloved, there've been other crashes, other crises. the asian contagion had Beloved getting up at 430 am to catch the market reports from hong kong and japan, and caused me to work my first Spell. i'd gotten tired of Beloved's miserable mien and thus, arrived one evening with a backpack full of magical supplies to find Beloved watching the financial news channel, with what was becoming his habitual pained expression.

what are you doing, Beloved asked, as he struggled to sit up and i began to unpack.

i'm working a spell, i said. we're working a spell, actually.

can we have sex? he asked.

of course, i answered. where do you think we're going to get the oomph?

i think i like this kind of magic, said Beloved.

i don't remember exactly what it was we did, nor how oomphy the sex, but three days later, the asian markets turned around, and there was, as Beloved puts it, lift off.

and furthermore, the war must end. blessed be.