From 'The Double' Iii Poem by Morgan Michaels

While Miggi recovered, Langley continued to case the purloined guide.

'Mira! ', he said, moving from the sunny lawn to the shade of a mulberry tree. He held the pages open to a sort of picture glossary at the book's middle.

'What'? , said Miggi, warily. He wondered if Langley had found evidence of still further value in the little volume. He hoped not, since that would likely point out added oversight on his part.

'Check this out', said Langley. 'The illustrations aren't photos. They're colored by hand. Mira'.

Miggi glanced at the drawings, skeptically.

' Yeah, so, what', he shrugged. But he was wary of crossing Langley too sharply.

'Wha'd'ya' mean, 'so what'? Do you know how much work this took? Each illustration, colored by hand? Color photography hadn't even been invented, yet'.

Abashed, Miggi blushed and felt faint, but remained stubbornly indifferent. He joined Langley in the shade.

'So that makes it worth more'? , he ventured, hoping to show openness to possibility, at least.

'Market is beside the point', replied Langley, suddenly pious. He remembered he was in a land where value was tighter-linked to need than niceties of publication. He felt like Livingston carelessly trampling wild diamonds in the company of Stanley.

'But, I don't know', he said, at last.

Miggi was relieved. That kind of thing meant nothing to him. Anything you couldn't eat or ride in meant nothing.

Noting his apathy, Langley closed the book. Butterflies turned him on, though. He used to catch them in nets, many years ago, in rural Maryland. In nets made of airy cheese-cloth, that sold in hardware stores for 59 cents. They were made soley to capture butterflies, which visited the garden flowers to sip nectar. There were Cabbage butterflies that wound their flight-paths into dizzy helices and rose in the air, together, as if aboard the same airy elevator. There were Red Admirals whose wings did not have a dull side, as did the wings of many. Gladiolas attracted them.There was the yellow swallowtail, coal-striped, a strong flier, that lived near lakes. There was the ubiquitous...