Plate Six: CHOICE

The sixth plate is once again an outdoors scene. It may be the same locale as that depicted in the second plate, or it may be a different but similar country road, facing a pasture. Whether it is the same roadside space or not is difficult to say, for the second plate revealed few memorable landmarks. Any which might have signaled the continuity of geography in this plate are obscured by the snow and the darkness; this is a night scene and a winter scene. Snow falls, gently, over the whole scene, and already Jack is up over his ankles in accumulated whiteness.

Jack and his shovel can clearly be seen, in the middle distance, crossing the snowy pasture. In the foreground, and stretching all up the sides of the frame (receding into the background, and up to the darkened woods that block the horizon, and across) yellow eyes peer out towards Jack, wary of his unnatural presence. In the gloom we can barely discern the shapes of a multitude of beasts, large and small, predator and prey, staring silent and watchful.

It is the light of the mellophone which permits Jack to be seen, for the gleaming iridescent instrument floats behind him as he walks, and casts its light in a pool about him. In the snow and darkness, the magical horn seems less out of place; its light is caught and reflected by the snow beneath it: a dull silver smear on the landscape.

The sky above is a roil of black and gray, from whence the snow falls, save only for a single open point, through which a pinprick of moonlight — or is it the light of a single bright star? — shines, echoing the mellophone’s cold light below. A ribbon, wrapped around the hole in the sky, bears this motto: Sin is not a choice but a capacity. The ribbon and its lettering blend into the dark clouds at first glance; they are the same black-on-gray color as the clouds. Once seen, the motto cannot be unseen.

In the lower left of the plate, in the extreme foreground, one end of a luxury automobile just barely juts into the frame. Its lights are off, and only a sliver of bright reflection on the chrome distinguishes it from the shadowy beasts behind and beside it. If Jack has noticed the car, he gives no indication.