There and Back Again Lane

The Queen sits on her spinning silver throne. She holds a mirror to her face and hums a tune about strangers and hearts and magic.Her lady-in-waiting is doing just that — waiting.

On the waiting lady’s desk rests her right elbow. On her elbow her arm, on her arm her palm, on her palm her face, on her face her eyes and on her eyes her dreams…

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First, there is a river.

She recalls being born in one. Drifting. And a woman of manly built fishing her out. She looked at her face. Maybe she found her pretty. Or fragile maybe? She was never told why, but the big woman who called herself Pallas took her in and raised her as she would a dear daughter.

“Euphrates?”

“I wanted to give you a river name, a name not bound to anything, just as the waters are not bound to anything. And since that is where you came from.”

She had a solitary, though amazingly happy childhood. She adored her oftentimes queer mother. She was friends with the river and whoever, whatever drifted in it. Little boats, big boats, strangers, fishes. She loved the strangers the most. Especially the ones who stopped by the riverside to tell her their strange stories. Stories of place. Stories of people. Consequently, she dreamed of seeing the rest of the world herself, constantly wondering what lies beyond the river. What is in store for her.

But to see the world and other places!

And so, as the girl with a river name, she did.

Second, an ocean.

The Ship of Fools sailed that night. A Boy, a Girl and a Magician were aboard.

Maybe there was an affair. A magician, (and very starry night) can easily play a tricks on the weak of heart.

But.

Were hearts even involved?

Ah yes, she still had her heart by then.

And him?

He said so. But she remembers placing her hand on his chest, and not feeling a beat. Or had her own heart been beating too loudly to hear the other’s?

The Ship sailed for three long years. Or was it four? Time wasn’t aboard then, so who’s to know? The anchor dropped now and then. She could have stayed behind a nameless city. She could have sailed on another boat. But she chose to always go back to the same Ship. Such must have been its allure. His allure? She can’t clearly recall which anymore. She does recall that whenever storms struck and rocked the boat, he was nowhere to be found. She figured he let the Ship leave him on some dock.

But how come when days were perfect for sailing, he shows up?

One dark night, the strongest of winds and the heaviest of rains hit them.

Abandon ship.

Finally, there is a lakeA

She starts swimming in circles, the clinking of horse hooves and a bird’s singing from a distance were the only things she can vaguely hear.

She feels a bit tired after some time and starts floating aimlessly on her back instead, her eyes squinting at the sun.

She smiles.

She is finally at peace.

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The lady-in-waiting is doing just that– waiting…