Pear Fountain: A Starting Point

One afternoon, Girl was sitting by the side of a fountain, watching her brother paddle to and fro in the clear water.  She had retied the ribbon between them short again and was enjoying the occasional tug.  They were in the midst of a small grove of pear trees, the branches heavy with fruit.  When the wind blew, the sun danced with patterns of shadow, and she could hear more fruit plop to the earth, like sneaky footsteps.  She sighed and contended against her full stomach.  She and her brother had eaten several pears together, but she thought the first one had been the sweetest.

“Okay,” said Girl.  “Time to go home.”

“Not yet,” said her brother, splashing mightily.  She watched as his reflection was caught brilliantly by every falling drop of water.  Then he stopped.

“Where is home anyway?” he asked.

“Right in front of us,” Girl answered, and stood up.

 

End

Almost Epilogue: Save the Pear

Girl watched the old woman moving away, surprised to feel no need to say goodbye.  And she imagined that multicolored ribbons were streaming behind the old woman, floating in the breeze.  Then she remembered something for the first time.

“Ah!” she said, and called after the old woman, “Ma’am! Uh—ma’am?  What is your name?”

The old woman looked back, brightly.

 

Girl had decided to climb one of the changing hills.  In one hand, she clutched loops and loops of red ribbon, and in the other, she held her ripe green pear.  She felt light and clean, even as her feet sank into the earth with every step.  She felt smooth and strong, even though she was greatly tempted to eat her pear.  Girl was climbing to the top of a hill.  She thought she could see far from up there.

Flowering—or Snow-laden (Be Kind to Yourself)

Girl was standing next to an old woman with white hair, wearing a black dress.  Girl was facing one direction and the woman faced the opposite.  The distance between them was the measure of Girl’s height.  Girl waited, but nothing happened.  She frowned and looked more closely.  The old woman had her eyes closed and appeared to be enjoying the sun on her face!  Girl relaxed a bit.  She saw that the old woman perhaps was not so old after all.  There was dark in her hair as well as white.  And her dress—there was grey and green in her dress as well as black.  Girl saw that the old woman’s boots were covered with dust but she was also carrying a pretty red handbag, adorned with white branches.  Girl smiled at that.  She had always liked red.  Then the old woman slid open very pale eyes and looked at Girl.

“I thought I’d heard someone,” said the old woman, placing her bag down by her foot.  “I think you must be young Girl,” she continued.

“Yes, ma’am,” replied Girl, fascinated by the woman’s pale eyes.

“Ma’am,” sighed the old woman.  “I must be getting old.”

“Um,” said Girl, and the old woman laughed.

And Girl saw the youth in her face, and she saw that the old woman was lovely, like her mother was.  And she knew she had nothing to fear.  She also thought that the wrinkles would make the old woman much harder to draw than her brother.

“It’s always strange to meet someone out here,” said the old woman, patiently, half-closing her eyes.  “Why are you out here, Girl?”

“Oh,” said Girl, “I’m trying to get home, but I’m afraid.”

“Afraid? Of what?” prompted the old woman.

“I’m afraid that when I get home it’ll be different than when I left it,” said Girl.

The old woman slid open one eye, sharply, and looked very serious.

“I think that’s true for everyone, Girl,” she said gently.  “I’m trying to get home myself.”

Girl was amazed.  Then the old woman held out her hand and Girl reached to take it.  The back of her hand was very smooth and filled with strong blue veins.

“Courage,” whispered the old woman, squeezing, “And perseverance.  It’s what I’d wish for my own daughter.  And—Oh!  I have something for you, Girl.”  And she bent to rummage in her handbag with her free hand, bringing out a green pear.  She passed the pear to Girl, smiling.  It smelt ripe.

“Enjoy,” said the old woman.  “Go on, Girl,” she encouraged, and she picked up her bag and continued on her way.

Circling the World, Trailing Ribbon

Girl walked.  And she walked.

She walked until the playground behind her had been hidden by one of the corroding hills.  She learned to cover her eyes whenever the wind blew.  She walked until she was thirsty and her shoes were covered with dust.  She had a strange dream in which she was back in her home, drawing a picture of herself and her brother, side by side.  “That doesn’t look like me,” complained her brother, but Girl was drifting, drifting to set the picture on her mother’s bedside table.

A drop of sweat slid down the back of Girl’s neck.  She raised her free hand to touch her burning hair, and then glared up at the sun.  She wondered if the sun was climbing the sky faster than she was walking.  Girl looked around.  She was in a place of sky and earth, and that was all there was.  It was a very lonely place.  She looked at the spool of red ribbon in her hand.  She knew that the only difference between what was behind her and what was before her was the trail of ribbon, marking the way she had come.  Girl knelt down in the dust and wrapped the ribbon twice around her wrist.  She thought about time, and distance, and things she had never thought about before.  She thought about loss and love.

And Girl felt the desire to press on, to cross this barren scar.  And she felt the desire to stay forever in this harsh place.  But her heart whispered to her its terrible, heavy secret.  Girl thought of her mother and bowed her head to the hot sun.  Girl thought of her mother and lost one bitter drop to the dry earth.

Girl stood up and turned to go back the way she had come.  And then she jerked in shock, and looked again.

There was a dark figure on the land.  Someone was coming!  Girl’s heart leaped in fear and galloped in place.  When had this person arrived?  How long—she wasn’t ready!  Girl thought about hiding, but there was nowhere to hide.  Then she thought about running, but she could not run.  She would not run!  She glanced quickly at the figure, steadily approaching.  White hair, long dark dress—a woman, Girl thought.  Girl ducked her head and pressed her hands together.  Her mind was reeling and she felt faint.

Was she supposed to give a gift to the woman?  She had brought nothing but red ribbon.

Would she have to fight?

Would she be refused because of what she had done?

And then there was no more time.  A pair of boots was within her sphere of vision.

“Stand up straight and be polite,” said her mother.

Girl tripped forward a few steps, confused.  She lifted her head dutifully, and looked.

Landscape of Crossroads: No Angel in Sight

Girl was sitting in a sandbox that was in the small playground at the end of her street.  Her brother had found a toy bucket and was filling it with sand.  Her father had brought her once to this playground, and lifted her to drink from its single drinking fountain.  She had not been able to lift her brother as well but they had both managed to drink some water.  Girl glanced over her shoulder again unhappily.

The playground was at the edge of a crossroads, and her street continued on into a strange place.  It was a grassless place, as if someone had tried to carve the earth flat and then changed his or her mind and tried to build hills.  Girl thought that it would be a very brave thing for anyone to venture into such a place, and a great task to cross it.  She hesitated.

“Do you want to go home?” she asked her brother.

“No, not yet,” he said, for he had unearthed a little shovel as well.  He began using the shovel to fill the bucket with sand.

Girl trembled.  Then she untied the ribbon from her wrist, and brought the spool of ribbon from her pocket.  She tied the length still attached to her brother’s wrist to the end of the spool, and she tested the knot.  Her brother looked at her, curious.

“I’m going to go look at something over there, okay?” said Girl.  “I’ll be back.  If you need anything, if you need me, just pull on the ribbon.  Pull on it.  Okay?”

“Okay,” said her brother.

“Oh, and you can turn that off, to save the battery,” said Girl, spotting the faintest beam from the flashlight at his side.

“I like it.  It’s for monsters,” answered her brother, upending his bright little bucket deftly, and Girl frowned.  She could not see what he was making.

“Build a big sandcastle.  Big enough to live in,” she encouraged at last, and then she got up.  She crossed the street, letting the red ribbon spool out behind her, and she entered the barren place, fiercely.

Kite and Starfish: Magical Three

“Oh!” said Girl, seeing a car backing down the driveway in front of her.  She began waving her arms in the air, annoying her brother, who was tired.  The car stopped backing out, and the young man inside rolled down his window to stare at her.

Girl approached the car and saw that the young man was dressed like her father had dressed to go to work.  He was wearing a suit and his tie was yellow.  Girl smiled at the young man and then said cleverly to her brother, “Sit if you’re tired.”

“I don’t want to,” said her brother, and sat.

“What the—

“Sorry sir!” said Girl.  “Excuse me. I made a wish and turned my brother invisible.  No one can see him but me.  Do you know how to turn him visible again?” she asked.

The young man gaped at her and then looked wildly about his car as if to find an answer.  “Girl,” he said at last, “I’ve never been invisible, and I’ve never known anyone who has.  Maybe you should ask someone who has been invisible?”

This seemed like very good advice to Girl, except—

“Girl, please move away from the car.  I have to back out,” said the young man, desperately.  “Farther please,” he urged, when Girl had done so.

Girl and her brother watched the young man back out and drive off.  She was worried.  She saw no one else on the street.

Girl’s brother eyed her and then sighed.

“Where are we going, Sis?” he asked.

Girl hesitated.  She measured the distance behind her and the distance ahead.  Then she said, firmly, “Just a little farther.”

Kite and Starfish: A Jogger

Girl and her brother walked along the sidewalk on the street where she lived.  She turned often to look back at her house, to remember how it looked different from the other houses.  She saw that the trees were still small on her street, and that there was not much shade.  She remembered that her father had not liked that.

“Ah!” said Girl, spotting a jogger, and she made her brother run across the empty street.  The jogger was a woman, and she was wearing all light blue.  She was also wearing earphones and Girl and her brother ran alongside her awhile before she noticed them.

“Oh dear,” said the woman, jogging in place and removing one earphone, as she watched Girl bend over and pant.  Girl’s brother dropped to the sidewalk and lay down, puffing.

“Oh my,” said the woman and stopped jogging in place.  “What is it, Girl?”

“I—made a wish—that turned—my brother invisible,” said Girl, catching her breath.  “Do you know how to turn him visible again?”

“Well!” said the jogger, raising her eyebrows, and she considered Girl.  She removed her other earphone, thoughtfully, and said, “I’m from the city myself.  I jog here for the peace and quiet.  In the city,” she continued, “everyone’s a stranger, you know?  You can be on a bus and nobody will look at anyone else.  I guess that the only people who really see me are my husband and my kids.  I—I’m happy with that, you know?”

“Thank you very much,” said Girl, and she turned to go on.  She looked at her brother and found that he had spread his limbs out like a starfish.  She sighed, picked him up under the arms, and tried to haul him down the sidewalk.

“Girl!” said the woman.  “Where are you going?”

“I’m going home,” Girl called back, and she did not turn to see the woman looking after her.

Kite and Starfish: Yard Man

The morning air was cool and fresh and birds could be heard chirping in the bushes.  Girl felt her heart lighten as she closed the front door behind them.  Her brother ran forward but was stopped by the length of ribbon binding them.  He pouted.  Girl tried not to look too pleased.  A clipping noise announced itself from nearby, and Girl took her brother to investigate.

There was a man trimming the shrubbery that marked the beginning of her neighbor’s lawn.  He was very quick and skilled with the shears.  Girl approached, impressed, but her brother hung back.

“Excuse me, sir? Sir?” Girl tried.  The man continued to clip.  Girl’s brother began jumping up and down, pulling at the ribbon and Girl’s arm.  Girl tried to ignore this.

“Pardon me, sir?” she said.  The man looked up.

“I made a wish and turned my brother invisible.  No one can see him but me.  I don’t know what to do,” said Girl.

The man stared at her awhile.  Then he snorted.

“Wish him visible again,” he said, carelessly.  He opened his shears again.

“I can’t,” said Girl.  “I can’t take back what I said.”

The man paused and considered Girl.  He looked at her and at the house behind her with a look she did not understand.

“I’ve been invisible most of my life,” he started, “and I do alright.  I do yard work,” he said, and here he sliced off a cluster of leaves viciously.  Girl eyed the man uncertainly.  “Being invisible,” he said, looking at her house again, “can be useful, and you get used to it.”

“Thank you very much,” said Girl.

“Girl, don’t play where I’m working.  It’s dangerous,” he added.

“Yes sir,” said Girl, and she turned to go on.

To Forgive: A Second Glance

Girl hurried her brother into their mother’s dim bedroom contentedly.  She saw that their mother was sleeping atop the covers of the bed.

“You’re not in trouble,” she said to her brother, again.

Then they passed the tall mirror, and Girl jerked to a stop in shock.  She brought them back before the mirror and stared.

Girl turned and looked at her brother beside her.  He was there.  She was holding his hand.  But in the mirror, there was only Girl, no one was beside her, and she was holding empty air.  And she knew that no one could see her brother but her.  Girl sat down abruptly where she was.

“Sis,” said her brother, frightened, and he sat down too.

“It’s alright,” she said.

There came a quick, quiet knocking at the bedroom door.  Girl’s brother ran and hid behind the tall mirror.

“Sis?” said her uncle, and poked his head into the room.  He saw that Girl’s mother was sleeping and then he saw Girl, sitting on the floor.  He gestured for Girl to come out into the hallway.

“Come here, Girl,” he said.

In the hallway, Girl’s uncle bent down and said earnestly, “Don’t bother your mother, Girl.  Let her sleep.  Seriously.  I’ve got to make some phone calls.  It’s so early—please go back to bed.  Don’t panic.”

Girl nodded uncertainly.  “Yes, Uncle,” she said.

Girl watched her uncle leave, and then she went back into her mother’s bedroom.  She tried not to look in the mirror and she tried not to look at her mother’s sleeping face.

“Come out,” she said.

“No, I don’t want to,” said her brother, and then he came out from behind the mirror.  Girl put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him.  Her brother squirmed under her gaze.

Girl took her brother to the special medicine chest and then she found a big spool of strong red ribbon.  She measured out and snipped a length as tall as herself and she bound one end to her brother’s wrist and one end to her own wrist.  And she put the spool in her pocket.  But she could not convince her brother to give up his flashlight.

“It’s day,” she protested.  “You don’t need it.”

“I like it.  It’s my monster flashlight,” he explained, and Girl sighed.

Girl took her brother past the clear glass doors of the study.  Her uncle had his back to them and he was talking on the phone.  Girl saw that he was pulling on his hair as he talked.

At the front door, Girl took her brother’s hand in her own.  She was frightened, but she was also determined.

“Where are we going, Sis?” her brother asked.

“On a journey.  On a—a quest,” she said.

He looked at her.  “An adventure?” she tried.

He thought about this.  “Okay,” he said.

Girl reached for the handle and she opened the door.

Light in Darkness (Monsters Devour…Cookies)

Hours later, Girl had cried many tears.  And she felt that her tears had changed her, made her different than before.  She crept through the shadowed house to where she and her brother had been playing, before she wished him invisible.  It was a time of night that she had never known, and she felt like she was the only person in the world.

Girl turned on one lamp, and one lamp only.  Then she lay on the carpet in the middle of the room and covered her eyes with her hands.  She lay very still.  And her heart wished a wish, silently.

Girl opened her eyes to the sound of munching.  It was very quiet munching, as if a mouse were eating somewhere.  She was still lying on the carpet, but the lamp she had turned on was contending against the grey light of morning.  Girl jumped up and ran into the big bathroom with the blurry glass, to the sink they did not use.  She threw open the little cabinet doors.

Girl’s brother froze in the act of eating crackers and stared at his sister.  She stared back at her brother, hiding under the sink.  She saw that he had his little flashlight stuck in the loop of his pants.  Girl refrained from screaming or falling over backwards, although she felt like doing both.  She simply yanked on her hair until she was calm again.  Girl’s brother watched her and then hid the crackers behind him.  Girl reached under the sink, pulled out her brother, and held him.

“Why were you hiding?” she asked, calmly.

“Everybody was yelling,” he complained, turning in her arms.

And Girl’s heart pounded with triumph.