The Old Man by the River

I went down to the river to pick some rocks for my newly planted garden.  I had planted parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme in honor of those nebbishly handsome singers I heard on the radio that one time.  When I arrived at the river, I met a man.  He was a bent and beaten old soul, with whiskers where his eyebrows should be, and what looked like an eyebrow right beneath his nose.  "Jenn", he said.  "Jenn, you were a beautiful queen once, weren't you?"  Though I was taught firmly and with harsh judgment by my mother never to speak to strangers, I decided I liked the look of this man and gave him a straight answer.  "Yes", I said, in my best, most haughty tone of voice.  "What be it to you, old man?"  "Be nothing to me but that I couldn't help but notice the rags.  The ones on your feet.",  he replied.  I tried, and utterly failed, to shuffle my feet behind the nearest rock, but the damn thing barely rose above the smallest toe knuckle.  So, instead, I stamped the ground with one raggy foot and huffed "I say again, what be it to you, you old, miserable thing?"

He stared at me for the longest of times, then whispered so soft I had to lean in close to hear. "Well, my dear", he said, "if you must know, at one time I was your closest companion.  I was there when you entered this world, I was the one you whispered your dreams to in the darkest of nights, and I was also there the day you forgot my face and could no longer remember my name.  Might you remember me now?"

I gaped, mouth open like a trout, and breathed.  In and out, out and in.  I did know this man, but t'was no man at all that stood before me, now was he?  This was a specter, a phantom in man form, this was my very own spirit and soul that stooped before my eyes.  I ran-walked to the nearest tree and threw myself behind it, if only to leave his unblinking gaze for a brief few moments.  Blessed respite, that tree, as his eyes had been burning directly into mine until they liked to dry up and blow away in a green poof of dust.

Many hours passed until I had the courage to finally call out.  "Are you still here?" I squeaked.  His answer was immediate and firm.  "I have never left", he declared.  Another hour passed as the sun made her way across the horizon, and I found the will to ask yet another question.  "A queen, you called me.  A beautiful one.  Do you have the answer as to why my feet are now bound by rags?   Do you know what has happened to the magnificent castle I once called home, as I cannot remember much of that time at all". 

His answer seeped into me, right through my skin, through my organs and into my bones.  I heard him in my head as if I were the one speaking it, as if we were again one.  He said "My beautiful Jenn, you cannot abandon your dreams, spirit and soul as you have without there being consequences.  These things cannot be left behind lest you lose your way.  Do you recall the visions you shared with me?"

"Yes, I think maybe...", I answered tentatively.  "I can just perhaps see them through the murk, though they seem so very long ago, and far, far away."

"Hold tight", he said.  "Shut your eyes, and hold tight to that fancy.  Don't let it go now. I want you to sle..."

Sleep overtook me and I saw it all again, like it was when I was young and filled with the future.  I danced, laughed, ran, and jumped.  I climbed the very tree I was resting against and tickled the leaf of the top-most branch.  My spirit did great leaps of joy, running beside me in the sand with the wind tearing wildly at our hair.  I threw myself into the icy water and floated down the stream, remembering, remembering, remembering all that I had been and wished to be.

I awoke slowly and realized with no great surprise that I was wet from head to toe.  I stretched out in the grass and let the warmth of the sun kiss away every droplet of water.  Finally, I sat up and peeked out from behind the tree, to try and see the man that I knew was no longer there.  In his stead, on a rock in the very place he had been standing, was the most beautiful red slippers I had ever seen.  I slowly unwrapped the rags from my feet and, with great care and reverence, stepped into my new shoes.  I wound my way back up the path to return to my modest little cabin, when I beheld an amazing sight.  Just beyond my tiny hovel, a short walk down the road, towered a radiant castle.  I began to laugh with the knowing; my new eyes were wide open and I could again see what lay before me in vivid color.  I finally understood that it had been there all along.