A Magical Tale (Part 2) - by Hénock Gugsa

A Magical Tale *
by Hénock Gugsa
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 --- Part 2 of 3 ---
Zach looked at his left foot and willed it to take one step forward, then he looked at his right foot and gave the same order.  As he repeated these actions a few more times, he realized he was no longer stationary.  He continued to walk at a good pace and he was soon in pursuit of the pesky little girls.  He had to rescue them from their folly.  As he was hurrying along, an angry witch with the face of a fox appeared before him and started to taunt him with insults and curses.  She was trying to impede him from reaching the children.  Zach closed his eyes firmly and covered his ears with his hands, he kicked the dirt in front of him and spat.  When he opened his eyes, he saw that the witch with the fox head was now gone.  Zach smiled and resumed his furtive and determined pursuit of the children.
  ---  Just then, his shoulders were being shaken ... at first gently, and then more forcibly ....

"Zach, Zach ... wake up wake up! ... ZACH !"
 A pair of gentle hands were pressing and shaking his shoulders, he was being wakened from a deep slumber by Eve.  As his eyes gradually cracked open, he became aware that he was at the City Park.  Apparently, he had drifted off into a magical dream world while sitting with his back buttressed against a young oak tree. 
Eve apologized for being late and asked if he was okay.  She was concerned because he had a strange, far-away look on his face.  He was now visibly starting to get irritated ... he was feverishly trying to concentrate and remember every detail of the dream from which he just  got yanked.  Indelicately, he put an index finger to his lips to indicate that he needed a quiet moment.  As soon as he felt sure that the memory of the dream was not evaporating, he smiled and hugged Eve.  Then he told her his dream with every detail in tact.

- "What do you think it all meant?" Zach asked.
- "Why it is all so obvious, isn't it?" Eve replied.

She continued, "The whole thing is just one big metaphor for the current state of affairs.  Almost everything in your dream can be ascribed to things, to people, and to events in our life."
Zach looked mystified.  He wasn't sure what Eve was talking about.  It was clearly up to her to clear the cobwebs off his brain.  That seemed to be the norm these days ... men were getting doltier and doltier by the day!
 "Think about it ... you being stuck, having a lead foot.  That's where we are politically today, ... stuck, mired, so to speak, and in a hopeless situation.  And the three little girls wearing three different colored blouses ... blue is for fear, green for greed, and red is definitely for hate.  Fear, Greed, and Hate! .... And we know who the fat old man with yellow hair is, don't we?  And the witch is, of-course, snarky old FOX-News!"
 - "So, Eve, what do you think?  Do we stand any chance of extricating ourselves from this mess?"
- "Well sure, Zach darling.  All you need is smarts ... and we can provide you that too!"   She laughed.                                      

 [... to be continued! ...]

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*Inspired by a dream I had on 11/15/17

A Magical Tale - by Hénock Gugsa

A Magical Tale *
by Hénock Gugsa
==============

--- Part 1 of 3 ---

Zach was not sure if he was in some sort of reverie where, out of the blue, he found himself in the middle of a strange forest.  The surroundings were dark, ominous, and unfriendly.  Not too far away, and in a starkly gray panorama lay a sort of a gorge, almost a canyon --- barren, craggy, and totally devoid of life except for a tall, fat, old man.  He was waving his arms feverishly from the center of the canyon, and the tuft of yellow hair on his head was billowing wildly in rhythm to his arms.

Then came the sound of determined feet as they crushed and crumpled the fallen leaves on the forest's uneven ground.  The unsettling rustle seemed to be headed in Zach's direction.  At that moment, he was suddenly shaken loose from his frozen state.  He was now sharply alert and his ears could now make out a choir of small angelic voices singing arcane nursery songs.

Zach looked around him, but saw nothing.  He was at his usual spot in the park ... and he had not felt the need to walk around and explore the surrounding forest.  But now as the voices seemed to draw near him, his feet which moments before had seemed non-existent had miraculously materialized.  He could feel them pulsating although he wasn't yet sure he was their master.  His toes wriggled as if they had lives of their own, and his knees started to bend and then to flex .  Zach felt alive!

The singers appeared as if from empty air and floated in front of him ... a strange sight indeed!  Three little girls were dragging a little boy behind them. His hands were tied in front of him with a  coarse rope.  The children, including the boy, were all about the same age ... not older than six or seven.  Each girl had on a different color blouse, ... the leader wore blue, the second girl had on green, and the third girl wore red.  As for the little boy, he was nondescript as to clothing or general appearance, but he looked distressed and helpless.

Now face to face with Zach, the little girls began to sing a mocking song ...

     Zachary, Zachary ... where's your sanctuary?
     You're stuck, you can't move, you got feet o' lead
     What to do, what to do, poor boy without hope
     The year went by quickly, we're back to January!
     You can't jump, and you can't fall on your head
     'N to get over that rock, you gonna need some rope!

     Zachary, Zachary ... where's your sanctuary? ...

The little girls sang and cackled as they dragged the little boy along.  Soon they tired of him, dumped him in front of Zach, and scampered off ... away toward the bleak canyon and the old, fat man still waving his arms.

Zach looked at the disheveled little boy closely, and as he did so, the little boy started to dissolve into thin air right there in front of him.  But as the child started to vanish, he became recognizable to Zach.  That was Zach himself some fifteen years back!

[... to be continued ....]

 

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*Inspired by a dream I had on 11/15/17