Once upon a time by a river near the southern sea, the fairy-like beings that lived in Cypress Point almost got a long-held wish fulfilled.
In this small village lush with flora
and fauna, the residents and other creatures that inhabit this part of the earth
work well together; their village is one that thrives.
Most of the villages have
inhabitants that are deemed, ‘unusual’ or, ‘odd’… Cypress Point was no exception.
If asked to describe Sade, most villagers would say, ‘precocious’ – and follow
that with: ‘Sade keeps to herself, spends all her time dreaming,’
But very few complained out loud about
her oddities because Sade always did her part for the village and, often, did
her task better than others. Sade had an important task: keeper of accounts,
ensuring that each resident received an equal share of silver-edged stones,
ones that served as the currency of the time.
When Sade was asked, “But, why is
your nest up so high?” her answer was a nonchalant response: “To be closer to
the realm of dreaming.”
The villagers of Cypress Point are, for the most part, a congenial bunch. After
the daily tasks are done, many villagers gather to play games or engage in the
centuries-old tradition of nest-visiting, the common way to relax. To the
puzzlement of some villagers, however, Sade usually chose to head up to her
nest after work. Usually when a neighbor asked her to stop in and visit, Sade
graciously declined, thinking: I need time to clear my mind in preparation
for dream-time.
The recognition for Sade was
that dreaming soothed her soul. The few villagers who took the time to observe Sade,
her inherent cheerfulness, came to understand her choice.
Truth be told, there were a few who were secretly jealous of Sade’s
ability to dream; they often tried to force themselves but, alas, were unable to
remember any dreams and thus, had nothing exciting to reveal. If any had
bothered to ask, Sade would have explained that dreaming deeply cannot be
forced…lack of success is due to a desire for outer results, not inner
experience.
The other villagers had
grudgingly come to accept her oddities yet still made the effort to entice Sade
to join them in playing forest games or neighborly gatherings. Sade assented
just often enough to placate their pleas. ‘Placating’ was a lesson that she had
learned early on, in her growing-up years.
As in most communities, there
are the few who resort to badgering those who do not conform to the norm.
“Sade, you need to grow up, be like everyone else – It’s our way,” one creature
named Rastus often whined when the subject came up though it was rare for Sade
to respond. From her observations, she knew that Rastus merely liked the sound
of his own voice…It’s the only time he
gets noticed was her unspoken thought.
Admittedly, it was difficult at
first for Sade to handle the constant enticements and badgering from others – in
the past, she had often felt stirrings of anger and guilt. Instead of arguing
back or challenging their views, however, Sade had learned to follow her
mother’s advice: honor and assuage the urgings of your own inner nature; let
their arguments go dancing off into the wind. Thus, with practice, it was now easy
for Sade to temper any residual reactions; she merely listened, and observed.
Now, many villagers choose to
let Sade handle their accounting issues for she was kind and always helpful;
and they usually walked away with a smile or a bit of laughter. Which brings up
another oddity about Sade that a few still puzzled over: why was Sade always
chuckling to herself? No one who thought this odd ever had the nerve to ask
her.
Here is the main reason for Sade’s chuckles: she was content with her own
self and rarely saw a reason to stay mad or upset. Over the years, observations
had shown her that every villager had their own personality quirks. Behind her
chuckles was usually the thought: Each of
us is unique…I fit in quite nicely!
On one fine day off after a stressful week of handling more than the usual
accounting issues, Sade awoke and, instead of writing down her dreams, stood up
and gazed out from her nest. The morning light sparkling on the river below
beckoned and her eyes followed the dazzling sparkles down-river until they
became tinged with sunrise orange, at the place where the river met the sea.
What would it be like to dream upon the river? Sade wondered. Do I have to be up so high to dream? “Well,
I won’t know until I try!” she said and excitedly began running around the nest
to get ready.
The villagers
were quite surprised to see Sade flitting down from the cypress tree that held
her nest. “It’s not an accounting day so what is Sade doing?” they wondered
aloud to each other.
Sade merely smiled at those she
passed and went into the woods collecting armfuls of large branches and strong
vines, making a pile on the river bank. Though no one said anything to her,
most were sneaking quick glances at Sade, curious to see what she was up to.
When she felt that she had enough materials, Sade began to lay out the larger
branches and then cross those with the smaller ones.
“Aha!” said two of the more
curious villagers – “She’s building a raft – finally!” And they set off,
running about in the village to spread the news.
Sade finished tying the branches
together using the vines then stood up and pushed the raft into the river,
tying it off on a branch with the end of a vine. Almost
right – one more thing, she
thought and began to gather a bunch of soft grasses and leaves.
By then, quite a crowd had gathered.
The residents were whispering to each other, excitedly thinking that Sade was finally
going to join them in the day’s river games.
“Why else would she be making a
raft,” one villager said out loud, peering around at another who stared then
responded: “But what is she going to do with all the tall grasses and leaves?”
Neither had an answer; this was indeed
puzzling.
Sade stay focused on her task until she had
gathered a nice-sized pile. Carefully now, she tossed the leaves onto the raft and,
using a long pole, smoothed them into an even layer in the middle of the raft.
The soft grasses were next tossed atop the leaves.
“How smart – what a great idea!
We could all use a soft seat,” said one of the residents, clapping his hands;
but the rest held back, still unsure.
Sade looked up at her fellow
villagers and smiled then said, “It’s such a good day for dreaming.” She chuckled excitedly, stepped lightly onto
the raft and, using the pole, pushed away from the bank and out into the river.
With a final wave to the others, she put down the pole and lay down upon the
grass bed.
Stunned into silence, the
villagers looked at each other, shrugged and went on about their day, most
still hopeful that Sade was just taking a short nap. “Well, she did work hard
building that raft,” one said out loud. “Sade needs to rest awhile, and then
she’ll join us in some games – it is still early.”
Sade, however, was not exhausted
at all. She was in a state of exhilaration as she prepared to dream, loving the
sensation of being gently lulled by the flow of the river. The gentle rocking
motion of her raft sent Sade quickly into the land of dreams.
Unformed segments of dreams began to unify into sequence while Sade was
asleep, drifting down the river. By the time her raft reached the sea, Sade was
fully into her dream-state.
Sade was a seaman, a human in charge of a
large boat with many sails. Under a brilliant blue sky, she furled and trimmed
the sails, billowing winds carrying the vessel quickly across the sea towards a
foreign land.
As the ship was about to touch upon
the land, the dream shifted and Sade transformed from strong, bulky seaman into
a woman of older-age, her head tilted back in a fit of delightful laughter.
Silver white hair swirled about as this Sade turned to thank a waiter as he
served a plate of steaming broiled lobster and succulent spiced shrimp. Lifting
her glass of merlot, Sade inhaled the combination flavors of dark berry fruit,
light spices and smoky-toasted oak.
Just as she tilted her glass to
drink, the dream-curtain shimmered and Sade was now a khaki-clad woman in a
canoe, paddling on a lush wide river. She dipped the paddle into the river just
as an elongated body with prominent whiskers on a dark face popped up beside
her and, after emitting a shrill, chattering call, rolled onto his back. Making a chattering sound back, Sade dropped
her hand into the river and the giant river otter paddled over for a …
The curtain shimmered again ever
so slightly and Sade became an otter, swimming effortlessly underwater then
suddenly popping up to the surface, cavorting in play with a family of otters.
Atop the raft, Sade – the dreaming fairy-creature – sighed deeply on the
bed of grasses, a smile upon her face. The deepest states of dreams are the
most captivating; one can actually taste, see, touch, hear and smell…as if the
dreams were indeed real.
On the raft, Sade’s smile broadened…the
dream-curtain had shimmered once more, transforming Sade into a young woman
walking in a sunlit field hand in hand with a man – my
lover Sade thought. Even in sleep, her mouth formed the words.
Provence – I am in Provence!
was the young woman’s thought as she took off running in circles around her lover, her fingers running gently through the many
flowers bright with shades of the color purple.
And then the dream curtain
shimmered again – Sade was herself, a fairy creature, though back on the sea, on
her raft.
It was dark…the sea reflected a rage that came out of the sky: explosive
booms of thunder and flashes of lightening intermittently lit up the dark, with
rambunctious waves churning all around. The raft was falling apart; Sade tried valiantly
to keep herself from falling into the tormented sea.
“It’s going to eat me,” she screamed, and, at
that moment, the raft splintered and the stormy sea pulled Sade under. As the
surging tides from beneath grabbed her body and sucked her down, Sade’s
terrifying thought was: This is my end.
And it was, yet only in the dream.
The raft was bucking and water
was splashing all around yet not because of a storm. Villagers had jumped onto the raft causing
Sade’s dream to seem more real than usual. She awoke from her dream with a cry
expecting to be drowning in the sea; instead four of her neighbors’ faces were
peering down at her. “Are you okay – you were screaming,” said Faustus.
Sade began to laugh then and, in
an effort to catch her breath, sat up. The villagers scrambled back to move out
of her way, making the raft rock even more. This set Sade off on another bout
of laughing until finally she caught her breath, wiped tears from her eyes and
spoke: “I went out-of-body; it was so glorious, my dreams – I was so many
people, went to so many places – even to my death.”
The four villagers looked away, shocked…shaking
their heads. They don’t understand Sade
thought to herself as she stood up, giving each one a smile.
“Thank you,” she said to each
villager as each stepped back onto their own rafts. Still shaking their heads
in puzzlement, each of the four began to pole their way back down the river to
Cypress Point’s shore.
Sade chuckled aloud at the sight
of the four villagers moving away in the rafts, sitting atop their own piles of
leaves and grasses.
Sitting back down, Sade dug into her satchel
and found her journal intact. Shaking off the drops of water, she took out her favorite
quill. “This is one for the books,” she said out loud, still chuckling. Dipping
the quill into an ink-filled acorn, she began to write.
