Sunday, January 28, 2018

From where she sees It



Lisa holds her book snugly in her hand. Sitting in the passenger seat is an opportunity she avails to her heart's content. Today she decides to complete her book that had been sitting a tad too long on her night stand. The vehicle picks up momentum as her eyes lazily graze the scene outside.
'The book'! she remembers and opens it and buries her nose inside it. This decides to be the 'out of the ordinary' book anyway....or Lisa probably hand picks the works that she deems worthy of her attention. She silently gasps a little too often, looking up to sink in the depth of the words that flood her insides with revelations, emotions or just plain awe.

Suddenly a long forgotten strain of music erupts on the radio, as if she needs enough props to divert her 'as short as a toddler' attention span. A series of events from the past come flooding as the music travels into her untapped, subconscious memory. She marvels at the word play, at the choice of instruments in the orchestra and the delicate voice that renders it, holding just long enough onto the words that need emphasis creating a bedlam of thoughts in Lisa's mind.

She absentmindedly leans on to the window and her eyes travel to the sky. She spots a California bald eagle. "Wow" she exclaims out loud remembering how she read that these magnificent birds make their appearance in her part of the world during winter months..."Is this a sign?" she wonders, just as she spots another eagle tracing the path the of the first one.

The music continues in the background, bits and pieces of the lovely lyric begs her for her undivided attention. Just then, Lisa spots a name board placed conspicuously to the corner of a building that looks like a huge, inverted moving box. "The father's house" the board reads. Nothing else - Lisa wonders what a business named "The father's house" would offer to the patrons! "How cool would it be to walk into a store named your father's house and discover that ragged doll, rattan chair or the stainless steel plate rack that mounted on to the side of the kitchen in your father's home? Or a ghost of a fun time being had by the family around the board game or dinner table?"
She snaps back into reality, determined to complete the book. Just as she finishes the next page, she wonders when those blank canvasses in her bedroom closet would see the light of the day bathed in her imagination. "I have become so much of a voyeur" her thoughts taunt her, as she spots a herd of jet black birds making a horizontal "Mexican wave" in the air parallel to her ride. "Show offs" she rolls her eyes in mock sarcasm marveling at the symmetry of those flecks of black in the sky. She has seen these herds before, lounging on the electric cables last year around the same time. She makes a mental note to google them once she reaches home. She lets out a deep exhale and gives up on the book. The margin of the road sports a carpet of dandelions, some in bloom and some burst into the airy white balls. "some see a weed, some see a wish" - Random social media wisdom pops in her head as she lets out a quiet giggle.

Lisa lives that moment, suspended in a sensory overload, wondering if creating something would mean any more than devouring the beauty of what exists around her.

Inspired by true events.

Photo - Donner lake, NV by Chandra Elango

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