Yvonne opened her eyes to darkness. She was standing upright on more darkness. She was a shy girl who had a hidden, wonderful imagination. She had learned to listen more often than talk, and remained remarkably calm in strange situations. Yvonne already knew that she didn't know how she had arrived in this place. She looked around the darkness in case there was a clue. She couldn't see one, so she tried looking at herself instead. She knew that her name was Yvonne, she knew that she was a 9 year old girl, and she knew exactly where she was- she was nowhere. But as a feeling of peace settled in her, she realised that it was only nowhere to start with...
"So, Yvonne, what would you like?" asked a voice behind her.
Yvonne did not turn around. She was quietly pleased to be offered the choice, and then thought about how she should answer. She could not think of anything in particular, so she shrugged and replied "Entertain me."
The voice behind her became a man that stepped forward to her side, and grinned at her. "All right then," he said to the girl, and his eyes sparkled, "Then I am The Entertainer!" The Entertainer leaped ahead into the darkness laughing. He wore a green and orange medieval fool's outfit, with bells ringing on his ridiculous hat. He spun on one foot and clapped his hands four times. At each clap, a wall appeared. The Entertainer jumped into the air, span upside down, and 'landed' on what became the ceiling. He skipped around on the ceiling for a while, giggling at himself. Yvonne smiled at the silliness of her new friend.
The Entertainer jumped off the ceiling, span again, and landed on what became the floor and a set of chairs. He held out his arms in a 'ta-da' pose. "So, my young mind, what will be your amusement?" He strode forward and opened one hand to release bubbles and miniture fireworks into the air around the room.
"Something more than that," said Yvonne, who clearly wasn't as impressed by these colourful displays as she once was. "Something more. Something I can get into, and be with at the same time. Something that will last for longer than itself. A Story! Yes! I want a story." The little girl stood smiling expectantly at The Entertainer.
The Entertainers face fell a bit for the first time, as he mentally processed this new request. Then he grinned again and focussed back on Yvonne. "We will have company, because a story needs a cast. I have created our setting," he spun around on one foot again, waving his hand at the room as if it was his favourite creation, "and I have already, in fact, been your beginning." He eyes sparkled, but then his face became one of concern again. "And if I am the beginning, there must also be an end..."
When The Entertainer finished saying this, a piece of purple fabric appeared in the air. It unfolded to reveal a black woman in a purple gown, who sat down on one of the seats. The man and girl were both startled by her strange entrance, but before either could say a word, a door appeared in the wall behind Yvonne, and opened. An old man with a long beard and tattered grey suit hobbled through the doorway with the aid of a walking stick, and closed it behind himself. Yvonne and The Entertainer made room for him as he made his way silently to one of the chairs facing the black woman in purple. He sat in it with a grunt. The Entertainer looked at both of the new characters with suspicion.
"Arh, I'm sure my left leg may as well have dropped off by now, does no good at all," said the old man, dropping his walking stick by the side of his chair. He looked at the woman, grunted, and turned quickly to The Entertainer and Yvonne. "Look at you young things," he said, "well, Yvonne, I suppose you haven't changed really, which is probably for the best. But you," he nodded weakly at the fool, "You look like a lot less of a pest than I remember you being."
The Entertainer frowned with confusion at this last comment, and then, for the sake of interupting, said, "Well, old man, I could always dance around you and sing out of tune if it helps!"
The old man wheezed a laugh, "Har, har! Har. Yeah, you're a strange one." He stopped and looked around the room, expecting someone to say something. When nobody did, he continued, "Well, at least you've stopped asking questions. Which is just as well, because there's not much help I could be by now. That bordedom thing got taken to a whole new level now. Same with the nothingness. I feel like the whole of me is nothingness now, anyway." He let the room fall to silence again.
Thinking quickly, Yvonne thought she could ask a question without actually asking it. "My name is Yvonne," she said to the old man, leaving a deliberate opening at the end of her statement for him to introduce himself.
He looked at her as if she was mad. "Yes," he said in a slow voice, "I know. Silly girl! Oh, this is stupid. I've started at the wrong end... What kind of way is this to be born? I should have started and been born at the same end. I've had enough! I have! Yes, I've had... enough..." he opened his eyes widely at Yvonne, and screamed with a tight throat, "Goodbye!" Then he slumped down on the seat, dead.
The Entertainer and Yvonne just stared at the lifeless body in shock. As they did so, it gently faded into nothing, leaving no trace behind except a walking stick on the floor.
The woman in the purple robe somehow drew the attention of the bewildered fool and girl to herself. She looked at each of them with a smile, as if to reassure them that everything was OK. Her eyes were large pools of black, and she wore large gold earings of such strange shapes that Yvonne couldn't see where they started or ended. "His name was Eric," said the woman, "And mine is Martha. This name does not reflect my nature, but that is how I want it to be. You are no doubt confused at the things Eric said, but I think you will understand them soon enough." She now turned to Yvonne to speak only to her. "You are about to experience ten years pass in a second. This will happen many times in this room. Although I can offer you more questions than answers, I think you will find that my questions also provide a kind of hope. Hope for the future."
She smiled gently at Yvonne and leaned back in her chair. Yvonne felt confused, and slightly annoyed that so much was happening so quickly. She looked back at the chair where Eric had been sat, and then up at the face of The Entertainer.
But The Entertainer seemed to hear a distant noise, and whispered to Yvonne "Time to go!" He smiled as he said this, and then burst into giggles as he ran out of the door which Eric had entered by.
Yvonne felt alone in the room, despite the woman sitting near her. A sound of humming grew in the air, and the room blurred...
Ten years later...
Yvonne felt that time had passed around her in an instant. The room around her appeared to be the same, and Martha was still sitting in her chair, but she looked older. Also, there was now a tall man with large eyes and hands standing behind Marthas chair, but this was not a cause of alarm, since Yvonne felt that this man had always been in the room anyway.
The tall man stepped around the chair to face Martha. He wore denim overalls and thick boots. "Hello, my sweet," he said as he looked into her eyes, and then gently raised her hand to his lips. His quiet voice managed to echo around the room.
Martha blushed at the gesture. Yvonne screwed up her face at the scene, but was polite enough to stay silent in front of the adults. Martha said to her companion, "Your name, to Yvonne, will be Firgo,"
Firgo seemed intruiged by this information. "That is a command?" he asked.
"It is a command if you obey it, but it is only a suggestion if you take it as a piece of advice."
"That answer isn't really an answer, is it? You so often try to hide things."
"Perhaps I have hidden more than you know, because you have not found half the things I have hidden?" She smiled playfully at him.
Firgo remembered their company, and turned to Yvonne. "I am Firgo, and Martha is my partner. We have a long history. It is largely a happy history because she allows me to make many choices, and I in turn enjoy making choices that will please her." Martha, unseen by Firgo, smiled and nodded at this description, but the smile was clearly not the whole story.
Yvonne asked of Virgo, "Who are you? I know a name that you use, but I know little else. In fact, I feel that I know very little of anything in this room."
Virgo, still standing, seemed happy to help. "You have asked for a story, and I am part of it. Which part, I cannot tell you, because Martha has chosen to hide this from you for now." Although he spoke normally, his voice still seemed to try and echo for as long as it could. "Martha, by the way, is also part of your story. As is Eric, and The Entertainer. A simple story requires a cast of characters, and a period of time in which they will al experience a change of some sort. We are not people, Yvonne- we are parts of a story appearing to you as people. We each have a role. My role, in fact, will largely control some of the change. Marthas role..." He looked back at his love, and chuckled, "Well, Martha will probably try to hide her own role from you, because that is part of her role!"
Yvonne looked at between the two of them with a slight frown. "Mr. Firgo, this does not seem very easy to understand."
Firgo leaned forward to encourage the young girl, "I am not suprised. Sometimes you can simplify something so much that it seems complicated again. But do not worry, and do not be afraid. I will bring things together so that you will have answers to all the questions we present."
At this last comment from Firgo, Martha seemed surprised and worried, but she almost hid the reaction from her features.
Firgo stood up straight again, and raised his voice by a small but still powerful amount. "You have heard enough. Now, time will fly again at such amazing speed, and you will go on to discover new things. I will be watching.
He raised his long arms and held his large hands open, facing upwards. Like an orchestra tuning up before their conductor, a sound of humming grew louder in the air, and the room became a blur...
Read part 2 of the story...
Image Source: http://prawntletters.blogspot.com/2009/10/joining-circus.html
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