I.
Three brides stand on a beach facing a wild sea. On the sea’s horizon is an island, where our weddings await. We run into the waves and begin to swim. But the sea is rough and our gowns Gothic, with long trains and long veils, and they wrap round our legs and pinion us, and though we swim and swim, we make no headway against the fierce swell. So we unfasten them and kick free and swim with sure strokes to the island. We arrive, and come out of the sea triumphant, but the waiting crowd is grim. By discarding our gowns, we have failed the test. There will be no weddings after all.
II.
I have been given a baby to care for, and she is wrapped in a sling across my back, but I have a long journey to make. I am in a world where there are only islands and reefs, with sea between, and as I make my way between them, I wade at first. I wade along reefs where the water is up to my knees, then my waist, and then I reach channels that must be crossed by swimming. And I start to swim, then to dive, swimming underwater like a fish, and it is a consuming thing, like being a mermaid. I swim and tumble and dive, deeper and deeper, going from island to island. And I quite forget about the baby strapped upon my back. I remember, late in the day, and with great horror, I unwrap the sling. But it is too late. The baby has gills, the baby has turned into a green frog, a creature of water. I have failed her.
III.
I am perched upon a cliff in a narrow ravine, thin as paper. My brother Jeff, young again, perhaps only four or five, blonde as can be and thin as a whip, is on the deck of an impossibly thin ship trapped in the ravine. I am anxious, for great swells of water keep crashing down the ravine from the open sea beyond, and the ship is struggling to hold together. Finally she is washed upon the cliff and it is all water and spray and I am crying out for Jeff, screaming and screaming. And finally the waves die down and there is he is, floating facedown in a shallow bay below, so very small. I leap down and wade out and lift him in my arms and run from the next incoming wave. I run up a long tunnel into an abandoned warehouse, where I find a single human being and beg him to call for an ambulance. But it takes so very long to come and although I know he is wounded, perhaps mortally so, the dream is getting boring. So he recovers slightly, and we find some coloured pencils and paper in the drawer of one of the empty desks, and settle down on the floor in the half light and begin to draw.
Three brides stand on a beach facing a wild sea. On the sea’s horizon is an island, where our weddings await. We run into the waves and begin to swim. But the sea is rough and our gowns Gothic, with long trains and long veils, and they wrap round our legs and pinion us, and though we swim and swim, we make no headway against the fierce swell. So we unfasten them and kick free and swim with sure strokes to the island. We arrive, and come out of the sea triumphant, but the waiting crowd is grim. By discarding our gowns, we have failed the test. There will be no weddings after all.
II.
I have been given a baby to care for, and she is wrapped in a sling across my back, but I have a long journey to make. I am in a world where there are only islands and reefs, with sea between, and as I make my way between them, I wade at first. I wade along reefs where the water is up to my knees, then my waist, and then I reach channels that must be crossed by swimming. And I start to swim, then to dive, swimming underwater like a fish, and it is a consuming thing, like being a mermaid. I swim and tumble and dive, deeper and deeper, going from island to island. And I quite forget about the baby strapped upon my back. I remember, late in the day, and with great horror, I unwrap the sling. But it is too late. The baby has gills, the baby has turned into a green frog, a creature of water. I have failed her.
III.
I am perched upon a cliff in a narrow ravine, thin as paper. My brother Jeff, young again, perhaps only four or five, blonde as can be and thin as a whip, is on the deck of an impossibly thin ship trapped in the ravine. I am anxious, for great swells of water keep crashing down the ravine from the open sea beyond, and the ship is struggling to hold together. Finally she is washed upon the cliff and it is all water and spray and I am crying out for Jeff, screaming and screaming. And finally the waves die down and there is he is, floating facedown in a shallow bay below, so very small. I leap down and wade out and lift him in my arms and run from the next incoming wave. I run up a long tunnel into an abandoned warehouse, where I find a single human being and beg him to call for an ambulance. But it takes so very long to come and although I know he is wounded, perhaps mortally so, the dream is getting boring. So he recovers slightly, and we find some coloured pencils and paper in the drawer of one of the empty desks, and settle down on the floor in the half light and begin to draw.
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