Reverie in Time and Space

Reverie in Time and Space

I had an ending all set.
The waking from a reverie
of more powerful and magical times.
To look around and discover
that I had no idea where I was
or how I had arrived here.

But in thinking about a way to reach that end
I sought some connection to that past
from which to fabricate some credible
yet rambling account of stream of consciousness.

Where I had planned no footprints
to indicate the direction of my arrival
I found instead a faint latticework
connecting place to place
back to the chosen point.

Where I had planned a timeless transition
I discovered a 50 year reunion of founders
that occurred 12 years after I left.
And that reunion, including two who I'd known,
was 14 years ago.
Not timeless then but rather 26 years ago.

And that lattice work of stops and starts
if drawn straight as a crow flies
is 960 miles.

Strange that I can't remember her name
but surely her face is there so clear.
And the power and the magic
when we were close yet not touching.

So strong that bystanders stood back and stared
and panicked friends went to extraordinary
lengths to keep us apart!

The sky is still purple as always
and the Sun has it's comforting shade of green.
Not lost at all then in Time and Space.


-----------------

This is a theme story for Fireflies by Purpapengus

Thought I'd post a short story even though no contest this month. If you have one of the same theme of getting lost in the woods, fairies, etc, post it here too. You'll get nope points good for a no-prize of equal value.

I wrote this mainly for the last scene. If I could draw more than bent stick figures, I'd hang the last scene in my living room. Everything else was a vehicle to get there.

a reply to: pthena

Hi Pthena.
Very interesting!

Read it three times, but am having a hard time grasping anything.
It feels like it's out of the dream-state, reverie, but then juxtaposed with hard numbers like years and miles?

Can you offer us any clues to understand better?

a reply to: Nothin

It feels like it's out of the dream-state, reverie, but then juxtaposed with hard numbers like years and miles?

I added an edit to my post for some explanation.

The juxtaposition is the point.
Supposed to be lost but the hard numbers indicate otherwise
therefore not really lost at all, or so the narrator concludes.

Back Story
Sam, the narrator, worked for Mike.
Roley (Roland) worked with Sam and for Mike also.
Mike's wife is Melinda, sister of the unnamed woman, I'll call her Carmen.

Sam and Stephanie, his wife at the time, were having dinner at George and Marilyn's house.
George and Marilyn are the parents of Melinda and Carmen.

Carmen was supposed to be out on a date with Joe that night.
But once Sam and Carmen saw each other and started talking, Carmen wanted to stay.
Her dad tried real hard to get her to go, to no avail.

So while they were all eating dinner, Sam and Carmen were looking at each other and the rest of the people grew rather uncomfortable. When Sam and Stephanie were driving away, Stephanie blew up, "That was down right gross, I'm so embarrassed, you and Carmen might as well have grabbed each other and gone at it right on the table, in front of everybody!"

Sam was like "Interesting, coming from you."

So a couple of weeks later, Roley says to Sam, "Mike and John and I helped Carmen move Saturday."

"Oh, where to?"

"Can't tell you."

Sam asks "Why didn't anyone call me? I could have helped too."

Roley then says, "Uh no. Mike and George and Marilyn have decided that you can never see Carmen again. And we've sworn to do whatever is necessary to keep you two away from each other."

---------------------
So that's the back story.

Couple of years later, after Sam is divorced, he's hiking up a trail he's never been on.

He gets to thinking about Carmen. Falls into a reverie. Cue stream of consciousness.
Sam comes out of reverie to discover he's got no idea where he is or how he got there.
No tracks in the grass. It's as if he was instantly transported to a strange new World.

-------------------
That was going to be the story, but then I started looking things up in Google, found a place I'd really been. People I'd known. A real time and a real place. Completely blew my story idea away.

But Carmen, I wish I knew her name.

a reply to: pthena

Saw the edit, and thanks for providing context.

Yes: can understand it a few ways now. Thanks.

..."...or so the narrator concludes." Sneaky... LoL.

Perhaps we are simply dreaming that we are awake?

a reply to: Nothin

Saw the edit, and thanks for providing context.

I added a backstory. If I had not been typing it then I would have read your reply.
Then that would have influenced my thinking and the back story would have been completely different.

Well what's done is done. And now it's my bed time. Bid me sweet dreams.

That video might go with Fireflies by Purpapengus that provided theme for my story.

a reply to: pthena

What could have been, what should have been, what never can be. Sometimes it's a pleasant thought but often times it brings upon a madness to the mind.

I like how the thoughts flow.

originally posted by: pthena
a reply to: Nothin
..."...
But Carmen, I wish I knew her name.

Ah yes! Good old Carmen.
Why did she never tell us her name?

a reply to: Purpapengus

What could have been, what should have been, what never can be. Sometimes it's a pleasant thought but often times it brings upon a madness to the mind.

I would not lie, oh Purpapengus, about my life,
Sometimes I misremember.
- after Martial

It struck me strange as I slept
that my story was not a story
but rather an account of how
I was not writing the story
that was intended;
then let it stand as if
it were a story.

Madness to the mind indeed.

a reply to: Nothin

Ah yes! Good old Carmen.
Why did she never tell us her name?

It was not true that I immediately went to bed;
for the pot was empty
so some time spent brewing more.
Coffee is required for good night's sleep.

And as I slept
who should appear but Stephanie
quite displeased to be relegated
as backstory material.

"You scandalized my name!
And now you give me no chance,
no place in story, to change my station!
How dare you!"

Carmen winks and says
"Now you know."

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