TheBanyanTree: SHADOWS AND MIRRORS

[Sharon Mack]

A story I wrote for my grandchildren...thought I would share.

Sharon
 
SHADOWS AND MIRRORS

The great coat came from her father.  He was a large man and had worn
it most days of his life, sometimes even in the summer if it rained hard
enough.  After he died they had wanted to throw it away with all the
other useless paraphernalia that had made him, him.  Dera had let them
do what they wanted but not the coat...never the coat.  It looked like
him and smelled like him and when she put it on she walked like him. 
Hard large strides, man-like in every way.  Heavy and strong.
 
The sleeves covered her larger than life hands and the hem came to the
tip of her boots.  Most of the buttons were gone and so she used large
pins to keep it closed when the weather was cold.  Dera liked the way it
felt on her shoulders.  It felt like his strong arm covering her,
protecting her.  It was the only thing that made her feel small...the
largeness of the man, the largeness of her father.
 
Dera kept that coat and wore it into her old age.  After her father
died life was not good to Dera.  Her father had left a great load of
debt and so the old place had been sold and all that was within it. 
Nothing much was left except a few personal items and the five hundred
dollars.  Dera didn't have many skills and no one wanted to hire a girl
no matter what her strength and size.  So Dera went to live with
relatives far away from the place she called home.
 
The relatives were cold and uncaring.  They felt Dera was a burden and
said so openly.  They took what was left of the money.  Dera quit school
and would spend days in her room wrapped in the great coat listening to
the sounds of the wilderness around her.  She would sing and talk to the
spirits.  The spirits would bring her father to her.  She could talk to
him...she could talk to them...they understood her sorrows.
 
As Dera got older and stranger, her relatives asked her to leave.  They
said things were getting too hard and they no longer could take care of
her.  She felt a strange urge to giggle at them but suppressed it.  She
thanked them, turned and picked up her great coat and her aunt's great
hat.  She never knew why she did that.  It was a silly hat.  Broad and
pink and feminine, just what she wasn't.  The brim extended past her
shoulders, which she shrugged as auntie began to scream after her,
"Bring my hat back you idiot...bring my hat back!"  But Dera didn't
bring the hat back.  Dera continued down the hill and away from the
ugliness of the people who never cared.
 
**********************
 
The people in the city used to see Dera in her father's great coat
curled up on a doorstep, in the alleys going through the large trash
bins.  She often collected bottles and turned them in for cash at the
liquor store.  She stood out among her people, the street people of the
city, because of her large pink hat.  Everyone knew who she was.  They
avoided looking at her directly.  Her size was most intimidating and
they would go around her in a large wide arc or cross the street if the
walkway was too narrow.  They never knew where she came from and no one
really cared.
 
Julia used to notice her from her window.  She lived above her father's
restaurant with her family and would watch Dera go through the trash for
food.  Once Julia tried to give Dera clean food from the kitchen but
Dera had disappeared before the door had fully opened.  Julia felt sorry
for the tall woman in the great, green coat and the large pink hat.  She
wondered about her often.
 
When the carnival came to town, Julia was taken by her brothers.  The
had to go late because everyone was busy at the restaurant.  There
weren't many people left by the time Julia and her brothers arrived, but
Julia didn't care.  She rode the rides almost alone, ate her hot dog and
cotton candy in peace and could easily find a place to rest on the
benches outside the tents and kiosks.
 
The carny's were tired and so they weren't chanting their usual chants
but even so, one voice stood out above the rest.  It was a soothing
voice, it seemed to float on the air hovering just above Julia.  It
seemed as though it only called to her.  Julia looked around for her
brothers but they were no where to be found.  She looked toward the
house where the old carny stood , his voice wooing her to come inside. 
At first Julia resisted but before long her curiosity won out.  She
looked toward the house again and the little man winked a slow wink and
crooking his finger at her pointed to the door.  Above the door was a
sign, "Shadows and Mysteries Among the Mirrors."  Julia went to the
door.  A strange power drew her in.
 
*************************
 
As Julia walked among the mirrors, playing in front of them all, she
wondered what the 'shadows and mysteries' were.  Perhaps it was just a
ruse to draw folks in.  Each mirror was different and each mirror was
placed at a different angle forcing a maze through which one had to
walk.  It seemed endless and the directions were many and varied.  Julia
began to wonder about the way out.  She was afraid her brothers would
look for her and not finding her would be angry with her.  She wandered
left and then right and then tried to work her way back to the beginning
but the mirrors wouldn't let her.  The deeper into the maze she got the
more it began to feel like the mirrors were moving, blocking her
retreat..  She looked into them deeply to see if she could see
something.  Her sense of direction became non-existent.
 
Julia walked and walked, this way and that turning as the mirrors
turned, further and further, deeper and deeper.  The darkness cast
strange shadows upon the mirrored images of her as she passed.  She
thought she heard a kitten mew, a puppy whine, a baby cry.  None were
exactly clear.  It was more of an impression upon her ears.  A soft
breeze blew as though someone were fanning her face.  As she looked up
she was surprised to see tiny white feathers fill the air, tumbling and
floating towards her like snow flakes. they fell to her uplifted face
and tickled her cheeks.  She held out her hands and tried to catch them
as they floated to the floor.  She began to walk and skip and twirl
among the feathers laughing and giggling with joy.  How beautiful!  How
special! At last she stopped and closed her eyes and lifted her face to
the feathers, letting them fall uninterrupted.  When she opened her eyes
at last she was surprised to see a single mirror the size of a large
wall several feet in front of her.  Instead of mirrors angled around her
there were satin and silk clothes draped where the mirrors should have
been. The mirror began to move backward revealing a beam of blue-white
light under which stood a dim figure.  The figure stood before the
mirror facing Julia but the image in the great mirror showed a profile
rather than a rear view.  
 
Julia felt she probably should be afraid but she wasn't. The figure
seemed vaguely familiar.  Taking a few steps closer the image began to
clear and with shock and surprise Julia knew who the person was before
her.  It was the lady of the streets.  The figure shoved her hands deep
within the pockets of her great coat and smiled behind the veil of her
great pink hat.
 
*************************
 
Dera knew the child.  She had tried to give Dera food when she was
hungry.  The spirits had told her that the child was magical and Dera
believed them.  She watched Julia's face and knew that the child was not
afraid and Dera liked that.  So many were afraid of her.  Julia peered
at the image in the great mirror watching as the figure of Dera bent
forward in it but stood tall before it.  As the image in the mirror
stood up it was holding a kitten, nuzzling its soft fur.  The image
blurred and cleared and Julia saw a puppy just under the hem of the
great coat.  A child floated past in a great blue bubble.  It held a
small white feather in its hand and gurgled with contentment.  A dove
flew above the mirrored image of Dera and sat upon her shoulder
completely unafraid. 
 
Dera still stood facing Julia with her hands shoved deep into the
pockets of the great coat and smiling.  Julia drew nearer mesmerized by
what she was seeing.  Softly, gently Dera put her hand on Julia's back,
guiding her toward the great mirror.  The breeze picked up and the great
cloths billowed around them closing off the rest of the room.  Slowly
Julia was pulled into the imagery of the mirror, first as a shadow and
then as a reflection and finally into the flaps of the great green
coat.