"Hello"
by
H.A.Velasquez
"Towhich I owe the pleasure to be unto?
Ontowhich land shall I land if not my own
Asmade by your mind and yet,
ifall is but a dream
Couldwe then say that we are nothing
Nothingbut shapeless forms
Dreamingwithin dreams for all and never."
Within a room situated in asmall one bedroom above a restaurant, filled with wondrous andmarvelous paintings, drawings, and pictures was a man standing byhis desk hanging photographs. Visual arts were his life, his eyeswere lenses that showed and explored a reality only he knew and onlyhe could interpret.
From there, in what wasmeant to be his living room, circulated the fresh summer breeze thatbrought petrichor in. Rain had stopped after two sunless days, eggyolk lost in puffs of cotton and trails of smoke. A city buzzingwith life, tourists tended to come this way a lot between summer andfall. Not too far from there, was the coast giving into the vastAtlantic.
Parrots perched atop topsor hung on the narrow balcony and cawed loudly or swayed as ifdancing. Little thieves sometimes jumped the branches and landedinside the apartment, grabbing at anything that may be good to have on them ortrade. Furry quick hands, all you often saw a vanishing fluffybrownish tail.
Yesterday, he had gone outand visited the fields on the outskirts of his home city beforereturning to the scenic areas constructed for all the summer flux.The last one he hung portrayed a woman standing by a bridge, lostelsewhere with gaze to the running waters beneath. Wearing a longflowing dress in midnight blue smeared with dots of yellow. Wearingan oversized straw hat, the sun made her skin look as if it were madeof the purest of cane sugar. People walked back and forth behind her,the shops and lights could be observed far in the distance.
Suddenly, as he clamped itdown, her head lifted and turned to face him. Surprised but, far fromscared, he watched the strange occurrence.
"Now, now, it is not okayfor a man to stare at a lady like that. You'd make her think there'ssomething wrong with her." This made him blink and then he loweredhis gaze before coming back up. This time, she stood in the frame asone would by a window facing out.
"Apologies, it is notevery day that we see moving pictures in our world."
"Is that so?" Sheseemed genuinely surprised by this.
