FREE THE DOVES || H.S

1 | The River Dancer

AND DID YOU ' GET WHAT YOU WANTED FROM THIS LIFE, EVEN SO?

I DID.

AND WHAT DID YOU WANT?

TO CALL MYSELF BELOVED, TO FEEL MYSELF BELOVED ON THE EARTH.

-Raymond Carver, Late Fragment.

SHE LIVED IN ME LIKE A BIRD AND I FLEW IN THE STRENGTH OF THE WIND IN HER WINGS.

-Atticus.

BIRDS BORN IN A CAGE THINK FLYING IS AN ILLNESS.

-Alejandro Jodorowski

To, The River Dancer.

Hello. I will admit that the circumstances in which I send this letter are strange. I understand that. I can see why you most definitely have a confused look on your face as you read this. But whenever I look out of my East window I can see you dancing on your dock. Graceful little thing. You almost float around. It's mesmerizing. I remember one time I watched you almost take a tumble right off the side of it. I laughed. Pretty hard actually, I'll be honest. But the most amazing thing happened. You caught your balance and without another thought, you continued to dance completely unaffected by what had just happened. Didn't even let yourself take the time to catch your breathe or process the close call into the murky water. You just continued. And it was amazing. Not a hint of fear. No sideways glances off to the side to make sure you weren't too close to the edge or deciding to maybe take it a bit slower so you don't actually end up drenched and covered with dirty water and long dripping grass in your hair. You kind of just amaze me. Maybe that's weird and creepy or something I don't know. But you do and I don't know what it is. Maybe it's your star power. Yeah. It's your star power. You've got it. Most people don't but you do. But I do have a question I would love to bother you with. Why do you dance on that dock? It seems quite rickety and old. And it's always raining. Why not just practice inside?

Yours Truly, The Curious Cat.

THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, 1969.

A TOWN SAT COMPLETELY STILL on the early June morning of 1969. Waitresses wiped tables at the local diner. Children jumped rope in their driveway, not paying much mind to the rain pouring on their tiny heads. Smokers stood outside of their workplace underneath an overhang with a lit cigarette between their fingers as they watched the heavy droplets spill over the edge.  Old couples sat in rocking chairs on their decks as they commented on the ridiculous weather we've been having and how much they yearned for at least one sunny day.

"I swear I'm going to drop dead before I see the sun again", old Mrs. Burkly who lived on Down Street commented as she took another puff from her cigarette and tapped it into her glass ashtray next to her. Her son, who sat next to her, only nodded at her dreadful comment and truly considered the very real possibility of his mother never actually seeing another sunny day as long as she lives. She coughed into her wrinkly fist as he gulped a mouthful of water and tried to change the topic.

A mother walked out of the market with bags filled with various fresh produce ready to be chopped and cooked for her rather ungrateful and fussy children waiting at home. A police officer sat in his car with an unnecessary pair of aviator sunglasses on his face waiting for a call which would never come. A five-month-old baby was taking its first steps as its mother watched with a large surprised smile and outstretched arms. A preteen boy laid on the pavement with his hands over his knee and his eyes scrunched shut in pain at the dislocation of the bone from its socket after he had fallen down a bit too hard and in a very strange way. His father cursed and quickly grabbed his keys so he could bring the 'stupid boy' to the hospital only because his wife told him he had to. If it was up to him he would have popped that bone back in place himself and told his kid to walk it off. It would have been a lot cheaper.