Mapping The Territory - Elegy (4)

MAPPING THE TERRITORY - ELEGY (4)

'Pssst. I've thought of something else. . . '

'My dear, you awoke me. . .  why do you provoke me?' She opened her mouth wide and yawned.

'Confession is fine if within prescribed times. I, for one, like to work with professional guidelines. A psychiatrist's hour means much less in the chair,' said the woman as she plucked lice and eggs from her hair.

'I hate our obsession with longevity. (What's wrong with the concept of mortality?) I confess, I take heart from memento mori. . . 

'Tell me

'Why on Earth would one ever want to live forever?  Too long for the body or mind to remember? 

'It's no wonder we get old and start to forget. Our hearts and our souls cannot bear the regret that this life generates; it's a terrible toll.'

'How I long for good company: witty and droll,' said the Priestess succumbing to sadness and all. 'I thought we might get on quite well, but, perhaps you should just go to hell.'

Mapping The Territory - Elegy (3)

MAPPING THE TERRITORY - ELEGY (3)

'And . . .'

'What?' said the Priestess as she picked at a spot, bent over a pool like Narcissus. 'Bear in mind, you have only five wishes.'

I continued unabashed:

'I do not like the way we can't see who we are unless we sit back and reflect. The mirror effect only works when we think. When we act, we are apt to forget.'

'Riddles again. Why do you always talk in riddles, child?'

'I mean . . .

'One is only oneself when one's busy performing (at which time one's blind - now I find this alarming - to the critical insight required to behave in a way that don't leave one upset and dismayed.')

'I'm beginning to wonder if you're beyond saving.'

Mapping The Territory - Elegy (2)

MAPPING THE TERRITORY - ELEGY (2)

'Carelessness.'

'Eh?'

'Carelessness. That's the one thing that I hate. We take things for granted, and then it's too late. Too late to recover the things that we cherish - or, the people. It's friendships I can't bear to perish.'

Mapping The Territory - Elegy (1)

MAPPING THE TERRITORY - ELEGY (1)

'Now it's clear, my dear, for all who can see; it's nigh time you started confiding in me.'

'I keep my confessions for curates and shrinks. That excludes - woe is me - a Priestess who drinks.'

'Tut tut, dear child, where's your etiquette? Just because you run wild pray, please, don't forget there's a reason we're heading this way. . .

'Are you so very dull that you really can't tell that this walk will decide if it's heaven or hell? It wasn't free-will, it was mandatory; this hiking you're doing's called purgatory.'

'Really?'

'Yes.

'A heart only has so much pain it can take before it stops beating. (They call it heartbreak). I'm sorry to say that your days are now numbered, but, some of us care that you die unencumbered by feelings that might leave you bitter and twisted and so (I'll come clean) we've petitioned - insisted - you're given a chance to repent all you hate before you drop dead (as they say, become 'late').

'Ok. Where should I start?'

'How about at the beginning?'

More Smoking Women (4)

MORE SMOKING WOMEN (4)

More Smoking Women (3)

MORE SMOKING WOMEN (3)

More Smoking Women (2)

MORE SMOKING WOMEN (2)

More Smoking Women (1)

MORE SMOKING WOMEN (1)

Mapping The Territory - Seven Years (2)

MAPPING THE TERRITORY - SEVEN YEARS (2)

'Once upon a time (let's say, seven years ago) . . .

'I was married to a man (who was not married to me). A confusing state to be in as I'm sure you clearly see. After all, what should be done about the house and custody of all those ornaments and nicknacks that remain so dear to me?'

(I looked in vain for another planet heading our way.)

'Well.

'The point of man and wife is that you get to share the strife that this life throws at you - clod-like - now and then.

'But.

'When matrimony isn't mutual - think, one-sided kind of nuptials - there ain't nothing that's reciprocal, at all.'

'Why do you speak in riddles?' I forced myself to say.

'Child, it's no major feat to follow (though, I know, it's hard to swallow). I conceive you are deliberately obtuse. . .

(I curled up into a ball; asked 'what's the use?')

'Here's the thing', she continued, unperturbed.

'If a man gives you his ring, he saves you from your kith and kin. (Did you ever meet my family? I forget).

'So, it came as quite a jolt - and I maintain it was his fault - when I divorced him on the grounds of gross neglect.'

Mapping The Territory - Seven Years (1)

MAPPING THE TERRITORY - SEVEN YEARS (1)

'Well, ' said the Priestess, extracting herself in an ungainly manner from her make-shift bolt-hole . . . 

'Given we're still here,' as she downed a Macon Lungy. 'Let me tell you a short story and, forgive, if it affects me. As you know I'm quite emotional (some might deem 'over-theatrical') but I cannot help deep feeling, after all.'

I searched the skies for another potentially-fatal missile heading our way, but all I could see was the Milky Way.

'The story, my child, goes like this . . .'