A Tale of Notions – Part III

A journey  reflecting what is or isn’t – allegory taken to the extreme. This is being written in segments yet posted as a whole each time.  Dates in bold show when the previous segment was posted. This is segment three…

Swirling along through the steady stream of Kindness, Authentic Notions decided to stop and rest upon the bank of Turmoil. She lay down on the soft sand and dipped her toes in the shallow edge of the stream. Soon Morning Sun dried off all the water from Kindness that she had on her and her toes ceased their interaction with the stream.

As the heat of Midday Sun began, Authentic Notions sought out Coolness and Comfort instead of returning to the stream of Kindness to be refreshed.  She moved toward the Mass of Moss under the dappled shade of Water Oak. Water Oak and the Mass of Moss both drew their sustenance from the waters of Kindness she reasoned, thereby justifying a change in her devotion. After all, she told herself, it will only be once and just for a little while.

Sleepiness came to attend her. She fell into a deep slumber…a place where many go and never recover.  Authentic Notions came to the land of Positivity, where dreams and reality collide.  She had not been there long when she met the Princesses of Positivity. They were three sisters: Pretense, Pleasantry and Persuasion. The sisters ruled over all things fun and playful and positive.

After much comradery between the four girls, the sisters decided that Authentic was too old-fashioned of a name for such a fun-in-the-sun girl.  Silly, they said, fit her better.  And so, Authentic Notions became known as Silly Notions. With her new friends, new name, and new found popularity, Silly Notions lulled away days, months, years, and would have stayed in Positivity forevermore had she not heard one day the sound from Faraway Voices. They were chanting ever so faintly:

“Come back. Come back. To Kindness, Kindness, Kindness.”    (posted 1-19-17)

Silly Notions could barely hear the call of the Crows off in the distance.  At first she didn’t think much of it…but as time passed, the Faraway sounds began to pull at her heart. She strained to hear their call and as she did, the words became familiar to her. The more she listened, the louder and clearer their words became:

“Come back. Come back. To Kindness, Kindness, Kindness.”

“They’re just the old Correction Crows of the Faraway Voices” Persuasion whispered into the ear of Silly Notions, “No one listens to them these days. They’re a nuisance and need to be shooed away, certainly not invited to stay.”

“But…I feel their words carry some meaning for me,” Silly Notions began. However, before she had gotten any further with her thought, Pretense and Pleasantry arrived, flanked her on both sides and slid their arms through hers.

“Come, let’s gather all together and have a feast – a day of celebration for Happiness and Prosperity.  We Positivians have so much to be grateful for, now don’t we?” Pretense smiled and guided Silly Notions away from the calling of the Correction Crows.

“Oh, Silly, a feast!” gushed Pleasantry with excitement. “We have so much planning to do. We must get started now.” She grasped Silly’s arm slightly tighter and followed Pretense’s lead away from the sound of the calls.

But from that day on, try as she might, things just didn’t seem right for Silly Notions. The words of the Crows crowded into her thoughts time and again. Positivity had seemed a grand place before; now it seemed a bit…well, silly.

The holiday was planned and the day came for the celebration.  Happiness and Prosperity, the Illusion sisters, were first cousins of the Princesses; and like the princesses, Happiness and Prosperity were prominent players in the Illusion family.  Throughout the kingdom posters hung decorated with smiles of Happiness and hearts of Prosperity.  They made such lovely decorations but little sense when inspected closely.  (posted 3-24-17)

 

Now all who lived in the land of Positivity could attend the holiday festivities. However, not all who lived there were invited. Those who were invited were given a Name tag and only they could participate in the games. Those without Name tags had two options: watch from the sidelines or become Wanna-Bee worker-participants such as Dunkees – immersed in dung at the whim of those with Name tags; Donkeys – on which donkey tails (faux name-tags) were pinned; and Dumbkeys (second cousins to dumbwaiters) – those willing to risk their lives to guard the keys…the keys to what was never really explained to them.

But the hope of being Named kept them working hard and displaying only the most positive of attitudes.  Despite what they were told, Naming came only to a very few…and these few were Named so hope would never die.  For Wanna-Bees believed that once Named they would become prosperous, included, and accepted; which were by far, their deepest longings.

When the festivities began Silly Notions took off her Name tag and laid it down on the table next to the punchbowl and cucumber sandwiches.  She had had enough frivolousness. She chose to become tag-less yet in her heart she knew she had a name.  Sadly, she could no longer remember it.  Her time in Positivity had covered over the Old Ways and left her mind blank.

I’ll call myself Blank Notions, she decided.

Blank Notions walked past the tall House of Cards teetering fragilely from being stacked too high.  She wound around by the dunking tank where the Wanna-Bees worked tirelessly to appease the appetites of the Name tagged.  She continued down the pathway leading out of Positivity. When she came to the gate she opened it and went through without hesitation. She closed it behind her and never looked back.