The Amazing Race   American Idol   America's Next Top Model   The Apprentice   The Bachelor
Big Brother   The Biggest Loser   Dancing with the Stars   Survivor                Reality TV World
   
Reality TV World Message Board Forums
PLEASE NOTE: The Reality TV World Message Boards are filled with desperate attention-seekers pretending to be one big happy PG/PG13-rated family. Don't be fooled. Trying to get everyone to agree with you is like herding cats, but intolerance for other viewpoints is NOT welcome and respect for other posters IS required at all times. Jump in and play, and you'll soon find out how easy it is to fit in, but save your drama for your mama. All members are encouraged to read the complete guidelines. As entertainment critic Roger Ebert once said, "If you disagree with something I write, tell me so, argue with me, correct me--but don't tell me to shut up. That's not the American way."
"SSC5 (FF)"
Email this topic to a friend
Printer-friendly version of this topic
Bookmark this topic (Registered users only)
 
Previous Topic | Next Topic 
Conferences Story Competitions Forum (Protected)
Original message

mysticwolf 10627 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"

07-29-05, 03:52 AM (EST)
Click to EMail mysticwolf Click to send private message to mysticwolf Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
"SSC5 (FF)"
The Special Place

She sighed with satisfaction. She’d made it to her special place – her hideaway - without being noticed. She could relax now.

She’d first found this place when she was a child. It had always satisfied her need to escape the mundane trials and tribulations of life. It was magical, in fact – at least in her mind. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and waited.

She could smell the scent of pine, and maybe a hint of the sea. She could hear, if she listened closely, the waves crashing on the rocks and lapping the shore as they moved farther inland. Underlying was the scent of lavender, an old bush – she could remember it as a child, and the jasmine vines that twined their way up the outside trellis. Layered beneath that was the barest scent of the violets that she cultivated, oh so carefully, in pots throughout the house.

She knew her babies… knew just when they needed to be split and moved to new quarters. It was always painful for her. No one wanted to take a knife to someone they loved, but in this case, at least, it was necessary for their survival. She’d remove a leaf, or, in extreme cases, uproot the plant and, with a sharp knife, slice determinedly through the root – separating it cleanly. The leaf she would put in a clear glass filled with water and the barest touch of fertilizer. That would go into a sunny window. It would grow roots and be lovingly transferred to a small pot later in its life. The root pieces would be repotted, in fresh soil, watered in, and set in a shaded South window to get the sun. Shaded so as to not get too much.

But that was there – confined, in the house. In her special place she was free of the confines. Here she could see and feel and smell all of that – the sea, and the flowers, and the earth, but – outside - she had the addition of the butterflies. She loved butterflies. Not only were they beautiful, but she knew that they pollinated many of her favorite flowers. Really, all that is beautiful in nature came down to butterflies. Yes, she knew that bees pollinated her world, as well. But, she was allergic to bees, so preferred to ignore them. Birds helped too. She liked birds. Fed them, even. In the cold months, so they would survive. But they were imperfect. Birds squawked and fought. Lovely as they were, they could be evil with one another. Butterflies were never like that.

Butterflies, (and the occasional moth – she didn’t differentiate, although she knew the differences) were above the squabbles. They simply were, and did their duty to the world without complaint, much as she did. And, in her special space, they came in abundance – she’d seen to that. From the tiny Karner Blue to the mighty Monarch, they came. The California Dog Face, with its bright yellow underskirt beneath its purple-shaded overskirts. The Buckeye, drab brown, with spectacular bars of red and spots that look like nothing, so much as like the irises of an all-seeing eye – the better to fool your predator with. The pale Luna Moth – transparent pink and green. The spectacular Io Moth, looking like nothing so much as an upside-down, miniature, owl. They all came to her special place. They knew her, and better yet, she knew each of them. She reveled in them.

Eyes closed, she ran through the meadow she had created, lovingly, over many years. She breathed deeply of the scents, felt the wings of her beloved butterflies brush against her cheeks, and sighed in contentment.

And then, sighing once more, she opened her eyes - closing the box she was holding. She looked into her lap – at the box she held. She knew all of the specimens pinned to the felt, the moths… the butterflies… the pressed flowers from times gone bye.

She placed the box upon the table from whence she had retrieved it, and began to wheel herself slowly from the room - back to the tumult of the day. To the dining room she went, where she was to eat overcooked vegetables and under-seasoned entrees, listening to repeated orders from the staff, and complaints from her fellow residents. Longing for the day that she could join her real friends, forever, in their shared, special, place.



http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites

  Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

  Table of Contents

  Subject     Author     Message Date     ID  
 RE: SSC5 (FF) cahaya 07-29-05 1
   RE: SSC5 (FF) mysticwolf 07-29-05 2
 RE: SSC5 (FF) dragonflies 07-30-05 3
 RE: SSC5 (FF) Dakota 07-31-05 4
 RE: SSC5 (FF) Puffy 08-03-05 5
 RE: SSC5 (FF) syren 08-07-05 6
 RE: SSC5 (FF) Outfrontgirl 08-08-05 7

Lobby | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

Messages in this topic

cahaya 14104 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"

07-29-05, 04:29 PM (EST)
Click to EMail cahaya Click to send private message to cahaya Click to view user profile Click to send message via ICQ Click to check IP address of the poster
1. "RE: SSC5 (FF)"
An amazing shift in setting and time... in the past; a hideaway; a house; a magical place brimming with life; then within a box, itself a time machine with tokens of the past; then finally a place truly confining in the present time - but only for the body, not the mind. It took a few reads to fully appreciate this story, and it grew on me with each reading.


"Timeless at lightspeed"

  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

mysticwolf 10627 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"

07-29-05, 04:49 PM (EST)
Click to EMail mysticwolf Click to send private message to mysticwolf Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
2. "RE: SSC5 (FF)"
Thank you for your kind comments. I used to write when I was much younger. This is the first piece I've written for pleasure in, probably 10-20 years now. It felt good. I'm glad you liked it.


http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites

  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

dragonflies 7850 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"

07-30-05, 11:35 PM (EST)
Click to EMail dragonflies Click to send private message to dragonflies Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
3. "RE: SSC5 (FF)"
very enjoyable reading mystic!


Slice & Dice Sigpic Chop Shop 2005

  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Dakota 5133 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"

07-31-05, 01:12 AM (EST)
Click to EMail Dakota Click to send private message to Dakota Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
4. "RE: SSC5 (FF)"
Beautiful.
*wipes away a tear*

Charter Member: Club Anti-DAW

  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Puffy 6091 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"

08-03-05, 02:16 PM (EST)
Click to EMail Puffy Click to send private message to Puffy Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
5. "RE: SSC5 (FF)"
This really touched me. Beautifully written.


  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

syren 5414 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"

08-07-05, 11:01 AM (EST)
Click to EMail syren Click to send private message to syren Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
6. "RE: SSC5 (FF)"
Good read.

Thank you.

  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Outfrontgirl 5470 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"

08-08-05, 05:19 AM (EST)
Click to EMail Outfrontgirl Click to send private message to Outfrontgirl Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
7. "RE: SSC5 (FF)"
mysticwolf, I liked this piece very much. The careful dissection and control of the plants seems to stand in contrast to some utterly free butterfly zone, and then the way you shift that freedom to the box, the pinning, the control ...

I like the narrative irony that your character can't see anything problematic about the boxed collection as her symbol for a safe special place.

I can't read anything with a box like this figuring so prominently without thinking of Freud's case study of Dora.

  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top


Lock | Archive | Remove

Lobby | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e -
about this site   •   advertise on this site  •   contact us  •   privacy policy   •