EDITON ONE, SEGEMENT THREE
I have always believed, stories are repositories of creativity, imagination, emotions, reality and expressions. An artistic mind and its creative expressions, as different perceptions of the same world, is a matter of intriguing surprise for both the artist and his/her audience. One can never envisage how a limited scope of emotions and expressions not only churn out numerous flows of fables, but also acts as a genesis of new ways of expression, language and mankind association.
I couldn’t have imagined, while researching for writing this column, the phrases coined by the lauded literati, eons ago, would assist me in creating a new work of wordplay and link the past to the future in a literal manner.
As they say, literature is nothing but an extension of our combined realities, woven in a thread of imagination and techniques, immortalized by the readers, so let’s delve into this link-of-ink, and be lost in this language of impressions, to celebrate the timeless authors’ undaunting spirit!
“For goodness’s sake, let it pass, Theo”, William spoke with a dispirited sigh. “Do not be shackled by that impetuous thought any longer. It is time for us to accept the reality.” Theo stayed silent, looking beyond the horizon, not paying heed to his brother’s words.
Frustrated, William turned to his younger brother, who had followed this trail, wordlessly.
“Oliver, knock some sense into our dear brother. This is a wild goose chase. It’s getting late, let’s head home now.”
Unfazed, Oliver and Theo continued digging the ground beneath their feet, frantically.
“You two gentlemen realize how bleak the chances of success are, right? Will we see an end to this pursuit, any time soon? Oliver, Theo, a penny for your thoughts, please?” William screamed sarcastically, stamping his foot hard. He had reached the end of his resilience. He had begged them to change their minds, but they hadn’t budged an inch.
Oliver and Theo showed no signs of stopping. They continued decimating the neatly dug trenches, as light slowly made way for darkness to set in. It was a peaceful sight to behold, but the three brothers thought otherwise. Theo, the eldest had hurriedly called his younger brothers a few hours ago and whispered something in their ears that had led them on this quest.
“We have to find the penny at all costs. We have no other alternative.” Theo finally broke his stuporous silence.
It was an old penny that Theo had painstakingly carved their initials on. He had to retrieve it at any cost. They had lost the penny while they were out on a walk in the fields yesterday. They would have never know, it would turn out to be their last walk together. If only, they had, they would have relished each moment to the fullest. He then hurriedly pushed those thoughts away and concentrated on the task at hand. The penny that Brandy loved with all her heart and always wore it around her neck, had to be found. Brandy was set to leave the next morning. It would be his parting gift to her.
Oliver discerning the tumult his eldest brother was going through, decided to lend him a helping hand without saying much. Brandy was dear to him as well. Although they didn’t interact much, he wanted to contribute his bit while bidding her farewell. William, the most sceptical of them all, had accepted his defeat and wanted the others to realize their puny abilities in the face of such crisis, too.
Soon, night had fallen. The two of them continued prowling and scrounging in the fields, hoping to lay their hands on their lost treasure. Their third brother kept passing sarcastic comments by the side lines. If one didn’t know William, they would have easily passed this attitude of his as pessimistic, rather than his way of dealing with grief because of the impending parting. He kept doing everything to distract himself from facing the fact, that Brandy would no longer be together with them, from the next day onwards.
As the entire village rested peaceful, in the anticipation of the next day, the three boys spent their night, restlessly, dreading the day ahead.
As the dawn was about the break, William seeing the tired bodies of his two brothers, finally decided to take the matter into his own hands. He knew they didn’t have much time on their hands. He ran along the length of the field and managed to procure a broken trowel from somewhere. He pushed his exhausted brothers aside and began digging the Earth in places where they could have lost the penny.
‘Brandy’. ‘Penny.’ ‘Goodbye.’ Was all he could think of. As the first rays of sunshine filled the world with hope, hopelessness started gripping the minds of the boys. It seemed they had finally run out of time. Theo helplessly patted William’s back, asking him to stop tiring his worn out body. All three boys suppressed their sobs with difficulty and reluctantly turned their footsteps towards their broken shack. William took only last look at the fields, as if trying to shift the blame of their separation on the unfortunate lands. All of a sudden, something that reflected the morning sunshine, caught his eye. He turned around to inspect the source and yelped in glee! They had found the missing penny. All three tumbled in happiness and ran with great gusto towards their home, towards Brandy.
As they spilled in their house, their deceased parents had left them, they found her laying on a bed of straw, struggling to draw her last breaths. Brandy, the lost puppy who had followed them since the funeral of their parents, three summers ago, was now battling each moment for a breath of life. As they surrounded her, all they could think of happy times, they had with their white sheepdog; playing, walking, sharing loneliness and laughter. The jovial puppy had been the life of their home, until she was hit by a derailed wagon yesterday evening. They had been out for a walk when this incident occurred. Witnessing the accident, they knew instantly, it wouldn’t be long before they would have to bid her goodbye. All three brothers had carried her frail body to their house and helped her sooth her pain by bringing her favourite toys. However, the penny that always hung around her neck was missing. They knew, she missed it dearly, as she kept pawing her neck, hoping it would appear magically the next time she patted her mane. The three brothers knew what had to be done and went seeking the penny at Theo’s insistence.
As William presented the penny to Brandy, her frail body let out a small howl. Nobody knew whether that howl was meant to convey pain or pleasure. She wagged her tail to acknowledge their presence and brought out her paws to receive the penny, a trick she frequently performed, while asking for more food, despite being fed her share.
As the penny was handed to her, she inspected it one last time, sniffed it one last time and licked it one last time. It seemed she kept infusing the penny with her memories as she knew her time with her three brothers was about to come to any end. She then placed the penny between her paws, like a pearl in the oyster and presented it back to her brothers. She wanted to tell the brothers something, one last time. She knew they would be despondent by her passing. She wanted to give them a parting present as well. She laid her head lovingly on Theo’s lap and kept pressing them to take the penny nestled in her paws. They cupped their hands together and received the penny, as she breathed her last. Nobody spoke for a minute. All of them breathed in the gravity of the situation. She had left. Just like their parents, Brandy had left. All they were left with, were a broken house and a penny that had their initials on it. It seemed their only constant companion on the long journey of their lives would be their limited memories of their departed loved ones. Life, for them had come to a standstill.
“She wouldn’t have like such a maudlin atmosphere, had she been here.” Peter, finally broke the despondent silence and let out a heartfelt cry.
“Brandy wouldn’t have let you sob like an infant, for sure. It would have hurt her, seeing us this crestfallen. She would have…she would have…” William trailed off.
“She kept pressing us to take the penny, she adored while she lived. Do you two remember how she nearly fought off a huge Bedlington Terrier, when he playfully attempted to snatch that thing from her neck?”, Theo’s words, made them smile through their tears.
“It was her way to tell us something, I believe. Something, she knew, we would forget to live by, after her passing.” Oliver the most fun loving lad of the lad, had wilted into a sombre boy, in a day. “I think she wanted us to move on and do anything we want. I think she wanted to us to know,
……the world is our oyster.” They all whispered, in unison.
For goodness’s sake – an expression coined and used by William Shakespeare (in his play Henry VIII, 1613) to show surprise or annoyance.
Wild goose chase – a sixteenth century horse race involving following the erratic course of the lead horse that finds its mention in English poet Gervase Markham’s book on horsemanship (1593). A phrase found in the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet (1595), that was taken literally in the sixteen century and evolved to its contemporary use in the 1800s pointing to a lengthy and complicated, unsuccessful pursuit.
A penny for your thoughts- A way of asking someone what they are thinking, by Sir Thomas Moore in his poem ‘A Treatyce upon the last thynges’ (1534).
Budge an inch- employed by William Shakespeare in his plat ‘The taming of the Shrew’ (written between 1590-1592), to refer to someone who won’t change their minds.
Lend a helping hand– an offer of help extended to someone as popularized by the author of Canterbury Tales; Geoffrey Chaucher.
The world is your oyster- another phrase formulated by the literature laureate William Shakespeare and used in his play ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ (1602). It is used in its modern context to tell someone that can do anything they wish to or go anywhere they want to as they have the ability to do so.
Until the next time,
Cheers!🌸
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