July 10: Terrible Darkness, Text Ping, Matthea Harvey, "Preset Fairy Tale Mode"

As they happily walked to the subway, they were looking forward to spending a lot of time together at home during the holiday, in the company of family and friends.  Ives and Annie had stopped to peer into a window display of French linen when, just like that, a terrible darkness entered them, and they could not move and stood looking at one another stupidly, on the crowded and busy sidewalk.

Ives and Annie are out on the town, enjoying some pre-Christmas festivities:  parties, window shopping, watching ice skaters at Rockefeller Center.  As they prepare to return home, they are suddenly overtaken by a cloud of sadness.  They don't understand what has just happened.  All they can do is stare at each other, not knowing that their son has just been killed on the sidewalk in front of their church.

I have spent most of this week dreading a similar experience.  Every time I receive a phone text, a sense of dread overtakes me.  It's not that I have no hope for my sister, but when you're bombarded with terms like "lymphoma" and "neuroblastoma" and "brain atrophy," it's kind of tough to remain positive. 

This morning, I heard the text ping on my phone while I was having breakfast.  I just sat on the couch, not moving for several seconds.   Then I got up and read the message.  It was from the person with whom I carpool, telling me she was going to be a little late.  I literally said "Thank God" because I was so relieved.

This afternoon, my sister went to surgery for her brain biopsy.  Everything went well, but there won't be any news about the results for a couple of days.  That means that I will receive a text on Monday at work.  I'm praying for good news.  Hoping for good news.  But that text could bring a terrible darkness, as well.

I'm really not in the mood to write a fairy tale this week, so I'm going to let the Poet of the Week do that job for me.

Hopefully, Saint Marty, and Saint Marty's sister, will live happily ever after.

Preset Fairy Tale Mode

by:  Matthea Harvey

Once upon a time, in the time
of once upon a time, there was
an inventor who loved a mermaid
and would do anything to please her.
Because she loved sound, he invented
a megaphone, a telettrofono and a drink
that fizzed with the tiny effervescent
fireworks of fermented fruit.  Because
she loved light, he invented smokeless
wicks and built a candle factory.  Because
she was over-fond of candles, he invented
flame retardant paint.  Because she loved
her cats, he came up with a way to carefully
quantify the amount of cream in their milk.
Because she missed her sisters' voices
he made a marine telephone.  Because
her bones were not made for this loud
human world, they began to crack and
ache and crumble.  Because she needed quiet
he tried to hush the trains, the carriage,
even the gulls.  Because she could no longer
climb up or down the stairs, he carried her.

Looking for more Disney, less Grimm brothers