Ruby Rose
Location: Canadian Prairies
In my neck of the woods, after the first snowfall, and in spite of a week of unseasonable temperatures, that snow never leaves, lasting throughout the winter, Thus, I present you this story which is based on perpetual dreams of being lost.
December 22 - winter solstice - the time of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, either North or South, and seems to pause before returning on its course. And in that pause, a simple, wistful whim may be heard and granted...by the gods that be.
Athena - self-consciously named after the goddess of the arts - was thirty years old. She was tall and slender with long black hair trailing down her back. She had anthracite eyes - comparable to black coal - which contrasted with the snow-whiteness of her skin giving her an ethereal look...as a snow princess. There was a mystique about Athena as if she didn't belong to her present world. Her world, as with her friends, comprised of a blind pursuit of affluence…..with the simple joys of life - her beloved music of long ago - forgotten. All that remained of her conscious erudition was a psychic rolodex, flipped through reflexively in making sense of any would be sublimity. Athena considered herself to be career-oriented, financially independent and emotionally and sexually liberated. But now, she felt reduced to a mass of disconnected nerves and she wanted to stop the world and get off. Athena felt imprisoned in her present world and wanted to be free. Subconsciously, Athena craved the quieter, slower pace of long ago and her music. She wanted to pause and rejuvenate her senses...somewhere...anywhere.
On December 22nd, Athena put on her long black coat and left her small cramped apartment in Montreal where she lived alone. She hopped into her small car and drove out of the city - heading to the unknown to regain her mental balance. Athena felt she had to get far away from her present world. Heedless of flash weather reports of impending storm activity coming her way - advising drivers to stay off the roads if at all possible, Athena, to the sounds of Jingle Bells coming from her car radio, drove about eighty miles North of Montreal until she reached Mont Tremblant Park - which is approximately 1,500 square miles in size.
Athena stopped the car and got out. As she gazed at the winter wonderland in front of her, she thought, "Ah, I'd give anything to be enveloped in white luxurious furs like a czarina sitting in a cutter pulled by one magnificent horse...into this white wilderness and never come out."
Little did Athena know that her whimsical plea had been heard...but at what cost...she had yet to find out.
Athena started walking through the park oblivious to the sprinkling of snow beginning to fall, the stirring of the wind in the air and the cold single-digit temperatures. The air was bracing. The park looked liked a frozen woodland yet one could feel the presence of life in spite of the deep sleep all around her. There was a sense of peace. Athena felt secure amongst the great trees everywhere - the oaks, the maples and the evergreens - that had known the storms possibly of a century. Athena's solitude washed over her as she walked alone through the woods - giving her the feeling of solitude on a terrestrial scale. Our galaxy, she thought, with its incalculable stars, is but one of millions. She could hear the frozen forest about her echoing such galactic loneliness. As Athena walked on, she glimpsed infinity suspended in the timelessness of the snow covered world about her and lost all sense of time.
Then the predicted storm began...a maelstrom of nature's violence. At first, the wind was a susurrus of strange sounds around her. Within Athena, there was an exhilaration of release - then the reality set in. Suddenly the monochrome of everything - all that white - began to hurt her eyes. The etiolated landscape had served its purpose and Athena was ready to go back home. But as she turned around, Athena noted that there were no footprints to follow as the wind-glazed surface of the snow was hard. She was lost. Athena heard a staccato voice perforating through the white wilderness and wondered. Then she discerned it as her own primordial urge to live. Athena could no longer envisage home, family and friends - only the unending whiteness about her.
Masses of ice flakes began falling like snow blossoms from the sky leaving snow blinks wherever they fell. Athena saw crystalline hexagons everywhere. Some of the snowflakes resembled huge feathers as they danced away carried off by the wind. She now felt exiled from her world and began to feel part of the white world she was presently in. Athena felt herself tremble as the strong North wind pressed against her, moving in rhythmic waves, pushing, shifting, caressing her body as if it couldn't get close enough...almost sensual… leaving her with prurient urges. Her full-sensuous lips were kissed a vibrant red by the blowing wind which was unrelenting in its powerful thrusts. Athena's long black mane of hair danced wildly about her shoulders. She stood entranced with her coal black eyes tearing from the force of the wind, having a look of bewildered uncertainty and innocence. Athena gazed and listened as if she was standing on the edge of the unknown waiting and watching. There was an intimate ambience as she became one with the maelstrom.
The sky was permeated with silvery lights as day slipped into evening with the frosty trees blinking everywhere as if giving a private recital with the stars above creating a magical scale. The world was now descending into a snowy darkness with starshine reflected on the snow-covered land.
Then there was music. As the winter wind became stronger and raging, it whipped across the power lines bordering both sides of the park creating a huge aeolian harp. There was a consonance of sound as if Aeolus, the Greek god of the winds, was performing on a thousand strings. Glorious euphonious music comparable to Mahler, Debussy and Strauss swept through the park floating through the air. Athena, mesmerized, thought of Plato, a Greek philosopher of 2,000 years ago, who believed that music was the medicine of the soul. Suddenly, the music escalated into a piercing human-like scream as the wind got trapped in between some of the huge trees thus sounding like gusts of despair...wanting to be free...as Athena. Time was being squeezed together like an accordion and the future became the past.
Fearing the immense power of nature about her, Athena whispered a soft plea to the gods that be for help….and was heard once more. Moments later, one huge star appeared in the sky - as a sensuous beacon - to lead the way. There were also whisperings in the wind all around her saying, "Athena, do not gaze at the whiteness any longer"...but Athena would not listen.
She kept on trudging through the park with the hopes of reaching the safety of her car. A heady sleepiness was slowly coursing through her body and Athena struggled to maintain consciousness as she felt death was tapping with a bony finger on her back and trailing behind her as she fled...followed by one huge star. Athena was now snowblind.
The next day, on December 23rd, early in the morning with the sun shining once more, a small family - father, mother and their young son - decided to head for Mont Tremblant Park and walk through the park to gaze on the winter wonderland resultant of the storm the day before. At the entrance of the park, they came across Athena's abandoned car - totally covered in snow.
Running ahead, the young son suddenly stopped and yelled back to his parents, "Maman! Papa! I found a snow princess! Come and see."
As his parents approached, they saw the body of a beautiful young woman entombed in white. The wind had blown huge snow feathery flakes all over her - cleaving to her body - giving her the appearance of being enveloped in luxurious white furs. Snow blossoms were all around her. Her long black hair was a mass of curlicues resembling a feathery halo on the snow. Athena's full-sensuous red lips on her porcelain white face appeared bruised as if recently kissed. Then they noticed her eyes. They were wide-open - piercing coal black in colour - staring yet unseeing with tiny, tear-drop icicles hanging from the corners of both eyes. A snow princess...
"Entombed in White"
By Ruby Rose
By Ruby Rose
December 22 - winter solstice - the time of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, either North or South, and seems to pause before returning on its course. And in that pause, a simple, wistful whim may be heard and granted...by the gods that be.
Athena - self-consciously named after the goddess of the arts - was thirty years old. She was tall and slender with long black hair trailing down her back. She had anthracite eyes - comparable to black coal - which contrasted with the snow-whiteness of her skin giving her an ethereal look...as a snow princess. There was a mystique about Athena as if she didn't belong to her present world. Her world, as with her friends, comprised of a blind pursuit of affluence…..with the simple joys of life - her beloved music of long ago - forgotten. All that remained of her conscious erudition was a psychic rolodex, flipped through reflexively in making sense of any would be sublimity. Athena considered herself to be career-oriented, financially independent and emotionally and sexually liberated. But now, she felt reduced to a mass of disconnected nerves and she wanted to stop the world and get off. Athena felt imprisoned in her present world and wanted to be free. Subconsciously, Athena craved the quieter, slower pace of long ago and her music. She wanted to pause and rejuvenate her senses...somewhere...anywhere.
On December 22nd, Athena put on her long black coat and left her small cramped apartment in Montreal where she lived alone. She hopped into her small car and drove out of the city - heading to the unknown to regain her mental balance. Athena felt she had to get far away from her present world. Heedless of flash weather reports of impending storm activity coming her way - advising drivers to stay off the roads if at all possible, Athena, to the sounds of Jingle Bells coming from her car radio, drove about eighty miles North of Montreal until she reached Mont Tremblant Park - which is approximately 1,500 square miles in size.
Athena stopped the car and got out. As she gazed at the winter wonderland in front of her, she thought, "Ah, I'd give anything to be enveloped in white luxurious furs like a czarina sitting in a cutter pulled by one magnificent horse...into this white wilderness and never come out."
Little did Athena know that her whimsical plea had been heard...but at what cost...she had yet to find out.
Athena started walking through the park oblivious to the sprinkling of snow beginning to fall, the stirring of the wind in the air and the cold single-digit temperatures. The air was bracing. The park looked liked a frozen woodland yet one could feel the presence of life in spite of the deep sleep all around her. There was a sense of peace. Athena felt secure amongst the great trees everywhere - the oaks, the maples and the evergreens - that had known the storms possibly of a century. Athena's solitude washed over her as she walked alone through the woods - giving her the feeling of solitude on a terrestrial scale. Our galaxy, she thought, with its incalculable stars, is but one of millions. She could hear the frozen forest about her echoing such galactic loneliness. As Athena walked on, she glimpsed infinity suspended in the timelessness of the snow covered world about her and lost all sense of time.
Then the predicted storm began...a maelstrom of nature's violence. At first, the wind was a susurrus of strange sounds around her. Within Athena, there was an exhilaration of release - then the reality set in. Suddenly the monochrome of everything - all that white - began to hurt her eyes. The etiolated landscape had served its purpose and Athena was ready to go back home. But as she turned around, Athena noted that there were no footprints to follow as the wind-glazed surface of the snow was hard. She was lost. Athena heard a staccato voice perforating through the white wilderness and wondered. Then she discerned it as her own primordial urge to live. Athena could no longer envisage home, family and friends - only the unending whiteness about her.
Masses of ice flakes began falling like snow blossoms from the sky leaving snow blinks wherever they fell. Athena saw crystalline hexagons everywhere. Some of the snowflakes resembled huge feathers as they danced away carried off by the wind. She now felt exiled from her world and began to feel part of the white world she was presently in. Athena felt herself tremble as the strong North wind pressed against her, moving in rhythmic waves, pushing, shifting, caressing her body as if it couldn't get close enough...almost sensual… leaving her with prurient urges. Her full-sensuous lips were kissed a vibrant red by the blowing wind which was unrelenting in its powerful thrusts. Athena's long black mane of hair danced wildly about her shoulders. She stood entranced with her coal black eyes tearing from the force of the wind, having a look of bewildered uncertainty and innocence. Athena gazed and listened as if she was standing on the edge of the unknown waiting and watching. There was an intimate ambience as she became one with the maelstrom.
The sky was permeated with silvery lights as day slipped into evening with the frosty trees blinking everywhere as if giving a private recital with the stars above creating a magical scale. The world was now descending into a snowy darkness with starshine reflected on the snow-covered land.
Then there was music. As the winter wind became stronger and raging, it whipped across the power lines bordering both sides of the park creating a huge aeolian harp. There was a consonance of sound as if Aeolus, the Greek god of the winds, was performing on a thousand strings. Glorious euphonious music comparable to Mahler, Debussy and Strauss swept through the park floating through the air. Athena, mesmerized, thought of Plato, a Greek philosopher of 2,000 years ago, who believed that music was the medicine of the soul. Suddenly, the music escalated into a piercing human-like scream as the wind got trapped in between some of the huge trees thus sounding like gusts of despair...wanting to be free...as Athena. Time was being squeezed together like an accordion and the future became the past.
Fearing the immense power of nature about her, Athena whispered a soft plea to the gods that be for help….and was heard once more. Moments later, one huge star appeared in the sky - as a sensuous beacon - to lead the way. There were also whisperings in the wind all around her saying, "Athena, do not gaze at the whiteness any longer"...but Athena would not listen.
She kept on trudging through the park with the hopes of reaching the safety of her car. A heady sleepiness was slowly coursing through her body and Athena struggled to maintain consciousness as she felt death was tapping with a bony finger on her back and trailing behind her as she fled...followed by one huge star. Athena was now snowblind.
The next day, on December 23rd, early in the morning with the sun shining once more, a small family - father, mother and their young son - decided to head for Mont Tremblant Park and walk through the park to gaze on the winter wonderland resultant of the storm the day before. At the entrance of the park, they came across Athena's abandoned car - totally covered in snow.
Running ahead, the young son suddenly stopped and yelled back to his parents, "Maman! Papa! I found a snow princess! Come and see."
As his parents approached, they saw the body of a beautiful young woman entombed in white. The wind had blown huge snow feathery flakes all over her - cleaving to her body - giving her the appearance of being enveloped in luxurious white furs. Snow blossoms were all around her. Her long black hair was a mass of curlicues resembling a feathery halo on the snow. Athena's full-sensuous red lips on her porcelain white face appeared bruised as if recently kissed. Then they noticed her eyes. They were wide-open - piercing coal black in colour - staring yet unseeing with tiny, tear-drop icicles hanging from the corners of both eyes. A snow princess...
