Butterfly Dreams By Don Bernal


The princess looked up in the sky, and said today was a good day to fly.

She walked down the circular steps, her long princess dress bunched up in her hands. The dress was made for walking and posing; running down a flight of stairs was much too complicated for the dress to comprehend. So was the princess. The dress gave up a long time ago to try to make her prim and proper; dressing her up to be pretty was like putting a candle in an ice cream cone and calling it cold. She had no time to look prim and proper, no time to try and impress the easily amused. The princess was a worker, the princess was an athlete, the princess was made for everything but walking and posing. The dress gave up trying to make the princess seem more princess-like; it just wanted to get out of her way, and hoped it would get washed every so often.

The princess wanted the dress to get out of her way too. Too many things were always getting in her way the princess thought. 'This stupid long dress. This stupid spiral staircase (why couldn't they have just put a pole here so I could slide down instead). Stupid mansion that's so big. Stupid butler that's always in my way.' As she said this, a blur of a princess was scampering down the hallway, a distraught butler on the ground, shaking his head, wondering why he could never get out of the way.

The princess made her way to the front door, a huge golden brown wooden door, and she stopped. Everyday, she said, everyday, always this. She took a deep breath, rolled up her princess-dress sleeves, and with an unprincess-like grunt, leaned into the huge wooden door. Her princess shoes were scraping along the cement-stone floor, her shoulder buried in the door, which moved centimeter by centimeter. She leaned a bit lower, and tried to drive her way through. Just when she was about to slip to the floor, the door moved an inch, then two, until the crack of light shone inside the house. The spread of sunlight grew wider and wider, till it was large enough for an exhausted princess to walk through. She muttered, "Stupid door", as she ran down the wide path in front of the mansion, that went all the way to the ocean.

The princess was nearly running by the time she neared the beach. She slowed a bit, and took off each shoe, then resumed running to the sand, barefoot, still clutching to her overwhelmed dress. Finally she was just to the edge of the shore, where the waves climbed up, but barely missed reaching her bare toes. This was more like it, the princess thought. 'There's nothing stupid here, not this sand, not this water, not this fresh air. Nope, not a thing here that gets in my way when I run around.' She started skipping down the edge of the shore, just avoiding the cold wet sand. As she went, she kicked up a storm of sand each step, laughing at the mess that was definitely unprincess-like. Her dress fainted at the sight.

When she got far enough, easy to tell because she said, 'This is enough', she was near the stone cliff. It was shaped like upside down shoe, where the bottom pointed up, towards the ocean. It was thirty feet long, and at the very edge of the small cliff, it reached the highest point, twenty feet above the crashing waves. All throughout the princess's island, this was her most sacred place, though no one else knew. There was a beautiful forest just in front of the mansion, within it an even more beautiful lake, around which lay even more magnificent flowers of all colors and shapes. There were no bugs around the flowers however. The princess hated bugs. She said they ruined the flowers. Behind the mansion was a gigantic tree that stood highest on the whole island, even higher than the mansion. Its branches made the trunks of the other trees small and insecure, birds who dared landing on the highest branches fell down from vertigo. Only one person dared climb to the top of this gigantic tree, and this person did this often, even while wearing a dress that was screaming for her to stop. But in the whole island, not the forest or the lake or the flowers or the trees could ever mean to her what this stone cliff did. Because everytime she saw the cliff, pointing out over the endless ocean, she had a rush of emotion hit her: she wanted to leave this island, her island, forever.

The princess walked quietly, to the lowest part of the cliff. She treated this place with the utmost respect, as her feet gently tipped-toed on the stones. But as she was silently humming a tune beneath her breath, a voice cracked out, 'Whatcha doin', girly?'. The princess stopped in mid-stride, and hung her head down. She shook it slightly, as the grizzly voice spoke again, 'Why aintcha wearing any shoes? You're libel to get blisters, you know.' The princess raised her head, and in her soft, kind princess voice, said, 'Oh, I'll be careful. Thank you for caring.' She added a smile, very princess-like too, but like the dress, very unlike her. The crazy old witch who lived on the island next to her smiled back, her only tooth shining out from her otherwise empty mouth. The princess smiled weakly back, and hoped the crazy old witch stopped smiling. Soon. The crazy old witch did, but only to speak again, 'So what were ya plannin on doing, sweetie.' The princess answer, 'Nothing, grandma (she politely called her, a princess-like thing to do. Fortunately neither of them shared any real blood connection. That was why the princess still had all her teeth.) I was just enjoying the beautiful sun today.'

'Ah. What's so beautiful about it? It's only a burning ball of cotton.'

'What?' the princess asked.

'What, you don't know. What are they teaching you over there anyways? Well let me tell you, years and years ago, about thirty or forty I think, there are a man who was a farmer who raised cotton balls. Well, it was about the hottest part of the summer, and the farmer, who was all tired out from picking at all the cotton, decided to take a bit of a slumber. Well, as he dozed off, a firefly landed right on the cotton he had just picked. The huge pile of cotton went ablaze, and the flames reached up all the way to the heavens it seemed. Naturally, the firefly was cooked alive, and never to be heard from again. But when it died, it let out a magnificent scream, and the farmer awoke to, just in time. He saw the great ball of fire, and saw that he could lose his whole farm of cotton. What else would he eat, and dress himself, with? Well, he saw a large hayfork, and a wagon. So he pulls the wagon close to the burning cotton, and shoves the fork into the flames, resting the rest of the fork over the wagon.

'Then he threw his horse from the second floor window onto the fork and sent the ball of flaming cotton flying into the sky, where it still burns today. It still commemorates the death of that poor firefly, and the start of the farmer's clothing empire. From then on, Francis Oswald Gucci never looked back.'



The princess looked at her like she was trying to figure out if the crazy old witch really existed, or if she was just a Picasso painting that went horribly wrong and came to life. That was an unprincess-like thought, so she tried to be pleasant again.

'But grandmother, I was thought that the sun came from somewhere else… ' One day, in the darkest of nights, there lived a huge giant, who walked the earth alone, for as long as anyone knew. Taller than any mountain, wider than any river, it walked alone, because, no else dared cross the path of this monster. So in the gloomiest of moods, it walked, trudged along the face of the earth, knocking trees and mountains in his way. He grew bored, staring at nothing in the dark. So one day, in a fit of growing insanity, he picked up a gigantic rock, and threw it into the sky. When he was done, he looked up, and saw his rock up in the sky. A white, cold rock, a singular figure against the pitch-black sky. The giant looked up, and saw it in amazement. A brief glimpse of hope went through it, but the endless years of sorrow drowned it away.

'It sat, tired off its endless journey. It didn't move for centuries.

'Then one day, the tiniest of fairies, not much larger than your fingertip, with a voice so soft that it barely shook a hanging thread of a string, went up to the great giant. It said 'What would I have to do to make you smile?'

'The giant responded, its voice unused for ages, 'Why would I want to smile?'

'The fairy answered, 'Because you must, you cannot spend a whole life gloomy and sad.'

' 'Why not?'

' 'Because life is made up of both gloomy and joy, sadness and happiness. Even darkness and light.'

' 'NO. I have all the light I want, from that rock in the sky.' And then the giant pointed to the moon.

' The fairy smiled back at him, and said, 'That isn't all the light in you. A great thing like you should be able to light up the world.'

' 'Ha. Why would I want to light up the world?' the giant answered.

' 'Because you can. Because you must. Too long have you not been happy. Too long since you have felt the light. You must feel it now, or else.'

' 'Or else what?' the giant laughed.

' 'Or else you will be destroyed.'

' 'Ha. HA. And what can destroy me? You, little one. I AM indestructible, the most powerful on this world. I will not be destroyed.'

' 'But you will' the fairy answered gently. 'You must feel joy and light, or else it will too late and you will be destroyed. Your body is cold and dark. Ice runs through you. Shadows color your skin and bones. You're getting brittle and fragile. You'll break at the slightest warmth or ray of light.'

' 'Ha. I will NOT be destroyed. Not even with your stories, you tiny fairy. Do you wish to try to frighten me? Well then, show me this warmth. Show me this ray of light. Prove to me that I will crumble.'

' 'You will be destroyed. Even I could bring you down, great giant.'

' 'Then prove it. End my sorrowful journey if you can. Destroy me if you can.'

'And with that the tiny fairy flew into the ear of the giant, flew round and round its cold and dark body, till the fairy reached the giant's frozen, void heart. And then it fluttered and beat its fairy wings, till a spark of love, happiness, and joy flew out, and lit the giant's heart up and set it to fire.

'And the giant suddenly felt all the emotions that it had forgotten long ago; love, fear, pain, loss, jealousy, hurt. Its heart burst with a fiery rage, so many emotions, each so powerful that they racked the giant's body and mind. And the fairy inside decided to destroy the giant, because the giant was going to be destroyed sooner or later. Because the giant asked for it. And most importantly, because as much as the fairy believed life to be most precious, it would require the death of this giant to bring forth life to the rest of the world.

'The fairy beat its wings, till all the emotion unknown to the giant burst from its brittle, frozen bones. And in a gigantic explosion of love, hate, hurt, warmth; in a gigantic explosion of life, the giant blew into every which way, its body throbbing with the fairy's sparks of emotion.

'The blood which flowed with hate spewed deep into the hearts of mountains, and the volcanoes where formed. The lungs set loose the breath of anger, and set forth hurricanes in the world. 'The tears of hurt that formed in the giant's eyes flew into the sky, and littered as stars around the lonely moon in the sky. And the deep within the giant, where the fairy laid, its heart, bursting forth with great desire and love, shot straight up into the sky, and blinded the whole sky. And all the animals that feared the giant came from hiding, and saw the great light in the sky, and the whole world woke up and was born anew.

'That is the story about the sun I grew up with grandma.'



The crazy old witch nodded in her sleep. Then, with the silence coming from the princess, the witch stirred awake, and said, 'Oh, yes. Lovely story. Really. You should write it down. Lest you forget such a .... long tale.'

The princess ignored the witch's reply, and looked back up to the cliff that pointed to the sky, above the ocean.

The witch saw this, and asked, 'What are you looking at, dearie?'

'Nothing grandma,' the princess replied. 'Just... don't you ever wonder what's out there?'

'Out where?'

'Out there. Beyond our islands. Beyond the ocean.'

'Oh, that. Well, I already know what's beyond the ocean. I have no need to wonder.'

'Really,' the princess said. 'What's beyond the ocean?'

'Nothing. Just the end of the world.'

'What?'

'The end of the world. That's all. Just like the end of a piece of paper. You'd just fall off if you went out to the edge.'

'No,' the princess replied.

'Yes,' the crazy old witch cackled. 'There's nothing beyond the ocean. Past the water, you'd just fall off. The ocean ends and you'd fall off. Like the end of that cliff you're on, walk to the edge, and beyond that, you'd fall off.'

'No grandma, there has to be more than that. There must be more.'

'Do you see anymore, child? Beyond that water. Do you SEE anymore?'

'Well, no, but...'

'But nothing. There is nothing but falling beyond the ocean. You can see that right, dearie. Nothing at all.'

'But... but you must believe something could be beyond the ocean. There is a whole world out there. You must know that...'

'Please don't tell me another story.' the witch said. 'I don't want to go sleep this early yet in the day.'

'No grandma,' the princess giggled. 'But there is a whole world out there, beyond this island. My imagination shows me a whole world of things out there. Imagine all the possibilities, then imagine all the things you cannot imagine.'

The witch paused at that, with a puzzled look on her aged face. 'Are you sure you didn't hit your head running down the beach dearie? Is that why you're not wearing any shoes? Because you've had an accident.'

'No grandma, no. It's just...just...'

'What is it you are trying to say?'

'I'm going to see that world today. I'm going to fly.'

The crazy old witch suddenly had a thought that she wasn't the only crazy one anymore. She answered back, 'What are you saying, girlie?'

'I'm going to fly. I'm going to see the world.'

'Why? Why fly?'

'Because the sky touches everything on the world. I'll go into the sky, and go where everything else is. I'll see the whole world. The whole world beyond this island.'

'And how, how will you fly?'

The princess thought that the crazy old witch sounded a lot like a newpaper reporter, but considering her island didn't have a newspaper, she couldn't be sure. She just answered. 'I'll go to the edge of the cliff.'

'And ....?'

'And.....'

'And.....well....what?'

'And.....then I'll up there on the cliff, and stare at the sky, then close my eyes. I'll feel the wind pushing me and pushing me, and then I'll fly.'

'The only thing that wind will push up is that dress of yours. Get a hold of yourself girl, and stop your nonsense. You cannot fly, and there is nothing beyond the ocean. And the sun isn't some giant's heart as well. Fairies and giants, what do you take me for?' The crazy old witch turned back, and headed toward her home in a cave on the island next to the princess's. The princess thought, 'The whole neighborhood's gone crazy.'



Finally, it was just the princess on the cliff again. The sun was beginning its downward descent. Well, now's as good as anytime, she thought. 'Now's the time to fly.' The princess took a deep breath. The stone path led up to the edge, and then it was only the sky. She walked up the stone cliff, each step careful, respectful. Although she has treasured this place more than any other, she had never set a foot on it. It was too sacred, she didn't want to ruin its specialness in her mind. But today, today she was going to fly, and she must go where her instincts pointed her to go. And it was where the cliff, her cliff, pointed to.

She reached the edge of the cliff, twenty feet over the ocean. Although she had no fear, the princess was still amazed that how high she was away from the water. A brief image of her cannonballing into the ocean crossed her mind, but she shook it off. 'I must fly today, not jump down to the ocean. Maybe tomorrow though.'

There she was. The sky never seemed closer. The wind felt stronger. Wait. Wait.

Now.



Her eyes were closed. She saw the world that she created, the world she imagined was beyond the ocean. As she saw this dream of hers, the wind picked up, and tried to pick her up. The air formed beneath the cliff, bouncing off the ocean, and shot up and tried to pick her up. Even her dress woke up to see what was going on. It promptly got very frightened, and tried to hide between the princess's legs. As images of different lands, peoples, stories, flowers, dreams, songs filled her mind, the wind swept up in larger and larger gusts. It was torrential. The flowers by the lake in the forest were strained to the limit. The tree behind the mansion stood up to the wind, but even it felt the tug on its roots. The poor butler struggled to close the large window in the princess's bedroom, realizing that once again she was up to something special, something amazing, and it would be left to him to clean up her dress afterwards.

Finally, as a thought of butterflies and ice cream and lais floated in the princess's mind, it happened.

The princess was flying.

In the sky.

Exactly like the way princesses don't.



She was flying upwards, like she was floating across an invisible river. Although her eyes were closed, the princess knew. She was flying and she was going to see the world. She was going to see what was beyond the ocean, beyond the island of her home. Her dreams were going to turn into reality. Imagination into fact, the princess was going to be like everyone else. The world beyond her island. She was going to find out what it was all about. 'This is going to be fun,' she thought as she flew across the sky, over the ocean surrounding her island home. Her dress was screaming.



The princess looked up, and thought that today WAS a good day to fly.


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