(Portmeirion Village, Wales | Google Maps)
“A white cone to the left, and a bushy plant in the middle, a bushy plant to the left and a white cone in the middle…” Sparkles’ tone now resembled more an incantation than an assertion. Parveen looked down with a mixture of both pride and love at her three-year-old nephew. Sparkles, of course was not his name. However every time the child smiled in undisguised delight, his perfectly symmetrical set of teeth (or whatever he happened to have) almost had a surreal glint.
He was right, thought Parveen. Children had this uncanny ability to decode the complexities of life. Life was a beautiful pendulum just like the cones & the plants. “Agony to the left; Euphoria in between; Despair to the left; delight in between.” It was so elementary yet so profound.
Parveen, bent down kissed Sparkles’ forehead & whispered, “Love you sparkles.”
“Love you too Aunty!”
(Word Count: 149)
This has been an edition of What Pegman Saw
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17 comments
Agony to the left; Euphoria in between; like that immensely. And that’s life, a stretched out, ever-repeating alternation of pleasure and pain. Why are we never allowed to remain with the pleasure; why must it always roll into pain.
Sorry, getting philosophical on a Saturday afternoon. 🙂
A real moot point to ponder. The unfathomable mysteries of life.
And it’s only Saturday …. 🙂
And am already on my third glass of whiskey!
Fourth coffee. But then I was up at 5:00 am, and it’s now 15:27, so it’s not that terrible. 🙂
Enjoyed this moving and wise tale. Out of the mouths of babes, they say.
It’s only 10 am and I am still on coffee. No whiskey for me! But I get my share of agony and ecstasy 😉
Ha ha! Thanks Much! Coffee is much more preferable at 10 A.M than Whiskey!😂
Poetic and sparse. I like it.
Thanks Much!
You tell us a lot about Parveen’s character through her response to Sparkles. I sense that she has more than her fair share of euphoria and despair.
Indeed. More than just a fair share at that! Thank you so much for your comments.
Nicely done in the slide from child-view to adult-perspective, and to the connections that holds both in between. Nice piece! 🙂
Thank you so much! Glad you liked it.
🙂 I did!
I found this poetic and oddly mesmerizing, like an incantation.
I hope you will forgive me for this hopefully helpful observation: At some points a typo or two stirred me from my stupor. Check the sentence starting with Parveen–it seems to have a word or two missing or extra. Also the part in parentheses does not make sense in that context, without first saying how many teeth the child has.
Dont know if I interpreted it right, but in my mind, i saw a “shell game” being played. The picture was as beautifully enigmatic as the philosophy.
Beautiful. In tone, rhythm and style. Wonderful story.
Thank you so much!