Wisdom of the World - a Queen Mary and Giygas story
"Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden where the flowers are dead." - Oscar Wilde.
Growing up, I barely received any love from my parents.
My mother was a normal housewife who tended to me and my sisters and brother as we grew up. Oftentimes, however, she was usually very cold and austere. When I would get good grades at school, such as a 100 on a spelling test, she wouldn't praise me, rub my hair with a smile, or tell me "Good job, Maria! I'm so proud of you!" Instead, she would say, "Keep it up. Don't shame the family with bad grades. You have to do this next," She rarely ever smiled. She always walked around in a rigid stance, looking everywhere around her as if she was expecting a dog to pop out from the bushes and attack. Every day, she would stand in front of the mirror tying her hair up for what seemed to be hours, and sometimes agonizing over which dress she should wear, even when we weren't going to church on Sundays.
One day, my questions about my mother were answered when my grandparents, whom my siblings and I had never met before, came to my house. I had seen my classmates talk about their grandparents with love and pride, with some of my school friends saying that they would rather spend time with their grandparents rather than their parents. My grandparents did nothing but scold my mother and criticize her, even when she was in her Sunday best. At one point, they made my mother cry. I could hear her sobs and saw her bury her face in her hands as grandmother waved her finger at her.
I only remember one thing grandmother had said to her. "If you don't raise your children properly or tend to your husband's whims, you are a failure as both a wife, a mother, and a person. Stop being selfish and do your job. Your actions will reflect badly on me and the rest of the family."
Basically, if father was angry or if me or my siblings misbehaved, my mother was blamed for not doing her job. That was always very confusing to me. Why blame mother for things that me and my siblings would do? We just came out the way we did, and whatever things we did was of our own volition. What was wrong with that? But my mother was a big people pleaser. Every day, she cleaned the house until it was spotless, was obedient to father's demands, unreasonable or not, without protest, and made sure my siblings and I didn't do anything that would reflect badly on her. It seemed as though being a housewife was her only purpose in life. I always wondered if she wished she could escape. Escape father and the house, hop on a boat, and see the world with her own two eyes, free, away from father and his temper.
But pleasing my father was no easy task. He worked as a milkman, driving all over town leaving crates of milk bottles in front of people's houses. Most of our neighbors had special milk delivery doors built into their houses. These were large, wooden cabinets with doors on both sides where milkmen would open them and push the crates inside. Sometimes they would also deliver eggs, cream, cheese, butter, yogurt, and soft drinks. But the milk carrier business was a tough job when I was young. My father was paid very little, and his coworkers were often very stern if anyone did something wrong, such as come into work late or shirk their delivery rounds. As a result, he often came home from work tired, bitter, and angry, usually yelling at my mother over not preparing dinner as soon as he arrived home.
It didn't help that in my father's younger days, he fought in the Civil War. I can only imagine what he must have seen in his days as a soldier: people firing cannons at each other, explosions blowing people to pieces, trails of corpses lining the battlefield, his comrades dying right beside him. My father participated in the war because he didn't America to ban slavery. To him, having slaves was as common and normal as women being told to become wives as they grew older.
His beliefs were strong, and as a result of his upbringing, he was very stern with raising us. I remember one day, he told me and my siblings to come straight home from school. He had heard that slaves, as he always called them decades after the Civil War, were seen kidnapping young white kids. I encountered no colored people in my area, and I went straight home after school. However, I had dropped one of my exercise books on the way and spent half an hour looking for it. When I came home, the first thing I saw was my father towering over me, whip in hand.
I shivered with fear, even before he yanked me by the arm and threw me in a corner. I had never seen him so angry. His face was red and the veins in his neck bulged as he tapped the edge of the whip on his palm.
"You're half an hour late!" He roared, his voice booming like an explosion. "You've been talkin' with 'dem blacks, weren'cha?!"
"No, Father! I didn't talk to one, honest!" I pleaded, using the most pitiful voice I could muster, hoping he would believe me. No, I was sure he had to believe me. I told him about my lost exercise book. I even pulled it out and showed him, dirt patches and all. But he continued to keep me in that corner with a stone hard glare.
"Quit lyin' to me, Maria Blythe!" Blythe was my middle name. When he used middle names, he was dead serious. "Admit it! You was talkin' to a black man!"
"I'm telling you I didn't!" I continued to try and reason with him. Nothing worked. Mother stayed in the kitchen, tending to her embroidery.
"Maria Blythe Fairbairn! You know what happens when you lie to me!" I wasn't lying, and no matter what I said, he refused to see the truth. He always had to have his way. Unable to fight him, I found myself at the mercy of his whip. With every lash on my skin and the fabric of my clothes, I could do naught but shed silent tears and curl into a fetal position, losing myself in my mind, gradually numbing myself to the pain.
Through my despair and sadness, I found that my mind could be my friend if I let it. When father was being especially cruel, my mind would rescue me, taking me far away, someplace where no one could hurt me at all, whether it be fists or whips. There would be fields of flowers, large sea shell houses, swimming cats, angelic bears, and magicians and magical girls casting spells that would make everyone happy. There, I wasn't hurt or damaged or being used to keep up appearances or as a tool for performance evaluations. I wore beautiful pink dresses, wore glimmering silver tiaras, rode on winged horses, and sat in a beautiful castle to tell myself that I was a princess. A queen, even.
But as much as I wanted to be a princess or a queen, reality told me that I was not a queen. Just a girl with three siblings, a cold mother, and an angry father.
It wasn't all bad, though. My siblings-Frances, Lucy, and Jack-were the only people in the Fairbairn family who truly loved me and considered me one of their own. I was the youngest in the family, and I had heard stories from my classmates that their older brothers or sisters would tease them or play pranks on them. Frances, Lucy, and Jack never did that with me.
"Dad's wrong," Jack told me after my whipping. "We know you didn't talk to any blacks," His warm embrace and reassuring words told me that at least someone believed me. He was always there when I needed him, whether the kids at school were pushing me around or if I needed help with my exercises. Father never admitted it, and he didn't need to, but Jack was the apple of his eye, but I don't think Jack liked this, knowing what Father did to us on a regular basis.
Jack Orson Fairbairn was the only boy in my family. He loved playing baseball with his friends, eating prime ribs, going to the zoo to look at penguins, and climbing trees. His hero was Alexander Cartwright, the father of modern baseball. Father wanted him to take part in the milk delivery business, as many of Father's friends owned farms and made their sons inherit them, but Jack wanted to play baseball and make a career out of it. Not only that, many of Jack's best friends were sons or daughters of former or freed slaves, so he didn't share Father's racist views.
That was a good thing, because Jack was always a kind boy, never wanting to get into trouble, but would willingly do so for my sake or for others. Most of the time, when Frances found out, she would scold him.
"You mustn't be so reckless, Jackie!" Frances scolded him one day when he tried to put a baby bird in its nest at school. "The teacher was ever so worried that you would fall and break your neck! I was, too! But I'm happy you're safe," She hugged him right afterward.
Frances Elaine Fairbairn was the oldest daughter and the beauty of our family. She had chocolate brown hair that was always tied in braids. She was the kind of girl adults went crazy over: always going to church, taking notes on sermons, playing the piano perfectly, and always being polite to others no matter how callous or rude they were. But she had a hidden rebellious streak, and had no intention of getting married to some farmer and being tied down to something she didn't like.
"Maria, dear, there's something I want you to know," Frances told me one day, when Father whipped me because I had accidentally broken a plate. "I won't lie, Father shouldn't whip you or us the way he does, and I hate him for it, honestly," This was a shock to me. I had never known my sister to hate anyone. "Mother is no help, either. But no matter what happens to you, no matter how cruel the world is toward you, don't ever forget who you are. Don't ever let anyone make you do something you don't want to do, whether it's get married to a farmer you never met or joining a sewing circle," As beloved as Frances was, she hated sewing. She always found it painfully mundane, and I agreed with her. "If you want to do something that makes you happy, do it. Don't ever stop being you, and don't let anyone take your happiness away from you. But you have to earn that happiness for yourself. Hard work is always worth it."
I never forgot my elder sister's words. Even more so when she went to college and eventually became the sub-editor of a well known newspaper, against Father and Mother's wishes. Both she and Lucy were different from other girls in our area back in our time.
Lucy Anne Fairbairn, the middle daughter and my second older sister, was the girl my mother and father considered disgraceful. Outgoing, frivolous, losing herself to her pretty fancies, and always doing whatever she wanted. No fist or whip could ever break her of her conviction to do what she felt made her happy. In fact, she and Mother often argued on a daily basis.
"Lucy Anne! What do you mean by such conduct?! If you cannot correct yourself, you will never get married and live a stable life!"
"I have no interest in marrying or becoming like you!"
"Hold your tongue!" Mother always said this when she wanted us to be quiet. In fact, she never let us children have a say in just about anything.
"I won't hold my tongue! It's always Lucy do this, Lucy do that, Lucy you have to do this or else you're a disgrace to the family and society as a whole!"
"Proclaiming your thoughts so openly is not proper good girl conduct, Lucy Anne. You know that, yet why do you continually push me and your father?"
"Because I'm sick of you and everyone else taking control of my life!"
"You are an embarrassment to me," Mother told her daughter without the slightest hint of sympathy. "I have given you everything. You and your siblings are the most privileged people in town. You can marry someone of high standing like Abraham Wilde, and yet...you insist on being obstinate, disobeying and defying our wishes!"
Lucy always held onto her convictions and beliefs, like they were all she had. Not once did she ever break under Mother's cruel words or Father's whips. "I'm sorry I can never be the perfect girl you wish for me to be. But I won't apologize for what I say, what I am, what I feel, and what I want."
Speaking out against society had dire consequences. Lucy knew this better than anyone, but she didn't care, and I loved her for that. I was always scared and fearful, not wanting to make waves. She wasn't.
Lucy loved to read and draw. She was the one who read books to me before bed, or tell me her own stories that she herself made up. Every night, her smooth, gentle, motherly voice would lull me to sleep. The books she read or had to read wove tales of romance and adventure, of winding plots and dangerous secrets. Magic, knights and princesses, dragons, talking animals, saving the world from evil villains...it was all so enchanting. Eventually, I began to make up my own stories, just like she did.
I would always look forward to listening to her read one book that she considered her favorite, and eventually became mine: The Little Magic Princesses, by Augustine Montmorency. It was about four princesses who lived in a magical world full of magical creatures like dragons, elves, talking cats, and the like, who, one day, were put to sleep by their evil stepmother. But in their sleep-like states, they try to find a way out and defeat their evil stepmother in any way possible. To say that the story changed my life would be an understatement. It changed me completely. It taught me that adults could be wrong in their perceptions of children, that they themselves could be wrong and not believe so even when called out, and that I could be anything I wanted, even if my parents thought I was nothing. Soon, I bought my own copy, and I read it and read it and re-read it until the pages were tattered and torn, and the corners of the cover pages were bent and floppy.
However, my parents disapproved of my love for books. It was no surprise, as during those times, society had many rules that they felt that girls needed to follow lest their reputations be ruined. Girls were expected to be good girls: nice, kind, polite, church-going, good at housework...unquestioningly respectful and obedient to the point of being self-effacing.
"Stop reading those frivolous books, Maria!" My mother scolded me sharply when I was reading The Little Magic Princesses when I should have been working on a lace embroidery. "I don't know why you want to fill your head with nonsense. Be a good girl and finish up! You have piano lessons at five o'clock! Don't laze around!"
Talking back to her would always do no good, so I had no choice but to be their good girl and do everything they said. But when I was in my room, I would lose myself in my mind, making up stories, sometimes writing them down in my notebook.
When I turned ten, I finally created the world that I wanted to live in. It would have pink soil, lots of smooth running rivers, magicians, knights, and swimming cats would live in pink seashells or seashell shaped spires, and a queen named Mary would rule all over. Mary was me, of course. After all, Mother Mary gave birth to Jesus, so I thought it only fitting that a Queen Mary would rule over my ideal would. But coming up with a name was the hardest part. I could never come up with something that felt quite right. Then it hit me: Magicant. Magic and the last three letters of extravagant. A magical, extravagant world where everyone was happy. That was the place I wanted to go, where I wanted to be.
Whenever I was reading my beloved books, or wanted to be alone with my thoughts, I allowed my mind to leave for Magicant, where I would watch cats swim in the rivers, the magicians cast their spells, knights protecting Queen Mary from exploding trees, and angelic bears dancing alongside me to beautiful, triumphant trumpets, violins, and flutes. I had so wished that Magicant would be real, so I could escape Mother and Father's expectations for me and the future they so wanted to force me into.
As I grew older, instead of going to Magicant, I found the strength to follow my dreams. When I graduated high school, I went to a college specializing in psychology. I had found my dream of becoming a child psychologist. I had heard stories of children who were neglected and abused by those who were supposed to take care of them, their parents or adopted parents, or were being merely used for manual labor. I wanted to be someone who could help them, as my siblings and books helped me. I wasn't sure how much I could do, but I wanted to let those children know that at least someone, somewhere cares for them even when they've lost all hope.
College was the best time of my life. I can attest to that. Half of the reason being that I met the man of my life, George Ledford.
We were merely classmates when we first met. We shared an algebra class together, but he was part of the astronomy club and studied stars and planets intensively. Something about him drew me to him. One day, I saw him peering into a telescope, staring right at something that I couldn't see with my own eyes.
"What are you looking at?" I asked, the first day I came into the club room.
"Other planets," He replied. He seemed to know I was there, but I wasn't sure if he was paying attention.
"Are you looking for any in particular?"
Finally, he pulled himself out of the telescope, and I got a better look at him. He was a small, lanky man with messy, shaggy black hair with curls that seemed to bounce every time he moved even an inch. His small, green eyes were soft and kind as he looked at me. He was wearing a white shirt, grey trousers, brown leather shoes, and a light blue scarf.
"You're...Maria, right?"
"Yes. Maria Fairbairn. We have an algebra class together."
He let out a sheepish laugh and scratched his hair. "That we do. By the way, thanks for helping me with my homework the other day."
"You're quite welcome. I can see how it can be complicated, though I only managed to understand it because my older sister Lucy did similar problems when she went to college."
"She must have been a great sister, then!" My face turned red. I had never heard someone praise my sister Lucy before, and he never even met her. "Oh! I'm...George. Do you want to look in here?"
"May I?"
"Sure! Come and see!"
I bent over to look into the telescope. I saw the faintest image of Saturn, rings and all. But unlike my textbooks, which showed Saturn as being orange, with the planetary rings being white, the image the telescope showed me depicted Saturn as being blue.
"How come Saturn looks blue?" I asked.
"That's because its magnetosphere produces aurorae. What you're seeing are auroral lights on Saturn's North Pole."
"Saturn has a North Pole? Such a thing is possible?"
"If you do enough research, yes!"
George and I sat in the club room, talking about Saturn, Galileo Galilei, the stars, his dream to discover other worlds, etc. He was just so warm, welcoming, and charming that I found myself pulled in by the gravitational pull that was his open, merry personality. I even found myself bending over in laughter as he told me some of the silliest jokes he could think of. I won't lie, George wasn't exactly the best at telling jokes, but they were just so laughably bad that I couldn't help myself. I'm sure he knew that, too. We stayed in that room for what seemed to be hours, but I didn't mind one bit. When I realized how late it was, I attempted to leave, but he had one last thing to say to me.
"We should talk like this again sometime, Maria," He told me sheepishly, rubbing his hair once more. "I really...enjoyed your company tonight."
I couldn't help but smile. "As did I."
"Would you...like to go out to town with me sometime?" George asked. My eyes shot open, and I found myself stuck. Was he actually asking me out? "There's lots of things to see around campus. There's this one sweet shop that has many good treats."
My heart grew warm, and a smile returned. "...I would love to go out to town with you."
He flashed a smile so big, he almost looked radiant, as if my answer was tantamount to having a heavenly prayer answered.
True to his word, he and I went to town and we walked to wherever was near our campus. The sweet shop had many good treats, especially chocolate cake with strawberries on them. Chocolate cake with strawberries on top is my favorite kind of pastry. He seemed to know it, as I stared at it with such intensity that my eyes seemed to be glued to it. He ordered two pieces and we sat at some nearby tables and ate our fill. After that, we took a walk through the park. The plum blossoms were always so lovely during the spring, and their fragile petals would float on the ground without a care in the world, remaining beautiful even as their petals descended to the grass. Lastly, he took me to the campus library, and he and I checked out many books. George mostly rented astronomy books, books about planets, stars, and other spatial structures. I only checked out Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. I had been meaning to read it for years, but I could never quite find it until then.
George eyed the book I rented, but it wasn't with a dark, disapproving look that my parents would give whenever I read my books. Instead, his gaze was warm and welcoming. Instead of openly disapproving of my choice in books, he simply said, "You look a lot like Alice Liddell. Did you know that?"
My face turned red like a tomato. "Do...Do I really?" I wasn't sure if he was serious or not, but I could hear the honesty in his voice, like he really meant what he said.
It was then when I told him of my pretty fancies and love for children's books and books of romance and adventure. I even told him about the imaginary world I created when I was young, Magicant. I had never told them to anyone but my siblings. But George listened attentively, without interruption or disapproval. I had never felt so safe and accepted by someone outside of my family before. It was...liberating.
That night wouldn't be our last date. Soon, George and I found ourselves spending more and more time together. By our junior year, our classmates gossiped about us, wondering when we would propose or get married. George never spoke of marriage, nor did I. While I never hated the idea of marrying, I wanted it to be with someone I truly loved, not with someone I didn't know that Mother or Father would pick out for me. Back in those days, marriage was more about financial stability and the creation of the family unit, rather than done out of genuine love. Not only that, most men I knew of only wanted to marry women for their money or marry someone they could...take liberties with.
George wasn't like that. Not at all. I think that was why I felt so safe around him. Before the end of school, we finally became boyfriend and girlfriend. I was still living with Lucy at the time, away from our parents, so I was free to express my love for him and be open with our relationship. Surprisingly, many of our family and friends supported our relationship.
"You and George look so wonderful together!"
"I hope you two decide to tie the knot! I can see you two having a wonderful future together!"
"He's from a good family, too, so if you marry him, you can be financially secure for life!"
"George seems like a nice man. He treats you kindly."
"There aren't many men like George in this day and age."
"Don't let anyone take George away from you, Maria!"
I never did like being pestered about marriage. All I wanted to do was study and be with George. Finally, after our college graduation, George approached me in the rose gardens with a soft yet serious expression on his face. He had grown a subtle beard and mustache, matching his black hair, making him look much more mature.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Maria...I love you more than anything on this Earth," He told me in a solemn yet kind voice. Immediately, I was entranced. I had an inkling that he wanted to say something important to me, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. "Every moment I spend with you...has always made me so happy...happier than you can imagine. Now...I want to tell you that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
He didn't bend down on one knee, but he pulled out a small, dark blue box. He opened it, revealing a small diamond ring that sparkled in the moonlight. My hands flew to my mouth. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was proposing to me! Me, Maria Fairbairn, a girl who loved books and whimsical fantasies! My legs turned to jelly, and I didn't intend to cry, but tears burst forth.
"Maria Blythe Fairbairn...will you marry me?"
I didn't hesitate. I leaped on him and threw my arms around his neck. Both of our graduation caps fell to the ground. "YES!"
My joy bubbled over. Never before had I experienced such happiness. To spend the rest of my life with a man I truly loved...that was my dream. But we did promise to continue to pursue our dreams, even if society would consider it disgraceful of us. Our wedding ceremony was just a small, simple event. We had it in the church, and only a few of our friends and family came to watch us be betrothed to one another. Unsurprisingly, Mother and Father disapproved and didn't come. But I didn't mind. I had no intention of letting them control every facet of my life. When the priest said that we could kiss, I took the initiative and pressed my lips against George's. To say pandemonium broke out would be an understatement.
Being a married woman wasn't exactly easy. George and I did have our disagreements and quarrels, but nothing that wouldn't drive a rift between us. In the end, we still loved each other. I continued on with my job as a child psychologist and met with children from different backgrounds day after day. The children were always delighted to see me, even if some of them took some time to open up. I didn't mind. A year after our marriage, I found that I was pregnant with my first child. The idea of having a child was exciting and frightening at the same time. A little person was growing inside of me, inside my stomach, and would come out in nine months. George welcomed the news with joy and grace. My siblings and friends did as well.
I had so many questions about my child: Would he or she be healthy? Would they not like me? Would I be able to raise them properly? Would I even be a good mother to them? Mother and Father made me and my siblings endure a strict upbringing. I couldn't even imagine whipping my child over things that weren't their fault. Would I even have the capacity to love them? Would I repeat the same mistakes Mother and Father made? All of these questions left my emotions awhirl, and even though George and my friends did their best to reassure me and support me, I still had my doubts.
Come spring, my daughter was born. Eleanor Margery Ledford. The moment I laid my eyes on the little baby wrapped in the flannel blanket that the nurse brought in, with her black hair catching some sunbeams through the windows, she had stolen my heart, running away with it. As soon as Eleanor was in my arms, I could feel an instant connection. She didn't look like other babies in the nursery: her limbs were long and thin, and her body wasn't necessarily chubby, like other babies. But none of those things bothered me one bit. She was perfect in my eyes. All George could do was stare at her, silent yet overcome with a strange, suffocating kind of love.
After I came home from the hospital, Frances stayed with me to teach me how to raise a baby, feed a baby, change a baby, hold a baby, lift a baby, bathe a baby, everything related to babies she could think of. Frances had a child two years before, after she married a childhood friend of hers, so she was able to help me. The months that came after Eleanor's birth passed quickly, and I began to miss my job less and less, though I still kept at it since George and I needed finances for the house. But I loved caring for Eleanor and welcoming George home after work.
All of that would come to an abrupt end three months later.
It was a joyful spring day, and the crocuses and violets were sprouting up from the ground, absorbing the sun's rays, drinking them up without a care in the world. Frances had come over to visit, and when Eleanor was asleep in her crib, I prepared some tea.
"How are things at the office?" Before I even asked the question, I saw Frances take a whiff of the air. It was no surprise, as I prepared a favorite of hers. As I sat it down, she took a sip before answering my question.
"Things have become busier and busier. Factories and steel mills have been popping up everywhere, Maria," Frances told me. "One of our writers just had to write a piece on Henry Ford. Did you know that people like us can actually afford his automobiles? It's so peculiar!"
I couldn't help but chuckle. "It is, indeed. I personally don't see why they're something to fuss over, but they're all George talks about. He plans on buying one for us so we can go see his parents more often."
"That would be nice," Frances had finished her tea at this time. "How's Eleanor doing?"
Hearing Eleanor's name made me perk right up. I clasped my hands together and palavered on and on. "Oh, she is just darling! This morning, I showed her a picture of Lucy from when she was ten, and Eleanor laughed some strange little ho-ho-ho kind of laugh! Not everyone has a sense of humor at three months old! She's so eager and alive, and her big eyes always look as though they're taking everything in! When she gets older, I plan on reading my childhood books to her."
"I can imagine," Frances agreed as she pushed some hair out of her face. "Speaking of George, where is he?"
"He's in his study room tinkering with some machines," I replied.
We didn't notice it at the time, but everything around us gradually grew darker, like a storm cloud was blocking out the sun completely. We didn't think much about it, as we were so wrapped up in our conversation. A strange feeling came over me soon after. A feeling of dread. Before I knew it, I said, "Frances?"
"Hm?"
"Should...should anything ever happen to George or me, or both of us…" I couldn't stop myself. "...Would you, Lucy, or Jack ever consider taking care of Eleanor?"
Her smile faded, and she put one of her hands on mine. "Of course we would! Don't talk like that, Maria! You know we'll always be there for you. What brought this on anyway?"
"I...I don't know…" I stammered. Even I questioned it. Why did I even ask that?
Before I could dwell on it, we heard commotion outside. People were talking, some screaming. That was when we noticed everything around us was strangely dark. Some papers and twigs came blowing into the dining room. Roaring winds passed through the area.
"Oh my goodness! What is that?!"
"Is there a storm a'comin'?!"
"I see a strange light! Up there! Don't you see it?"
"Are you seeing this, also?!"
"God must be angry with us!"
Frances and I both stood up in alarm, racing out the door. George had come up right then, standing by our side as soon as we went out the door. The sight before us was alarming, and all of us were frozen.
Looming over the entire town was a pitch black storm cloud. But it didn't resemble any dark cloud we had seen before. Shining faintly in the middle of it was a small, rose colored light resembling a star. None of us knew what to make of it. Everyone looked up at it, their eyes fixated on the strange phenomena above. All of a sudden, the light flashed, and a beam shot right at me and George. The light was so strong, Frances was unable to react quickly enough. Before George and I knew it, we were being dragged into the sky.
The further we ascended, the smaller everyone and everything became. Frances was calling out to me with tears streaming down her face. "GEORGE! MARIAAAAAA!" I tried to reach her, but I was too far away. Everything became smaller...and smaller...and smaller...before finally, everything went black.
Even now, I don't know how long I was unconscious. But when I woke up, I found myself in a strange place that was completely unfamiliar to me. The walls were a sleek, shining silver, like steel. I found myself sitting on a bed covered with purple satin blankets, draped underneath a transparent canopy. In the middle of the room was a mahogany Louis XVI table with intricate gold designs on the edges. Large, purple balls circled around the room. They looked like giant marbles, with glowing, wave-like patterns on them. I looked out the window, and there was nothing. Nothing but darkness. I saw some specs of light here and there, but I had no idea what they were.
"Where...Where am I?" That was all I could manage to choke out. Everything around me was so unfamiliar, so strange. Something told me that I wasn't in my hometown anymore...or even on Earth.
A set of metal doors opened up, and a strange creature came into the room. It didn't look human. Well, it had skinny arms and legs like a human, but its skin was a sleek, slimy grey color, pointed ears protruded from both sides of its head, and its eyes were just black spheres with white lights in them. Its feet were larger than the average human foot, with three toes on each foot instead of five, all of them stretching farther than regular human fingers. Squirming around in its arms was a smaller version of the creature. A long tail trailed behind it. I let out a shriek as I backed away.
"G-Get away from me!" I hollered, expecting the odd creature to do something horrible to me. Maybe even kill me. I was prepared to fight, even if I didn't have any weapons to use.
Oddly enough, the creature didn't try to approach. It just stood there, staring at me with a curious look on its face. It tilted its head to one side as if it was sizing me up. Testing me, even.
"Please do not cower in fear, Miss Maria," The creature spoke in a deep, baritone voice. For a moment, I thought it sounded just like my father, but it sounded gentler, kinder. "I have no intention of hurting you."
"How do you know my name?!" I shouted. "What are you?!"
The creature sighed before speaking again. "I am Zorique, an alien from the planet Psia, on which we are en route."
Alien? Planet Psia? I was sure I was hallucinating. There was no such thing as aliens or alien planets. There just couldn't be. I didn't believe a word of what Zorique had said. "That cannot be true! Aliens don't exist!"
"I understand your frustrations, Miss Maria," Zorique told me in a calm manner. "We are not known to the human race. Do forgive me and my people for dragging you here," His legs kept shifting around. "Actually...your husband George summoned us."
George's name caught my attention. "George?! Where is he?! You didn't hurt him, did you?!"
Zorique shook his head. "I assure you, he is fine."
"What do you mean he summoned you?" I asked. Nothing this alien said to me made any sense. "Where am I, anyway?!"
He explained everything. As it turned out, Zorique and his comrades dropped a communication device on Earth. George happened to find it, right around the time we were dating, but he never got it to work until just now. George became interested in studying space because he wanted to confirm the existence of aliens. He had heard stories when he was young and was fascinated by them, even though everyone around him said aliens didn't exist. Upon hearing another voice from one of their devices, Zorique and his comrades summoned the source of the voice-George, along with me, who came along by accident-and took us to their spaceship.
Nothing made any sense to me. All I could do was sit on the bed, losing myself in this overwhelming story. I could barely take it all in. But one thing was for sure: George had never told me about any of this. My heart was drowning in a sea of worry, confusion, and horror.
"Where...Where is George?" I asked, my voice trembling. "Can I...see him? Is he okay?"
"He is fine. Actually, he's conversing with some of my comrades as I speak," Zorique explained. "Quite a talker, he is. He just won't leave any of us alone. He is very interested in our psychic powers."
Psychic powers? I had no idea what psychic powers were, and I didn't dare ask. Everything else was too overwhelming. All I wanted to do was take George and go back home, to my sweet Eleanor, and my family. I was sure everyone was terribly worried about me. For all I knew, they might have thought I was dead. A small cry coming from the creature in Zorique's arms pulled me out of my mind.
"What is that?" I asked, pointing to the small creature.
"This little one?" Zorique held the creature closer, allowing me to examine it. It looked like an alien cat, with small, pointed ears and its tail wagged back and forth, like a dog's would. "This is Giygas, a one week old Psian. The poor child. His parents journeyed to Earth for their studies, but they died just two days ago. As it turns out, exposure to the sun's rays can kill us Psians."
The small alien, Giygas, cooed and held his little hands out to me. Just like Eleanor. Immediately, I no longer saw a strange alien creature. I began to see Eleanor in him. Before I knew it, I was cradling him in my arms. Giygas nuzzled up against me and giggled. "Gee guu gee guu!"
"He seems to like you," Zorique said. "I cannot care for him, as I have to fulfill my duties. But if you wish, I can teach you the basics. He is growing quickly, so I presume he shan't need much round-the-clock care."
Something inside me said that I needed to do this. Perhaps this would get me closer to finding out where George is. I nodded and allowed Zorique to help me raise Giygas. It took a while, but I gradually got used to it. The details of the process are long and mundane, so it's not worth touching upon. Finally, after a few weeks trapped in that room, I saw George again. He took me into his arms and laughed.
"Maria, my dear! I thought I'd never see you again!" George bellowed with laughter. I could feel tears streaming down his face. "Thank goodness you're safe!"
"George...dear sweet George!"
The Psians gave us some alone time so we could sort things out. As happy as I was to see George again, there were so many things I needed to ask him. "Zorique said you found a communication device and studied it. Is that true?"
He nodded grimly, looking down at his shoes like he did something wrong.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you to get worried. I just thought it was some junk I could tinker with, that's all. I didn't think much of it."
"And what's this I hear about you communicating with aliens and summoning them here?"
"It wasn't on purpose, Maria," He exclaimed. I'm sure he didn't like the accusing tone that was peppering my voice. Even so, I didn't appreciate him lying to me, and I think he knew that. "I always liked the concept of aliens, and I read some old studies from years ago. That's why I took up an astronomy major in college. I wanted to see what mysteries the universe had to offer. But I honestly had no idea these creatures even existed!" All of a sudden, his expression adopted a joyful, childlike glow to it. Honestly, it offended me. "These Psians are an alien race unknown to humanity, and their technology is far more advanced than ours could ever be! It's always been my dream to accomplish something great for humanity, and now I think I can do it! I already made some friends here, and they're showing me how to work some of their machines! Not only that, they have strange powers! They can create light and move objects without touching them and-"
I stood up from a silver chair in alarm, staring at him with a glare. I could feel the veins in my neck bulging. "Have you forgotten that we're somewhere in space far away from Earth?! Everyone could be worried about us! Have you thought about Eleanor?!" I yelled, my voice going up an octave. It wasn't like me to yell, and I didn't want to. But hearing George speak of his situation like it was heaven, as though it seemed better than spending time with me and Eleanor...it just made me strangely angry!
"Maria...that's not true," George tried to reassure me, but I was too angry to listen. "You know I love you."
"You picked up some machine and messed with it! It's your fault we're in this mess! I...I…" I balled my fists. I didn't know what to do. My legs carried me back to my room. I ran, leaving George behind.
Everything came at me all at once. My anger, my sadness, my fear, my frustration, my confusion...it seemed as though the whole universe was spinning, or moving so fast I couldn't keep up. I fell onto my bed and cried onto the pillows, lamenting in George's unfaithfulness. So many questions ran through my mind. Why did he lie to be about the machine and the Psians? About why he took up astronomy? About being fascinated with aliens? But the thing that hurt me the most was...he seemed to spend more time with the aliens than with me. Didn't he once ask where I was when we were taken? Did he worry for my safety? Did he worry about Eleanor, his family, his friends?
I hated feeling so jealous and angry. But what was I to do? All I could do was cry and release my emotions. That was when I heard Giygas's small voice.
"Mama Mary?" He crawled onto the bed, tapping me with one of his hands. "Mama Mary? Why ya cryin'? Dun be sad!" After three weeks, his vocabulary had developed and expanded immensely. Zorique told me before that Psians grow faster than humans do. But I was lost in my anger and sadness.
"I know! I'mma sing to Mama Mary! Dat'll make you all beddah!" He chirruped. Soon, his squeaky voice sang a not-very-good version of a lullaby I had begun singing to him since I began raising him.
"Take a mewodee...shimpoll as can be...give it shum words and...sweet harmuneeee…" He sang so sweetly, so happily, that my sadness seemed to dissipate. I sat up, wiped my tears, and cradled the alien in my arms. With joy in my heart, I sang.
"Take a melody,
Simple as can be,
Give it some words and,
Sweet harmony.
Raise your voices,
All day long now, love grows strong now,
Sing the melody of,
Love, oh love."
That was a song that my 4th grade music class made us sing in order for us children to practice our singing skills. None of my classmates liked it much, but I found myself fond of it. As I sang to Giygas, his tail stopped wagging, but he relished in the love I gave him. I vowed to raise him just like with Eleanor. In my mind, he and Eleanor were the same. The anger in my heart disappeared.
But George and I saw each other less and less. Although we managed to talk and work things out, I could tell that he wanted to spend time with the Psians and learn their ways. I had no interest in the Psians, and just wanted to go back to Earth. George knew it. As angry as I was with him lying to me all this time, I could tell he still cared for me. I realized this when I heard him asking some aliens to take me back to Earth.
"My wife, Maria...she's scared. You understand, right?" He begged. "I cannot ask her to stay here with me. This is too much for her. She wants to go back home. You can keep me, but take her back to Earth."
"We cannot do that, George," A voice told him.
"We must make sure you and Maria have no intention of betraying us," Another voice replied.
"After all, if you're studying us, that gives us the liberty of studying you in return," A third voice explained in an eerie, ghostly voice.
George stamped his foot once. Seeing that scene made me realize that I was wrong for thinking George to be selfish and only caring for himself. He did care for me, even if we saw each other less and less. I had no interest in knowing what George did for them. To pass the time, I would occupy myself with raising Giygas. At one point, I told Giygas about the imaginary world I created for myself: Magicant. I don't know that made me tell him, but when I did so, his eyes would widen and shine like the stars in the cosmos.
"We can make Magicant real!" Giygas suddenly announced one day.
"What?"
"Yeah! We Psians have psychic powers! We can make anything real! We can make stuff move and create stuff that doesn't exist with our minds!" He chirruped, bouncing around the room like a happy child. To be fair, he was a child at the time. "If I get older, I can make Magicant real, then you, George, and I can go there together and have lots of fun!"
I fell silent. I didn't know what to make of Giygas's announcement. It sounded like something any human child would say to make light of a situation. Kids did have big imaginations, after all. However, Giygas said that with such sincerity and earnestness...it pained me to doubt him, and to say what I had to say to him.
"Giygas...that's sweet of you, but…" I couldn't hold back my sadness. "Magicant doesn't exist, nor can it ever exist. I live on Earth. That's where I want to be. On Earth, with my family and friends. George and Eleanor."
Giygas didn't ask me to take him with them, strangely enough, and I was prepared should he have done so. Instead, he dropped the subject, and I sang to him like I always did. Being with Giygas made me feel as though I was back with Eleanor. I won't lie: I always worried about my little Eleanor. I could only hope that Frances made good on her word and cared for her while I was gone.
At one point, we arrived at Giygas's home planet, Psia. It was a metropolis unlike anything one could believe. Tall buildings made of steel with round rings. Mechanical humans moving to and fro, acting and behaving like normal humans. Aliens of many different colors living side by side with mechanical people of all shapes and sizes. There was no sun, but there was air that George and I could breathe. I had no idea such an alien race and planet existed. Suddenly, my Magicant fancies seemed moot compared to Psia.
I don't know how long George and I stayed on Psia. They had no calendars, so I had no way of knowing how much time passed. But one day, something seemed to happen that put all of Psia in pandemonium. Aliens outside my room were screaming, "Seize him! Seize him!" I had no idea who they were referring to. I finally managed to venture outside. Aliens were running to and fro. But where was George? I didn't see him anywhere. Worry seized me, and it was enough to make me go out and find him.
I looked everywhere for him. "George! George! Where are you?!" I called and called, but received no answer. There was no sign of him anywhere. More aliens ran right by me. Finally, I managed to hear some aliens talking.
"Where is that George?! How dare he steal our technology?!"
"Find him! For all we know he might come for Maria!"
Steal their technology? What were they talking about? I was aghast. But something told me I needed to escape right away. If I stayed...I didn't know what would happen. I ran and ran, looking for George. He just had to be around here somewhere. But before I could run further, something seized me.
I turned around. It was Giygas. He had grown tall, but his eyes were glowing in an eerie red light. His tail was gone. "Giygas? Let me go!" I pleaded.
"Did you come here to steal our technology all along?" Giygas asked as I tried to struggle. His voice sounded so monotone...almost robotic. That wasn't the voice of the Giygas I knew. "Did you intend to betray us from the beginning?!"
"No, Giygas! What we had was real!" I shouted, kicking in an attempt to free myself. Again, my efforts were fruitless. "Why are you doing this?!"
That was when it happened. Giygas suddenly glowed in a red light. Its form was inexplicable, and I couldn't make out what it was. But I knew Giygas was in there. I had to get through to him somehow. He didn't release me, and nothing I did would make him do so. Then I remembered: the song!
Slowly, I began to sing…
"Take a melody,
Simple as can be,
Give it some words and,
Sweet harmony.
Raise your voices,
All day long now, love grows strong now,
Sing the melody of,
Love, of love-"
A scream, then...something sharp pierced through me. The red glow in Giygas's eyes faded. For a moment, I saw the sweet baby Psian I loved and raised. Red droplets swirled all around before everything went black. I could hear voices. Giygas's voice turned back to normal.
"NOOOOO! MARIA! Why'd you make me do this, Zorique?!"
"She is George's wife! That makes her guilty by association!"
"She didn't do anything! She would never…!"
"Giygas, you must accept this! Maria is no different from George! She might have gotten in on this, too!"
"Why didn't you send her back to Earth, like she wanted?! If you had done that from the beginning, none of this would have happened!"
"We had to study them!"
"Stop making excuses, you piece of garbage! Are you happy now?! Are you satisfied, having hurt me like this?! MY MOTHER IS DEAD! YOU MADE ME KILL HER! Maria...Maria...I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to do it...Magicant! This'll be my repentance! I'll create Magicant, so you can go there...and be...happy...Maria…"
The first thing I saw when I woke up was a large, grand hallway with shining emerald walls, with the floor being a darker shade of green. I realized that I was sitting on a golden throne, donning a long pink dress befitting of a queen, with frills and Valenciennes lace and a sparkling tiara with diamonds embedded in it. My hair had stretched down to my lower back, possibly reaching my rear. A crimson red carpet stretched from my throne all the way to the end of the room, and my room was quite large. Standing by my side were two guards holding large axes in their hands. I didn't recognize them.
I didn't remember anything. All I knew was that my name was Queen Mary and that I ruled this land, Magicant. Nothing else. Other than a recurring nightmare in which something attempted to kill me. I would scold a naughty child, and scream, then attempt to sing before forgetting the tune and waking up in a cold sweat. Every day, my heart would race like I ran a marathon, and I would gasp for breath. I found myself leaving the room and the castle, with the guards escorting me outside. They greeted me kindly, and treated me like I was their Queen.
"Good morning, Queen Mary! Do you wish to go outside the castle?"
"Come this way! You've only just woken up. Perhaps some sunshine will perk you up."
When I exited, the sunlight was so bright, I had to squeeze my eyes shut. I gave myself time to adjust to the light, and looked up at the castle I exited. My breath was taken away from me. The castle standing before me was tall, stretching for miles, resembling a gathering of coiled pink seashells. The ground beneath me felt soft, like cotton candy, and it was pink, just like my dress, only a brighter shade. The rivers were flowing with shining water the color of light jades. Cats swam in the water, like it was no different from seeing children play in creeks and rivers. People draped in purple and pink robes and hats waved sticks around, making purple spheres of light appear. Men were flying all over the place, with wings like eagles and hawks.
I traversed through this strange world. Something about it made me feel so comfortable, so safe, so...accepted. I passed by some merchants selling items to a crowd of people.
"Come buy some potions! Potions potions, 50% off!"
"Would you like to buy an amulet? Fire Amulets are especially popular these days!"
"These Magic Herbs will cure any ailment you have!"
"Magic Candy is the hottest thing around! Come buy some before they're sold out!"
Flowers such as daisies and crocuses bloomed under the pale blue sun, taking in the light without a care in the world. The sky stretched on forever, but it was always pink, yellow, purple, and orange, never one singular color. Near the castle was a fountain made out of white stone that spilled forth the same green water that flooded the rivers. Everyone around me was nice. Very nice. With the exception of one person who kept on giving degrading nicknames to everyone he met, but he didn't cause any trouble.
The days I spent were peaceful, yet I always seemed to be in a daze, stricken by a hazy feeling that I just couldn't shake off, no matter what I did. Not even watching the magic butterflies dance in the air or the cats swim in the river could make this strange feeling dissipate. Silhouettes of a person and a baby kept flashing in my mind. Faint voices I couldn't make out. Everything was just so hazy, I couldn't make them out. I wasn't even sure if I had any memories.
But I didn't hate Magicant. Far from it. It was always peaceful. There was always something about this place that overwhelmed my senses with a familiar rush of inexplicable and indescribable calm. My nostrils caught the floral scents in the air, filling me with a sense of nostalgia for a childhood I thought I had put behind me. All the life in this place prospered in rich bursts of vibrant color, and the cool breezes caressed my cheeks and kissed my lips in its fragrant breath. Watching the freshwater rivers mingle in a bubbly orchestra as the cats swam, the sun's multiple limbs wrapping around Magicant in a motherly embrace...unending peace continued for a long time. I had no idea how much time passed.
Then, something happened that triggered my memory.
"Queen Mary," One of my guards came into my room with a scroll in his hands. "We received reports of an Earth boy roaming the premises. A little boy wearing a red cap and a red scarf around his neck."
"A little boy?" I asked.
"Yes. He has black hair, too. Should we bring him in?" He questioned.
"Bring him in, please. I should like to speak with him. But don't be forceful or violent. Perhaps he's lost," I advised. What trouble could a little boy cause in Magicant? I certainly didn't see what the problem was.
"Hello?" A small voice asked. "Hello? I'm looking for someone named Queen Mary?" The boyish voice echoed in the halls. "Is anyone here?"
As soon as the boy came in, a strange rush of nostalgia overwhelmed me. The boy was about ten or eleven, maybe older. Apricot colored skin pink from sunlight, messy black hair hidden by a red hat made in a style I had never seen before, a short sleeved shirt with red, blue, and white stripes, blue shorts, red shoes, white socks, and a red bandana draped around his neck. In his left hand was a baseball bat with some nicks and cracks on it. Clearly, it had been well used. I had never seen this boy before, and yet...I recognized him.
A name came to my mind: Ninten.
Somehow, I knew his name, yet I had never met him before. A rush of happiness overwhelmed me, pushing the nostalgia out. Another name flashed through my mind: Eleanor. Eleanor Ledford. A tear streamed down my face. Eleanor...she lived to create this boy. It told me that even in my absence, she survived and was well.
"Excuse me?" Ninten tilted his head to one side, looking confused. I didn't blame him. "Are you Queen Mary?"
"Yes, I am. Hello, Ninten," I greeted him in the softest voice I could muster. "Welcome to Magicant, where everyone is your friend. You can have as much as you like of whatever you want."
Ninten scratched his hat before speaking. "Umm, actually...I'm here because I heard that you used to sing a song. I have it recorded on this stone. Well, some of it, I think," He held out a small crystal, and it played a soft tune. My heart resonated with it, but just a little bit.
"What? You want to listen to my song?" I asked. The memory was so vague. I knew the song, but I couldn't place a name on it. I felt so bad having to tell him that I couldn't sing. "I'm sorry, Ninten. I don't know why, but I just can't seem to sing it. You might be able to learn the melody if you search around. It's not very long: only eight notes long. When you learn them all, feel free to return and sing to me," Guilt weighed down on me. "If only I could sing the song…"
Ninten smiled. "Okay. Thank you for your time, Queen Mary. I'll gather the eight melodies and come back when I have them all," With that, the boy left the castle.
True to his word, Ninten returned. This time, with two friends. A bespectacled boy with round glasses and grey hair, and a pretty little blonde girl in pink who looked a lot like me when I was her age. They both stared up at me in awe.
"Woooow! This is Queen Mary? The lady you told us about, Ninten?" The grey haired boy asked. "She's beautiful!"
"Just like a queen in a fairy tale!" The cute blonde girl exclaimed, her blue eyes sparkling.
"Yep. She's the real deal," Ninten said before taking off his hat and curtseying. "Hello, Queen Mary. I have returned with the eight melodies you asked me to gather."
I smiled warmly. "Is that so? May I ask that you play it?"
He pulled the stone out of his pocket and played it. The song...memories flooded my mind. I remembered everything. My name was Maria Blythe Ledford, maiden name Fairbairn. I had a daughter, Eleanor, with George Ledford. We were taken to another planet. I raised an alien named Giygas, and I sang the song to him. Giygas killed me while under Zorique's control.
"Yes. That's right. That is the song," The song I learned in music class as an elementary school student. The one I loved so much and used to sing to both Eleanor and Giygas. How could I have forgotten it all this time? The urge to sing seized me. I stood up and sang, with all the love in my heart.
"Take a melody,
Simple as can be,
Give it some words and,
Sweet harmony.
Raise your voices,
All day long now, love grows strong now,
Sing the melody of,
Love, oh love."
George's love. Giygas's smiling face. Frances, Lucy, and Jack holding their hands out to me. Eleanor waving to me. I saw all of them standing in a shining light. George, Giygas, and Eleanor flashed through my mind.
"Oh, Giygas...I loved him, I loved him as if he was my own child…He was always wagging his tail like a pup, except when I sang this song…" Magicant began to dissolve around me and the children. Pieces of the walls crumbled into nothing. The red carpet disappeared into thin air. The guards turned to sand. Everything began to turn black.
"George...this is Maria. I am coming to join you now," I saw George welcome me into his arms as I ascended to heaven. "My purpose...is complete…" Everything was gone. So was I.
In my short life, I have experienced the wisdom of the world-no, not one world but two-in ways I cannot possibly imagine. I only wish I could have lived longer, to see Eleanor grow, to grow old with George, to see Giygas again, wagging his tail happily, to witness the birth of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Perhaps the love I had for them helped me live in Magicant before my ascension to Heaven.
Frances...Jack...Lucy...George...Eleanor...Giygas...Ninten...I love you all. Thank you for showing me love when Mother and Father didn't. Thank you God, for bringing me into this world and having me experience its wisdom. I would never wish for anything better. I'm so grateful.
Fluttering on a warm desert wind, I ascended to Heaven.
"Never forget that the most powerful force on Earth is love." - Nelson Rockefeller.
Notes
Maria's siblings are all named after famous authors who wrote beloved 20th century children's books. Lucy is named after Lucy Maud Montgomery, who wrote works such as Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, among other works. Frances is named after Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and Little Lord Fauntleroy, among other works. Jack is named after Jack London, who wrote The White Fang and Call of the Wild, possibly other works as well. Abraham Wilde, the one-off name, is named after Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States before and during the American Civil War, and Oscar Wilde, who wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray. Maria's daughter is named after Eleanor Porter, who wrote Pollyanna, and Margery Bianco, who wrote The Velveteen Rabbit.
Fairbairn means "beautiful child," symbolizing Maria's transformation into Queen Mary when Magicant was formed. Blythe means cheerful and happy, symbolizing the illusionary bliss that Magicant gives Maria and the happiness she gave to Giygas before his breakdown.
The last name I gave to George, Ledford, comes from the Middle English word laeden, "to lead," symbolizing his actions leading to Giygas's murdering Maria and his eventual invasion of Earth in Mother 1/Earthbound Beginnings.
Yeah, this is just a random one-shot I came up with. I figured I'd make up my own explanations for...1. How Maria created Magicant even as she was dead in a desert, 2. How she and Giygas first met, 3. How she and George were able to have a great-grandchild (Ninten) even though Maria has been dead for decades, and 4. How George even came into contact with an alien race in the first place and got himself and Maria involved. Hope you like it!