(no subject)
I told Mr. Famine about the story I wrote for Alice in my letter to her and he said he would like to see it. So I thought maybe I could put it here. It's not very good, really, and I think I've already told him some of it, but I suppose that's all right.
There was once a great House. It had brought itself together, built itself on the wind, and it stood up where everyone could see it, on a hill on a plain. And there was a tree that had been there before the House, a tree that looked like black lightening. And everyone knew that tree and that House and it was empty for a very long time.
Then there was a cat. She had been worshipped long ago over the sands of Egypt, having slept from the time of Ramses for this moment. She came first to be the very first and she wandered through the empty
House and lit the fires and waited for the others to come. Not far behind, then, came the Sleeper Who Dreams. The Sleeper, she came in on the wind through the attic window and she lay there and slept on a
layer of sand and dust blown in with her.
After her came a family of living shadows - a Dark Lady Mother known as Lady of the Fogs and Marshes, a pale Father, a Grandpère and a Thousand Times Great Grandmère. And they lived in their darkness, with only the cat and a spider as living company until one day someone passed and left something. Waiting when the dark family went out was a basket and inside was a child and he was not like them. But Mother kept him and brought him in and gave him a room in which to sleep and the cat and spider became his companions because they were the only other living things. And then there came a mouse to join them.
And so the little baby grew into a little boy and when he was ten years old the House began to call to the far-flung Family and they all began to come. On All Hallows Eve, they came, all of them. Some crept over the ground, some flew through the air, some road upon beasts or inside of them. However they made their way, they came, and the little boy was still the only living member of the great Family.
Being unlike them, the boy would ever he would ever really belong with them. He wanted to very much, but he was also very much afraid. Some of the Family teased him as others tried very hard to make him feel as
if he was their kind. But he still knew that he never would be. Then the terrible things began. The world became so disbelieving that the Family no longer had anywhere but the House to feel safe. And still there was the little boy wishing very much that he could save them all. Knowing that he was still so very small and still so very different but thinking that there might be some way. Finally, there came a day when even the great House was no longer safe and the Sleeper had to find places for everyone to go for the only one who could live anywhere he pleased was the boy. So the Sleeper sent them all away and the boy, as the safest of them all, was trusted to care for the most important burden - a Thousand Times Great Grandmère.
Trusted for the first time with something so important, he found the safest place for her that he could, a place where he could visit her whenever he pleased, and found a place for himself to stay as well. And he kept his living companions with him as he searched for friends and a new family and came to believe that he belonged, knowing some day that the House would call the Family back together and hoping that he would be alive to hear that call.
I also told Mr. Metatron a story tonight. I told him all about the ghastly passenger because he wanted a happy ending and, even though it's a sad story, the ending is still very happy.
There was once a great House. It had brought itself together, built itself on the wind, and it stood up where everyone could see it, on a hill on a plain. And there was a tree that had been there before the House, a tree that looked like black lightening. And everyone knew that tree and that House and it was empty for a very long time.
Then there was a cat. She had been worshipped long ago over the sands of Egypt, having slept from the time of Ramses for this moment. She came first to be the very first and she wandered through the empty
House and lit the fires and waited for the others to come. Not far behind, then, came the Sleeper Who Dreams. The Sleeper, she came in on the wind through the attic window and she lay there and slept on a
layer of sand and dust blown in with her.
After her came a family of living shadows - a Dark Lady Mother known as Lady of the Fogs and Marshes, a pale Father, a Grandpère and a Thousand Times Great Grandmère. And they lived in their darkness, with only the cat and a spider as living company until one day someone passed and left something. Waiting when the dark family went out was a basket and inside was a child and he was not like them. But Mother kept him and brought him in and gave him a room in which to sleep and the cat and spider became his companions because they were the only other living things. And then there came a mouse to join them.
And so the little baby grew into a little boy and when he was ten years old the House began to call to the far-flung Family and they all began to come. On All Hallows Eve, they came, all of them. Some crept over the ground, some flew through the air, some road upon beasts or inside of them. However they made their way, they came, and the little boy was still the only living member of the great Family.
Being unlike them, the boy would ever he would ever really belong with them. He wanted to very much, but he was also very much afraid. Some of the Family teased him as others tried very hard to make him feel as
if he was their kind. But he still knew that he never would be. Then the terrible things began. The world became so disbelieving that the Family no longer had anywhere but the House to feel safe. And still there was the little boy wishing very much that he could save them all. Knowing that he was still so very small and still so very different but thinking that there might be some way. Finally, there came a day when even the great House was no longer safe and the Sleeper had to find places for everyone to go for the only one who could live anywhere he pleased was the boy. So the Sleeper sent them all away and the boy, as the safest of them all, was trusted to care for the most important burden - a Thousand Times Great Grandmère.
Trusted for the first time with something so important, he found the safest place for her that he could, a place where he could visit her whenever he pleased, and found a place for himself to stay as well. And he kept his living companions with him as he searched for friends and a new family and came to believe that he belonged, knowing some day that the House would call the Family back together and hoping that he would be alive to hear that call.
I also told Mr. Metatron a story tonight. I told him all about the ghastly passenger because he wanted a happy ending and, even though it's a sad story, the ending is still very happy.