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This is the home of Sleeping in the Meadows.

"Surreal and poetic reflections on life and imagination... told in 3rd person through the dreams and adventures of two beings, Sa and Atee." 

Tuesday, September 16

Number Fifty Nine ©

Atee sat up. Something had alarmed her. She stood up. Her ears stood high, she listened.

She walked towards the sound. She thought maybe it was just the wind. She was outside, she began to feel it was just her.

She had panicked for nothing. The animals weren't running after anything. The bees buzzed to and fro around the garden. The leaves fell from the trees, a silly bear was eating all the honey, the fished splashed in the cool, fresh water.

Atee was still outside, aware but ignorant. Her mind was empty, uncluttered, no presumptions or demands. All around her, floating and fluffy, the air was soft as a cloud.

Where was she suppose to be? At the pool! Her friend was waiting. She always forgot about her friend. They waited and had so much patience for her.

She kicked the walnut shells in her way. A monkey was swinging from the branches. It would cross in front of her and switch trees. She couldn't help but laugh as it was always in her way.

She just couldn't wait to take a dip in the pool. Maybe she would eat some ice cream. The more she thought about it, the warmer the day seemed.

The trees were taller and taller as she went this way. As if she were entering a forbidden area, some endangered nature zone.

She wondered if this was the right way to the pool. She didn't have a map. She just grew sad. This part of the world she had been to before. So many places she managed to accidentally avoid. She didn't come her to hide, but she knew that it was it looked like. She didn't come to bend the leaves and start a fire, she was just her by mistake.

It was time to trip and splatter her face in a mud puddle. Just to bring some clarity to herself, just maybe she would turn around and leave.

The path was too long for her to walk alone. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to think, but it was how she felt.

It was about to rain, she could always tell. She could walk forever in the rain. And when the world ends, she will be okay if there's rain.

The monkey was with a whole organization now. They picked bananas and then ate a giant banana meal together in the trees. They wrestled and tried to push each other off onto the ground.

Atee would have loved to wake up as a money some day. Just for a day.

The rain was pouring harder. Branches feel from the trees, the monkeys escaped to somewhere for shelter. No matter if she even tried, a storm couldn't frighten her. Even if it struck down all the trees and everything around her, even it closed the pool.

She hoped the path didn't bend, because she was just walking straight now. It had been straight this far. As the trees grew higher, the forest grew darker.

Atee started to run. And once she started she couldn't stop. She just moved with the momentum. Each step reinforced the next.

Up ahead the rain couldn't penetrate through the canopy. It just dripped like a leaky pipe. She couldn't tell the difference between this forest and a luxurious water park. It was humid and every step was a splash. She didn't have a single care, as if she she were on vacation.

Once the rain couldn't reach her, she felt a bolt of liberation. This was her own fortress, or a palace. She could look up to the sky and she saw level after level of ecosystems and animal hierarchies. She couldn't understand why this place wasn't famous.

The bushes were smooth and waxy. The older they were, the better benches they made. This place was better than the pool, she never ever considered having so much fun inside before, but that's basically where she was now.

She reclined onto a bush like a bed and just watched the games being played above her. The animals learned in small school groups, then went to another tree and spent time with their families. They swung down to see their friends.

She had never been in a place so safe and huge before. In every direction there were so many places to explore, small coves and waterfalls, fresh water springs and flowing streams, tall cliffs and hills, valleys and ridges.

It took her a little while to truly appreciate the music. Every sound had a natural rhythm and would repeat. All of these sounds at once, that alone captivated her. And yet, she could sing and not disturb anything, the music wasn't disrupted. She was fully free.

She couldn't stay forever, however. She hated to make her friend wait so much. If only they would just travel with her, at her side, they could always be together and they would have way more fun.

She tried to walk straight and continue her same path from before. And who knows how long until this place would end. She thought maybe she had started something irreversible.

Thank goodness for a breeze. She just moved with the wind. "Wherever it goes, I will go" she thought. Maybe she would arrive at the pool, maybe not.

The wind was going to the city. The pool was outside the city.

As soon as she stepped out of the forest, she could see the pool. Her heart beat fast and filled with joy. She always felt so delighted knowing she would be where she wanted. From the soles of her feet to the top of her head, she was rejuvenated. If she had ever spent any energy, it was back. She just wanted to dance and forget all about it, she didn't even have to be at the pool anymore. She felt so good already. But, she would keep her word. "Don't worry, I'll be there" She thought to her friend "Trust me. Keep the faith."

It was a long walk but nothing compared to what she had just done. She didn't look back, she knew she wouldn't be able to restrain herself from running back. She just had to keep telling herself that places like that are everywhere. That whatever happiness she feels is already there, just below the surface, waiting for any excuse to emerge. She just smiled.

There were a lot of people at the pool. No tension or high blood pressure, no stress or rage. She hadn't even taken notice that it had stopped raining.

She was ready to float on the surface and drift asleep. She told her friend "I'm here. Now let me be. I'll see you when I wake".