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10. The Arena
After
only a few days Mika saw a tiny village up ahead.
Feeling a little lonely, he decided that he could
stop for a day or two.
But
when he passed through the open gates, no one seemed
to be around. He walked slowly down the street,
looking at the houses, hoping to see someone. Suddenly
he was surrounded by a group of not-too-pleasant
looking people. They moved in closer and closer,
leaving him no place to run.
Mika
struggled while they tied him up and placed him
in a cage, and carried him down the center street.
Peering out through windows, other faces looked
on. Some were sad, some looked apologetic. Other
people stood in their doorways. "Now, let him go,"
they yelled. Others tried vainly to set Mika free,
but they were pushed aside. The crowd carried Mika
to the Town Hall.
It looked
to Mika like a giant arena. All the people sat watching
the stage, and he was the main attraction! All those
faces. They looked so odd, somehow. Some were old,
some young. There were men, women, and children.
Yet they all looked strangely similar -- like they
were all from the same family. The door of the cage
opened. Mika looked out and saw the stage was covered
by different colored squares that surrounded a very
black-looking hole.
Suddenly
he felt the cage being tilted onto its side, and
he slid out onto one of the squares. He began to
feel dizzy and a little sick, when he realized he
was standing on his head! The people cheered. He
stumbled to his feet and stepped onto another square.
Suddenly he began to dance uncontrollably.
"What's
going on!" he thought as he stepped onto another
square, and it felt like he was drifting away from
his body. And when he looked down he saw his body
stepping from one square to another, each time falling
into another role. And after each performance the
crowd cheered.
Mika
didn't like this at all. He was more than an actor
playing a part, wasn't he! But there below was Mika
of Algor, "So who am I?" he wondered. "How can I
be here, separated from my own body!" He looked
down, determined. With all his might he fought to
return to himself. And when he did, he struggled
even harder to move in the direction of the hole.
And then he fell,
And
he fell...
And
he fell for what seemed forever. And still he kept
falling. After a while his eyes got used to the
darkness and he thought he could see something in
the distance. As if it were water he was falling
through, he began to swim as he fell. And then he
saw the Painter.
 
Table
of Contents
story
& illustrations © 1981-2013 Robert Alan Silverstein
pforpeace@aol.com
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