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Circles of Separation: Snakes and Bitches

This is the second last part of Circles of Separation (Book 2 of Waldmeer). One more to go until the story is finished!

Chapter 73: Indra

Although the Borderfirma Mountains covered a vast area, Lady Faith’s palace was at the Borderfirma Lowlands end of it. The only thing separating the palace and the Lowlands was the Great Valley. That is why Odin and Nina lived there.

This is a very long dream, thought Gabriel as he pushed on through the Great Valley after choosing his path at the fork. There were no more decisions to be made about which way to go because there was only one road through the Great Valley. By now, Gabriel was suspecting that there was more to his journey than a dream. For one thing, he was really hungry. As he felt he had no hope of knowing what to do if it wasn’t a dream, he kept acting on the premise that it was. Continue reading “Circles of Separation: Snakes and Bitches”

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Circles of Separation: Lowlands

“You can’t fight fire with fire,” said Odin. “Everyone gets burned.”

Chapter 64: Tension

“Thank God,” said Ide as she lay on the floor of her dear and peaceful lounge room. “No more hospital visits.” She had returned from the city for the last of Christopher’s visits to the surgeon after his broken leg. “No more fighting the city traffic,” continued Ide in singsong fashion. “No more crazy hospital. No more graphic YouTube videos.”

“What do you mean?” asked Salt. Continue reading “Circles of Separation: Lowlands”

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Circles of Separation: Odin of the Great Valley

Circles of Separation: Part 3 begins.

Part 3 – Borderfirma Mountains – The Inner Circle
Odin of the Great Valley

Chapter 62: Tree House

img_9038The boys lay on the wooden floor of the tree house and gazed up into the moving leaves. It was a grand tree house; three stories, with a flag at the top, and lights that came on every evening. It was fit for a king which is just as well because the boys were royal. Malik was fourteen. He looked over the nearby palace roofs into the Borderfirma Mountains. This land belonged to his mother and the surrounding Borderfirma lands belonged to her siblings. The Borderfirma lands, together, made up the Inner Circle. Continue reading “Circles of Separation: Odin of the Great Valley”

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How To Become Real

“Once you are Real you can’t become unreal again.” The Velveteen Rabbit.

A2983C5E-72E5-4613-AE50-D7F5D44D9D2COn a recent drive to Daylesford, I went into the old bookshop with its rows and rows of books in peculiar little off-shoot rooms. Although the books looked like they were undoubtedly loved long-time by their master and shop owner, I wasn’t so sure that they were going anywhere else in a great hurry. I picked up a used copy of a children’s book which was published almost one hundred years ago. It is a moving, ageless story for children and their adult readers alike. I read it to my children but they may not remember. 28270363-B6DD-4E5B-83CC-EE2ECF1031C7Books like this one go into the back recesses of our consciousness and help form our collective consciousness. It is called The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real). I have recorded it in this video for anyone who ever wonders if becoming Real hurts and if it is worth it.

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Circles of Separation: In the Air

Peace, he thought, how unassuming you are. Yet, you are king of all the feelings.

Chapter 59: Forest Royalty

Amira looked out her kitchen window to the magnificent magnolia tree in her front garden. It had been the usher of spring with its graceful, pink petals since it was planted by Amira’s parents forty years ago. Back then, most of the houses in Waldmeer had lovely, loved gardens with flowering trees and shrubs and colourful bulbs and annuals. As so many of the houses in Waldmeer were now holiday houses, the original gardens were disappearing. Amira’s father, Lenny, would talk about the new gardens with contempt. “That’s not a real garden,” he would say as he pointed disparagingly to the en masse, clinical plantings and stretches of cement, tiles, and stones. “They are soulless places for the heartless.” He took it as personally offensive when the gardens of his long-time friends had been sold, along with their accompanying houses, and “improved and updated” for the new occupants with busy lives in the city. He would mumble to himself and go out into his own garden until he felt better. Each year, when the magnolia blossomed with fragrant majesty, he said, “You go through a dull winter when there’s nothin’ much flowering. It all looks pretty ordinary and then the magnolia comes out and you know that spring is in the air. It’s the kinda thing that makes a fella glad to be alive.” Continue reading “Circles of Separation: In the Air”

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Circles of Separation: Handspun

“We’re our own worst enemy,” said Wolfgang.  “We’re, also, our own best friend.”

Chapter 54: Best Friend

Tonight was the last Dementia Unit dance class. Wolfgang was in fine form and had been talking nonstop. “I like making a noise,” he joked. “I should have been a politician. Do you know that I come here every morning to have breakfast with my Madeline?”

“No,” said Gabriel. “That’s devoted.” Continue reading “Circles of Separation: Handspun”

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Circles of Separation: Winter Lights

Love is its own reward.

Chapter 45: Suspicious Arrangements

Mullum-Mullum was not in the rose garden. Amira decided to walk up the back steps of the old house and look around the verandah. Some dusty boxes and a few bits of dirty furniture were haphazardly pushed into a corner where they had remained for years. She spotted a small bookshelf and pulled out several, yellowed books. Her eyes landed on a familiar green cover. It was The Little Book of Healing. On the inside of the cover was a sticker saying, This book belongs to Rose Este. The book had long since ceased publication. Amira had given her precious copy to Thomas, a few years ago. There was something quite peculiar about the little book. Amira didn’t know if other people had the same experience but whenever she opened it, she seemed to read pages that she had never seen before. As she had read the book many times and it wasn’t long, she eventually decided that the book changed its contents depending on what was needed. She put it in her pocket and went back to her and Gabriel’s apartment. Continue reading “Circles of Separation: Winter Lights”