Once Upon A Time...

"..I do not attempt to unravel dreams,
they unravel me.."

Dear lonely isle,

When I was napping today I had the weirdest dream. It goes like this...

My father and I never stay in one place for long. We're always moving. He takes an interest in all things out of the ordinary and wherever odd things are happening, that's where you'll find us.
My father's rather unusual line of work takes us to a rather remote kingdom this time. It's a small country, and their king just recently died. What's odd is that the king was murdered, and there was no successor to the throne. I mean, not even next of kin, or an able minister with a motive. Everywhere we turn, we meet dead ends.
The king's will states that all his possesions, even his throne, goes to his gardener, a rather cute face who does odd jobs around the palace. Things were definitely not making much sense here, and my father was in the thick of things. As in, he was really feeling thick, so did the rest of us. This was weird.
But it gets weirder. The king's last wishes are that his kingdom be sealed away, his palace in the middle of a forest of thorns, so that it'd be unreachable to all. And the new king, the gardener, was to be with the kingdom too. Okay, so now who do we listen to, the new king or the old king?
The new king, or the gardener as we should say, was a rather simple and innocent guy. Even though looks can be deceiving, I was rather sure, will or otherwise, this WAS NOT the murderer.
The only possible suspect to me was a blond pale guy who always wore black. He was the king's butler and he had sad blue eyes. I know I know, the butler did it, you say. But something didn't quite fit. The king treated the butler well, and had no past grudges held against him. Once again, I wished I was an entire C.S.I. team (if only Ann Gee was here. Her skills of expertise in the area would have been greatly appreciated.) .
On the king's funeral, it was a pretty dark and stormy night, suitable for dramatic endings and mysterious happenings. We were all gathered in the tiny church that held the king's lifeless form, and the gardener (the new king really) was outside in the adjoining cemetery digging a grave. I know, it's weird.
So we were all there, and I was standing near the window, watching the gardener. He looked sad, as he shovelled land out of the hole which was to be king's final resting place. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree, and the tree fell on him!
We rushed out to his aid, but it was too late. The gardener was out cold, and a quick check by the palace physicians prooved that he will remain in coma for the rest of his life.
Now we have two incapacitated kings, and no successor to the throne. I was just about to suggest that they give up monarchy and adopt democracy or something, when a cry of anguish breaks out in the crowd. The butler was crying in a crumpled heap upon the floor, shaking.
Later on, he confessed his to his crimes of killing the king. It seems, there was a reason why the old king never got married. He was in love with the gardener.
As to why he's last wishes were so, I guess all's fair in love and war. He wanted to keep the gardener to himself even after death, out of the prying hands of his butler, who also loved the gardener.
So the butler was banished, and the castle and the country and the comotose gardener was sealed up in a forest of thorns, forever isolated from the world.
And every night, a blond figure, all in black, would ride to the forest edge and wait forlornly, for a love forever out of reach.

I guess, crimes of passion, never did make any sense, and the fact of a love triangle between three guys does not help. Sorry to have wasted your time, for those who read it and wished they didn't, and sorry for those who're disgusted cos I have sick dreams.

Honest, I never thougnt nothing of that sort, ever.

love, joyce.