The Road
To Illsmore
Written By: Charles Corren- Copyright December 2002
Chapter 1 - Taking Stock
All Aris could see ahead of her was more of the same.
For as far as the eye could see, it was absolutely sameness.
No changes to mark the scenery, no identifying points of interest.
It was the same when she looked behind her as well.
Nothing but sameness.
Her white dress billowed in the soft breeze as she stood and contemplated her situation.
From where she stood, it was bleak.
She was grateful for the breeze, it cooled her, and made her feel wonderful.
Who could feel bad on such a day as this was?
And why did she feel so bad?
This, wherever this was, was a strange place.
Strange indeed.
She had no idea where she was.
Try as she might.
It would not come to her.
Dreaming?
No.
Biting her lip and crying out in pain took care of that idea.
Lost?
Perhaps, but how did she get here in the first place?
Amnesia?
Maybe, but it must be pretty selective, because she could remember her name, Aris, her full name Aris Strider.
She could remember her husbands name, John Strider.
And she could remember where she lived, Billet Dakota.
She knew that the town had 5,000 people, and it was located right in the middle of nowhere.
She knew that she was 5'4" tall, had blue eyes, and had hair that was cut to shape her face beautifully. At least that is what the hairdresser told her. And she had wanted to make a sale.
She knew that she had been married for 12 years, to the same man, had lived in the same house, and that things in her life were going pretty well.
Well, as pretty well as anyone else's life she was sure.
I mean, who today didn't have problems?
Money problems, sexual problems, attitude problems (her favorite).
Everyone did.
She was just one of them.
So, if her wonderful memory was doing so great, where the hell was she?
And how did she get here?
She thought these were good questions to be sure, but who could she ask?
As far as she could see, she was alone here.
She took a look around her, trying to both put things into perspective, and look for something that could identify where she was.
Behind her, there was the path that she stood on.
It winded its way back many miles.
She knew that because that was the way she had come.
The stones that made up the path were laid with great care, she imagined, when the path was new, but now had stones that had shifted, and others that tried to do the same, but missed somehow coming close to matching, but not quite.
In some places the path shifted to the left or the right, only to continue on a little further ahead.
The stones were rectangular, about 6 inches long by 2 inches wide. She knew this because that is how her front porch was done. Similar stones.
And that is what the salesman said they were 6 by 2's or some other such saying that only men could understand.
She, not John had made the purchase.
Something about not having enough time, and then when pressed, admitting that he didn't want to buy the wrong things and piss her off.
Piss her off indeed.
Piss her off he did, but not for making the wrong selection, but for not trying to make the selection at all. That and playing golf the day she went to pick them out.
That's ok "no sex for you" would have been the reply the voice in her head said.
It was her favorite saying.
Only to herself though, she would never say that out loud.
It gave her such a feeling of power to be able to control someone that way.
She didn't pride herself on this, just used it to her advantage when the opportunity presented itself.
And lately, it had presented itself plenty.
So "no sex for you" is what he got.
More often than not.
He deserved it.
He earned it.
He could enjoy it too.
Him and his buddies.
He knew what they would say, or at least she thought she did.
They would call her the "Ice queen" or "Frigid" or some other term that really had no relevance to anything that was real.
But boys will be boys.
Especially the big ones.
Back to the path.
The stones she could identify.
6 by 2's , all the same, and all a rust color.
The pattern disturbed by ?..by what?
Time?
Traffic walking on it?
Poor installation?
None of these ideas fit, but what was the answer?
Upon a closer examination, she saw that the stones had some sort of cement or mortar holding each to its neighbor.
That should have made for a very strong installation indeed.
It should not have shifted the way it did.
She looked ahead.
More of the same.
The path going in the same, or at least similar direction.
She thought a bit, and could vaguely remember a number of places where there were paths that intersected the one she was one.
These would go off in different, and opposing directions.
She didn't think that she had taken any of these alternate paths, but she could not be sure.
Standing there she caught a glimpse of her shoes.
Runners.
Nike runners.
White Nike runners
.
What did they call them?
The incredible track shoe?
No that wasn't it, think of the acronym.
Nike would be sued for sure over that one.
The ultimate walking shoe.
That was it.
And so reasonably priced too at just $149.00 US will that be cash or charge.
For $16.00 worth of material and $133.00 worth of advertising.
All worth while of course, because who, better than Michael Jordan, could possible tell her that this was the shoe for her
Like she cared.
Why then was she wearing them.
Ok forget the shoes.
But shoes like this with a dress?
She pulled the dress back a bit to reveal what she already suspected.
Socks.
Oh great, lets just have a look here.
She was wearing white shoes, blue socks, and a white knee length dress.
So stylish.
For the modern woman of today. v
Yeah right, the modern woman who is dressed by her neighbors dog perhaps.
She did a quick sanity check and a pat with her hands and , yes she was wearing underwear.
Moving upwards though.
She looked down and felt rather than saw that the twins had no support today
Ok. No bra?
Who the hell goes walking like this?
She had a vivid mental image of what she imagined she looked like standing there in the midday sun and shuddered.
The only thing that could make this better was if she was wearing lipstick put on in the washroom of a moving train.
No, lets make that put on in a moving train, that is quickly trying to stop and start again, and the color is purple.
Maybe add some orange eye liner.
And while she was at it, maybe some green blush.
Fabulous
Her hair she didn't even want to consider.
It felt combed and put into place, and she would leave it at that.
There was no way to check that anyway.
So, she would live with it.
What was her second favorite saying?
"Shit Happens"
Ok, now she had to live with it.
She took a look around and noticed that surrounding the path, and everything else for that matter was plants.
Not your pretty, violets or daisies, or roses.
No this was wheat.
she was pretty sure of that, but she didn't know why she was sure.
The plants were all the same height.
She moved over to the first of the plants and used her body to measure them.
Ok they came up right about even with her??the twins.
That's meant that these were what, 4'6" high or so?
And they were all the same height.
They didn't differ at all.
All exactly the same height.
And color. Don't forget color.
The same shade of tan? gold? something like that.
She knew. Wheat color.
That was it.
Each plant exactly the same as the one next to it, and millions and millions of them as far as the eye could see.
In all directions.
Oh great, now soon she will come across a scarecrow hanging on a post followed by a tin man and a cowardly lion.
She was an extra in a movie for christ sake.
No that didn't feel right.
No dog, and that was just a scene from a movie.
She panned from left to right all the way around 360 degrees and saw, nothing.
Everywhere she looked nothing.
Made more nothing by there being lots of it.
She made a move to scratch her arm, and pinched her skin in the process.
Ok. I know I am not dreaming.
So, all of this, she said looking around her, is real.
She looked up.
The sun, although not directly overhead, was off to her right.
Ok. Now she was getting somewhere.
The sun rises in the East, and sets in the West, and since it is on her right, she must be travelling North.
And since the sun was on her right, it must be mid morning, close to noon.
She thought a bit and mentally patted herself on her back for making those great deductions from such limited information.
Feeling pretty good with herself, she decided to get moving again.
Then the thought hit her.
What if she was moving South?
Then the sun could still be in the same position, but it would be late afternoon.
Christ she couldn't even get that right.
Which was it?
She decided she really didn't give a shit.
And moved onward in the direction she was facing
It was a nice enough day actually.
Not too warm, not too cool.
Sun just the right temperature, and a slight breeze to make you think of summer.
Which it was.
She supposed.
The air was cool, but no smell that she could identify, nothing at all that she could use to help her or give her a clue as to where she was.
Or why.
The sky was an atypical blue.
You know the dark blue that is beautiful to look at?
Not the typical "washed out" blue that happened so often.
This was a very dark, deep blue that provided dramatic contrast to the converging of the wheat ahead of her, as well as the clouds above her.
The clouds were billowy (was that really a word?), fluffy and soft looking.
In fact they felt white.
She had heard a parent use that term years ago.
Something felt red.
She thought it odd at the time, and asked him about it.
He said that it was something that his daughter had told him about.
She had a feeling for each of the colors.
Something could be green and feel blue
She thought about that, but could not get her hands around it.
Till now. she supposed.
Clouds did feel white.
And there were lots of them too
What did they call them?
Cumulous or something like that she couldn't remember.
But there was a term for the soft kind of cloud she new that.
Onward and upward she thought.
And then realized she had just put her arm into the air just as a super hero would
Laughing at herself, she put her arm down and got on with her travels.
She had walked for what she thought was a half hour when she had the oddest felling
What if while she was looking at her goofy shoes and thinking about her problem she turned herself around?
She would be going back the same way as she came.
Looking up at the sun, she noticed that it had moved some.
It was now almost directly overhead.
That meant that it was almost noon and she had been going in the right direction.
Wait a minute.
If she had got turned around, the sun would have moved as well, depending on how long since she last looked.
Damn it all.
Why didn't she keep track of such things?
Well come to think of it why would she?
She had never been in such a spot before.
And never expected to be.
So, she was excused.
But just to be on the safe side she decided that she was going North, just because it felt right,.
So it was nearly noon.
And that felt right as well.
And so she walked.
Her in her wonderful walking shoes.
Just a young woman out for a leisurely stroll with no place to go.
She decided that she should just walk, and eventually she would come to a place where she could either get some help, or find out where she was.
Either would be fine, but she hoped it was the latter because she really didn't want to have to ask for help from someone she didn't even know.
And what if she was in a place where they didn't speak English?
What if this was Poland or some place like that.
Ok now she was paranoid.
Poland?
Yeah right, how the hell would she have gotten from the United States to Poland without knowing it?
How indeed.
How did she in fact get to the worlds biggest wheat field with no memory of it?
That, she decided would make a great story.
Why didn't it feel like a great story?
Well she guessed it was because this wasn't make believe, or a dream, this was real.
Her feet hurt, she had felt the pain of biting her lip and pinching herself, and it was real.
It was then that the tears broke free from her eyes, and started to roll down her face.
He first thought was that it was going to make a mess of her makeup, but found that she really didn't care.
No, she really didn't care at all.
And she sat down on the path, mindful of her dress, and crossed her legs, and for the first time in her memory, had a good cry.
Created by James Arrian............................................................................................................................................................Last Updated Decmber 2002