In the animal world, even more unbelievable perceptions, such as those of migratory birds who orient themselves using the earth’s magnetic field, sharks with electric sensors and whales that communicate between oceans, are only now beginning to raise questions in science.
Violet wasn’t studying quantum physics, the Theory of Relativity or String Theory, even less had she had time in her life to study medicine or engineering. She was a normal child, in secondary school and, therefore, intellectually far from the theoretical and experimental theories of Physics which, like religions, always stubbornly propose to understand and explain the universe. Even so, her intuition associated with past adventures allowed her to feel, even without understanding, that everything in the universe is vibration. Music as vibration, feelings, thoughts and all things, from the most solid to the most ethereal, are manifestations or admirable adaptations of the basic principle that animates everything.
The music continued to ring through the park. It ran between the spaces and, as sea waves tend to lick the sand, the sound waves licked the leaves and flowers of the trees. The heat of the sun arrived at the frequency of infrared, hit and scattered over Violet’s skin, while the music touched her soul. Surrendering to the moment, she noticed that the subatomic particles of the atoms that were forming her cells and being structured in the organs that made up her body were in full resonance – even more infinitesimal – with the vibrations produced by the two orchestras.
This intuitive perception of the girl’s was getting more intense. And it even began to interfere with her biological senses. The spectre of the frequency detected by her eyes and ears expanded. She was able to see what nobody else could and hear what nobody else could.
She took a deep breath in and out. That was the best place in the world and now was the best time in the world.
CHAPTER II
The beach after the now
The grand building and its stage seemed to become a little concave or curved in themselves. The sounds of the melody became staccato, followed by short instants of total silence.
A strong light fell over the two orchestras. However, the more intense it was, the less visible the orchestra became. At that moment, just the contours of the Maestro’s face conducting them were clear.
For Violet, the phenomenon slowly extended from the stage to the huge audience on the grass. The images and atoms of the world of the Kingdom of the Blue Earth began to twist and blend as if their matter were breaking one of the laws of Physics, the one that determined that two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
At this interstice or zone of penumbra caused by the fusion of shadows and lights of two worlds, a great beach delimited by two hills could be seen behind the stage, suspended above the inner auditorium.
The two hills had a dense covering of Atlantic Forest, ending with imposing rocks that challenged the sea waves. The colour of the salt waters was the most intense turquoise ever seen by human eyes.
Flocks of seagulls were hovering above the waters and now and again they flew low over the water in more or less successful attempts to catch fish. Some even crossed the frontier between the worlds and penetrated Violet’s present space, which was gradually vanishing in the air.
The Girl with the German Piano sensed what was happening and actually smiled, without fear. Although it was all unusual, the moment brought her peace.
One of the gulls, which was flying over the audience and observing our world, changed its flight path and landed in front of the girl. The bird’s expression was meaningful and its eyes looked deep into Violet’s. Although the bird remained with its beak closed, Violet could swear she heard:
- Aren’t you coming?
The bird didn’t have to wait for a reply. Violet answered the call; however, when she stood up and turned round to kiss her father goodbye, he was no longer there. There was just the stage, the beach and a plank bridge suspended by four thick ropes. The bridge connected the grass to the stage and under it an abyss led one to believe that it was bottomless. The shaky bridge continued above the stage and from there to the beach, whose name was the Beach After the Now.
The more she walked towards the Auditorium stage, the less the melodies produced by the orchestras could be heard. However, the birdsong, the wind blowing against the foam and the sound of the waves were stronger.
- Wow, how beautiful!
- So are you, and so you can continue to be, responded the bird, as soon as Violet arrived at the stage and saw herself before the immensity of the sea.
Then she turned her head round again in order to see the world of the now. All the participants in the event were still there, including her father and the orchestras. They were living their lives as if nothing were happening. She could also make out the two bicycles lying on the grass and a patch of blue sky on a sunny Sunday in the city of São Paulo.
She looked ahead. She knew that she was just one step from the beginning of a new adventure. She could give up, if she so wished. Doubt invaded the decision-making centre of her mind. The desire to go ahead was intense. Prudence didn’t know what to say. Complacency told her to stay quiet in her corner.
Motionless, she thought about her father and mother.
- Don’t worry about them. If you’re successful, they’ll be alright. But if you want to stay, everything will be as it is, on the path of what will be.
That was what she heard, clearly this time coming from the gull’s beak, as soon as that bird and the other gulls went buzzing past her and dived into the universe of the beach.
- Wow, let’s start with paradoxes – she said to herself. Almost at the same time, she crossed the frontier from the now to the unknown.
A strong wave swept over the bridge and the two worlds returned to known space-times. The bridge disintegrated and everything went back to what it had been before the now and after the now.
The world of the now disappeared behind Violet’s back. In its place, a wall of mountains that must have been some one thousand, five hundred metres high extended like an impressive green cliff, with peaks of bare, black rocks.
Many waterfalls with crystalline waters washed the slopes of the mountain range, which was some 100km from the coastline. These slopes hid green plateaus located behind the mountains, which were called the Hope of the Kingdom Range. But what the Hope of the Kingdom Range could not hide was an immense chain that began approximately 180 km from the coastline and ran, not in parallel, but towards the west of that kingdom.
Some peaks in the mountain chain soared to a remarkable 16,000 metres. They were simply impassable for any human mountaineer, however technically capable, strong, prepared and equipped. But the preponderance of peaks was at altitudes between five and ten thousand metres.
Nothing of this was observed by Violet. Enchanted by the sea, her first impulse was to jump in. But she soon came back down to earth. She was alone and didn’t want to get her clothes wet or take them off, even though the waters were seductive. The seagulls, without exception, headed for the horizon and soon flew out of the girl’s sight.
She then took off her sneakers and white socks. The sand was thick, soft and the colour of her socks. It gave her an agreeable sensation and seemed to balance her static electricity with the planet she was on.
She immediately remembered her first reaction when, with Joaquina, she had travelled to the Kingdom of the Seven Moons. On that occasion, she had jumped into the river in her pyjamas. The desire to enter the sea only grew with the memory. But now she was a prudent thirteen-year-old and checked her impulses.
An immense yearning for Joaquina seared through her breast. What a friend and protector she had been! She also remembered Pedrão and the yearning, now doubled, only rent her heart more. Then she realized she was alone. She didn’t want to feel loneliness, but was already beginning to do so. Doubt flooded her mind. What was this place? Could it be the Kingdom of the Seven Moons?
She looked around her and then up at the sky. It was tur
quoise blue and the shining yellow of the Sun was so strong that it blotted out the direct or indirect brightness of any other celestial body. Uncertainties made her fail to notice the beauty around her. She regretted crossing the frontier and, at the same time, the paradise she was in seemed dull and ugly.
Not knowing what to do or where to go, she picked up a piece of driftwood on the sand and began to scribble some words.
- If there was an entrance there must be an exit.
That’s what she wrote in letters that were bigger than she was, after various attempts to write something that would calm her down.
- That’s right. Hope is the key.
The voice came from behind and sounded familiar.
- Joaquina! – she screamed with joy, quickly turning round to where the voice had come from.
No sooner had the smile lit up her face than disappointment erased it.
- No, dear, Stefanie, at your service.
CHAPTER III
DREAMS THAT WENT TO SEA
There she was, sitting on a fallen coconut palm trunk. She was already nineteen in the Kingdom of the Blue Earth. Her skin was very fair and covered a long body which gave her the stature of one metre, seventy-two centimeters. Her delicate features harmonised with her long, fine, fair hair, which had a tendency to fall over her face as if wishing to hide her pair of blue eyes.
Stefanie was the name of the young woman, whose Caucasian beauty could only be perceived in its totality by someone who paid attention. She had been born in Canada, where, until the age of almost sixteen ,she’d studied as a regular girl in her small community school. She had two younger brothers and ballet had been her only passion. Early on, her parents had enrolled her in a dance school. At sixteen she’d achieved the first step in her dream. She’d been admitted to the very famous Juilliard School in New York, and had lived there since then.
She quickly noticed the disappointment in Violet’s eyes.
- Were you expecting Joaquina? I don’t know who she is. But I also know she won’t be coming, whoever she is. You know, I also expected a lot, and by the looks of things, I’ll keep on expecting.
Even more quickly Violet noticed the negative feelings expressed in Stefanie’s words. We must point out that, what many would interpret as arrogance in the young woman in front of her, the Girl with the German Piano identified as despair.
- Sorry, I thought by your voice that you were an old friend.
- It’s an illusion on your part to want to meet friends here.
- My name’s Violet. Yours I already know. So, pleased to meet you.
It was with great effort that a friendly smile spread across the young blonde’s face. And it was just at that moment that Violet noticed her hair also had low lights that somehow resembled a redhead. Stefanie was intriguing both in personality and appearance, which could not be discovered or unveiled by someone without the patience for that.
- Have you been on this lovely beach for a long time?
- It seems like it.
- I’ve just arrived! How come I didn’t see you?
- I saw you.
- So you saw Ibirapuera Park? Isn’t it lovely?
- I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about. I just know that it was another day for me to be alone in my room because my roommate had gone out with her boyfriend. Out of the blue I heard a voice coming from inside the mirror on the door. Stefanie interrupted herself. She dived into the lake of memory and went back to twelve hours before, if these hours were counted on Earth. She was once more overwhelmed by the anguish and disbelief she had been experiencing in the past few months. If asked, she wouldn’t have known how to classify or even typify any concrete reason for all that. There was a good probability that she would compete to be one of the principal ballerinas in her group. She was getting good grades and was respected by classmates and teachers. But something was tormenting her, a lot. She didn’t know if it was the relentless competition often associated with the universe of dance or even the energy, not always positive, of the world around her.
Her physical health was good and, as far as she knew, there was no serious family problem to torment her. After all, she was in regular contact with her mother, her only close friend up to then, and also with her brothers and father. They were all leading normal, comfortable even, lives. Two more years and she’d graduate. And if life was exploding before her in a thousand possibilities, why then had she stopped feeling them? She didn’t know the answer. The virus of depression had been inoculated in her on a cloudy day and in a moment of weakness, and had soon infected her young soul.
The way in which the health of the spirit is protected functions in a way similar to the immunological system of any living organism. Every organism is continuously attacked by more or less lethal viruses and bacteria. And to put it simply, if the system is not prepared for a specific micro-organism, the being gets ill to a greater or lesser degree.
The same thing happens to the soul. Perverse thoughts or feelings of an inferior order are like the viruses and bacteria that can contaminate and cause every type of disease of an emotional or spiritual order.
No one is exempt from becoming ill. However, anyone can strengthen their psyche with everything positive that the world of arts, sciences, philosophy or even religions created or revealed one day.
For reasons we don’t know, Stefanie had been in an advanced state of despair for some time. It was on a Sunday afternoon that she had asked for her mother’s help via email. Maternal aid had been immediate. The next day, mother and daughter were being seen by a doctor in New York. The diagnosis was conclusive – depression – and, therefore, medication had been prescribed. Initially, it seemed to alleviate the problem. Two weeks later, her mother had to go back home.
What she would never know is that Stefanie, on her own initiative, soon stopped taking the medication, though this was her first and only lie to her parents. Consequently, her psychological state didn’t improve at all. However, even if she had followed the prescriptions, no remedy created by human science could have acted on the central point of her problem, since the virus of disbelief in one’s self and in the world is not a physically and materially palpable organism. Even so, she still held on to what she loved most, dancing, but she didn’t know for how long she’d be able to hang on.
- From the mirror on the door? What do you mean?
- Out of nowhere! The voice seemed to come from the mirror. That was when I saw seagulls and this beach. I heard something like: “help always comes from someone who’s ready to help”.
- How beautiful!
- What do you mean, beautiful? Mirrors don’t speak. And they weren’t made to speak.
- The queen’s mirror in Snow White spoke.
- Look, do me a favour! I don’t need fairy tales right now.
- If you knew what I’ve experienced, you wouldn’t say that.
The one who now seemed arrogant in Stefanie’s eyes was that girl with curly brown hair. It was just at that moment that she paid close attention to the young girl who was just thirteen and brought a different beauty to that she was used to seeing on a daily basis.
- Ah! Ah! So you mean to say you’re very experienced, then?
- I didn’t mean that. I just said that there really are a lot of things to believe in.
- Santa Claus, for example? Or Alice’s rabbit or Mother Goose?
- I don’t know who Mother Goose is. But I know how I got here. I know that you’re here. Or aren’t you?
- Who knows? All this could be a dream.
- Dream or not, you’re talking to me. And I don’t dream awake or speak while dreaming. Come on, wake up if you can.
Now, for Stefanie, that girl was the most arrogant being in the world. But she had no more counter arguments and, despite detesting her, she had to admit to her condition. She remembered that the mirror had seemed the most inviting place in the world. It also came to her mind that she had seen one seagull among the many that were f
lying at the beach making an absurd mistake for such a bird. While competing for a fish with a frigatebird in full flight, it became distracted and crashed into a coconut palm, falling onto the sand.
It was on impulse that she hurled herself through the mirror to help it. When she realised what was happening, she was sitting on the sand, cleaning the wounds on the gull’s head with the hem of her dress.
- You’re right, I’m here and the gull I helped thanked me and flew off.
- What gull?
- Forget it. Where are you from?
- Brazil. I was born in São Paulo. I love my city so much!
- And I love mine. I’m Canadian and I must say your English is perfect.
- So is your Portuguese.
- I don’t understand! I don’t know any Portuguese.
The Sun was heading towards the horizon. His light was not as sovereign as hours before. Two full moons were adorned like two actresses in the dressing room of the sky in order to shine all night. Violet was sure where they came from.
- I’ve seen this before. In this kingdom music is the universal language.
- Look girl. No games, ok?
- Don’t worry. My English is good, yes.
Violet chose silence over speaking, when from nowhere she heard:
- You do know that no one helps anyone, don’t you?
- I don’t know about that. I don’t agree. You said yourself that you helped the gull. So it’s not true that no-one helps anyone.
- Look! I’m tired of all this and that. I got tired of being romantic. I got sick of dreaming about dancing.
- Dancing?
- Yes, I study ballet at the best school in the world.
- How fantastic! Being a ballerina is one of the loveliest things that exist. How can you say you got tired of it? It’s a dream to be a ballerina.
The Rainbow Bridge and the Shadow of the Serpent: The Rainbow Bridge and the Shadow of the Serpent Page 2