Thursday, April 29, 2010

The World in Miniature: The Border Between Here and There

by Bryan Russell

The Border Between Here and There

They sent the soldier to guard the bridge because of the troubles between the two provinces. The soldier had a snappy uniform, and he marched snappily across the bridge, back and forth. He held his rifle firmly, dreaming at times of the rifle going Snap! Snap! and of receiving a medal.

People crossed the bridge, back and forth, despite the troubles. He smiled at the people, but not too much. He had a job to do. He met a woman from the Right Bank, and smiled a little wider. He took her out on Friday nights. She loved to dance, and he loved her, and so they danced and danced.

Then the soldier met a woman from the Left Bank, and she was beautiful and he took her out every Saturday night for long walks along the river. The beautiful woman was filled with wanderlust, and they would hike up into the hills. In the autumn the leaves were bright red.

When the bomb exploded on the bridge it was a surprise. A piece of shrapnel cut the soldier perfectly in two, from groin to head. The right half of the soldier landed on the Right bank, while the left half of the soldier landed on the Left Bank. Miraculously, the soldier survived, but the doctors couldn’t put the two halves back together. The Army gave him two honorable discharges.

The right half of the soldier stayed on the Right Bank, and he called on the woman who danced and made him smile. The left half of the soldier stayed on the Left Bank, and he called on the beautiful woman with the wanderlust.

Yet the right half of the soldier found, with only one leg, that he was no longer much of a dancer. The woman who danced smiled in sympathy, for awhile, and then she started to dance with other people. Eventually she stopped coming home, and he heard she went out dancing every night of the week. He started painting and became an artist. He painted autumn trees with red leaves like fire.

The left half of the soldier, meanwhile, soon found that the beautiful woman was not happy: it was hard to love a man who could not wander. He tried to accompany her but he could not keep pace while hopping on one foot, and it was hard to talk amidst all that bouncing. He needed his breath for each jump. Soon the beautiful woman walked by herself, farther and farther afield, until one day she simply kept walking and the horizon swallowed her. The left half of the soldier became an architect and built a new bridge over the river, a bridge with great arches that reminded him of people dancing.

Every year the left half of the solider and the right met to buy a pair of boots. A business arrangement, no more. They had little to say to each other, but why pay full price for a pair of boots when you could pay half instead? Yet, as the years passed by, the artist and the architect talked more and more as they found they no longer had much in common.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Absolutely fascinating.

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

The artist and architect no longer have much in common? How sad. Even more than the fickle females who drifted away.

I love the zany allegory of this one, Ink. The right and left banks made me think of Palestine, but I'm not sure if that's what you meant by it. But methinks you have a fascination with books. :)

Bryan Russell said...

Thanks, Taryn!

Bryan Russell said...

Susan,

Yeah, I actually changed the Left Bank/Right Bank thing, and then changed it back, thinking about the Palestine connection. I don't mind that connection, though it's intended to be a little more open-ended.

And yes, I have a fascination with books. You should see my house...

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

Erg. I meant to say "boots." I know about the book-obsession. :)

Bryan Russell said...

Well, I certainly love shoes... does that lose me masculinity points? I watch a lot of sports, though. Hopefully that evens things out.

Mira said...

Wonderful. Haunting in a straightforward fairy tale setting. Reminded me vaguely of Hans Christian Anderson.

Although, I'm noticing a trend - there's the boots thing, like Susan mentioned - but I'm also noticing, Bryan, that your stories have sad endings.

That's okay though. You will reach famousoity due to your haunting and lyrical style. And I'll ride on your coattails to famousosity by re-writing all of your stories with happy endings.

For example, for this one.....velcro.

Yes, that's the ticket. Should solve all those pesky ambivalence problems.

Great piece. You should make a collection of these. They are not throw-aways. :)

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

@Mira Velcro=genius!

I think these flash fictions should come with a requirement for one word reviews (after the rambling interpretations, of course).

Ben Carroll said...

this is brilliant. i was strangely hooked from him splitting in half onwards.

it's also a great example of why i just gave this blog an award:

http://learningtoreadten.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-friday.html

and i'll be writing more about why i like this blog in the near future.

Renee said...

Love it!! You've found your calling: humor with a wry, ironic twist.

GO,Man,GO FOR IT!!

And as for me, I saw it not as a political thing, but a personality one.

Too bad you thought of Palestine. I thought of Austria back in the day! I mean if his two halfs could survive alive why not his double-phyche? A lot of people do. Left brain, right brain? You crammed a lot to think about in that short.

Renee said...

OOPS: Psyche.

Guess I still need an editor! :)

Mira said...

Susan - thanks - I was sort of proud of 'velcro.' Hope you didn't mind, Bryan. :)

My one-word comment review of this flash fiction: Wonderful.

Bryan Russell said...

Thanks, Ben! Much appreciated.

Bryan Russell said...

Renee,

It's interesting, as I almost never set out to write something funny. It's more just how I perceive a certain situation, and the humour comes out of that. Sort of a dark humour, usually. Or at least not the fluffy sort.

Bryan Russell said...

Mira,

Yes, velcro is one of the world's great miracles. I am thankful fot it every time I put on my kids' shoes. :)

Carl Grimsman said...

Quirky. Disturbing. Symbolic without being simplistic. Food for thought.

Anonymous said...

buy facebook likes
facebook likes

http://www.homelessnation.org/en/node/15316 http://www.shatterbox.com/video/feed-granola
1000 facebook likes 1000 facebook likes buy facebook likes
I do a system restore or reboot, whatever its called? Because I do virus scans, I cleaned out any unwanted programs and it is still slow! I was thinking if I restored my computer back to the "out of box" state it will make it faster? I know i'll lose everything but thats the whole point.

buy facebook likes get facebook likes [url=http://1000fbfans.info]get facebook likes [/url] get facebook likes