Another day and Anastasia still only six was playing on the
jungle gym outside the Palace in Ferndale, Surrey Avenue-
swinging up and down on the cross-bar, then her small hands
pried loose and she went flying over a table standing in the
garden and landed hard on her stomach and arm, winded
And for the first time in her life experiencing the sensation
of lungs compressed, she struggled to get up - her little
brother Peter Pan of Neverland was also playing under the
tree, he did not even look up - Anastasia was too young to
know that Peter was as autistic as she was herself and lived
in his own happy little bubble which seldom allowed him to
make contact with reality - she was too much out of breath
to cry, just made winded noises trying to get Peter Pan to
stop playing with the fairies and fly back to her - Peter,
Peter, I am hurt, look at my arm, she sighed, Peter Pan
felt no sympathy for his hapless sister, he was still happily
flying missions in his mind - Anastasia slowly went inside
or did Peter go with her? I can't remember, these are the
events of long ago, I cannot verify - and she got the madly
rushing grown-ups' attention - as these courtly people were
living in chaos and contention - Ouch, ooooh, Anastasia
sighed, look at my arm - somehow Lady Catherine managed
to notice the sighing, sorrowing child and took a look at the
arm she was proffering for solicitous attention -
Oh dear, I shall take you to dear Rasputin, royal
advisor at court - and after wrapping the hurting arm in
vinegar soaked bandages, took off to visit that swarthy old
fellow, upon arrival old Rasputin laughed at Anastasia for smelling
of vinegar - which angered the little girl quite a bit - and
gave her an injection - I think, if I remember correctly,
and set the arm, a fresh set of bandages to set the
small arm - the arm is not broken, the old Charlatan declared,
it's merely fractured tibia and fibula, you must wear this bandage
until the fracture has healed - Anastasia was glad, though her
little twin sis the Duchess was not glad at all as this little
rascal with her curly brown hair had to make BOTH beds in
the early morning before going to school, and what is worse,
she also had to carry Anastasia's suitcase to class - all this
happened when they were still in Grade 1 in Miss Steyn's
class, Ferndale Primary -
this event caused quite a rift as our Little Duchess resented
being made to serve the lowly Anastasia because the
Duchess knew in her heart of hearts - SHE was the more
royal personage and Anastasia should be serving HER,
not the other way round - and this reminds me, said Miss
Pince-Nez, pushing back her glasses, of the anecdote
recounted many years later by our haughty Duchess,
with pursed lips and madly flashing eyes, that only Ana
was allowed to practice the piano, when the Duchess
tried, she was stopped by the Queen of Hearts - since
Lady Catherine the Great was not mentioned in the
incident -
[let's not lose our train of thought here; as already said]
the Duchess was stopped when hammering the piano
playing Mozart and some such compositions, because
it caused the Queen of Hearts acute discomfort and
MOST shocking, most distressing, most amazingly
overpowering - apparently that evil-doer Anastasia
herself had complained to the Queen of Hearts that
the Duchess's practicing the piano was insulting Ana's
own unsatisfactory practice sessions getting ready for
examinations, WHAT! Ana exploded when the worthy
Duchess plaintively explained how she had suffered
for lack of art and strict regulations preventing her from
practising the piano - What, Ana repeated - I never
knew of this strict injunction and much less do I
remember your being barred from using the piano
to enrich your art - That's okay, the Duchess loftily
replied, today I play whatever piece takes my fancy -
Strauss and Beethoven - and don't make a song and
a dance, I have forgiven you ages ago - .............
Ana was stricken - what an evil person am I she
lamented, I was my twin-sis' biggest enemy! and
this worthy little moralist - reminding of Charlotte
Bronte's Lucy Snowe - felt that she could not really
forgive herself as readily as she usually managed
to do - and this reminds me, I have many more sins
on my list - Peter Pan also told me that Lady Catherine
the Great - an analogy for grandma Margaret Alice,
our story's Cinderella who never went to the ball -
Read my secret dairies and ostensibly, I wrote damning
tales of that worthy lady - my list of sins keeps growing
on a daily basis, it is amazing, every time I press a key
with one Arabic letter chosen, my sins show up inside,
and when I press the next key to it, the previous letter
changes as in a magic show - and suddenly the two
letters together become another play with much more
content than I can ever contain - Ana sighed, what on
earth could I have said about Lady Catherine the great
that so surely broke her heart - upon reflection Ana
remembered how she sat and tried to write with Lady C
cleaning, dusting and fixing all around her in the room -
and how Ana could not get things done for Lady C's
infernal peeking, how grandma's tender mercies drove
her to distraction - reminding Ana how Lady C also sat
in church all dignified until the Queen of Hearts started
playing the organ and how lady C's head spun on its
axis as she stared at the queen playing the organ - to
Ana's ears a delight, even though it was the wonderful
Mendelsohn, a music so heathen in origin, it was
Forbidden to be used in church - the Queen of Hearts
once irreverently sighed that the PorrelOs (she was
trying to say Orrel-Pos) made life difficult for her who
loved the World's Most Famous Classical Pieces
and these were barred from use in church -
Back to our theme, - lady Catherine
stared at the Queen of Hearts as as if there were
something wrong with her faultless lyrical rendition;
maybe I wrote down how Lady C's irritating behaviour
being in your face all the time drove me to distraction
---- Ana thought...
[I'll break here for now]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
No comments:
Post a Comment