February 7, 2018, A Glimpse into Primitivance

PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN

There she sat, by the sea, toes just above the salty water. First time here, I asked. First time, she said, but I’ve been places. And I’ve left places, one or many times. You know the warm blue feeling of nostalgia, then. Yes, she said, it brought me here.

Her face. This is not her first adventure, and god-forbid her last. She has made good decisions, she’s made bad ones. Every step taken makes a person more experienced; but her experiences made her wise. She is the one who can say what she wants by taking just one look. She knows how to see beyond the shiny surface and the big promises.

I think your face is very moving. Oh, thank you, her eyes lit and she could be, at that moment, twenty or she could be thirty-five or she could be half a century old, if age would count here, in Primitivance, while your feet are just above the sea and the sun gently touches your arm while you hold a thousand tiny flowers, yellow flowers of immortelle, a plant that understands what it means to master the art of self-recovery. I’ll take these with me, she stated calmly. Would you like them bottled, perhaps? Well, that’s why you’re here, aren’t you?