Show & Tell, Part 2

Previously we talked about playing show and tell with Pier 360 Staff and what resulted was very inspiring.

Here we will include Cat's submission. The photography on this page is hers. She is also a creative writer and we have featured one of her stories below based on her life.

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WILDFIRE IMAGINATION by Cat

I have loved books as long as I can remember. As a child, my Great Grandmother Dolly would read stories of wonderful adventures to me of every kind, especially the ones of Fairies, she told me these ones were always true. Every morning after my chores were finished on the farm, Dolly would read to me then would whisper in my ear, “Now, go my sweet precious and fly off into the woods, find the fairies and play until you’re called back to us!” I would do just that, I would run out of my Grandparents house with lightning in my veins, past the horses caged in the fences and into my sanctum of magical trees full of Faries.

See, what Dolly did was build my imagination into a Truth to be seen, heard, felt, tasted and if to be honest, touched as well. I built small rocks and log temples with grass, moss, nuts and flowers to my fairies that I played with who told me names to call them by. Because as everyone knows, to be given a Fairie’s True name is to Hold Power over them for their entire lifetime. That wasn’t something that either the Fairies or I bargained for in our playtime relationship. Therefore, they never used my true name either, instead they named me “Wild Eyes”. For all the times the Fairies would play their strange games with me and my eyes would Flash into different shades of color from my emotions getting the better of me.

I believed in my Fairies protection around our temples and in our magical tree forest. So much so, that one day when I ran across several people around a circle of stones guarding a fire which they were heating food over, I simply stopped to ask them how they were doing and if they’d like to meet my friends. They were all wearing very dirty clothing, much more so than mine, and had hair that was longer than my Papa’s on their faces, but looked at me quizzically and asked where my friends were? I told the men that my friends were hiding until they knew if it was safe to come out. These men all said, “yes, it’s safe here in the trees, and we won’t hurt anyone, we don’t want to get into trouble for being here either.” I knew my Fairies could hear the men saying this and I waited for their arrival. Nothing happened, and the men looked all around, but something inside me started to happen, and the men took notice. The wind started to come through the trees and wrap itself around me with great speed. It opened the canopy above us all and the bright sunshine shown down atop me. My hair started to fly around my head; I felt fire throughout my limbs and could’ve sworn to this day that my feet lifted from the ground. All around the circle of fire the men looked my direction with FEAR in their eyes and whimpered, “we promise, we’ll stay away and not harm you or another and won’t come back to your forest again.” While I was encased in elements I had felt before at separate times, but now at once, I spoke aloud but with a new voice, “Go if you must but know this, you are welcome here as long as you do not cross me or my companions so dear. For if you do, the land will claim you in ways unimaginable for your human brains to fear.” The canopy above closed its leaves and branches, the wind set me down and fire left my veins and a sense of calmness washed over me like no other I had known except when being loved by Dolly.

The men all looked at me in surprise but did not speak. I simply said, “My name is Wild Eyes and the Fairies around you say, Merry Meet.”

I have since childhood felt ensconced by forests and have immersed myself in all things Fairies! I have taken up creative writing in all forms. Almost always this writing leads to some supernatural force, mostly Fairy in nature. I am drawn to it. I have taken up Photography and of course the same pursuits; forests, rainbows, spirits, catching the odd lights in photos that make no human sense to be there. My home is decorated with artwork of Faries. My reading collection of my bookshelves, audio books and electronic books are almost all Fairy themed! I have not left my “Wild Eyes” behind me, I have let it travel alongside me throughout my life to witness and be a part of me.

I hope everyone has something special in their lives to go towards, that inspires them like I do.

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We hope you enjoyed Cat's story as much as we did!

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