Page 17 - Contrast1965Spring

SHE DANCED IN SILVER
Th.e g~rl was a typical co-ed. She wore her
hahir flIpped up I.n a s Iee k' casual look' .. - If
s . e had added enough hair spray and the
wbinfd hadn't s h attere d Iit Into strm.gy fragments
\ ore she reached Gordon Hall. She carried
a attered blue note book frayed at the edge
tfromh wh ilCh loose notes w' ere likel y to slide '
duori t e flo'or In a heap if she wasn't careful
u nn.g~r. Johnson's lectures on the Austrailian
wa abOnglln' e Of course, the boy beside her
th s a way s g1ad to scoop them up and hand
b emd bac k diISheve led, if only to break the
Ore om of Dr. ] 0 hnson ' s ceaseless monotone.
Tuesday afternoons she typed for the news-
pbaperh, while Th urs daay m.g ht s were en lii ve ne d
rhy t e .crash 0f boowwl Iing balls on ten pI.ns and
e malntenan ce 0f her usual 112. LI.ke every-
o. ne else sh e crammed for Anthropology and
JUSt managed to elude the Dean's list each
semester. Her life had the same routine week
to week , brea kf a st to ten thirty shower.
I"fWyho'u asked rhe boy who pi.cked up her notes,
at 1~ she like?", he would blink his
ehyises, sh sh ilfdr his wel.g h't, and Iinal ly shruggIn. g
ou ers, stammer, "Well - eh - nice
enough , I guess. ". HIS reply would be the
same for any other girl.
But in one re spect th'e gir l was not ordinary ....
eAxtcitneidglht ' when e~eryone else was chattering
me . ~ or labonously reading and poring and
fl mOfnzlng ' th e gu. 1 would seize her coat
d ee rom her room and passing the heavy'
beoyoornsd. of the dorm, sl i.p into the darkness
aOnudtsid.e' where the shadows of the trees laced
voice Intherlaced an d th'e w ind blew wj.th a
dOned th at sang and whispered, the girl aban-
erself.
gSrhaess.racHeder t hrough the .de.a? leaves and wet
ing H e were the pnrrun ve root s of know-
a . ere was the tingle of adventure. She was
e sgsypsy wa lki ng a new road. She was a pri.est-
wind, ' a paga n prr.e stes s, and her soul was the
heart s soul . Th e W.Ind murmured and her
moon!" shang .h r.r s
longing. Then the
~1t
Ig t spIlled down among the trees
and she danced, a figurt: of silver drowned I'
in the silver light. Her coat fell to the ground,
forgotten. Her shoes dissolved. She danced
with the leaves to the wind. Her hair blew
about her; the wonder and magic were upon
her and there was no tomorrow and no yester-
day. She danced in the wind and she raised
her silver hands to the moon, to the sil ver-
gold goddess wading the drifted clouds.
Shadow and silver caressed the priestess as
she danced barefoot in the wetness and sang
a pagan song to her clear-faced goddess. Her
song followed the wind; it laughed of things
that were not - but which might be in a land,
timeless and silver - of pale princes on
sable steeds, of dark clouds to break and of
men storm them, of lives worth living, of lives
worth dying to save. She sang of lands where
there were others dancing in silver, singing
of sable and silver-gold, and her plight came
back to her.
Her doom was sealed.
She stopped and looked down. Her feet were
wet and there was mown grass between her
toes and sweat upon her arms and trickling
down her back.
The girl sighed, picked up her coat, found
her shoes, and returned to the light-splotched
dormitory. Upon the step she turned and
looked up. Above her the moon still waded the
drifting clouds, the quivering leaves still
rustled in the wind.
She opened the door and stepped through,
letting it close behind her locking the night
outside. Slowly the girl walked down the hall.
She coughed. The air was dry and stifling. It
was filled with murmurs of quiet talk, punctu-
ated by laughter. Somewhere s~meone had a
guitar. The chords came uncertalOly.
Reflecting, she pushed open the door to her
own room. She paused a moment lingering ...
an off-chord snapped like a rubber band. She
winced, her spell broke and the girl stepped
bac k into medioc rity.
S.M.
15