Red Dress, Red Light

“There weren’t always dragons in the valley

There weren’t always landslides in the spring

Once there was a castle on the hilltop

Made of snow, made of snow, made of snow



The dwellers didn’t always rule the forest

The sirens didn’t cry in the seas

Once there was a wizard with the knowledge

Long ago, long ago, long ago”



A train rolled by, choo-chooing an adorable little affirmation to the song Roxanne had been singing, and wooing her back into reality. The day was a dreary, foggy sort, like most days lately. She attempted to redirect her attention back to the laundry at hand. “Is that true?” a little voice behind her asked. Roxanne whirled around, her red dress fluttering behind like a butterfly. The neighborhood rascal, Jack, was licking a lollipop and making a delectable mess of his face.



“All songs are true,” replied Roxanne matter-of-factly, “...as a matter of fact, the wizard made it so, many moons ago. But don’t tell anyone I told you.” He looked up at her, wide-eyed, as if everything he’d ever experienced was making sense in an unexpected sort of way. Then he narrowed his eyes at her, trying to decide if he was being roped into a prank. Her dress collection was drenched in obscene quantities of soap and starch, the used-to-be-water turned to a murky gray sludge. “Jack, would you be a dear, and go fetch me some fresh water for my laundry? I’ll trade you another question-and-answer. Anyway, you need to wash your face off, you look like a lollipop.”



To demonstrate his lack of enthusiasm for the assignment, Jack shriveled up his nose and stuck his tongue out to one side. “Fine.” He backed away slowly, waiting for her to turn her back to him. Rox pretended not to detect the mischief, and diverted her scrutiny to the bloodstain on her scarlet dress. Probably no one would notice the slight discoloration, but probably wasn’t good enough. Scrub scrub.



Roxanne stole a quick glance over her shoulder, where Jack was attempting to recruit his sister’s help from behind a mulberry bush where she’d been spying. Jill clearly didn’t want to come along, and he began chasing her around and taunting, “all around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel!” He stopped, threw off a shoe, and yanked a sock off his foot, tying a knot in the end as he caught up with her, “The monkey stopped to pull off a sock, pop goes the weasel!” He popped her in the head with his knotted sock. Jill turned and retorted at him viciously, “I’m not the one who’s the weasel! And I’m not going to the wells of silence with you, that hill gives me the heebie jeebies. Besides, I'm not good at being quiet.”



Roxanne cracked a smile and chuckled, amusedly.



She called over to them, “Have you two ever played red light, green light?” As they shook their heads no, she gestured to her flower crown of freshly-picked poppies, “Would you like to play? Whoever wins the game can have my crown and a slice of cherry pie with ice cream, and whoever loses brings me a bucket of water.” They both lit up at this idea, each eager at the opportunity to earn treasures and avoid a trek to the silent hill. “Run back over there to the mulberry bush!” she instructed. “When I say ‘green light’, run toward me. When I say ‘red light’ and turn around, freeze. If I catch you moving after I turn around, you have to take 3 big steps back. Whoever gets to me first is the winner. No foul play, Jack, and no sock-popping.” Jill liked these rules.



“Ready?” They nodded.

She turned around and gave her dress another scrub. “Green light!”


I was engrossed in the scene so intensely that I almost forgot I was there. Casual bystanders rarely make enjoyable company, so I chimed in - "I forgot about this game. I used to love playing it as a kid." 

"Red light!" she shouted. Jack, being mid-leap, face planted when he froze. "You're out, Jack. Jill wins the prize, and you need to get me that water like you promised." Jill offered to share her pie and help with the water if Jack agreed not to be a weasel for at least a week. They pinky-promised and went on their way.

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Roxanne heaved a heavy sigh and turned to me. "We keep things as light as we can around here. Jack and Jill lost their parents to The Whisper recently. Their grandfather is sick too, in the apothecary. I'm all they have right now." She closed her eyes and centered herself for a moment. "I went to check on him today and he's not doing well. He coughed up this blood on my dress. Now we'll just wait and see if I'm infected. If they put me in the grave ditch with the others, at least I'll look very pretty in there, once I get this dress clean." 


I was relieved to have the new beta version of Auralink installed, which features Soul-Immunity™, a new level of contamination protection, an invisible energy barrier which effectively prevents outside particles from entering, and boosts energy and immunity. "You know, you could still get Auralink now if you wanted, it might help." Her eyes pierced through me as if I had spoken an obscenity. "I think I'll take my chances," she said.

"Why are you afraid of Auralink?" I asked. She appeared agitated. "It's not about fear..." I watched her change her mind. "Actually it is about fear. We cannot allow fear motivate our actions. The moment we're choosing something because we're afraid not to, we're choosing fear. And I refuse to choose fear."

I found her argument rather ironic, but nodded that I understood. "I can see that you are a strong person, I hope that everything works out for you and Jack and Jill. Is there anything else you'd like to add before I head out, on or off the record?" She didn't have anything to add on the record.
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