I was a knight once. I really was. Not that kind of knight who has shinny armor of iron, galloping horses with speed of light; swords as sharp as an icicle or maybe a stone-hard shield. I was a little knight who had dragons to fight with, dungeons to discover, and innocents to protect and at last a lady to protect -- my mom, the most beautiful lady of all times.
We were living happily at a twelve storied castle-- today it is called an apartment. We used to have a lot of fun. She read me books about brave knights, cooked me delicious meals which smelled like happiness and love and sat with me all the time while I played my knight games and protected my mother from the wooden dragon. Love and Happiness ruled our house. That was our family portrait bonded by love. But everybody knows that you cannot be a knight while sitting on your mother’s laps; you have to get out in the world to learn and to see what’s going on. That’s where all it happened on a long journey of mine to the mighty “Blue Castle”…
I used to go to the “Blues Castle”—nowadays called it “Kindergarten”-- after my lovely cereal with daily milk, after my mother dressed me with perfect care. She used to dress me with colorful t-shirts, baggy trousers and warm socks. I was galloping around with glory with those clothes on. On one typical day that all changed on the way to the “Blue Castle”…
The wooden doors of our home closed behind me with a big crash and echoed over the hallway. I was now alone. I took my first step forward with the warmth of my mom’s kiss on my cheek. I was in the dungeon of our castle; some call it the “stairway” now. There were creepy spider webs all over the place surrounded by a dim light and, I was looking all the way down the stairway holding the cold metal barrier with my bare hands. Then I started to run down on the marble stairs because I imagined that a red dragon was chasing me. I couldn’t see much because I needed to run but this dragon was looking mighty and enormous with its fire red skin, with angry golden eyes and its sharp golden teeth as big as my head. He could have swallowed me in one piece. Step after step, I run down the castle’s cold marble steps holding the barriers until I was suddenly out.
I smelled the fresh air flowing, touched the stone roads, and looked at the horizon. It looked never-ending, the giant green hills one after the other had dear running and jumping above them. Then I followed the road to the “Blue Castle”. I stopped at a crossroad; I needed to get to the other side of the road. At that very spot I was betrayed .I looked left, then right, and then left again; I should be very careful or the rocks rolling down the hill can crunch me like a little nut. I then took one step on the white dusty road where pedestrians use. When I put the other leg next to the other one that catastrophe happened.
My lady, my mom was watching me with her leaf green eyes from the balcony when it happened. That is when I was betrayed. The Betrayer was neither a man nor an animal. It was my enormously baggy pants. They were waiting, lying on the ground for someone to pick them back up. I was standing there with my teddy bear boxer shorts with wind blowing in my boxer short. It seemed like years I stood there. The bears on the boxer shorts were looking at me. They were trying not to laugh out loud but you could see that from their shiny black eyes that they were laughing. I waited there for days, months, years with my with my pants lying on the ground. I was looking at them they were looking at me.
Suddenly, without my control, my arms crossed all the way down to reach the Betrayer. The first touch was like nothing I have touched before. My pants were as hot as a blacksmith’s oven, but there was something different now; about my pants--it was the warmth of the betrayal. My tiny pale fingers wrestled with the burning pants to find a way to pull them back up. There wasn’t any fire at all but you could smell that in the air-- like when your favorite dish gets burned in the oven and the whole meal was ruined. Then my shaking hands grabbed them and slowly pulled on the burning pants. An imaginary ring of fire surrounded my arms; not like the ring of fire in Johnny Cash songs it was something bad, but slowly the pants started to climb their way back to where they should be. The Breeze inside the boxers shorts finally come to an end but from my legs a burning ring of fire was raising. It was burning the spot it touched with its ruby flames. Then for a second the world stop turning and the sun refused to shine for a moment. The ruby flames stopped burning and my pants were at their place for now.
I urgently turned my head right and left to see if there was anybody who had seen the betrayal, who had seen this shame of mine. I then quickly ran to the “Blue Castle.” My scars got better but I have never forgotten this betrayal—the burnt of my pride. The next day I sold my armors, sold my sword, sold my tiny little wooden horse. I quit being a knight. The world wasn’t that plane hills anymore where you can sit on your miserable wooden horse and pretend that you are spreading justice on every piece of land. With the money I earned from my sale I bought a guitar and an amp instead, because that day I decided to be a Psycadelic Rock Star! That way it doesn’t matter if you run around dressed with colorful leather pants or if you are naked in the middle of the stage...
I urgently turned my head right and left to see if there was anybody who had seen the betrayal, who had seen this shame of mine. I then quickly ran to the “Blue Castle.” My scars got better but I have never forgotten this betrayal—the burnt of my pride. The next day I sold my armors, sold my sword, sold my tiny little wooden horse. I quit being a knight. The world wasn’t that plane hills anymore where you can sit on your miserable wooden horse and pretend that you are spreading justice on every piece of land. With the money I earned from my sale I bought a guitar and an amp instead, because that day I decided to be a Psycadelic Rock Star! That way it doesn’t matter if you run around dressed with colorful leather pants or if you are naked in the middle of the stage...
