THE DANCING STAR - CHAPTER 2

 CHAPTER 2 of THE DANCING STAR

They spent a long time in conversation, telling each other tales from here and there, and also telling tales from there and here. Every now and then or every then and now Othello Meow tickled Adelade the Star, and the latter was even more encouraged to tell of adventures.

Adelade the Star suggested to both of them, to Othello Meow and Roger Rococo Rose-Without-a-Thorn, as well as both Roger Rococo Rose-Without-a-Thorn and Othello Meow, to come with her to the Land of Nevergothere Ifyousurelywon'treturn, which filled Roger's face with a wide green smile like those of bard frogs when they sing songs to their ladyloves in the lily ponds and their ladyloves reward them with an equally green and wide smile.

His great-great-grandfather had been there and never returned; no one knew either before or afterwards why he had gone forth, but every time his great-great-grandmother was reminded of that land, her gaze was turned towards the ocean and a little teardrop of absence streamed down her left cheek.

Not even the greatest maharajahs, with all their racing elephants and all their lucky crickets, did light-footedly and lunatically undertake a quest like this one. But they all had to wait until from the horizon there rose over the horizon a moon laced with cinnamon lace, and within orange-coloured flesh with bone-colored pips on the orange-coloured flesh. It is then that one can go to the Land of Nevergothere Ifyousurelywon'treturn. When the orange moon rises, you may expect anything to occur. And when it rose that night, Othello Meow and Roger Rococo Rose-Without-a-Thorn hopped onto Adelade the Star and began their quest, only leaving on the house door this message.

"We will return soon, or maybe earlier, and when we return we shall return."

So they set course for the orange moon and went right through it, through a long passageway like a colourful tunnel, vermillion and chestnut brown, honey golden and purplish, as long as when you have tunnel vision, tunnel vision in many colours. At the end of the tunnel a beastie was expecting them, a beast none of the three friends had ever seen, and who had never seen any of the three friends either. He was a big one, but either he had got or he hadn't not a face like a good fellow, what they call a nice guy. Suddenly the beast became aware of their presence, and moving his head a little to the right and then moving his head a little to the left, he slowly opened his mouth and said:

"Welcome, I am the camel Kamal; hope you are pleased with your quest through these lands."

"Thank you very much indeed," all three friends responded.

Kamal Hunchcamel had them over for afternoon tea, and, moving his head once more a little to the left and then a little to the right, he told them they could go to the town of Rice-Con-Gee, the largest town in the Land of Nevergothere Ifyousurelywon'treturn. That evening there would be a redoubtable opera performed by the eight giraffe sisters, the Pokerface sisters; a great show expected and advertised since ages in every community in the environs. He gave them directions towards Rice-Con-Gee: the way was very easy; as soon as they arrived at the icy seas where the whale Emma Corsetdreams slept, they had to continue straight on and they would find the No Cry Shampoo River, that flowed past the town of Rice-Con-Gee.

Othello Meow, Roger Rococo Rose-Without-a-Thorn, and Adelade the Star took their leave satisfied.

"We have our ears full of explanations and we are thankful. When we return we will continue to listen to you and our ears will receive your explanations."

"Goodbye," replied the camel Kamal moving his head now to the right, now to the left.

The town of Rice-Con-Gee rose on a little hill slope, a perfect place for the winds to be able to play in its environs. The winds saunter or run chasing one another, playing hide and seek, red light green light, and especially blind wind's bluff.

When, at the end of the day, the so forgetful and carefree winds have had as much fun as they please, they sing songs in the centre of town; springtimey wind songs in springtime, summery wind songs in summer, wintry wind songs in winter. In autumn they breathe out in little puffs and get lost around the corners of old townhouses.

At the door of most houses there were cloth-wringing contraptions. Long and short contraptions, short and stumpy contraptions, tall and slender contraptions, depending on the physique of the houses' inhabitants, whether short and chubby or tall and thin.

In the town of Rice-Con-Gee, on Main Street every afternoon and evening sat old Laura Chocolate-Wishes with her accordion, an accordion that, whenever it was in a good mood, told little tales instead of making the passers-by dance. The little tales it told were sometimes or every now and then as sad as when children have the sorrowful shadows of the valley in their eyes at night. But occasionally or every then and now, in the same fashion, those little tales were as cheerful as when children have upon their brows the bright light of the rising sun.

Adelade the Star, Othello Meow, and Roger Rococo Rose-Without-a-Thorn approached her and asked her:

"What is this little box you have in your hands?"

"It is an accordion, it is as old as I am," quoth Laura Chocolate-Wishes, "but we love one another, we keep one another good company."

"What do you mean," asked Adelade the Star, "by keeping good company?"

"That we speak to one another when no one pays attention to us, we speak of the playing winds, or of the rain that refreshes our cheeks, or of some sleepy moon pretending that she is asleep."

And, upon finishing, the accordion because it was in a good mood:

"Once upon a time, and I mean a long long time ago," the accordion began, "long before the crocopuffs lost their wonderful spectacles, which let them see the same things we see but in black and white; long before the day-blue muslings had their velveteen tails honeyed by falling pots of sweet honey; long before the bell-ringers of the jungle whistled their last excruciating cries; long long time before the sorrowful events that occurred long long time before all that; it was then, some years before that, because crabs have not always walked sideways, a night between springtime and winter, here in Rice-Con-Gee, the Shoemaking Moon, as she is known ever since, sent a message to every shoe in town, who spread the word to all the footwear in the Land of Nevergothere Ifyousurelywon'treturn: 'Tonight all trainers, mary-janes, slippers, flip-flops, sandals, pumps, high heels, clogs, espadrilles, boots, and every other kind of shoe will go out for a stroll on our own, without any kind of feet inside us. Tonight, while those who put us on their feet during the day, on their long and sneaky and greyish or pale or maybe even purplish feet, are fast asleep in their beds, we shall all rise and go forth for a walk.' In the middle of the night, while everyone was asleep, everywhere did all shoes of every kind leave their bedrooms and storage furniture. They walked down the pavement of the streets, up and down staircases, walking up and walking down the promenades. Wellington boots splashed at their hearts' content in the puddles on the pavement. Everywhere, espadrilles and slippers and pumps and sandals nd trainers and flip-flops tiptoed and wore their heels out. Some of them walked with catlike tread, gently sneaking like some people do during the day. Others walked more clumsily, treading loudly with their heels. On that night the Shoemaker Moon came close to the Earth and invited all those shoes to go for a walk with her; therefore, if you ever see a child on a night with a new moon, looking at the new moon through parted fingers, watching that child from over their right shoulder, never over their left as everyone else does, it is because that child is looking at the Shoemaker Moon all full of heaps of espadrilles, sandals, high heels, slippers... all kinds of shoes long story short."

"And if the accordion tells sad stories," asked Othello Meow, "what do you do?"

"If the stories make me really sad," Laura Chocolate-Wishes replied, "I play the sleepy song of the long wind that enters up the slope drowsily. Then the tune carries me away to a place where I have time, lots of time, to dream."

And her eyes, little by little, began to close, until she fell asleep  with her accordion, just like every afternoon on Main Street.

Roger Rococo Rose-Without-a-Thorn, Othello Meow, and Adelade the Star sauntered up Main Street until they reached Tickle-Laugh Square, where, at the local theatre, the eight giraffe sisters were about to perform. The four eldest were called Lettuce, Pettuce, Rettuce, and Dettuce; the four younger were Lattice, Pattice, Rattice, and Dattice. They came from a line of opera singers and actors with longstanding tradition, the Pokerface family. Both the elder giraffe sisters Lettuce, Pettuce, Rettuce, and Dettuce; and the younger giraffe sisters Lattice, Pattice, Rattice, and Dattice Pokerface, all eight giraffe sisters, were of splodged skin and had splodgy coats.

Yet when our friends reached the theatre by the front entrance, they found it closed and a sign saying: "No opera today, because the eight giraffe sisters of the Pokerface family have quarrelled."

The quarrel was concerning the hats and the jackets that they would have to don for the first time at the evening show. They could not agree on which kind of hat or jacket to wear, or on the way to put them on.

Lettuce, Pettuce, Rettuce, and Dettuce said: "The most convenient thing would be to wear both hat and jacket upright and straight." Lattice, Pattice, Rattice, and Dattice said: "The most alluring thing would be to wear both hat and jacket askew, cocked to the side." The argument lasted for hours and hours, and no solution was reached. Since nothing would be solved by letting the spat go on and on, someone, no one knows exactly who, had the brilliant idea of seeking out the Director of the Theatre.

The Director of the Theatre sent for the Director of Public Cleaning Services for Streets and Squares. The Director of Public Cleaning Services for Streets and Squares sent for the Head of Department of Regional Services for Vaccination Against the Common Cold of the Healthcare Prefecture. The Head of Department of Regional Services for Vaccination Against the Common Cold of the Healthcare Prefecture sent for the General Coordinator of Lighting Devices and Psychedelic Affinities; then the General Coordinator of Lighting Devices and Psychedelic Affinities phoned the Mayor, who, very seriously and with a quite sensible mien, said, speaking like a politician who has studied and practiced politics: "Seek out the Special Committee for Complicated Cases."

The Committee gathered in extraordinary assembly. They were an illustrious and distinguished committee, and, when they were all sitting down together, their mouths opened underneath their noses (as it happens to everyone in every illustrious committee), and they picked their ears and scratched their chins thoughtfully (as it happens to everyone in every distinguished committee). Any person who saw them would have said:

"This must be a quite illustrious and distinguished committee."

Their assembly continued.

Two of the giraffe sisters from the Pokerface family, Lettuce and Lattice, remained looking one another in the eyes and blinking, blinking and looking one another in the eyes, with their laughing little eyes. Suddenly, both of them raised their voices at unison:

"We shall wear our hats askew and our jackets straight."

And that was the end of the quarrel between the eight giraffe sisters and the much expected opera could begin without too much delay. Since giraffes are mute, the song they sang remains shut inside the head of each of the eight Pokerface sisters. The elder four, Lettuce, Pettuce, Rettuce, and Dettuce; and the four younger sisters, Lattice, Pattice, Rattice, and Dattice, only by looking very attentively into their little laughing eyes can the audience realise if they are singing out of key or not.

After the opera, all three friends walked towards the town's outskirts, where they found a great network of devices and contraptions, from which every now and then soap bubbles came out; large soap bubbles checkered with large checkers, small bubbles with small lilac stripes, large bubbles with large scarlet stripes.

As all three looked aghast at the contraption, there appeared a fellow with a strange mien, in turquoise uniform with a casque on his head; a police officer.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Do I know you?"

All three friends were left even more astonished, they did not even know what to reply, nor how to leave this predicament.

"Keep calm! I am a respectful friend to all respectable people. That is why I carry this badge, to seize the people who are not respectable," said the police officer, touching the badge and all the medals he wore on his chest pompously. "But rest reassured, you have the face of respectable people."

"!!!!" (They had not left their surprised state yet.)

"This great contraption you see here," the officer continued, "is a patented soap bubble maker, invented by our most honourable Mayor of Rice-Con-Gee. He has also patented the clothes-wringers that all of our houses boast of. Now he is pondering about something else to take even more profit from the Shampoo River. You may get on the bubble that pleases you the most and hitch a ride on it."

"Are there no objections or problems on the Mayor's side?" asked Roger Rococo Rose-Without-a-Thorn.

"No, of course not! This will flatter him a lot," said the officer beaming his greatest smile.