The prompt for day 36 of the 61-day Daisy Yellow Index Card a Day Challenge is “balance.” The theme for week six is maps. So… in my collage, I have a girl who is dwarfed by a giant rabbit while she walks on a map. Let’s call her Alice. She’s older than she was when she got lost in Wonderland and when she went through the looking glass and became a queen. She has grown older but she still retains her sense of wonder at the world, which frequently makes no sense at all. She still doesn’t know why people would read books that have neither pictures nor conversations.
Alice looks at the rabbit, and it looks at her. It says nothing. Alice remembers a rabbit who had a pocket watch and who exclaimed, “I’m late. I’m late for a very important date!” Alice feels the map sliding beneath her feet, while, in her head, she hears Carole King sing, “I feel the earth move under my feet.” Alice begins to lose her balance. She wonders if she is experiencing an earthquake but is sure that maps don’t move randomly.
And then, she discovers the quicksand that somehow dot into the map. All of a sudden, she feels suctioned into something… that she can’t explain… but is completely off balance…
You talk about an older Alice and balance. How fitting because, as one ages, they often have issues with balance – both when standing and walking.
Oh, yes, definitely, which is why falling is so dangerous for older people.