Ep 10 - The Show, Part I
Flambeau River State Forest, Wisconsin, October 24, 2014
<Naran reflects on the Didelian show. Catch up on the previous chapters: Table of Contents>
Psyrah and I are on our way to the Flambeau River State Forest. The traffic is horrific; it looks as if the entire state of Minnesota is driving out. The normal three-and-a-half-hour journey turns into five hours, and I am glad we left early.
From the parking lot we already see lights glowing in the distance. We leave our phones in the car since the Didelians have strict rules about electronic devices. They have a way of detecting them, and people are advised not to even wear a digital watch.
To get to the Arena, we have to walk through a small part of the forest. The pathway is lit by torches, and the trees are draped with fabrics that lightly glow blue in the darkness. Coming from the trees, we walk into a large meadow, and the first thing we see is the massive, colorfully lit Arena towering into the night sky. We instantly slow down and look up. The Arena is an incredibly impressive structure. The stones light up in turquoise and white. Over the walls crawl light snakes, and hundreds of colorful flags wave at us from the top of the building. Bewildered, Psyrah and I stare at each other. We don’t have much time to linger because masses of people push themselves toward the arched entrance as enchanted worker bees on their way to their queen.
As we move closer, we see that the entrance looks like a tunnel that ends in darkness. Two massive statues sit above the arch and guard the doorway. One statue is a sphinx with a beautiful female face. She is looking down at us as if she is checking whether we are worthy of entering the Arena. Next to the sphinx, a proud bull with massive eagle wings faces the heavens.
The trees behind the Arena are waving in the wind, dancing to the soft melodies coming from the building. In the sky above, vague colored lights pulse in the sky, and they move to the same rhythm as the trees. It is not uncommon to see northern lights in this region, and yet, it is enchanting to see them appear right above the Arena.
Once we reach the tunnel, we see ten beautiful, tall women with long, light-blue silk dresses, who welcome the visitors. They all look identical; their hair is braided around their heads and blue shiny lipstick glosses on their lips. Their skin shimmers like porcelain and this gives them an interstellar look. Each carries a cane with a brightly lit sphere of glass on the top that pulses in the darkness. With incredible swiftness, they wave the sticks over the tickets people hold in front of them. Once the light scans the paper, it flashes violet.
When it is our turn, the woman who is attending us smiles broadly. She has flawless straight white teeth, and her blue eyes twinkle and radiate happiness. The stick flashes, and the woman nods. I look at my ticket, and it seems nothing happened, but when I trace the paper with my finger, I notice that a stamp was added in the middle. This ticket is marked.
We pass through the arched doorway and enter the obscure tunnel behind it. Large candles hang from the walls and flicker wildly, which makes the shadows of the visitors dance. For a moment it feels as if we are entering an old castle in medieval times. People around us speak with extremely excited voices. In the tunnel it smells of fresh forest on a warm and rainy summer’s day. The line slows down, and for a moment we are stuck in a human traffic jam surrounded by walls.
“Not much different from downtown Minneapolis,” I joke to Psyrah, who I can barely see in the flickering of the candlelight. When we push deeper into the tunnel, the line of candles ends. It is now impossible to see the entrance or an exit. Everything is pitch black, and I wrap my arms around my body. Suddenly, a short, blue light flash hits our eyes. I blink a few times—while the flash continues behind my closed eyes—and look at Psyrah.
“What was that?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe they took a picture of our surprised faces that they’ll sell after the show. Like they do at Disney Land.”
“Perhaps…” The murmuring of the people around us becomes louder, and I can feel their anxiety mix with my own.
“Perhaps we should hold on to each other,” I whisper. Psyrah laughs, and she grabs my hand. I’ve always been the one who’s more easily scared.
“It is a bit scary,” she admits.
The forest perfumes intensify. Suddenly, all sounds in the tunnel mute. The whispers of the people around us, the sounds of our feet on the floor. As if someone turned the master volume dial to zero. I can’t even hear my own breathing. “This is what it must feel like to be blind and deaf at the same time,” I say, but all I hear is the voice in my head. In panic, I pull Psyrah closer, and she throws her arm around me. Here we stand, in utter darkness, like two scared little girls, waiting for what’s to come.
My anxiety intensifies, and right when I’m about to freak out, a warm and good feeling rolls over me like a thick blanket of bliss. The desire to run vanishes. Psyrah loosens her grip, which means she feels it too. Relaxing music washes through the tunnel, and I let go of Psyrah. I feel entirely peaceful, as if I’m floating in a worry-free existence. I feel no hunger or thirst, I just feel completely content. It’s a radical change compared to how I felt just a minute before.
A faint light appears at the end of the tunnel, and the scent of forest gradually disappears. The exit. We’ll soon need to step out of this vacuum of warmth, delight, and nothingness. The candles return, and our shadows dance on the walls once again. Slowly, the voices around me return to their normal volumes, and I hear great excitement everywhere. I look at Psyrah. She’s smiling. The stress-free feeling of my body is still there. I look at my own dancing silhouette on the wall, and suddenly it waves at me while my real arms hang beside my body. Bewildered, I step back. Did I just imagine this? I nudge Psyrah in her side and make her look at the wall. I point at our dancing shadows, but now nothing special happens; my shadow doesn’t wave again. I stare at the candles to see if they are part of the trick, and that’s when I realize they are floating in front of the wall… They don’t have support anywhere. They are…floating! Totally perplexed, I poke Psyrah again, now harder.
“Ouch!” Annoyed, she looks at me and tries to decipher my expression, but I nod my head in the direction of the candles. In the faint glow of the light, I see her eyes widening. I move toward the wall and stick my hand between the stones and a candle. Nothing is there! I hear bystanders gasp. I look at Psyrah again and smile.
The candles aren’t the only things that changed. The colors around me seem brighter, the sounds are more intense, and people are smiling and laughing enthusiastically. It feels as if our reality shifted into a dream where joy is the only thing that counts. In my mind there is no tomorrow, no yesterday. Nothing matters but this great feeling and the wonder that I’m in right now. This is going to be a great evening.
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