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One
day in Fair Haven, where I grew
up, I went to drink water from my glass and I found a small frog inside
it. My first reaction was to throw
away the whole thing: glass, water and frog. But I didn’t. I just sat there looking down at the
frog, who sat there looking up at me.
For a few minutes, none of us moved.
It crossed my mind that it could be a princess, and I wondered if I
should kiss her. In the spur of a
moment I actually tried, but the frog jumped and bumped against my nose,
then fell back on the glass.
For
a little while longer we looked at each other again; then, I sneezed. The frog, awfully scared now, took a big
leap and landed on top of my head, then jumped inside the glass! It seemed like back to square one again
and I started to laugh. My laughter
got louder and louder, until my entire body shook. My stomach was hurting, but I couldn’t
stop laughing. It quieted down
eventually. Then I looked at the
glass and there was no frog (or princess) on it. She had left without even saying good-bye.
As
I stared once more at the glass, I wondered whether a frog had ever been
there. Perhaps it had all been an
illusion, sleepy as I was. Given
that I was thirsty, I just drank the water and went to bed. Good night!
But
the most remarkable thing (perhaps the only remarkable thing) of the story
started to happen that night: A green princess came to visit me in my
dreams. She took me by the hand and
led me through a long corridor to an immense door, the tall and heavy
wooden and metal type we find in medieval European castles. We stood in front of it for a minute;
then it opened, as if by an invisible force. She led me through it and on the other
side we found a city bustling with life:
a food market with delicious looking breads and cheeses, aromatic
fruits and neatly arranged vegetables; a group of dwarfs building up a
small castle inside a rock; a colorful flower shop; and dozens of people
walking to and fro, all well groomed and rather happy looking.
“This is my Sunday
Kingdom” – she said.
And
that was the beginning of my Sunday dream adventure. Indeed, she came to visit me every day
for a whole week, and every day she took me to a different kingdom. Soon, needless to say, I was madly in
love with her.
On
the seventh night, upon return from her Saturday kingdom, as I started to
wake up, I kissed her. She returned
my kiss with profound sweetness.
“Is
this the beginning of our life together, for ever and ever?” – I asked.
“No,
I’m afraid this is rather the end”, she said, with melancholy in her voice.
“But
no, it can’t be” - I complained, trying to stay asleep, to hold back on the
storm of light that was pouring upon me.
The
last thing I heard was something like “…but you must go back to being a
kid, and I must go back to being a frog.”
The voice had faded, as if coming from far away.
I
woke up feeling awfully lonely. My
mom could not understand why I was so quiet during breakfast. She even put a thermometer on me thinking
I might be ill.
“Did
you have another fantastic dream?” – my mom asked me. I had told her about my dreams before,
though without giving her much detail.
“Yes,
I did. But I don’t want to talk
about it” – was all that I responded.
She
never came to visit me again.
Several months later, sitting near a small river in the woods,
looking at the frogs, it occurred to me that she had never told me her
name. “What a fool,” I thought, “how
could I have not ever asked her?”
At that moment,
little by little, it started to rain.
“I’ll call her Lluvia” I
said to myself, which means Rain in Spanish. Meanwhile, the rain poured, making the
leaves sing and the river water dance.
Yes, that’s it,
that will be her name: “Lluvia.”
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