Quote of the Week

A week or two ago I had the strangest dream. I was in Oz, and it was completely empty. I remember wandering down the halls of a great museum. The walls glittered in that emerald color we all know well from the Judy Garland version, and behind smudged panes of glass were pictures and belongings to the heroes: Dorothy, the Tinman, the Scarecrow, and the Lion. In my dream, I knew the city was abandoned and that I was trespassing among the ancient ruins of this once powerful place, but I also knew something was following me. It was one of those strange dreams where you end up running and falling, then jerking awake like a flopping fish with your heart racing. It was bizarre, and I would love to use it as the basis for a story or a book but the Oz thing is so outdone. I'll have to think on it.

For now, on to the quote. How many of us would be happy if we woke up tomorrow morning in a new world? Somewhere far from home, maybe out in the darkest reaches of space, or a different dimension, or maybe even through a rip in time. I know if I woke up somewhere far from my family, I wouldn't be able to stop until I reached them again. But, if they had traveled with me, I might be inclined to enjoy and investigate if our new surroundings were hospitable. It always comes down to circumstances, doesn't it? It's easy to say that we would love to be transported to Oz or to a hobbit hole, but actually living it would be a much harder ordeal. I think that 's why I love books so, because I get to take a normal Dick or Jane, show you their everyday lives, maybe dull, maybe not, then put them in an alien place. Suppose there is danger? Suppose this is what they have been waiting for all their lives, or maybe, like me, they have someone they love that they desperately need to get back to. Each person is different, and that is what makes stories, even ones with similar circumstances, so interesting and entertaining.

Dorothy craves adventure, somewhere where the sky is not gray and the grass is not dead. Where else can you expect a colorful world than over the rainbow? This quote is the beginning her this brave little girls journey into the unknown.




“The cyclone had set the house down gently, very gently – for a cyclone—in the midst of a country of marvelous beauty. There were lovely patches of green sward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits. Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes. A little way off was a small brook, rushing and sparkling along between green banks, and murmuring in a voice very grateful to a little girl who had lived so long on the dry, gray prairies.”

― L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz




 

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