Bench girl

The bench-girl sat there everyday, on the beautiful white park bench near the little lake.

She stared into the air, talked to no one, and did not even seem to recognize the birds which, used to her appearance, started sitting on her shoulders from time to time, hoping for some crumbles to eat. The bench alone knew why she came here everyday, but it would not tell anyone. She arrived early in the mornings, around 8 a.m., with a bottle of water and lunch packed in her handbag. The only thing she did was sitting there during the day and staring little holes into the air. When I passed her one day, like I did about 3 years, I took all my courage and asked what she was doing there exactly. She looked very clean and had a face which was even beautiful, though in an unfamiliar way. I had not expected her to answer, but she turned towards me, opened her mouth and said with a thin voice: I am waiting for adventure. You are waiting for adventure?, I repeated and she only nodded and kept on staring, like she was able to see into another world.

Another day, I passed her again and decided to sit down next to her. Maybe, the adventure would come if we both sat together? So we were sitting, people passed us by and it started to rain. I ignored the cold wind and the wetness coming through my clothes as she did. There it comes, she suddenly said quietly, pointing into the nowhere and keeping her eyes on the imaginary spot the seemed to have found. First, I saw nothing. Then, suddenly, the air a few metres from us started to move like in heat, colours blurred and out of the nowhere a white carriage appeared, reminding me of the one in cinderellas story. She smiled, got up from the bench and slowly moved towards the two horses which were pulling the vehicle. She got in, waved at me with a dreamy expression and the carriage started to move, disappearing slowly into nowhere where it had come from.

Since that day, I keep on sitting on the bench waiting for the adventure to come and get me.

They call me the bench-girl.