Summer Secrets

— Marilyn Myerson

Salty, briny, mysterious. She teased her friends and family members, alluding to a hidden cache of gems and special treasures. If they could wait till summer’s end, “then all will be revealed.”

Her younger sister Juniper, always the clever one, tried every which way she could to open the wooden box, but alas, her efforts came to naught. There was no visible opening, no fastener upon which she could practice her lockpicking skills; likewise, there were seemingly no secret buttons to push. And, furthermore, none of Juniper’s incantations worked on this seemingly impenetrable object. It was small but its emanations were mighty.

Everyone who knew of it seemed to fall under its spell, and countless hours were spent hoping to conjure up a way to get the venerated object to spill its innards. Lucy smiled beneficently at all these vain efforts, smug in her knowledge that everyone would be rewarded, if they would only learn to be patient. But patience was in sore supply that year, having flown away in face of the crazy-making pace of contemporary life.

Some in Lucy’s circle began to grumble, to spread rumours that the box was in fact empty and that Lucy was just playing her biggest prank to date. For, and make no mistake here, she was known far and wide for her teasing and her shenanigans. Some of her exploits were relatively harmless, like the time she dyed uncooked eggs for Easter and hid them in Juniper’s underwear drawer. Everyone but Juniper thought that was hilarious and Lucy even agreed to do the requisite laundry. Other hijinks, like the time she hid grandma’s dentures in the cookie jar and gave young Jake the fright of his life, maybe not so much fun.

But while Lucy had her detractors, others believed strongly in her magical powers. They imagined Lucy had somehow conjured up a local genie and convinced it to slumber in the box, only to emerge later and grant wishes for the lucky few who had never doubted. It was in this spirit that the twins, Heidi and Amelia, sang Lucy’s praises and even knelt before the box, in an effort to prove their loyalty.

At first tickled by this show of support, Lucy quickly realized that the twins had now become the centre of attention; well…she couldn’t have that, could she, so Lucy picked up the box, crooning to it softly, and announced she’d be relocating it to a secret hiding place. Thus she sought to redirect attention back to herself. And very successful was she. Despite thorough attic to cellar searches, the prized object was not to be found, and the mystique around the box, and, of course Lucy herself, grew.

The next event of note was the riding into town of the handsome stranger, mounted on a palomino steed. He was dressed nonchalantly in cowboy gear, chaps and all, and beamed his smile all around town. Lucy unexpectedly found herself thoroughly smitten…and he, in turn, was enchanted by her…the beauty and mysterious aura with which she carried herself.

“Come live with me and be my love and we will all the pleasures prove…”…a Christopher Marlowe quoting cowboy, can this be? Lucy was bedazzled as he courted her with word and deed (to his uncle’s mining properties). She got so carried away, she happily saddled up her prize-winning Appaloosa. And off into the sunset they rode.

Everyone was so taken by the fairy tale aspects of Lucy’s adventures. The gossip mill had no room for any other subject. A year later they rode back into town with a bonny baby and gold bullion to share.

While meanwhile, at the bottom of an old disused well, the little wooden box lived out its days and its nights. The genie inside finally realized it was not going to be summoned, so it worked its own magic, escaped from the box, and disappeared off to find a suitable residence. Hopefully an antique lamp buried near a beach and smelling of the sea. Salty, briny, mysterious.

Marilyn Myerson, Ph. D, Philosophy, has learned to take nothing for granted and to embrace the power of whimsy. Marilyn was the first outside hire in what is now the USF Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, starting in 1973, when it was just one year old. She was an administrator at various departmental and deans’ levels before her retirement as Emeritus faculty in 2010. She shepherded the Human Sexual Behavior class through its many incarnations, developed the original women’s health classes, and taught feminist research methods. She is happily involved with OLLI-USF, having taken painting and writing courses. She created and frequently teaches Imaginative Writing classes and facilitates the Imaginative Crew and several other writing groups.