Someday a Prince

by Moshe Dann (April 2014)

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Her face reflected in the window, wisps of hair caught in the trees, something raged inside her. It was early spring and she felt empty.

Adjusting the earphones, she started the tape, filling her body with music that pulsed with a heavy rhythm, black and tough. Running swiftly past garbage containers, she felt her leg muscles tighten and breathed the scent of lilacs. Jogging in place, she watched a few young children in the park climb on the scaffold of bridges and ladders built to evoke the impression of a castle. A princess, she imagined herself, waiting to be rescued by an enchanted prince.

Turning the corner in front of her apartment building, out of breath, she noticed a well-dressed man looking at the mailboxes. Cute, she thought, as she approached the building. She opened the door and then stopped.

He smiled and mentioned a name.

His gentle sincerity threw her off-balance. She had expected him to leave and be done with it, but now he had intruded again, stirring things up.

He looked at her as if he wanted to ask a question and then shrugged and walked slowly away.

Suddenly, she heard a soft knocking at her door. She listened, recalling his face, and then, silence.

around her shoulders, toes sticking out of red flip-flops.

Helen rushed to the window to see Josh walking through the park. He stopped to pick a bunch of lilacs, smelled them, and then continued on his way.

Helen placed two eggs carefully in the bowl.

Helen looked at her and raised her eyebrows.

She would put the flowers in a vase and ask her students to pass it around and close their eyes. And then, their eyes glittering with curiosity, she would give them a writing assignment, “On Lilacs,” and watch them discover who they are.  

 

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Moshe Dann is a writer and journalist living in Jerusalem. His next book, As Far As The Eye Can See, will be published by New English Review Press this fall.

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