The Age of Cities by Brett Josef Grubisic

Author:Brett Josef Grubisic [Grubisic, Brett Josef]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Social Science, Gay & Lesbian, Gay Men, Gay, Gay Studies
ISBN: 9781551522128
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Published: 2006-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

No soul could doubt that the plump and tiny strawberry was the day’s honoured guest. Its delectable shape could be seen everywhere—teeming in baskets, rendered and then sealed with wax in jars, floating with ice chunks in punch, transformed into costumes, cut out from painted wood and affixed to streetlights.

Winston and Alberta were watching a group of young crooners from the Women’s Auxiliary perform a medley of songs sure to make a grandmother’s eyes glisten with nostalgia. Their demure white dresses were set off by green string bracelets that sprouted dangling cloth berries. The singers had strolled onstage close on the felt-clad heels of the Valley Players, whose contribution to the day had been the rousing final act of the little known Shakespearean tragedy, Strawmlet. Scampering about during the parade, the Players had promoted themselves—a miracle of self-improvement—as the world’s first strawberries performing in an Elizabethan drama. The audience had hooted and shouted good-natured insults when the red, man-sized Polonius came on stage; once the swordplay began, though, everyone in the crowd grew silent and watchful.

As they feinted back and forth, Winston studied the Players’ backdrop. Painted who knows when and touched up over the years, the wooden wall depicted a berry farmer’s paradise: the fantastically verdant and fertile Valley overflowing with strawberry fields. Granite mountains had metamorphosed into giant strawberry mounds capped by creamy peaks; a grand rainbow arced from one side of the valley to the other, all the while fighting the laws of nature, composed as it was from scads of the celebrated red marvels.

The mural was set up year after year and its fanciful vision never failed to elicit comment. Today, Alberta had wondered aloud about how badly the trots would course through the citizenry of that fairy tale kingdom. When they had bumped into Doc Carter, she’d asked for his professional opinion about a diet composed of nothing other than strawberries.

“You wouldn’t get scurvy, that much is for sure,” he’d smiled, “but the lack of red meat would have you as weak as a lamb in no time.”

Strawberries abounded, but it was the spectacular weather that was common currency. June was fickle: every man was aware that a furious downpour was as likely as not. Tents and tarpaulins were ready and available, and gave no one satisfaction. It would be better to head home than crowd together dripping wet and irritable in a dank tent. Yet at noon no hint of clouds near or far gave pause for an anxious thought. It was neither scorching nor wet, and proclamations about the fineness of the day stood ready on the tips of myriad tongues.

Loud applause and a few shrill whistle bursts followed the lament of stoic Fortinbras over the dead berries now strewn on the stage floor. After the Players bowed, the master of ceremonies—wearing a flower-garlanded top hat and a tuxedo coat with tails—wandered out to announce that a band of fiddlers would be setting up soon. His words gave the audience impetus to mill about.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.