Prologue

A Story by Dave Ellis

From "The Park" - my first novel :)

As he sat down in the peaceful park his mind started to drift as usual. Swaths of hidden memories and past joys bubbled up from the deep as he watched the ducks glide along the clear calm surface of the lake. Some thoughts were clear and vivid, others more muddled and fragmented, some with strong emotions still, while yet again others strangely remote and neutral after the passing of time and changes in life rendering them distant and beautiful but other like. Ever since he was a little child he had loved the peace of a small lake in the park.

And the day had just begun.

He had often feared and dreamed about adult life. The world of the big ones littered with seriousness and pressures, repetition. But as the mind grew there had been so many surprises along the way, so many pleasant surprises and unexpected discoveries in the decade long process of maturation and coming of age. It had been marvelous.

At times he watched the other people around him in the park and carefully wondered about what was circling around in their minds. Daily problems, recurring thoughts, friends and partners and family bonds, plans for the future, the loss of old dreams or the growing and brewing excitements of the bright life that lay ahead. So much unspoken, and so much untouched.

And as the days and weeks were passing the daily routines would form into continuous little streams of motions and subtle changes on a longer time scale. The growth of the trees, the gliding of the ducks, or the shape and rhythms of his own cascades of thoughts. He dearly loved the gentle flow of time in peace.

At times he also went through the lost but joyful places and parts of his past life. Rearranged them, reevaluated their place, their significance, their impact and their color. Some stable and present through evolving times, others slipping for years but coming back in new and different forms as the context of life changed in unpredictable ways. Like old books regaining some relevance. But mostly it was peaceful and beautiful. A sense of gratitude and a sense of nature finding its way over time. A gentle persistence guiding your way.

The persistence of thinking had at times been a confusing presence. An ambiguous friend through the coming of age.