“Believe me, if you go down this Breeze path you’ll never get out of here. Change your hair, change your life. The gold will go and you’ll never be the same. Trust me. I know.”
“My– my kingdom or queendom thinks me bananas for hanging out around mainland, let alone *here*. Bananas, I said (she nods up). That’s my attempt at a joke to lighten the mood.”
“It didn’t work,” the other responded. The one that had already succumbed to the Other Side. Humor, lame or unlame, was not allowed there. “I think you should go with that hole in the wall next. The cave. The owner will be proud and surprised she could rent the place. (Small) homeless camp right outside. Convenient to this, um, downtown. Guess you can call it a downtown. And this beach, for what it’s worth.”
“I’ll think about it, erm, Other Self. What did you say your name was?”
“You know my name.”
“Breeze,” Merry Gouldbusk pronounces while staring at her and realizing. “Me in the future.”
“Lucky you,” Future Breeze responds quickly. She had seen enough of the past for tonight.
—–
She went to see where she once lived. The cave or hole-in-the-wall existence didn’t help: she still succumbed. And it’s available again. Too bad time can’t loop back upon itself, she thought, or I could go back and change things. Make sure Merry never published those photos, took those shots. “The Rose and the Thorn” could be a good title for this story, pheh.
—–
“No, there’s something still missing, Merry. Tell you what, let’s do another experiment. Let’s lose the golden skin this time. Keep the girly hair, lose the skin.”
“You mean, just take it *off*?”
“Sure. Just temporary mind you.”
—-
“Yeahhh. That’s it. You go girl!”
Sunklands 