Fragments...

I went to the zoo in Wellington and got to look at kangaroos close up, which I'd never done before, so it interested me. Maybe it would have interested me anyway. I got to see how one leaned forward over the feeding trough, standing very like a duck, with its body horizontal and its big hind legs in its centre of gravity (which was further back than a duck's, so that tail must really add some weight to its back end - unless I'm wrong about the centre of gravity thing). And I got to see how it moved when it wanted to move slowly, putting its tiny front feet on the ground for support while it hopped its back legs. It was interesting.

Below is a tiny writing fragment with absolutely no story attached. I'm including it only because its been brewing in my mind for a few days and because I'm bored. I freely admit that I lifted the idea from a lady called debxena (at least, I think she's a lady - we've never met in the flesh), with the hopes that she doesn't mind too much...

Fragment

"It's not as much use as you'd think," she said.

I looked up into her coffee-coloured eyes, startled.

"Mind-reading, I mean. Take a book and flip through the pages - however many fragments you get from that, that's what I can read from you - just a few words: horse-tail, sun in water, Aleandra...

"The public understands that now, I think." She flashed her ring, a tiny glory of red and gold enamel: "Technically I'd get fined if I didn't wear my crest in public, but... nah, not gonna happen. There's a bit of rigmarole around exam time at school, that sort of thing.

"But back to mind-reading. Okay, supposing I want to find out what makes you tick. I do have ins to your soul, and if I'm observant and patient, I can guess what they mean to you. I'm pretty sure that the dappling light on the table by your cup is the sun in water. If I wanted to, I could research your background and find this Aleandra you think so much of. And I could observe your reactions to my own behaviour, and realise that every time I shake my hair, just so, like a horse flicks its tail, you think of her hair, that my skin is as creamy, that when I half-smile you ring with her name, like a bell sunk under the sea tolling the tides...

"But most of that's being observant, and anyone can do it who cares enough. My 'gift' doesn't help with important stuff, and never has."

She looked at me straight, and her lips quirked into a half-smile. "I'm not her," she said.

*End fragment*