Victoria

Daniel walked into class and sat down in his usual fashion, oblivious to his surroundings. Out of the right side of the room came an unfamiliar scent. It smelled flowery, not overbearing like perfume, but with just a hint of something fresh, like the way his mother’s backyard garden smelled after it stopped raining.

He knew it belonged to a girl and he hesitated for an instant before looking back. He wanted to take in the fresh scent and indulge in the reverie of happier days before interrupting his fantasy with the possibility that this classmate might not be as pleasant to look at as she was to smell.

Daniel looked up and to the side. Sitting in the row to his right, one desk behind him, was the new girl in class. The first thing he noticed was her medium-length black hair, the way it danced on top of her shoulders and caressed the contours of her cheeks. She had deep dark eyes, full lips, and dimples. Her warm friendly eyes gave Daniel the impression that she was nice. He received further confirmation on his suspicion when she caught him staring, and immediately responded with a smile, her dimples acting like an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence, emphasizing what he imagined was her pleasant demeanor.

There were so few of them in his class, or in his grade for that matter — a nice girl at his school was a rare breed indeed. At least to him it was. No one was very nice, but especially the other girls. They were nice to some of the other boys in the class; but when it came to Daniel they measured him up against the ones who were better athletes, or popular, or just not as awkward, and came to the conclusion that he wasn’t someone worthy of any attention or kindness.

She had her notebook out. Class didn’t start for another two minutes and the teacher wasn’t even in the room yet, but she was engaged, her pen at her side, her posture leaning forward, and today’s date neatly written on the left-hand corner of the page. Daniel looked at her penmanship and noticed the usual bubble-written words and numbers that were telling of a girl’s handwriting.

He was staring again. He looked away for a minute so that he wouldn’t get caught. When he tried to sneak another glance back, she met his eyes with her own and started to giggle. Daniel’s cheeks went flush and he felt a slight surge of adrenaline coursing through his body. He was embarrassed now.

In an effort to focus on something else, Daniel decided to open his English book to any random page. A few seconds later he felt a soft touch on the back of his shoulders, causing the hairs on his neck to stand at attention. He turned around to find that the beautiful girl was actually speaking to him. He was too nervous to make out the words right away, but he heard her soft voice and saw her smile brighten as the sounds poured out of her mouth.

“I think you dropped this,” she said.

“huh?” was all his befuddled tongue could muster.

“This pen. Is it yours?”

“Ummm, yeah. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Daniel reached over and wrapped his lanky fingers around the twisted plastic end of the heavily chewed ballpoint pen and saw how disproportionately larger they were in comparison to hers. He wasn’t a particularly tall boy, slightly taller than about half of the boys in his class, but she was very petite in comparison.

She let go of the pen, her fingers gently brushing against his. And even though their hands barely touched, her skin felt like a cotton blanket enveloping him in warmth and safety.

“My name is Victoria, what’s yours?”

“Daniel.” He replied in a low gravely whisper.

In any other context, this would merely be small talk, little bits of information exchanged between two people to fill up silence and time while creating rapport. However, to a boy who’s just been swept off his feet by a pretty girl for the first time in his young adult life, the weight of every word seemed monumental. He wanted to make a good impression, but the pressure of the moment, coupled with his self-consciousness, created so much turmoil in his psyche that he settled for just getting through the exchange without looking like a total ass.

“It’s nice to meet you Daniel…”

Victoria’s sentence was interrupted by a piece of paper that hit Daniel square in the face from the other side of the room.

“Turn around freak!” Charlie, the school bully, scolded Daniel.

“Mind your own business, jerk!” the sweet soft voice of Victoria turned visceral without warning. Just like that, the bully was silenced. Daniel was shocked.

“I’m new here, maybe we can be friends,” Victoria continued, as if nothing happened.

Daniel smiled awkwardly, revealing just how uncomfortable he really was.

“Don’t let him bother you,” Victoria said, “He’s just a fat idiot.”

The teacher walked in and Victoria quickly whispered, “Anyway, we’ll talk later… I’ll look for you at lunch.”

The whole exchange had left Daniel in a stupor. As the lecture began, his mind started to drift. He didn’t dare another glance back for the rest of the period, although his thoughts kept fixating on the beautiful creature he’d just met.

Victoria, he thought. He pondered the sound of the word for a minute. What an odd thing a name is. Most of the time it just floats by. There’s so many of them being exchanged so often, some we remember, some we forget. Then there are the few that land in our mind and stay there somehow, becoming so much more than just silly little tags that identify us. They transform average words to the most meaningful sounds in existence.

What a strange thing to think about. What a strange sounding word. Victoria…

Daniel kept playing back the sound of her voice from when she introduced herself.

Victoria…

The word rattled in his brain and made him loose his place in reality.

No, it’s no longer just a word, he decided. It’s so much more than that, something beautiful and strange, soft and delicate, mysterious and delightful.

The word was the promise of happiness and the possibility of salvation from that feeling of displacement Daniel burdened himself with whenever he was around other kids his age.

She was a friend, and she was beautiful. Daniel’s world had color for the first time.

***

The lunchroom was swarming with energy, as dozens of children congregated amongst their respective tribes. At that age, there were very few things that mattered more than being included in a group: to be a part of something in order to feel like someone.

The athletes, cheerleaders, and the socially exceptional sat in the middle of the lunchroom, somehow inadvertently signifying that they existed at the center of this universe. The surrounding tables were filled with smaller clicks. There was a table with students who were dressed in black and referred to their particular brand of fashion as “goth.” Another one was filled with math and science whiz kids whose idea of fun was trying to stump each other with calculus problems in between debates over quantum mechanics. The political activists congregated near the front of the cafeteria, eating their lunch and making leaflets to distribute, raising awareness for whatever their latest social injustice outcry was going to be. The rebels formed the smallest group of all, and sat furthest away from everyone else: a small group that seemed to contradict itself in principal — they went to great lengths to be noticed for not caring about getting attention.

Then there was Daniel. He sat quietly and alone in a sea of bodies pulsing with energy and excitement. As the brightness and optimism of youth played itself out in the smiles, laughter, excitement, and general horseplay of the teenagers, the gap between this strange boy and his peers was as wide as canyon.

Daniel looked over at Victoria and smiled. She didn’t notice him. There were swarms of kids around her, doting over her and asking her all kinds of things about what brought her to this place. She was welcomed by a few of the cheerleaders and led directly to the center tables where she would be inevitably anointed as one of the “populars”. Daniel immediately felt stupid for thinking that she would follow through on her promise from earlier this morning.

Of course, he thought, she’s the new girl.

When they had met earlier, she didn’t know she talking to the school weirdo. But now that she’s figured it out, her attention turned to the other kids in school.

Stealing glances in her direction, Daniel saw that she was having fun with the other boys and girls. He was jealous of that fun, but more than that, he was envious of the fact that all the other kids were having more than just a brief moment in time with her. They were going to know her, really know her, and share many experiences with her, things that he could never be a part of: pep rallies and football parties; sleepovers and hangouts; school dances and after school meet-ups.

Daniel lowered his head, opened up his black notebook, and started writing maniacally. The pen moved with furious momentum as the words flashed through his mind and wove their way down to his fingertips — where a shaking hand, ill-equipped to capture every nuance of what he was thinking, was trying desperately to keep up with the onslaught of words and images.

Daniel had a new story to tell…

He wrote of an ogre with magical powers, who guarded a bridge that separated a village from the rest of the world. None of the villagers dared to cross the bridge without his permission, which usually required some form of tribute.

But the ogre had not let anyone across for ages. He no longer cared for gold, silver, and other precious items. After years of receiving these things they no longer held any value to him. Like a spoiled child, he longed for something different, but he didn’t know what, so it had been a very long time since anyone was allowed to pass through the bridge. The villagers had seen no one from the outside world, and the rest of the country had forgotten about the people of the village.

One day a fair maiden approached the bridge. In his usual fashion, the ogre stopped her and told her that none would pass without paying tribute. The maiden offered him gold coins, but it was of no interest to him. Then she pleaded with the ogre, insisting that she was sent on a very important errand by the king of another land:

“I’ve come this village to bring a message from the king across the sea. He sent me here to speak with the mayor of this town, his brother. The king across the sea left this village as a pauper and now, many years since that day, has not only gained a kingdom, but also a queen to rule by his side. But as much as this king loves his kingdom and the people in it, he also remembers the village on the edge of the land, where the people were so good to each other, neither man nor woman nor child ever wished for anything else. Now he has sent his daughter to the village, in the hopes that she will live the rest of her days among the people that the king cherished, admired, and loved. I am that king’s daughter and I need an audience with the mayor of this village.”

“What do I care for the kings of far-away lands?” Belched the ogre. “If you want to pass I need a tribute worthy of my might. I have an abundance of treasures, enough to make your king a pauper by comparison.”

“So why force anything more out of the poor people of this village?” The princess asked.

“Because I am an ogre under a bridge — it is my job to do so. You have a job, I’m sure of it, so you must understand this much. We all need to work at our work or else who are we?”

“Very well,” replied the fair maiden, brushing her beautiful hair aside and tilting her head slightly, “so what is it that you need?”

“I need something new, something of value that I haven’t seen before. Bring me that, fair maiden, and I’ll let you pass.”

The woman thought for a moment about what she treasured most, and thoughts of her childhood and those happiest of memories immediately flooded her mind. The treasures of childhood always leave us too soon, but are never forgotten.

She was sure that adult ogres were once children as well and therefore, he must have childhood memories buried deep within him.

If I give him back one of his happy memories, she told herself, then he will yield.

With that, the maiden began to sing. It was the song that mothers sing to their children to let them know they are loved. The song that made children’s cheeks snuggle against their mother’s forearm while they were being held in the most loving of embraces. The words did not matter — everywhere across the great land the same song had always been sung mothers to children, in different tongues and with different words, but with the same melody. The melody was the heart and soul of what they all felt. So the song, no matter what the words, no matter the language, would always be recognized, passed on, and sung forever.

Little ogres had mothers as well. The words that come out of mother ogres’ mouths were never poetic or soothing, yet they were uttered with the same love any mother feels towards her child. It is in that love that the universal melody is created.

The ogre listened to the song and began to cry — tears following the contours of his cheeks and dripping into his smiling mouth. He tasted the salt of his tears, and felt the warm embrace of his mother once more. If only for just a brief moment, he no longer felt alone. That was something he didn’t have. He hadn’t seen any other ogres since the day he was assigned to his bridge. Thoughts of his mother, now a distant memory from happier and carefree days, was the gift he got from the most thoughtful human he had ever met. He was happy again.

“You may pass.” The ogre said and quickly disappeared under the bridge.

He didn’t dare say anything else. In his heart, he knew that she would go on to the village and be with her own people. The little moment in time that meant the world to him was probably just another blink of an eye to this fair lady, with many more like it to follow. She would stay in the village, meet other villagers, have fine dinners with them, maybe meet a handsome man and marry him. She would have babies of her own and sing them the song that brought him to tears.

But most of all, she would forget. As sure as time would pass, from one moment to the next until the moments became days, the days became weeks, and the weeks became years, she would forget that once, so long ago, she made an ogre smile by seeing the humanity in him, and that vision is what gave her safe passage to her new life in the village…

“HEY!”

A loud voice interrupted Daniel’s fugue state, his pen stopping mid-sentence.

“I’ve been over there this whole time waiting for you and you didn’t even come by to say hello. What gives?”

Daniel looked up and saw Victoria standing with a mocking frown on her face. She smiled at him and punched him lightly in the arm.

“Um, yeah,” Daniel replied. “Sorry… you looked busy.”

“Nonsense,” she said, “you’re my first friend so of course you come first. Everyone is so nice here. I really like this school.”

Daniel smiled. “You look like you’re having fun.”

“I’m having a blast. I hope every day here is like today. OK buddy, it’s time to get back to class. Recess is over. I don’t wanna be late to math. I’ll see ya later, OK? Maybe we can walk home after school.”

Daniel watched her sprint away. Unlike his new friend, he had no qualms about being late to math class, or any other class for that matter. He opened his notebook and finished his story:

But much to the ogre’s surprise, the fair maiden did return. She smiled at him and laughed with him and she continued to play with him. They shared stories, songs, and many feasts, where the ogre ate ogre food and the little maiden ate human food. They had serious talks of life, love, and all things that matter. They had silly talks about stupid people falling over rocks on the road or acting foolish in all manner and form. They became friends and everything that followed was a natural course of true friendship.

From that point forward, no tributes were ever asked of the villagers and safe passage to the village was granted to all.

I’m not doing a very good job anymore, but at least I’m having fun. The ogre thought to himself.

He continued to ignore his duties, finding it necessary and imperative to be a good friend instead of a good ogre. And that he was, because he always made the princess smile, and her smile elevated him — sending him far above his little hovel under the bridge into the outer reaches of the bright blue sky, where the world of light and sunshine reigned supreme.

Daniel smiled too. He closed his notebook and walked back to class, oblivious to anything other than his own happiness.