Cardiograms is the monthly meet-up for alumni who choose to continue to connect with themselves and their writing buddies through the Write From Your Heart method. The prompts are designed to take one’s pulse each month and to contemplate the tone or theme of that time of year. Some of the writers have been exploring different storytelling devices in their 20 minute scribble sessions other than the usual first person memoir or legacy writing, and they’ve inspired me to play (as play is most essential for buoying spirits right now). Here is what my pen scribbled this month in response to the following prompt:
❤️If February were a God/Goddess who would it be and what gifts would they bring?
Many, many ice ages ago, when the sun was in Aquarius and the full moon shown in Leo and the Earth Elemental gods and goddesses were gathered for their first quarterly meeting, Lady February pulled a coup.
Ordinarily diminutive in stature, introverted by nature, and prone to pale and unassuming attire, she entered the Great Hall in a big and very showy way. To begin, she was unfashionably late having waited until all had arrived, and just as Lord Time had raised his golden gavel to call the meeting to order, the massive double doors blew open and Lady February swooshed in on a gust of silver snow dust riding upon a polar bear, and she was wearing the most fabulous sparkling white cloak the Elemental Pantheon had ever seen. The cloak was radiant as the morning star in the darkest point of night before the dawn which put Queen Celestine to shame, and it was as soft and flowing as snow melts on the mountains heading for the sea which gave Empress Spring a pause.
A tumultuous silence fell over this gathering of the Guardians of the Natural Order of All Things on Earth, as any sort of disorder would disrupt them. But Lady February was undaunted. She ignored their clicking tongues and disdainful eye rolls and dismounted from her furry giantess with a flourish. Then with a dramatic swoosh of her cloak, she sashayed the length of the room to take her place at the Great Table; but rather than to sit, she reached out for the hands of Sires January and March to assist her as she stepped onto her chair then onto the table top and threw off her glorious cloak.
A collective “AHHHH” shook the rafters of the Great Hall as everyone, including the typically cold and austere Sires January and March, were roused from their winter doldrums as Lady February revealed the most glorious shimmering red gown made entirely of crimson sequins and red velvet hearts.
“You see, my Friends,” she addressed the group in her usual dulcet tone but with a vigor that filled the hallowed hall and demanded everyone’s attention. All exalted eyes and ears were on her as she continued: “The people of the Winterlands need something extra by the time they get to me. They need a break from snow and ice and monotones. They need something heartening, to maintain their sanity. And I say to you, oh Powers That Be, that we give them red roses and red hearts and chocolates wrapped in red foil to boost their spirits for the remainder of the season.”
Dazzled by her red radiance, the illustrious group was quick to bellow what seemed to be a unanimous “Aye!” Except, Lady October withheld hers. She stood in her fiery splendor and protested that she already offered red in her last blaze before leaf fall, then Lady December chimed in claiming that she offered red holly berries and poinsettias as her gifts, and both goddesses concluded that their reds were natural while February’s velvet hearts and foil and forced roses would not be.
Thus a concession was made: Lady February was granted her red despite it being chintzy, but only for one day.
Linda Ellen Kelly 