The day had dawned chilly and bleak; now, a few hours after noon, it was like a friendly embrace, warm and comforting. The sun gleamed from behind wispy clouds. A cat romped about in the sky, tossed by the breeze miles above me. Then, there was an elephant who swam languidly through the azul-blue waves. The swaying grass stepped in perfect harmony, dancing steps too complex for the human mind to map out. Julie traced the invisible trail of a barn swallow and marveled at how its dark wings seemed to singe the sky.
She eased herself onto the grass and peered at her surroundings. They were familiar, yes, but incredibly stunning all the same. To her right was a patch of land littered with outbuildings so old, no one was sure of the date they first stood. Off to her left was a field bordered by woods. Sloping from her feet was a grassy hill that ran until the roots of ancient trees brought it to a halt.
Nature was not timid that day; the breeze swept up Julie’s hair and tossed it like spaghetti noodles. It would kick up tiny dust storms on an unspoken whim. It sent leafy fingers after birds in flight, stretching out towards the floating freedom only fowl can possess. She heard a familiar song and stretched her neck up. Seeing birds lined up on the telephone wire, Julie couldn’t help but smile; the birds were being jostled by the wind but kept up their happy chatter as if the invisible sea were nothing but a solid concrete floor.
She watched the clouds for a bit, eyeing but not inspecting each one. Momentarily, Julie was startled by a large bee buzzing a few feet from where she was perched. She followed it with eyes, barely daring to breathe. She calmed only once it was out of her sight and she could hear its buzzing no more.
As she looked at the calmness of the landscape before me, Julie realized something. Silence does not it exist. Often, it is mistaken for serenity. True silence in life, in her opinion, does not exist. To many, where she was sitting would have been surrounded with silence. To Julie, it was filled with the happy sighs of nature, the blinks of her large blue eyes, the waving of her white-blonde hair in the wind, the undulations of the grass whispering through the world…it was all so real and full and alive, and so very much the opposite of quiet.
Reclining against the natural slope of the ground, she allowed herself to be lulled into a mild slumber by the gilded afternoon light. The world spun an auditory web unlike anything that can be described in words; it was emotion, life, the essence of existing, all in one unending tune. She smiled from her soul outwards, unable to hide her utter content.
When Julie awoke, she sat upright and looked about her once again. She had the urge to go back home and leave this scene in peace. Dandelions danced in place, contrasting brightly with the rich jade of the fluttering blades. It was beautiful, it was calming, and it was now coming to a close. Julie stood up, dusted off her legs, and headed down the gravel road towards home.