Blues Before Sunrise

2. Suite: Blue Jewel of Jökulsárlón

A.

Back in the capitol, in her dark untidy studio apartment, Valdis was confused. She was determined to accomplish something. From time to time she remembered what it was. Then the sickness would empty her out. Then she was left with only her determination and the fever, chills and bottlenecked breath that left her gasping and incapable of grasping her particular intent.

At her shuddering worst she even wondered who she really was. Her name appeared to indicate she was a goddess of the underworld. Her wits considered that ridiculous, no matter how profound the turmoil they were in. But certainly she was betrothed to Ingunn? At the glacier lagoon, on the tour boat, hadn't Ingunn proposed? And at the hot springs, breast to breast and heart to heart, she had accepted, had she not? Then where was her beloved in her time of need?

On the fourth day, in a coal-colored nightgown soaked with sweat, she found herself seated with her cello between her shaking legs among the scattered contents of the suitcase she had started to unpack a nightmarish eternity ago.

It was a composition that she had in mind. She fastened on that like a bulldog. A composition dedicated to Ingunn. Ingunn who assured her she was not an ice queen as her husband had insisted. Ingunn who in a dream had turned her long depression on its head with the assertion that her icy blue heart was really the rarest of precious jewels. The vision was fresh in her head of a blue ball of ice that she would give to Ingunn as a wedding ring in the form of a musical suite. She drew the bow across the strings. The sound made her wince, it was so out of tune. She struggled with the pegs. They seemed so slippery. She struggled with her mind. It seemed so slippery. And then with a long rasping breath she closed her eyes and began, giving herself up to an imagination she could only hope was full of love.

29 November 2022
Texas Jim
Jökulsárlón, Iceland
www.granitecoast.ca