That the town deserved to die
For his castle was never built
Or he would see it with his own eyes
The bird said, “But king, you merely assumed.
You didn’t even try
Look from a different perspective.
Don’t just look from your own two eyes.”
The bird then led him over to where
The castle should surely be
He then moved aside a boulder
And King Flip fell to his knees
For inside the mountain was the castle
The most magnificent one ever built
King Flip couldn’t believe his eyes
He quickly became wrecked with guilt
He had killed so many people
People he should have protected
Simply because he couldn’t see
The castle from their perspective
“Hide their bodies!” King Flip yelled.
“Hide every last one!
Put them inside the mountain.
And then close those doors for good!”
The king’s army hid the bodies
And King Flip fled the land
He went back to his old castle
And never spoke of Perspective again
Some say this story isn’t true
Some say the town never existed
But look at any map and you’ll see
There is no longer a town called Perspective.
I flip back to the first page of the poem, a little in shock by what I just read. This is a children’s poem? This is just as morbid, if not more morbid than the art he creates. And the fact that Moby now believes it’s a true story!
“You know this is fiction, right?” I look down at Moby but his eyes are closed. I didn’t even notice he had fallen asleep while I was reading. I place the story back on his nightstand. I turn off the light before I leave the room and head straight to Quarter One. Sagan is in the kitchen helping Honor wash the dishes. “What is wrong with you?”
They both look up at me, but I’m staring at him.
“Is that an open-ended question?” he asks.
“You slaughtered an entire town of innocent people!”
He nods as registration marks his expression. “Oh, you read to Moby.”
“That’s disturbing! It’s his favorite story now.”
“What are you talking about?” Honor asks me.
I flip a hand in her morbid boyfriend’s direction. “He wrote a poem for Moby, but it’s the worst children’s story I’ve ever read.”
“It’s not that bad,” he says in defense. “It has a good message.”
“Does it?” I ask, flabbergasted. “Because the message I got was that a materialistic ruler wasn’t happy with the peasants he hired to build his castle, so he slaughtered them all, hid their bodies in a mountain, and went on with his happy life.”
Honor makes a face to show how disturbed she is. I make it a point never to make that expression. Seeing it on her lets me know how unappealing it would be on me.
“You completely missed the message, then,” he says. “It’s a poem about perspective.”
I go to close the front door and I hear my father’s muffled voice from the other side. “If the Cowboys lose, you’re grounded!”
The Cowboys chances of losing are good. The chances of my father actually following through with a threat are not.
Chapter Six
One of the most utilized vehicles in our driveway is the Ford Windstar. It holds seven people, but at the rate our household is growing this month, we’ll need an upgrade soon. I was the last one to the van but Honor’s boyfriend sat in the back and left one of the middle bucket seats open for me. Luck is in the other one. Honor is in the front passenger seat and Utah is driving.
We live in the middle of nowhere, in a town too small to be significant enough for a hotel with a pool. It’s twelve miles to the nearest store and even farther to the hotel we’re heading for. This will be at least a fifteen-mile drive. But in a rural area like this, it’ll only take thirteen minutes to get there.
He was the first person to inspire her, to move her, to truly understand her. Was he meant to be the last? Lucy is faced with a life-altering choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story—their story—at the very beginning. Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter. When they meet again a year later, it seems fated—perhaps they’ll find life’s meaning in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, of love. Was it fate that brought them together? Is it choice that has kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and Gabe continents apart, but never out of each other’s hearts.