“Hi, bom dia”, I say with a big smile because it’s a glorious sunny day after a few days of rain, “How are you doing? I saw Molly go to the other side already … I’m sorry but I forgot your name …”
“River, my name is River. River sticks.”
“Ah, yes, that’s certainly true”, I understand his remark completely wrong, “River is quite a special name, it sticks all right.”
“No, my name is Styx, like the river Styx, of the Greek mythology”, he explains patiently. He probably had to explain that already so many times.
It is a name like thriller writer Karin Slaughter, glazier Harry Fragment or google SEO Larry Page
Why, you ask? River is a master on the sticks. He can do magic with 3 sticks. He learned that when he was young, and wanted to go clubbing but didn’t have the means to do so. So he taught himself this, and was the star of the evening, earned some money with it and had what he wanted: a vibrant night.
I wish I had a name like that. Ellen Hospitality. Or could do tricks like that
But wishing for it doesn’t do the trick. It’s about passion, practice and patience. And of course talent, motivation and perseverance. The latter he showed after having suffered a stroke on quite a young age. Afterwards, he had to learn a lot all over again. Also the tricks with the sticks.
I seems that juggling is very good for your brain. (This is categorized as juggling.) As so many things, scientists have studied that. If you practice juggling after such a dramatic event as a stroke, you’ll recover faster and better.
So that you know, in case … (hopefully this advice will never be necessary!)
In the mean time, his significant other Molly floats over the fields, takes the sun in with every cell of her body, writes stories early in the morning when the whole world is still asleep, and on one of her walks she came across a choir of crickets. They were not afraid of her, apparently, they loved her as their conductor which task she performed with a feather instead of a stick. Maybe they just recognized her as a fairy …