Equipped with a full heart of hope and endless courage, you’ve been journeying down one road, then another. Taking one step at a time toward finding who, what, or wherever it is that will make you feel like you’re home.
Spotting families together always reminds you there was once a time you must have had them too, but you haven’t the faintest recollection of them.
After being in the custody of a foster home for a very brief time, you ran away when they tried taking the one piece of tangible evidence you still have from your past, a music box, claiming you needed to renounce all worldly possessions from your previous life before being gifted the new one they promised to provide.
The whole thing felt wrong, which quickly led to the decision of risking it solo, away from whatever agenda these people had for their lives (and yours). They seemed to mean well, believing they had the best of intentions, but their ideals were strict, and their methods unsavory to you.
Not that the music box even works. You’ve never even been able to open the darned thing to see what’s inside, let alone hear it play.
But then, at the stroke of midnight heading into the first day of December, as you stroll past a line of shops gone dark for the evening, you hear the sound of a CLICK.
Rummaging through your bag of meager items (another pair of socks, two apples, a half finished bottle of water, and a few makeshift toiletries), the music box falls out onto the snow.
There’s a faint glow coming from a small opening, and you’re so excited that you throw the rest of your stuff on the ground.
Snatching up the box, you pry the thing open further, revealing a ring of polar bears, set in positions that appear they would be dancing.
Some of the bears have impressive wings, painted with the most compelling colors, which is where the dim light is coming from. The incandescent feathers are so beautiful, in shades of turquoise and indigo, fuchsia and marigold.
Drats, you think, trying to wind the thing up. But even though it’s finally open, it still won’t play.
Distracted by the mixture of joy and disappointment, you turn to grab your things, only to trip over the bag, tumbling headfirst into a lampost.
The impact stings, adding insult to your already complicated mood.
Rubbing at what is surely to become a swollen egg on one side of your forehead, you regain your wits, grabbing at the bag with irritation.
“—What the…” You stop short while tucking the music box away again, about to head further down the road.
What had been a lamp-lit street lined with rows of stores has somehow changed into a brightly moonlit field, surrounded by pine trees frosted in white.
Even more perplexing are the myriad groups of large, dancing bears, many with the same colorful, luminous wings, turning in circles all around you in the starry night.
Task:
Complete the following Jigsaw! Post your results below, remembering to keep imbedded images within 600x600 pixels.
{click for puzzle}
Alternatively you may share a Memory in 150 words or more of a time you felt was truly bizarre, extraordinary, or fantastical in your life.
This task is worth 15 beans/sapphires, with an additional 15 bonus beans/sapphires for completing all Week One tasks by end of activity. Deadline is 11:59pm (HOL time) on Thursday December 21st.
