Gadolf had been walking flat out since morning, off on a wretched journey along an avenue of frolicking willows stretching out in front of him like a horse's tail, beneath a sky of china white.
It was only sixteen miles to the next town but there was still no sign of it and little likelihood of its coming into view for a long while yet.
'The willows are dazzlingly green as if their leaves were made of tin plate. I wonder what further tricks they will play on my eyes, these toy-like leaves that look as if they are covered in some cheap arsenic paint?' Gadolf walked on, his body prickling with anger.
Suddenly the clouds became swollen and heavy.
'What puffs of cheap nickel dust you are! What cheap light you cast!'
From somewhere in the clouds came the sound of thunder ripping through the sky.
'The roadside looks strangely white. Oh look! Someone's coming from over there. No, perhaps not. That looks like a dog heading this way. No, maybe not. Shit!' Gadolf marched on vigorously.
Soon it began to grow dark and with the dusk came torrential rain. Lightning streaked across the sky bleaching it white, lighting up the lonesome traveller below. The avenue of trees were wrenched back and forth, their leaves thrown into confusion, mingling with the raindrops that crashed down onto the hard road below as branches were ripped asunder.
'This is crazy! What a chaotic mess, as if the sky will never be clear again. Will I ever be able to see the stars once more? Am I dreaming, or is that fog? It looks like some sort of spray.' Gadolf walked on as fast as he could, looking way beyond the avenue of trees over towards a white 'That's the spot where I thought I saw a dog a moment ago. If I could just make it over there, maybe I'll be okay.'
It was not long before night fell. Here and there a loud roar of rumbling thunder could be heard in the sky above. Lightning flickered frequently, illuminating the consciousness of the night sky for a split moment before fading into the darkness.
The road felt like a small river of concrete beneath Gadolf's feet and his energy began to ebb from him. He could not keep walking for much longer.
In a flash of bright lightning Gadolf caught sight of a large black house on the left side of the road.
'It looks like the top of a black electromagnet with its five-cornered roof sticking up and into its black gelatin heart I must go.'
With a leap and a jump, Gadolf bounded in through the front door.
'Hello! Is anyone at home? Hello?!?'
Inside the house it was pitch black. There was no reply to break the eerie silence that reigned. Carpets and clothing had been left scattered about the floor higgledy-piggledy.
'They must have all scarpered. Maybe they fled thinking a volcano was about to erupt. No, thatfs pretty unlikely. Maybe it was the plague that did it. No, I doubt that, too. Better watch it, I'm talking to myself again. My mind's going funny. What about that mysterious dog I thought I saw. Anyway, let's get out of these wet clothes for a start.'
Gadolf mumbled to himself in his head, thinking with his lips. In his head he could hear church bells ringing out their chorus for morning mass. Grasping his boots as if to embrace them, he tugged them off and walked limping slightly into the pitch-blackness of the messy house. At the far end of what looked like the stairwell bright lightning burst in through the window, and then was gone. Standing there in the darkness of the room Gadolf closed his eyes. Tugging at the sleeve of his heavy wet overcoat he could clearly see the willow trees he had passed by earlier in the day, only now they were as if made of shell. He opened his eyes again.
'Leave me alone, won't you! What do you think you're playing at, turning into tin, then turning into shell? Seen against that backdrop of midnight blue those willows do look pretty good, though.'
Even after he had opened his eyes, the image of the trees remained fixed in his mind. He wiped dry his wet head and face, and at last felt able to relax.
Lightning poured in through the window illuminating his knapsack as it lay on the floor in the shape of a squat crab. Gadolf squatting down on his haunches reached out into the darkness feeling for his bag. Opening it, he reached inside to touch a small instrument nestling there and this seemed to reassure him. Careful not to make any noise, he slipped into the next room.
Flashes of lightning burst in, in a kaleidoscope of colours lighting up a plaster statue on the floor, a bed and an overturned table.
'It looks like some sort of boarding house or perhaps even a sanatorium. Whatever it is, I've got a feeling there might be someone upstairs. I'd better go and take a look otherwise I won't be able to relax.'
Gadolf went back into the stairwell, got his knapsack and had just started climbing the stairs one by one when suddenly a purple streak of lightning lit up the room with a dazzling brightness that took his breath away. He stopped dead in his tracks, gazing in dumb amazement first at his own black shadow, then over towards the window.
As the lightning flashed, flickered and then was gone, Gadolf was sure he could have seen a half dozen white objects gazing silently in through the window.
'Not tall enough to have been bamboo. Could be a kid, I suppose, seeking shelter from the sudden downpour just like me. You never know, it might well be the owners of this place returning home. I haven't really got a clue, to be honest. Anyway, let's open the window and say hello.'
Gadolf went over and opened the rattling broken window. Suddenly cold wind and rain slapped against his face. He called out into the darkness, his words caught up and half blown away in the gusting wind.
'Whos there? Good evening! Hello! Is anyone there?'
The vaguely discernible white objects moved ever so slightly but made no reply. Instead as if on cue, a brilliant flash of lightning lit up the sky as brightly as if it were day.
'Oh, they're lilies! Well, I'll be! No wonder they didn't answer me.'
Gadolf's cheerful laughter was blown rumbling tumbling upstairs by the wind. Outside the window the dozen or so white lilies stood there stock-still in the breathlessness of the storm, shining in the flashes of sheet lightning.
Suddenly all was dark again and the dazzlingly bright lilies were no longer to be seen. Wearing his very last dry shirt, Gadolf leaned out the window, feeling the cold rain against his body. He gazed intently at the gently swaying shadowy flowers, patiently awaiting the next flash of lightning.
Before long another flash of lightning cracked down, brightly splitting the air. Outside the garden floated up before Gadolf's eyes like a colour slide of vibrant green. Raindrops caught frozen in the light stopped in mid-air, beautiful in their ovalness, whilst Gadolf's dearly beloved flower stood there quivering white with rage.
'All my love is in that white lily, that lily flower there. Mind you don't break now.'
This all happened in but a twinkling of an eye. Now once again, the darkness returned leaving the image of the flower barely discernible, a large vague whiteness swaying this way and that battered by the wind, leaning over as if to touch the ground.
Inside his head burning with pain, Gadolf could see a second cluster of shell-work lilies shining stock-still and bright. Standing there holding his breath, he gazed upon the two sets of flowers.
This too was all but in the twinkling of his eye, a moment's vision shattered as suddenly the next flash of lightning burning more brightly than a flame of magnesium, struck the earth with all the seductive power of ultra-violet light. The beautiful lily's rage reached its zenith, its red-hot petals more dignified than snow. To Gadolf it seemed as if he could even hear the sound of the flower's fury.
After what seemed a mere moment of darkness, another streak of lightning came crawling across the sky from the distant jagged clouds, an intangible red hand of light grazing past the lilies.
The rain grew heavier and heavier whilst thunder claps boomed like celestial explosions. Gadolf marvelled at how the sky could just stand there and endure such ruffians raging around it.
The next streak of lightning was so weak and indistinct as almost to go unnoticed. But in its faint glimmer borne on the wind, Gadolf could see the fragile broken stem of one of the lilies, its flower bent sharply reaching down to the ground.
A fresh flash of lightning flooded down, lighting up what had been the tallest lily but which now lay on its side, silent and broken, a victim of its own white excitement, the power of which had destroyed it. Gadolf turned away from the garden back into the darkness of the room and after carefully closing the rattling window, he returned to the spot where he had left his knapsack. From his bag he took a small sheet which he wrapped around him and shivering with cold, he sat down on the stairs, huddling up with his arms wrapped around his knees to keep himself warm. He shut his eyes.
Unable to bear the cold any longer he got up and groping along the floor with his hands he found another sheet which he added to the one already wrapped around him.
He tried in vain to sleep, streaks of lightning continually sweeping over him, their brightness playing upon the surface of his eyelids. The combined forces of hunger and tiredness overwhelmed him. His head burned with a dancing pain as he sat there trembling.
'I'm whacked out. I haven't even got the strength to think clearly anymore. All I know is that my lily is bent and broken, and with it my love,' Gadolf thought to himself.
As he sat there, he saw the people of the far Ikuyama River, their image floating up in his mind's eye like a lantern. The rumbling of thunder spoke to him like the voices of imaginary friends, the willows seen earlier in the day stretched out to touch the white sky and before he knew it, Gadolf was asleep. Suddenly he heard the thumping noise of heavy footsteps approaching. There was a loud roar and violent jeering.
Gadolf could not make out what was being said but from the sounds of it, there was an argument raging. All at once above him on the stairs two large men appeared grappling, kicking and punching one another all the while uttering terrifying screams. On the stairs that glistened a pretty blue in the darkness one of the men could clearly be seen wearing a loose-fitting coat of leopard skin, whilst his adversary was clad in the black garb of an eagle. Gadolf could also see himself, sitting there small and timid, looking up the blue-shining staircase at the battle raging above.
All of a sudden the birdman was caught around the neck and thrown to the floor, but immediately he was up again flailing out a foot that struck the leopardman smartly on the chin. Again they were at each other's throats, locked together, twisting this way and that, with now one, now the other gaining the upper hand. As they fought and yelled, it was impossible to tell which was which but then with an almighty bang-bang-bang, the two of them entwined came tumbling head over heels down the stairs.
As quickly as he could, Gadolf tried to dodge and avoid them but it was useless. With a mighty thump he was knocked over flat.
It was then than Gadolf opened his eyes. He stood up, shivering in the biting cold.
A clap of thunder had just rung out far, far off, now nothing but a faint echo in the distance. The rain had stopped leaving the occasional flash of lightning to streak its way across the sky, illuminating the contours of the clouds, mapping out the heavens. All of the lilies but one had weathered the storm and there they stood proudly shining forth their bright white light.
Gadolf clenched then unclenched his fists impatiently tapping the ground with his foot. Outside the window a raindrop could be seen on one of the lilies and from it shone forth a pale rose-colored light.
'That's not the rose colour of dawn, it's the red light of Scorpio in the South. It's still the middle of the night. Once the rain eases off, I'll be on my way again. I should be able to make out the road by starlight and besides, the next town can't be far off from here. I can't say I'm keen on the idea of setting off in my wet clothes, though. It can't be helped, I suppose. My lilies won through, after all.'
Gadolf sat there in silence, lost in thought.