Danielle Hebert



	Accidental Adventuress The whole story, translated for your pleasure! Scene 1 : THE CITY . Chapter 1 . In Eastern Canada lived a girl. Nothing special filled her life except maybe for the extraordinary dreams that happened late at night when everyone slept peacefully, far away from the corner store and the too familiar walls of her life. She talked about these dreams a few times, but it soon became clear that she was not to bother people with these unrealistic meanderings of her mind. And after all isn’t silence golden? Her lack of determination helped her forget about these imaginings. Life went its unchanged course. Each day the same neighbours, the same tasks, the same quiet safety. She was a good girl and her parents were proud of that. -"She’s never been in trouble!" Her dreams of adventures stayed suspended, asleep in a corner of her comfortably numbed mind. 1. Dites-Moi (Tell Me) . Chapter 2 . But as you know well, nothing stays the same forever. The nature of our universe forces change, big or small. Fate had to eventually come knocking at the door. On her birthday, in a regular, ordinary, white envelope was an economy class plane ticket for western Canada. Granny had always been slightly subversive… She was overwhelmed with emotion… the words could not describe… Suddenly, everything was possible. Everything! 2. Zee (Zee) Scene 2 : TRAVEL . Chapter 3 . Her suitcase packed, the goodbyes sprinkled around, she now feels ready. It is hard to believe but today a plane is going to take off and she will be on it. The boarding pass in her hand was proof of it. She studies the security measures pamphlet, enjoys a meal and watches a Hollywood movie. Not a hitch! So many new faces! So many exciting things!! 3. Interlude Avant Le Beau Temps, La Pluie (Interlude : before the sunshine will be rain) t is over Saskatchewan that the day and the mood take a turn. Huge black clouds suddenly swallow the blue sky. The plane starts to dance a drunk and violent tango. The lights go off. The safety belt light comes on. The matronly smiles that graced the stewardesses’ faces take a downward turn. Huge lightning rips the skies around the flailing flying vessel deforming faces and things. At first it’s a great white north silence that wraps itself around the captive audience. But now as the plane plunges and accelerates head first, screams and prayers saturate the air. -But how is this possible? She thought. -I was only dreaming of adventures and romance... The plane obeying Newton’s law dutifully dives towards earth. The velocity of the fall transforms the sounds into long frayed screaming ribbons of sound. The pictures of her life and what it should have been roll by in a psychotic accelerated motion. -All the things I didn’t do… The smiles I ignored… The “I love yous” I silenced… the kids I’ll never have… it’s too much. In a semi-conscious motion she looks out the window. -I must have lost my mind, she thinks. Because where the prairies used to be is now an ocean, with waves and all the things that makes an ocean, Ocean. - I must have gone crazy! She says. But what is going on? But while the plane followed it’s cursed itinerary with its trapped passengers, the world changed. This universe that we thought we knew, understood, conquered, and vanquished, this universe, under the hands of the Gods maybe? Is about to give humans a few new challenges. But for our adventuress is there a future? What will her soul be worth and what will her fate be? 4. Que De Regrets (Regrets) In this raging new sea the plane plunges… Against all logic our hero finds herself underwater, without drowning, without suffering. Amongst the debris going its own way, inexorably she… Falls, spins and falls. Turns and falls and spins and falls. Around her an incomprehensible ballet of sharks, sirens and shiny marine creatures accompany her descent. It’s beautiful, frightening, and unreal and yet, she is right there spinning in the salt water seemingly not drowning. -Is this death? She wonders… She finally touches the bottom, gently. Her hair floats around her like flags in the wind. She looks up and the shock leaves her breathless. In front of her, more beautiful and more impressive than Michelangelo’s David, is Neptune. In a graceful close-up their eyes lock on to one another, her mouth opens her heart pounds but not a sound to be heard. Overcome, she faints. Her eyes in the eyes of Neptune. 5. Tourne (Turn) Scene 3 : A NEW WORLD . Chapter 4 . She awakes. Sand between her fingers, sand in her mouth, sand in her eyes, sand all over. She slowly moves her body, heavy from disuse. Her hair is braided with sea kelp. She looks around and a panorama that’s at once grandiose and oppressive greets her. A beach with blond sand, that climbs up to a towering forest of gigantic green-black, black-green trees. Not a trace of human presence. The images of her last conscious moment come back to her and she does not want to consider them. . She needs reassuring information, a reassuring voice because hers is trembling way too much… -my cell, I’ve got to call… in her dress pocket she finds this miniature phone, the latest craze. You know, text messaging, photos, email... She dials 911. No answer. She gets up too quickly and is dizzy. She starts to walk along the beach. -There’s got to be people around here… 6. Interlude Trois Fois La, La, La (Interlude 3 Times La, La, La) Once in a while she calls out “ Hello… anyone here?” The only response forthcoming is the never-ending crash of the waves. After a few hours of walking and calling she sits down on the sand. A movement captures her attention; it’s a crab, bigger than normal, going his merry way. Her loneliness being so, and knowing that no one would criticize her for talking to a crustacean, she asks the crab: “ Hi Mister Crab, could you possibly tell me who lives around here? “ The crab stops, looks at her for an instant and burst out laughing a huge laugh that is way to big and way to mean for a simple crab. -Ha! Ha! Ha! Who lives around here! Ha! Ha! Ha! Terror and distress finally take a strong hold of her. She jumps back, screams and starts running as fast as she can while the sinister laughter bounces like a ping-pong ball in her head. Her universe already shattered turned into madness. She runs and runs like this for three days and two nights without ever stopping, without understanding and without direction. And like the wolf in the children’s game: Ready or not, here I come. The adventure has started. 7. Trois Fois Passera (Three times) . Chapter 5 . 8. Interlude Seule Dans La Noire Forêt (Interlude Alone In The Dark Forest) The giant trees that surround her seem to observe her and they scare her. Mists hang to the limbs like white fingers sliding slowly caressing the dark foliage while whispering mysterious secrets. These constant murmurs make the dark forest shimmer with life. She has run for three days and two nights to the point of exhaustion. She has lost a shoe, ripped her dress, and dialled unsuccessfully 911 a thousand times on that cell phone of hers. Finally she collapses at the foot of one of the giant trees in the nook of roots that resemble a human palm. She falls asleep rocked by the caress of ocean winds brave enough to penetrate that deep in the forest. The moon and the clouds and the trees watch her. The minutes turn into hours as the shadows go from black to midnight blue to mauve and finally orange. She wakes up, too stiff and tired to panic. What to do? She tries 911 once more. No answer. In the morning light the forest seems less frightful. But where is she? The trees listen. What will she do? What will she decide? Will she choose to live the moment or will she dwell in fear and regrets? 9. Dans Le Ventre De La Forêt (In The Belly Of The Forest) She drops her phone to the ground and takes a deep breath. -Here I am. I’ve got everything to discover. Nothing to lose and I’m alive… She gets up with purpose and starts to walk, this time she is looking around, taking notice of her surroundings. She is breathing deeply absorbed by the moment, in the belly of the forest. Scene 4: MEETINGS . Chapter 6 . The woods seem to open up to her paths in the dense greenery as if obeying a will other than theirs. She walks, waiting to see where the forest would take her, as she ponders her fate. -I thought that my destiny was already drawn, but it now seems that somehow my wildest dreams are becoming my fate… Lost in her thoughts she enters without noticing a darker and colder corner of the forest. A sudden slipping sound scares her out of her deep thoughts. Zzzzzzzip! -But what are you doing in my domain 0’ passportless human! The voice coming from above is coming right out of a grisly mouth belonging to a giant spider. Our hero not being very heroic yelps out of terror while falling to her knees now paralyzed and useless. -No need to scream O’ human person with the shrill voice! I will have nothing to do with creatures of your kind especially after what happened to my poor dear sister… -wh..wha… what do yo.. you mean? says our hero in a shaking voice. -Ahhhhh! If only I could have convinced her! Ahhh! If only I could have! But, no, she never listened to me! Only her heart, nothing else but her heart… Love she said, love was everything and love cannot be controlled… Even love for a human! Urgh! The eyes of the spider well with tears, she rubs her hirsute legs (two of them) while letting out a mournful sigh amplified by a theatrical head movement that emphasized the depth of her grief. -But what do you mean? Asks again the human. What happened to your dear sister? The spider pretends to be annoyed by the question, but in all truth she is quite lonely in her dark grove and nothing is more engrossing to her than the telling of the unbelievable love story between her sister the urban spider and a male specimen of the human race. Ahh… she sighs again. It started like this… 10. L’Araignée (The Spider Song) And this is the story of how an urban spider living in a quiet alcove at the corner of 15th avenue and Granville fatally fell in love with a man . Chapter 7 . The spider wipes quickly a tear that was about to show at the corner of her left eye. She relaxes her neck bending it from right to left and loudly declared: The morale of this story O human, is that you never know what face true love will bear when it comes to you. This being said she could not hold her emotion back and started to cry abundantly. The tears were falling like November rain on our hero. That’s when she decided that it was maybe time to leave before the giant and somewhat menacing spider would be aware of the vacuity of its stomach. The next day, the sound of chainsaws brutally filled the morning air. A huge character wearing a tweed suit, golden watch dangling on his protruding stomach, monogrammed kerchief in the chest pocket was standing there tall and proud with a cigar planted in his mouth. It was impossible to determine what kind of animal he was. Vaguely porcine. Slightly rat like. It was a brand new sight and yet seemed somewhat familiar. -Good morning! He said out loud. Let me introduce myself : Prosper, Mister Prosper. I cut, transport, re-cut and sell these great big useless trees for money! You ask me why? (she didn’t) But it’s for money!!. Yes! Money! Oh money! Good, good money! Mmmmm! Money! Money! Money! Ah.. Money! Say what? Nature, environment? No, no, no!! Money. MONEY! 11. Prospère (Mr. Prosper) . Chapter 8 . -What a crazy world! She thought as she quietly gets away from Mister Prosper. What am I doing here? Why me? Is there a message I’m supposed to get? This makes no sense! She walks between the ferns making sure that Mister Prosper is not following her. Once more she walks absorbed in her thoughts. The sound of a flute reaches her ears. It is not an ordinary flute, the sound is.. How to say, Magical? And this sound attracts her like bait. She cannot resist. She and the trees around her bask in a golden light. Fear takes a hold of her again as well as an inexplicable joy. 12. Interlude la Flûte Des Elfes (Interlude of the Elven Flute) In the turn of the path she finds herself face to face with tall, white robed beings. They are more a force than a people. A force greater than any material things. She feels as if her thoughts are there to be read like an open book pierced by the divine presence of these beings. Her knees knock against one another, her face is on fire and her heart is beating at a frenetic pace at her temples. She only has the strength to ask: -Are you angels? For an answer these beings start to communicate half singing, half chanting on a fierce and powerful music, mysterious, strong, unbending. Inhuman. 13. Message Elfique (Forest People) She stays a long time at the elves’ village. In this world time isn’t a factor anymore like it was in the human world. She wants to become like them. They are so cohesive, intelligent, mystical and real while being supernatural. There is also this elf, so handsome, so perfect, so gentle and fascinating. Their long conversations are nourishing to her of a vitamin that didn’t exist in the world of men. Perfect, soul-to-soul, simple communication without words. From him to her, her to him. No preconceived ideas, no limits or barriers. She could be. Just totally be who she is. Something she rarely experienced in the world of men. 14. Interlude Pensif (Pensive Interlude) But in her heart she knows that it isn’t her world. She knows she will have to leave, forge her own path, create her own universe. She cannot live hanging on to these amazing beings and yet it seems at times that nothing else can ever compare. Soft and sad ambivalence. To stay. To leave. 15. Vas T’En Reviens (Go Away, Come Back) Scene 5 SELF DISCOVERY . Chapter 9 . On a fall morning dressed in all its bold colors she takes the road. Her heart is crushed but no tear wet her cheek. With a steady rhythm her feet hit the path. The cadence was hypnotic. -One, two, one, two, who am I? -One, two, one, two, where am I going? -One, two, one, two, what do I have to say? -One, two, three, all these words I want to say -One, two, three, all these ideas coming to me -One, two, three, these drawings want to live, want to be -but I stay silent, one, two, one, two -but I stay quiet and silent, one, two, three… 16. Les Mots (The Words) . Chapter 10 . At the end of the road a great luminous city nestles in mountains, bordered by salty waters and marine smells. The spring flowers fill the air with their perfumes. Without really knowing why, she knows she has finally arrived. There is no scientific explanation but a deep, intimate knowingness that it is the right place. The sun feels good and warm on her skin. She approaches the shore and thinks of Neptune. Otherworldly, will I see you again? Sand between her toes, she closes her eyes. It is good to be alive. It is good to breathe and it will be good to love. All the work is still ahead, the creations, the symphonies, the stone horses and clay angels. But our adventuress, our accidental adventuress now knows that if the greatest sin in this world is to exist, then there is only one thing left to do: to be. Be without compromises. 17. Présentation de l’Aventurière (Presentation Of The Adventuress) 18. Aventurière Accidentelle (Accidental Adventuress)