Strathmere's Bride

“Why, you amaze me again.”

“And another wonder to speak of is the fact that we have something in common, eh? You come to the garden to enjoy the night.” She swept her arm skyward like any prima ballerina. “And I, to walk the garden paths. It is where I gather thoughts.”

“So this is where you get all those ridiculous ideas.”

A wry smile and the slightest of giggles were his reward. “Among other sources.”

She tilted her head back to view with her naked eye what his telescope had just given her a glimpse of. “Without the tube it just looks like a blur of light. I think I like it better like this. It leaves more to the imagination, n’est-ce pas? One looks at the stars and sees the patterns and dreams of heroes and deeds of magic and bravery and perilous quests, of fortunes and wars and all other manner of glories to be won.”

Jareth angled a glance above him. The majesty of the clear night had always inspired him, and Miss Chloe’s poetic statement caught fire to the tendrils of his imagination, filling him with heady vision. “It is a fabulous stage, upon which countless dramas are played,” he agreed.

“See, there.” Chloe pointed excitedly. “Does that not look like a snake?”

“That is Lacerta.”

“It does not matter what some ancient man named it or what tradition holds it to be, but what your imagination can conjure. I see a snake.”

“Do you always disapprove of tradition?”

“No,” she answered, squinting at the sky. “Do you always adhere to it?”

“No.” Looking upward, he was disturbed to note that the pattern of stars she had indicated did indeed appear to resemble a snake.

“And there,” she cried, pointing in the direction of Pegasus, “it is a woman leaning over as if working in a garden.”

“Impossible. I see no such thing.”

“Yes, there. The form of her hunched over, the drape of her skirt.”

Jareth angled a look at her skeptically. “You are making this up.”

“Non”! It is true. It is a story, you see. The woman is working in the garden. She is a poor woman, scratching out a meager life from the earth.”

Jareth looked up at the heavens, his features full of doubt.

Chloe continued, “Her young man is gone, and she is grieving her loss.”

“How can you tell that from the stars?” he demanded. “I don’t even see the woman and you can see all that?”

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