It was mid November and the town of Cleverton was already suffering quite persistently from the winters first blows. On the edge of town, where the forest started to grow unruly and tangled with untangable knots, lived the Simpletons. Quite like their name, they lived a fairly simplistic lifestyle. They went into town once a week to get their groceries, the occasional clothing, or supplies. It was on one of these shopping exhibitions that Stanley, the smallest of the simpletons, went wondering past the outer skirt of the forest. This was, of course, simply against the rules of his parents. “You must never go past the great sic amour!” Spat his mother. Humming a bit, and mostly daydreaming, he thoughtlessly surpassed the tree, finding himself deeper and deeper within the walls of the massive woodland.
Stanley looked upward. It was a vast arch of branches, hugging the path before him. A flush of panic arose out of him. He has been walking in no particular direction and he wasn’t sure which way was south. The trees were covering the sky, blocking his only source of direction. The thought of his parents’ worried faces and the warm glow from his home more than motivated him before the light was completely lost for the day. He picked a direction and committed to it, running as fast and, obviously very carelessly forward. At that moment he tripped and fell into a perfectly groomed bush.
Awaking several moments later, he smiled, remembering he had found someone’s backyard and was about to find his way home, as he knew everyone in Cleverton. He shuffled himself out of the dense bush, unveiling a fast field, and it looked about high noon. He must have broken out to the other side of the forest, because this did not look familiar at all to the young boy. Shielding his eyes from the sun, slowly at first, he walked forward in search of a somewhat personable person to appoint him towards home.
After hours of walking and questioning where he might be, he realized that it was pointless and took a break near a narrow brook. Sitting beside it, he heard two muffled noises. Two women Snorting, chortling and falling over laughing and then ear splitting, back snapping, throwing objects quarrelling. This was followed by more laughter. Confused, Stanley followed the noises until he came across a small bridge that extended over the brook.
“Why are you laughing and then fighting constantly?” said Stanley quite bravely, because they had again resorted to some argument.
“None of your business!” Shouted one sister,
“None of your business,” reiterated the second.
“What’s your names?” asked Stanley.
“Maryann” said Maryann.
“Laura Beth,” said Laura Beth.
“Why are you always fighting and then laughing?”
“It’s complicated,” Insisted Laura Beth.
“Yes, you see we are sisters and we absolutely loathe each other”
“Yes, but we also love each other very much because of the time we have spent together growing up and we have our memories!”
“oh how glorious they are! Yet we also have distain and resentment for each other. Yet we can never leave, or choose another sister because we are blood”
“and blood is everything. It is your very livelihood, your support and the source of what is good.”
“Well, everything is complicated,” snapped Maryann.
“Where I live,” Stanley explained, “Nothing is complicated at all. Everything is figured out for me, and I have no siblings.”
“Well that must be refreshing,” said Maryann
“Well that must be terribly boring!” Said Laura Beth.
The Sisters grew very fond of Stanley and allowed him to stay the night. They led him forward, since that was the only direction to travel in this place, towards their magnificent Victorian mansion. It was all white. Inside, everything was white as well, the walls, the pictures that hung inside, as well as the people themselves. All the darkness seemed to drain out of the walls themselves, leaving a bare, sterile appearance. There wasn’t a speck of dirt or even shadows cast in sight. He was led up to the fifth floor and was given a room in the corner, facing the bridge they had just come from. It wasn’t until the ladies had left that he realized that he had been there for hours and hours, but the sun still lay dormant in the sky, right at high noon.
Stanley Simpleton awoke the previous morning to the sisters having a rather vicious lamp throwing disagreement. He went downstairs right as they were hugging and saying their “I’m sorry’s.” Turns out, the sisters wanted to take him into town, to find out where exactly where Cleverton was, and how he was going to get there. They hopped on their transportation, which looked like a replica of a wooden ship, only it was much smaller and painted completely white, like the house. Passing Stanley a stark white ore, they started to row. Only, there wasn’t any water around. He sat there, unsure what to do.
“Get on with it!” They shouted at him.
He took the ore and started to row away from him in the air and they slowly lifted up and forward, since it was the only direction they could travel in.
When they reached the town, Stanley realized that there were white houses, like the one the sisters resided in. Also, there were black houses.
“Why are some houses white and some black?” Asked Stanley, politely.
“Because they are on different sides, they hate each other.” Said Maryann.
“However, they like each other too! Because without one, they could not have the other!” remarked Laura Beth.
They reached the Mayors office and stepped out of the strange, small vessel. Only this house was very gray. Only, it wasn’t a house at all. The doors opened and a small woman greeted them, in a very gray suite, with grey hair and a gray pad.
“Name?”
“Maryann,” said Maryann
“And Laura Beth,” Said Laura Beth
“Stanley?” Said Stanley.
“Come with me.” The small grey lady asked.
They followed her further inside to the center of the round building. There seated, was a very grey man, On either side was an “inbox “ and an “outbox.”
The papers that were in the “Inbox” were very grey indeed, and staked almost all the way to the top of the high, arched ceiling. The “outbox” was much shorter and instead was a solid white or black for each individual sheet. The man was stamping feverishly, looking down and distracted. When he brought the stamp down the paper turned either white or black.
“What do you want? I’m busy,” said the man
“We can see that, we wont waste much of your time at all,” said Stanley, meekly.
“I need to know whether you have decided or not,” said the man.
“On what?”
“Whether your one way or the other! That’s how things are done! Everything is so complicated, and we must sort this problem out! Iron out the wrinkles, make order of this mess.” Churned the man.
“Where I come from, everything is simple,” said Stanley.
“Nothing is simple.” Said the man. “But it will be. The only problem is that because we spend so much time deciding one way or the other, we don’t have any time for action. Just deciding this or that, and then we paint the houses, stores and shops! Everything has a place and the order can be again.”
“Where is the way out of this town?” Said Stanley quite frankly.
“It is forward of course, that is the only way you can travel here. Some find it cumbersome and some find it quite convenient. One thing is certain, you can never look back once the path has been crossed.” Finished the man.
And with that, Stanley thanked the sisters and the Mayor of the town and headed forward, as he had done before. Eventually he crossed the array of black and white houses, past the vast green pastures and finally came face to face with the Large, perfectly manicured hedge. He didn’t look back as he stepped into the hedge and out the other side.
It took him another hour of walking through the woods, before he saw the distinct light coming from the kitchen window. It was night still, and he was not sure by any means what time, or even day it could have been. He entered the house to his parents calmly cleaning and putting away the materials, they had apparently just come home shopping for. They smiled and asked how his day was. “Quite simple,” replied Stanley. And his parents’ smiles glowed when he told them this, being happy that they knew such a logical boy.
