I ce-bounds …

 
»The answer is seven, you know?« I can hear Claude Sideburns whisper to Kylie.

They are standing next to the stone circle pointing at the engraved symbols.

The others of our little company are standing or walking around without sense or direction, myself included.

»Seven?« Kylie asks.

»Seven stars«, Claude mumbles. »Ursa Major is primarily known from the asterism of its main seven stars, which has been called the 'Big Dipper', 'the Wagon', 'Charles's Wain', or 'the Plough', among other names.«

»I see«, Kylie says. »Like in the 'Great Wagon' to differentiate it from the 'Little Wagon' or 'Little Dipper' which shape this stellar configuration mimics.«

»Sounds smart.«

Nigel is passing the other two, kicking stones and sand into the mud around the stone circle.

»So«, Sideburns asks Kylie, »did you see it, too?«

»Did you know that the people of Greenlion invented Saturdays?«

The llama is tugging at the sleeve of my shirt.

»What?« is all I can say.

»The Greenlioners, former inhabitants of the island and continent of sunken Greenlion, discovered the Planet of Saturn and it became the center of their worldview. That's why their week was full of Saturdays. Seven Saturdays, to be precise, also known as Saturone, Saturtwo, Saturthree, Saturfour, Saturfive…«

»I see where you are going«, I try to interrupt.

»Satursix and Saturseven.«

The animal is unstoppable.

»That's what Professor Burnside taught us in llama college in Caracas for archaeology.«

»So there is indeed a person called Professor Burnside?« I want to know. »Or there was?«

Llama is pointing in the direction of Claude Sideburns.

»There he is. The one and only.«

»Oh, animal«, I shake my head. »We already found out that this man's name is Claude Sideburns, not Burnside, and that he isn't a professor for archaeology at all, only an educated layperson. Meanwhile I doubt that you ever studied archaeology or any other subject.«

The animal is just shrugging its' shoulders and wanders off into the front yard of the Castle.

And I just overhear Claude Sideburns' latest words to Kylie, his former archaeologist's assistant, »… and when you connect these seven points on this dial of stone you see…«

»Ursa Major and the Big Dipper!« Kylie shouts out.

»Here, There and Everywhere.«

And from the laurel hedges around Brompton Castle and Brompton Estate the black sheep is giving me a wink. Does it want to me to follow? But why?

Bored of the life in the City of Gold
He'd left and let nobody know.
Gone were the towers he had known from a child,
Alone with the dream of a life
He travelled the wide open road,
The blinkered arcade,
In search of another to share in his life.
Nowhere.
Everyone looked so strange to him.

They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence.
Am I wrong to believe in a City of Gold
That lies in the deep distance, he cried

And wept as they led him away to a cage
Beast that can talk, read the sign.
The creatures they pushed and they prodded his frame
And questioned his story again.
But soon they grew bored of their prey
Beast that can talk?
More like a freak or publicity stunt.

🟡🟡🟡

Today is Saturday, the 3rd of June 2023.

Laurel Hedges