Catarina Rosendo:

Natural History / The Earless Kangaroo and The Wandering Mollusc

In a small red forest always submerged in mist coming from the plains, lived two unlikely companions: an earless kangaroo and a mollusc with a broken shell. Both worked in a traveling circus, where jumps and pirouettes were repeated to the sound of a whistle. The nights were cold and the mornings smelled of sawdust. One time at dawn, tired of being mere applause and not whole beings, they decided to run away. The kangaroo, with a sidelong glance and a resolute step, jumped over the wooden fence, carrying the mollusc in a small bag hanging around his neck.

“Today, my dear, we will be whatever we want to be,” said the kangaroo.

The mollusc, who spoke slowly as someone thinking in spirals, replied, “To be free is also to learn not to have a place to be.” And he asked, “Where shall we go?”

The kangaroo said to him, “To meet EgG, the Oracle of the Passages. They say he unveils the fortune of those who dare to start over.”

They left before dawn and traveled through an unusual landscape, where a rainbow shaped like a huge headboard crossed the sky and landed in the middle of a field with a blue mountain which floated in the distance as it melted slowly. The wind climbed its slope with a sprightly tenderness, and at the top, next to a tree, a being stood motionless with its back turned, contemplating the horizon. The kangaroo wanted to call out to it, but the mollusc whispered, “Don't disturb those who see more than we do.” 

As they traversed a small hill, they came across a broken chair. It was missing one of its legs, but it struggled to remain upright, wiggling with dignity. 

“Poor thing,” murmured the mollusc. 

“No, look closely: there is a nobility in persistence,” replied the kangaroo. 

The chair, hearing them, replied with a crack: “Keep going. What is broken can also bear the journey.” And with a slight creak, it leaned toward the mountain, as if to show them the way. 

As the evening fell, the winds endured and the shadows of the trees began to dance on the floor. They found a field of mauve flowers and, exhausted, wanted to rest among the petals. But when they lay down, the ground sounded hollow. The flowers trembled under their weight, and the mollusc realized, “This isn't a field, it's a table!” And they laughed, surprised by the strange new world they had entered. 

It was then, there among the flower-tables, that appeared two cousins with long necks and eyes pointed at the clouds, introducing themselves as Grown-Up and The Stretched One. 

“Where are you going, cageless travelers?” asked Grown-Up. 

“We are looking for a place where the wind has no holder,” replied the kangaroo. 

The Stretched One pointed the way: “Follow the breeze that comes from the North. Before the winds take over the plain and sweep you away, you will find an empty retreat at the top of the old tree.” 

“And EgG?” asked the kangaroo. 

“You will find it where the shelter breathes,” replied The Stretched One, enigmatically.

They hurried off, grateful. The wind grew stronger, pushing grass and dust like waves on an invisible sea. On the horizon, the shelter appeared, a bright green shape. They approached: it was a giant, soft fungus. 

It breathed slowly, as if asleep. They entered. Inside, the air was humid and warm. In the center of the shelter, on a bed of moss, rested EgG, larger than the mollusc and lighter than air, wearing a heavy crown of ceramic arabesques. 

“We are free, but we don't know who to be,” said the kangaroo. 

EgG shivered and, without breaking, murmured: “Freedom will not tell you your destiny, it only gives you back the mirror.” 

Looking through the entrance to the shelter, the kangaroo and the mollusc realized that the world had begun to spin. The rainbow/headboard rose into the sky, the blue mountain landed upside down on the ground, the flowers dissipated in a spark of light, and the contemplative creature fell dizzyingly into the horizon. They then understood: freeing themselves from what bound them, they saw an upside-down world that was theirs. The wind carried the echo of this discovery up the mountain, where dreams balance, and the kangaroo and the mollusc rushed out of the mushroom, running to share the good news with the friends they had left behind and who were eagerly awaiting news: the chinless rabbit, the pink turtle, and the little dog with head problems.