July 13, 2011

The Return of Blue

Blue’s return corresponded with the time Red was pining for Cobalt Blue. In other words, it was a time in which no amount of perfect assertiveness by Blue would exact anything resembling a desired response, which Blue learned rather quickly, as Blue was not quite perfectly assertive.

At Pumpkin’s house party, Blue opened with what he considered a firm “Hello.” That was when Red turned to look at him, and that was when Blue’s color sort of drained. Blue’s preparation for this confrontational moment included imagining every conceivable reaction Red might have after his initial hello. From rage to excitement to needing a refresher as to who he was, Blue was ready, except, of course, for the look Red actually gave him, and that was one along the lines of, “You look very ill.”

And Blue somehow knew it was true. He had been so concentrated on his prepared remarks that depended entirely upon whether Red greeted him with love or revulsion or lack of recollection that he had stopped eating altogether for at least a day and was looking quite peaked as a result. In addition to looking pale and sickly, Blue also, though he never would admit it, may very well have been suffering through an anxiety attack at the time he opened with the allegedly firm “Hello.”

In Blue’s defense, once he realized he could not draw on any of his prepared remarks, which included “It’s good to be seen,” and, “Lighten up, so I had a little crush on you. Big deal,” he understood there was no recovery to be made. While Blue strolled away into the sunset (there was in fact a sunset commencing at the time) and into his second banishment, Blue at least did so with a brief smile of genuine amusement at the turn of events he initiated and was now suffering through.

Certainly it was no moment of triumph, for nearly every color was laughing at Blue’s latest train wreck in the pursuit of if not Red’s affection then rather her mere attention.

But in that brief moment when Blue held his smile and eyes to his brothers and sisters in the aftermath of a legendary face-plant, Blue’s looks went from peaked to pretty, somehow.

That’s how Green remembered it, and lots of colors believed her and repeated what she had to say and ended up defining the moment, again not as triumph but rather as nuclear disaster averted and replaced by only sizable natural disaster.

Blue understood the massive damage control Green had influenced by way of Pink who brought news of things and chocolate cupcakes. For the first time Blue understood the powerful alliance a Blue-Green relationship might command. Blue retreated to a mountaintop and when Pink arrived, Blue took the cupcakes and sent her home and that was the end of Blue and Pink.


This is the fourth part. Here's the fifth.

10 comments:

Unspoken said...

Damn pink! Of course they believed her. They were drunk on chocolate cupcakes as she spread the word. :)

Ed Pilolla said...

i actually replaced 'cupcakes' with 'twinkies' for a moment on a revise write. sanity returned quickly, thankfully. nothing beats chocolate cupcakes, i say:)

Lisa said...

does mother nature witness all that happens?

Ed Pilolla said...

mother nature is crazy in love with the moon and doesn't have time to watch the kids. it's as if the kids have to figure out something very important (and pretty basic) before she can reveal herself, and commit some quality time.

but no, mother nature's part in this particular story is over.

Brian Miller said...

this is thick with familiar faces ed...

Wine and Words said...

Doesn't everyone pine for Cobalt? I mean listen to it! COBALT. It's like Thor, or Conan. It's friggin ripe with raw masculinity, not to mention it's beauty.

"That's how Green remembered it." Thank you Green. So sweet. I so love teal right now. I've got a mad crush on that color.

ed pilolla said...

brian, the kids do take after their parents in this one, especially the main ones. and of course i'm wired for geeky protagonists:)

annie, i wrote a whole chapter about cobalt. which i ended up cutting for space. it's called the story of cobalt blue. here it is:


The Story of Cobalt Blue

Of the thousands of shades of blue, which constituted all the male colors, other than white and few grays, Cobalt Blue (yes, cobalt blue) was the most masculine shade of blue— besides Blue himself, Blue would argue, but Blue would be wrong.

Cobalt Blue could have any color he wanted, other than Yellow, who loved him too much, and so she cut him out of her life rather quickly after learning his nature and found a deeper shade of yellow within herself.

Cobalt Blue barely noticed Yellow, which is to say he did notice, but hardly cared, which isn’t to say he didn’t respect Yellow. He did respect her unexpected toughness. He just hardly cared.

Cobalt Blue was comfortable with himself. And so he didn’t mind being honest about what he wanted. But he also wanted very little, at least how he figured it.
Cobalt Blue didn’t mind being alone from time to time. He didn’t mind companionship from time to time. He didn’t mind having a woman from time to time.

Cobalt Blue strolled over (yes, masculine colors can in fact stroll), to Red, introduced himself, asked if he could sit down, and went ahead and plopped himself down right next to Red, who answered his questions and asked a few of her own.

When Red twirled her hair around her finger during interaction with Cobalt Blue, all the shades of blue were as silent as they have ever been.

After Red and Cobalt Blue left together, the blues agreed they had found their new leader, especially after the disgrace of the previous attempts at blue leadership. But Cobalt Blue later turned the offer to lead down, which only enhanced his reputation as a stud.

Cobalt Blue declined seeing Red anymore and elected to blend with other colors. He wouldn’t have believed that he fell in love with Red that night until she had emotionally moved on and wouldn’t trust him anymore, which he respected, and grieved about.

And so the most masculine color lived with a pain in his heart he accepted as a burden he had created. This acceptance meant Cobalt Blue was no longer comfortable with himself, and so for years he ceased attracting other colors and became lonely.

So Cobalt Blue’s challenge turned out to be rediscovering his comfort with himself, and while he conducted this internal work, which he would have never called internal work, the story of Cobalt Blue appeared to be a sad one. However, Cobalt Blue eventually found that self-comfort and with it self-respect and joy, and before the end, love, too.

I could tell you which shade of color hooked up with Cobalt Blue in the end and that would be Mikado Yellow, but that information appears meaningless without a brief history of Mikado Yellow, or at least commentary. And the briefest of histories of Mikado Yellow that allows the reader to be satisfied that Cobalt Blue found redemption in the end is the knowledge that Mikdado Yellow is a member of Yellow’s tribe, a shade very near and dear to her sunflower heart.

Tori said...

Amazing! I love the emotions that each color experiences through rejection, redemption and love. Colors full of life, or is it life full of colors. :)

Wine and Words said...

Ha! Thank you so much for posting the Cobalt chapter. I guess we are both on the same page as far as that color goes :)

Phoenix said...

I am loving this series so much! Colors do seem to have very strong personalities and I love that you are giving them all voices :)