A PLACE TO LAY HER HEAD by Elizabeth Hipwell

On a lackluster night in 1972 in the City of Angels a little six year old girl by the name of Lanka laid asleep in the room she shared with her little sister Tanka; who, by the way, was only six months old. It was around three in the morning when their world was turned topsy turvy.  As Lanka drifted off into sleep land she felt a small rumble that made her bed, which had wheels, roll about an inch towards Tanka’s crib. The latter did the same.  Lanka looked out the window into the moonlit parking area to see if that drat thunder and lightning was striking again.  She just wished that God and the Angels would refrain from bowling in the clouds.

            However, bowling was not being played that night; for the rumbling came from below, and when it struck next, the frightened sister’s beds began to go all over the room as if they were playing bumper cars.

            Lanka said to herself, “Is God letting us play games tonight?”

   Lanka vowed to herself that she would keep Tanka safe.  Mama came and grabbed them up in her arms, as the rooms swayed and the earth threw everything off course. In her parent’s room, Papa lay trembling with the bed linens over his head. 

            “Did you get the kids? Ahhhhh! What was that?” Papa said.

            Papa’s shine lessened after that.  His cowardice was indicative of the self-involvement that would haunt his relationship with his daughters until the day his body imploded on itself.  Mama seemed burdened and overwrought by the responsibility and seemed to crave someone looking after her for once.  These insights were overwhelming for Lanka. She knew that life as she knew it would never be the same.

            Shortly after that tumultuous night, with the burden of her two little one’s in tow, Mama left Papa.  Gradually the responsibility of their well-being came to fall on Lanka.  She made sure not to do anything that would stress Mama out more than she already was. She took it upon herself to learn how to do laundry, and make sure she and Tanka were fed. 

            Lanka also became a lookout for her sister’s safety.  It was only recently that she found out that Tanka had been fondled by the little old man, Grandpapa Crank, in the dollhouse down the road.  Her sister said it never haunted her because Lanka had had the forethought to believe her sibling and make sure to never cross his path again.  That is something she is very proud of.  For, you see, Lanka had an inner sense that could detect men of Grandpa Crank's proclivity from a mile away.  For instance, when Papa would come in the bathroom when Lanka was in the tub or using the potty; it made her feel dizzy and creepy like the teenage boy with the dog she knew when she was four years old, who made her stomach hurt and gave her nightmares. From then on, this made her lock the door whenever she was in a bathroom at some one's house. 

            Through the years Lanka was not so lucky.  She became a magnet for men who touched her, fondled, kissed and penetrated her inappropriately throughout the years.  In the end, Lanka discovered that she needed to find the respect and care she so craved from others, as her mother did in needing to be taken care of by others, within herself. She needed to take care of herself, not to settle for “so so“.  For when she settled for “so so” Lanka wanted to sail on a river of blood which flowed through her veins and spilled out onto the ever waiting rumble of the Earth; she wanted to sleep until her prince/princess would come and wake her, even at the risk of death. Waiting until she got what she had envisioned for herself paid off. For Lanka always knew that her soul mate was in the world waiting for her as she was for him/her; that he/she would befriend, respect and love her. 

            For the soul mate’s name is …………….; her lover, partner, family and best friend.  They met each other at their lowliest of lows when they had thrown a letter out into the Universe asking for a companion to walk through life.  Yet they did not know that they, in fact, had already committed themselves to one another before they even met, because they had made a commitment to themselves before they did so to one another.

            Now, when Lanka goes to sleep at night she feels cared about and safe…she has found a place to lay her head.

            Lanka and ................ can now slay dragons/demons together for eternity!!

-Elizabeth Hipwell