Shownotes
Today’s story is “The Reason Why” by J.S. Hawthorne, who can be found most recently in Found Footage, a horror anthology by Thurston Howl Publications. Keep up to date with her work by checking out her Twitter @JSHawthorn3.
A fantasy story, about a trans rebel taking on a fascist regime to protect the vulnerable and make a better world for everyone, told as a story within a story to someone who needs it.
Read by William Dingo, the Sunrise Spectator
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https://thevoice.dog/episode/the-reason-why-by-j-s-hawthorne
Transcripts
You’re listening to Pride Month on The Voice of Dog.
Speaker:This is Rob MacWolf, your fellow traveler,
Speaker:and Today’s story is “The Reason Why” by J.S. Hawthorne,
Speaker:who can be found most recently in Found Footage,
Speaker:a horror anthology by Thurston Howl Publications.
Speaker:Keep up to date with her work by checking out her Twitter
Speaker:@JSHawthorn3.
Speaker:It is worth asking ourselves, as we tell eachother these stories,
Speaker:which goal we are pursuing.
Speaker:Are we aspiring to worlds where bigotry does not exist,
Speaker:and living as ourselves is not brave because it does not need to be?
Speaker:Or are we acknowledging the hardships we have faced,
Speaker:the struggles to get even as far as we have,
Speaker:and the determination to face those still to come?
Speaker:We’ll not presume to answer the question for you, listener,
Speaker:but instead offer
Speaker:a story that, by being both,
Speaker:asks the same question.
Speaker:Read by William Dingo, the Sunrise Spectator, Please enjoy
Speaker:“The Reason Why” by J.S. Hawthorne
Speaker:“You seek to travel the changing ways, my child?”
Speaker:The dragon, serene and inscrutable as the ocean,
Speaker:sat on its haunches near the entrance to the deeper forest.
Speaker:It was hard to make out in the gloom of the forest,
Speaker:a sentinel of dark scales
Speaker:and luminesce blue eyes.
Speaker:The boy, a young skunk not yet into his teen years,
Speaker:frowned up at the great creature towering over him.
Speaker:It did not appear to be hostile,
Speaker:but appearances, the boy had learned in his short existence, could be deceiving.
Speaker:Could he, the boy wondered,
Speaker:trust this keeper of the gate?
Speaker:Maybe it would be better,
Speaker:he thought, to tell it what it wanted to hear.
Speaker:The dragon cocked its head at him,
Speaker:reminding him of nothing so much as a curious bird,
Speaker:and the boy resolved on honesty.
Speaker:“I do,” he said. His long, striped tail swayed behind him.
Speaker:“Will it,” he hesitated,
Speaker:then plunged on, “Will it make me who I want to be?” “My child,” said the dragon in its gentle, patient voice,
Speaker:“Only you can make you
Speaker:who you want to be.
Speaker:We all may be influenced by others,
Speaker:but in the end, we decide who we are.”
Speaker:He was not entirely sure that made him feel better.
Speaker:The dragon sat, staring down at the boy,
Speaker:as though waiting.
Speaker:He swallowed. “Will it hurt?”
Speaker:he asked. The dragon shook its great head.
Speaker:“Not a bit. It is a slow change and you might feel some discomfort,
Speaker:but it will not hurt.”
Speaker:“What if I’m wrong?”
Speaker:“About wanting to walk the changing ways?”
Speaker:the dragon asked.
Speaker:When the boy nodded, it smiled at him.
Speaker:“Then you will have learned something valuable about yourself.
Speaker:As with many things in life,
Speaker:there is no point along the ways where you cannot decide to turn back.”
Speaker:The boy nodded.
Speaker:“I… they said I would have to convince you that I really needed to do this.”
Speaker:The dragon’s smile turned sad.
Speaker:“Oh, my child. I am a guide, not a guardian.
Speaker:The only person you need to convince is yourself.”
Speaker:“Oh.” The boy fidgeted a little bit,
Speaker:looking past the dragon at the small break between the trees that marked the beginning of the path.
Speaker:He did not step forward.
Speaker:The dragon laid itself down next to the path,
Speaker:not blocking it but merely settling nearby,
Speaker:and indicated a well-worn stump not far away.
Speaker:“If you wish, I can tell you a story while you decide if you are ready.”
Speaker:The boy hesitated, eyeing
Speaker:the deeper forest,
Speaker:then sat carefully on the stump,
Speaker:arranging his dress as he made himself comfortable.
Speaker:“What sort of story?”
Speaker:“It is a story of the changing ways.” * * *
Speaker:Once, a very long time ago, there
Speaker:was a girl. She was a skunk, like you,
Speaker:and, like you, she wished to travel the changing ways.
Speaker:When she was born, she had been assigned a name
Speaker:and a role that were not hers,
Speaker:growing up in a body that did not function as her brain told her it should.
Speaker:In those days, the changing ways were lost and wild.
Speaker:That was a time of great upheaval,
Speaker:where jealous and angry people fought to seize power no matter the cost.
Speaker:The entrances to the ways were jealously guarded by individuals who had no use for it.
Speaker:Some of them had good intentions,
Speaker:an honest desire to protect and study the ways.
Speaker:Others saw power in being the arbiter
Speaker:of who was worthy enough to walk the ways.
Speaker:And yet others convinced themselves that to be different was to be dangerous:
Speaker:a deviation, something to be feared.
Speaker:Or, worse yet, they saw that by controlling the ways,
Speaker:they could manipulate those who saw a threat in people
Speaker:who wanted nothing more than to live freely
Speaker:and honestly. This fight over access was a small portion
Speaker:of a larger cultural war,
Speaker:and the changing ways were treated, at the time,
Speaker:as a minor, unfortunate casualty
Speaker:in a more important conflict.
Speaker:This woman, she wanted to walk the changing ways,
Speaker:but found her way barred.
Speaker:The victims were treated, not as people,
Speaker:but as allegory, a cautionary tale to warn others who were not so squarely in harm’s way.
Speaker:Few fought for her,
Speaker:so she fought for herself,
Speaker:and for others like her.
Speaker:In the beginning, it was a battle of words.
Speaker:She spoke with everyone she could,
Speaker:trying to convince them that the changing ways were meant to be used,
Speaker:that they existed for a reason.
Speaker:Frequently her pleas would go unheard.
Speaker:It took her years to find someone who was willing to let her travel the ways,
Speaker:and another year on top of that to perform all of the tasks that person demanded
Speaker:before they would permit anyone to enter the deeper forest.
Speaker:She did all that was asked of her,
Speaker:and more. She persuaded those who had the power to stop her that she was worthy.
Speaker:She was an adult when she was finally allowed to walk the ways.
Speaker:There, every step of her path was watched.
Speaker:Any deviation, she was told,
Speaker:would result in her access being revoked,
Speaker:being forced back into the role she had tried so hard to escape.
Speaker:She was forced to trade one uncomfortable body for another,
Speaker:albeit one closer to what she needed.
Speaker:If she tried to explain that she needed a different path,
Speaker:another way, she was chided
Speaker:and warned what would happen
Speaker:if they strayed from the way outlined for her.
Speaker:The people who told her this, they said,
Speaker:may even have believed,
Speaker:that the rules they set out were for her protection.
Speaker:They said they wanted to be sure no one walked the ways accidentally,
Speaker:that no one regretted their choices.
Speaker:They told her there were dangers on the ways,
Speaker:fearful creatures, pitfalls,
Speaker:things waiting to hurt her.
Speaker:They said that the rules were to protect her.
Speaker:And while there are dangers to the paths one must walk through the deeper forest,
Speaker:she found, over time,
Speaker:that the rules did nothing to protect her from those dangers.
Speaker:But she followed the rules,
Speaker:as she was made to,
Speaker:and she walked her path.
Speaker:It is strange to consider
Speaker:how serendipitous life can be.
Speaker:Had this woman been born a little earlier,
Speaker:she might never have had access to the changing ways.
Speaker:Had she been born a little later,
Speaker:she might never had had the difficulties she faced,
Speaker:and wouldn’t have had the fortitude to do what she had to.
Speaker:She was born at the right time,
Speaker:and in the right place,
Speaker:and with the right circumstances.
Speaker:So when the world tilted,
Speaker:suddenly and frighteningly,
Speaker:she was ready. It was and wasn’t a surprise.
Speaker:For years, life had been, for the most part, improving.
Speaker:These big battles, fights over the levers of power,
Speaker:had little effect on the day-to-day existence of most people.
Speaker:People pushed back against the gatekeepers who sought to control the changing ways.
Speaker:They educated others about what they needed,
Speaker:and who were able to explain to others
Speaker:how the systems of control had no value.
Speaker:There was growing support
Speaker:and opportunity for people like her.
Speaker:For people like you.
Speaker:It seemed, to many,
Speaker:to be inevitable that justice should prevail.
Speaker:Justice is not, however,
Speaker:inevitable. Those who sought power, to rule uncontested,
Speaker:resorted to darker and fouler means to achieve those goals.
Speaker:They grabbed hold of whatever they could,
Speaker:and twisted it, steadily,
Speaker:to suit their own desires.
Speaker:They broke every facet of the social contract,
Speaker:violating every norm and custom so blatantly
Speaker:that few could believe that it was happening,
Speaker:and so many simply did not believe.
Speaker:The corruptible became the corrupted.
Speaker:The corrupted became
Speaker:rulers. It is a sad truism
Speaker:that the most evil of individuals will scapegoat and target those with the least protection.
Speaker:So it happened that,
Speaker:after years of befouling every basis of government,
Speaker:one particularly loathsome individual took hold of the reins of power.
Speaker:He was not the first of these types of people to gain power,
Speaker:nor will he be the last,
Speaker:but he built an empire on a legacy of hatred and cruelty.
Speaker:Among his very first targets,
Speaker:even while he was still clawing his way to power,
Speaker:were people like her,
Speaker:like you. That should have been enough to stop him there,
Speaker:but while people are fundamentally good,
Speaker:they are also trained to ignore pain when it does not affect them personally.
Speaker:He attacked those who simply wished an honest life as who they were
Speaker:and others wrote it off as unfortunate
Speaker:but ultimately irrelevant to their lives.
Speaker:A temporary problem that would remedy itself
Speaker:when he was no longer in power.
Speaker:Yet, each position he secured
Speaker:he used to cement his power,
Speaker:to make it harder to remove him from office.
Speaker:And with each step,
Speaker:he found himself needing more victims to appease those who supported him.
Speaker:So this man, as he became more powerful,
Speaker:became more horrible for the individuals forced to live under his despotism.
Speaker:The woman could have done nothing.
Speaker:She had walked the changing ways,
Speaker:had sufficient access and privilege
Speaker:that she could have lived out her life, as safe as
Speaker:anyone else, as free
Speaker:as anyone else. She could have had her life,
Speaker:at the cost of those who would come after her.
Speaker:Indeed, many of her peers told her
Speaker:that was what she should do.
Speaker:After all, they reasoned,
Speaker:others would have to do no more than she had had to do,
Speaker:at least then. They said,
Speaker:even if things became truly horrible,
Speaker:as though they had not already,
Speaker:she could just leave
Speaker:and go somewhere else.
Speaker:My child, it was beyond her to simply let these injustices pass..
Speaker:She saw suffering and
Speaker:could not abide it.
Speaker:Instead of fleeing from oppression,
Speaker:she rallied others under a banner of blue and gold,
Speaker:which bore the scales of justice,
Speaker:balanced on the tip of a sword.
Speaker:Her fight brought her first to the halls of power,
Speaker:where she railed and cried against those who had permitted such cruelty to take root.
Speaker:She took to the streets and gathered others who had awoken to the hatred that pervaded her nation.
Speaker:This evil had already leaked out to other kingdoms,
Speaker:infected them, cowing those who sought peace,
Speaker:emboldening those who flew flags of hate.
Speaker:She showed them where to be,
Speaker:how to yell and be heard,
Speaker:how to fight without raising a sword.
Speaker:And this vile man,
Speaker:he took notice of her,
Speaker:of her threat to the comfortable,
Speaker:ordered pain on which he sat.
Speaker:He branded her an enemy,
Speaker:accused her of the direst crimes,
Speaker:charged her with sedition and treason.
Speaker:He tried to turn the people away from her,
Speaker:and when that failed, tried to destroy her ability to speak.
Speaker:Where she went, she found the halls of government closed to her.
Speaker:When she spoke, those who had power were warned not to listen.
Speaker:So she spoke louder.
Speaker:She was arrested,
Speaker:punished, threatened with worse.
Speaker:And so she railed
Speaker:all the harder. When doors were barred against her,
Speaker:she broke them down,
Speaker:sometimes literally.
Speaker:When government attempted to shut her out,
Speaker:she ground it to a halt, by any means at her disposal,
Speaker:until it had to stop and listen to what she said.
Speaker:I wish, my child, I could tell you that that was enough.
Speaker:In other times in history,
Speaker:it had been enough.
Speaker:Perhaps if more people had stood with her,
Speaker:if more had understood the threat one man can be.
Speaker:Perhaps if more had recognized the paths that had led this man to power,
Speaker:or the dangers of suffering a group so dedicated to personal enrichment
Speaker:that they are willing to destroy everything,
Speaker:including the land itself, to get what they want.
Speaker:Perhaps. We can never really know how things might have been different,
Speaker:only how they were.
Speaker:Perhaps this could have ended differently.
Speaker:But it ended, as perhaps
Speaker:it was destined to,
Speaker:in blood. The man,
Speaker:so infected by his own ego,
Speaker:could not back down.
Speaker:He could not relent,
Speaker:even the tiniest bit,
Speaker:on the cruelty that he inflicted on everyone around him.
Speaker:He had, after all,
Speaker:a long line of predecessors,
Speaker:each more arrogant,
Speaker:more horrible than the last,
Speaker:each who had never faced consequences for even the worst abuses of their assorted offices,
Speaker:to look back on. Hatred like his does not just exist statically,
Speaker:it grows, like a twisted thorn,
Speaker:unless rooted out.
Speaker:And this man’s roots ran deep and strong.
Speaker:When he could no longer ignore her,
Speaker:he abandoned all pretense.
Speaker:No longer was his a government of law,
Speaker:but a government of,
Speaker:by, and through him
Speaker:and him alone. The woman was branded an enemy,
Speaker:to be killed on sight,
Speaker:her supporters and followers to be dealt with as harshly as possible.
Speaker:Even then, she could have left.
Speaker:Many did. Many did not and died,
Speaker:martyrs to the cause of justice and equity.
Speaker:We may never know the true numbers of the dead,
Speaker:nor will we ever have a true tally of the dead’s names or lives.
Speaker:What we do know is that this woman did not flee.
Speaker:She did not hide.
Speaker:She took up a sword to match her banner,
Speaker:and she marched. She fought, and her allies and supporters
Speaker:and friends fought by her side,
Speaker:but the man had allies as well.
Speaker:They had the benefit of power,
Speaker:of money, of control.
Speaker:From the very beginning it appeared that the woman could not overcome what the man, and those like him and who had preceded him,
Speaker:had built. It is a terrifying thing,
Speaker:to be so overwhelmed.
Speaker:But there is a curious thing about cruelty.
Speaker:When one lives an entire life without ever facing any resistance,
Speaker:when one builds a world premised on hurting the most vulnerable,
Speaker:one forgets that power
Speaker:is not invincible.
Speaker:An individual ignores the consequences of their actions at their own peril.
Speaker:The man had a government,
Speaker:but it was a government weakened by graft
Speaker:and corruption. He had money,
Speaker:but he could not buy skilled strategists,
Speaker:or an army willing to die for him.
Speaker:He had control, but could not understand why he couldn’t control others
Speaker:when the risk to them
Speaker:became greater than he.
Speaker:He built a world of cruelty,
Speaker:and found that it could just be as cruel to him.
Speaker:Which is not to say that the outcome of this war was predestined.
Speaker:There were many times when a bit of chance could have turned the tides.
Speaker:It is perhaps easy,
Speaker:and tempting, to say that men like that cannot survive forever.
Speaker:Even if that were the truth, though,
Speaker:it is not a guarantee that any one person could have done what the woman did
Speaker:in the end. And the longer a man like that remains in power,
Speaker:the more harm he causes.
Speaker:No one should ever
Speaker:permit hatred to rule,
Speaker:even for the shortest time.
Speaker:Hatred causes harm that can never be erased.
Speaker:And if nothing else remains with you, my child,
remember this:the loss of even one life is a tragedy that can never be repaid
remember this:or remedied. Their war raged across this land,
remember this:from the seas to the mountains.
remember this:The woman led her people into battle, fighting at their head.
remember this:The man sent others to do battle in his stead,
remember this:unwilling or simply incapable of showing any interest in his own war.
remember this:It is said that his wrath was fearsome,
remember this:and that his generals began to lie to him about the state of the war,
remember this:so that they would not have to face his rage.
remember this:More than a few of his most talented soldiers defected,
remember this:or simply left the war behind to live beyond the edges of battle.
remember this:It is said that when her army arrived at the capital city,
remember this:ready for the final conflict,
remember this:he was completely surprised.
remember this:His last advisors had told him that he was completely safe,
remember this:that the woman was safely contained in some remote part of the kingdom,
remember this:unable to raise an army large enough to do more than sit
remember this:besieged. They lied to his face
remember this:and then fled the city.
remember this:It is said that so great was his anger
remember this:that the last of his officers fled in the night
remember this:and he was left with no one to die in his place.
remember this:But do not think that this was an easy victory.
remember this:He still had an army,
remember this:one made of those who did not realize that they fought to support a regime built on pain
remember this:or who did realize this
remember this:and believed it to be the best possible world
remember this:or, worst of all, those who realized it and simply did not care.
remember this:Nor was the woman’s army untouched by the horrors they had experienced.
remember this:War is a terrible thing,
remember this:even a just and necessary war.
remember this:It haunts those who live through it,
remember this:whether fighter or witness.
remember this:The woman, who had seen the war from its inception,
remember this:from the twisted roots that gave birth to it as surely as they had given birth to the man,
remember this:had no desire to force more pain on those who fought at her side.
remember this:The man, who had turned away from war
remember this:and therefore never had to experience it,
remember this:had no ability to force his army to fight on his behalf.
remember this:In the end, the woman set the rules for their final battle,
remember this:and she chose a personal fight,
remember this:between herself and him.
remember this:It was a proposition that appealed greatly to him,
remember this:because he had long ago begun to believe in his own lies about his invincibility.
remember this:He thought that by removing this one woman–a
remember this:woman he could not even refer to by her true name–he
remember this:would win and his world would revert to the comfortable cycle of abuse and cruelty that he had so
remember this:carefully cultivated.
remember this:It also appealed greatly to the woman,
remember this:being the wiser of the two.
remember this:She knew that both armies wished for nothing more
remember this:than an end to the fighting,
remember this:but her army fought to protect,
remember this:while his fought only to save itself.
remember this:If she won, then his army would fall apart,
remember this:held together solely by dedication to him.
remember this:If he won, on the other hand,
remember this:then her army would continue on in her absence,
remember this:and she had lost nothing but her life.
remember this:That was the great secret of her victory,
remember this:in the end. She won because of the reason why she fought:
remember this:to protect and save others,
remember this:to build a better world for those who would come after her.
remember this:She did not fight to serve herself
remember this:or ease her own hardships.
remember this:Those she had already overcome.
remember this:She fought to prevent others,
remember this:to prevent children,
remember this:like you, from having to face those same hardships.
remember this:They met, their swords drawn,
remember this:in a great plaza on the edge of the capital,
remember this:what had once been a bustling marketplace but that the man had rebuilt into a monument to himself and his heroes,
remember this:those who had paved the way
remember this:for his ambitions,
remember this:who had shown him how to refine cruelty
remember this:into a needle-sharp point
remember this:and to forge a path to power
remember this:out of the blood of the vulnerable.
remember this:The man made a grandiose speech
remember this:about a perfect world,
remember this:a world in his image,
remember this:a world free from deviation.
remember this:His words were not pretty,
remember this:it had been a very long time since had had to make them pretty,
remember this:and there was only the thinnest veneer of respectability to his speech.
remember this:Whatever his words,
remember this:his intent was plain.
remember this:He promised a world of cruelty
remember this:and the destruction of the things he had worked so hard to convince others were a threat:
remember this:honesty, equity, love.
remember this:When he was done,
remember this:the woman raised her sword
remember this:and said, simply, “A perfect world is one free from the petty hatreds of petty cowards.”
remember this:They fought. My child,
remember this:it is a glorious
remember this:and terrible thing to see a true battle between masters.
remember this:The woman lacked formal training in the sword,
remember this:but she had had many long years of bitter experience to learn how to handle a blade.
remember this:The man had no experience in a true fight,
remember this:for until the woman had come,
remember this:none would have dared to take up a sword against him,
remember this:but he had had the best tutors that money could buy.
remember this:He scored the first hit,
remember this:a deep one against her thigh,
remember this:under the edge of her armor.
remember this:She landed the next hit,
remember this:a scratch along his neck,
remember this:not deep enough to win the fight,
remember this:but enough to show that she did not think this a game.
remember this:For him, her blood represented a prize to be won,
remember this:a story to tell of his invulnerability.
remember this:For her, though, his blood, and hers,
remember this:was the cost of safety.
remember this:Perhaps the blow had shaken his confidence.
remember this:Perhaps that scratch had forced him to realize that he could be injured,
remember this:that he was a flesh and blood person after all.
remember this:Perhaps he finally was made to recognize the difference between staged exhibitions,
remember this:where his opponents feared what would happen to them
remember this:if they allowed any harm to befall him,
remember this:and a true fight to the death against someone who no longer feared him.
remember this:Or perhaps it was simply fate.
remember this:Whatever the reason,
remember this:her first hit was not her last.
remember this:Her sword flashed out with all the fury of an avenging angel.
remember this:She caught him between the segments of his pauldron on the right,
remember this:her blade severing the mail underneath and fouling the armor.
remember this:On the backstroke,
remember this:she dented the couter
remember this:and rerebrace, rendering his right arm immobile inside his armor.
remember this:He was forced to switch his sword to his offhand,
remember this:and she pressed the attack.
remember this:Another strike dented his helmet,
remember this:and another slipped between the gaps of his armor, drawing blood again.
remember this:He fell back, hoping to get to the safety of an army that was no longer there.
remember this:He did not break before her, though,
remember this:and his counterstrokes blooded her arms and shoulders.
remember this:A lucky thrust took her eye and left a scar on her muzzle
remember this:that she wore for the rest of her life.
remember this:While they fought,
remember this:her army liberated the city.
remember this:His effigies were pulled down and shattered,
remember this:his visage defaced wherever it appeared.
remember this:It was a brutal battle,
remember this:but a short one. In the end,
remember this:she drove her sword through his throat,
remember this:and he died, silenced by the wound,
remember this:in the streets of the city he had tried to strangle.
remember this:The war did not end there, of course.
remember this:There is no shortage of individuals who feel entitled to absolute deference,
remember this:who will not hesitate to fan the flames of hatred to secure power.
remember this:But the war did not last much longer.
remember this:Without their figurehead,
remember this:without a standing army,
remember this:the forces of oppression flittered
remember this:and died, at least for the moment.
remember this:New laws were drafted,
remember this:designed to protect against the excesses of the previous era.
remember this:As for the woman,
remember this:she refused to accept any position in the new government.
remember this:She was honored, of course,
remember this:but largely she eschewed such things.
remember this:In the few statues she permitted to be raised in her honor,
remember this:and every painting made of her,
remember this:she insisted that her scar
remember this:and missing eye be prominently shown.
remember this:A reminder, she said,
remember this:that there is no price too high to pay to fight
remember this:if it means that others may live more freely.
remember this:She designed only one monument,
remember this:which stands now when her blood first spilled in her fight with the man.
remember this:It was, and is, a pillar of steel,
remember this:representing her sacrifices
remember this:and the lengths to which we must go to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
remember this:She spoke, on occasion,
remember this:and traveled so that others might see her
remember this:and know her story from her,
remember this:but after a few short years,
remember this:she retired to live out the rest of her life in peace.
remember this:That was, after all,
remember this:all she had ever wanted. * * *
remember this:“She did all that,” the boy wondered softly.
remember this:“But she didn’t have to?”
remember this:The dragon shook its massive head.
remember this:“No. She was no longer beholden to the gatekeepers of the changing ways,
remember this:able to take from them what she needed without having to be physically present.
remember this:If she chose, though she rarely did,
remember this:she was fully capable of passing as though she had never walked the ways.
remember this:She was fortunate in life,
remember this:and had both support and means to flee,
remember this:though of course,
remember this:in that time, there were few safe places to run to.
remember this:Power, particularly power born of hate,
remember this:does not content itself to what it has.
remember this:It is like a fire,
remember this:it consumes and grows,
remember this:and must continue to grow
remember this:or die.” “Why didn’t she run?”
remember this:“I said, my child,” the dragon told him,
remember this:though its tone was patient.
remember this:“It mattered more to her that you would have the safety she was denied.”
remember this:The boy looked past the dragon at the forest,
remember this:his brow furrowed in concentration.
remember this:“You’re wondering why I chose that story to tell you?”
remember this:the dragon asked.
remember this:The boy, sheepish, nodded.
remember this:“Because it is important to know the history of this place,
remember this:and that you appreciate what was sacrificed to give you the freedom you now have.
remember this:“Do not mistake me,”
remember this:the dragon continued when the boy opened his mouth to interrupt.
remember this:“I didn’t tell you this to imply that you have any obligation to her
remember this:or to the changing ways.
remember this:If you decide this is not what you want,
remember this:either now or after you have traveled the ways for a time,
remember this:or that if you are not yet ready to walk that path,
remember this:then that is a fine and valid decision.
remember this:“You should know what it cost to make that option available to you, however,
remember this:so that you understand that it is your choice.
remember this:That is what she wanted:
remember this:the freedom to choose
remember this:and, more importantly,
remember this:the freedom for you
remember this:to choose, and all others who seek out the entrance to the changing ways.
remember this:If you go no further than that stump,
remember this:then all that I ask of you
remember this:is that you remember the woman
remember this:who gave her eye and her blood
remember this:that everyone might have the right to decide for themselves
remember this:what will best heal their soul.
remember this:Remember her, so that, when evil individuals like him arise again,
remember this:and they will, that you will know what is at stake
remember this:and do what is right.”
remember this:The boy hesitated, then said,
remember this:“Can I ask another question?”
remember this:The dragon laughed,
remember this:a rich, sun-dappled river of a laugh.
remember this:“My child, you may ask as many questions as you desire.
remember this:My time is unlimited.”
remember this:“Why didn’t you tell me their names?”
remember this:“I did not tell you her name because she wished to be known by her actions.
remember this:What mattered to her is what she did,
remember this:and she wanted others to remember sacrifice
remember this:and pain and, above all,
remember this:how necessary it is to fight for each other before the fight becomes the
remember this:only option remaining.
remember this:I can tell you that she was a beautiful woman,
remember this:tall and strong, with dark black fur
remember this:and a long, bushy tail that she loved,
remember this:even as she insisted that she was vain to love a part of herself.
remember this:I can tell you that she was not vain,
remember this:whatever she thought,
remember this:but so selfless as to believe that her
remember this:honest joy in existence,
remember this:in simply being permitted to be,
remember this:might be vanity. “I did not tell you his name, however,
remember this:because people like that desire, more than
remember this:anything else, to be remembered,
remember this:whether as hero or villain.
remember this:It is the greatest
remember this:and last punishment we can inflict on someone willing to hurt others for their own self-aggrandizement
remember this:that we condemn their memory itself to damnation,
remember this:and remember only their crimes and their fall.
remember this:Her statues, few though they are,
remember this:still stand. Of him,
remember this:no image nor description remains.”
remember this:The boy sat back and digested this.
remember this:These were heady thoughts for a boy
remember this:who wished only to shed dresses for breeches,
remember this:to cut his hair short
remember this:but not too short,
remember this:to choose a name that reflected himself
remember this:and not the wishes of others.
remember this:The dragon sat with him,
remember this:not speaking, barely moving,
remember this:a dark, scaly sentinel
remember this:in the comforting gloom of the forest.
remember this:At long last, the boy stood up
remember this:and took a deep breath,
remember this:facing the dark path into the forest.
remember this:“I’m ready,” he said,
remember this:and the dragon smiled at him.
remember this:“But… do you think you could walk with me a while?”
remember this:The dragon inclined its great head.
remember this:“My child, I will be by your side for as long as you wish,
remember this:however far down the ways you decide to go.”
remember this:This was “The Reason Why”
remember this:by J.S. Hawthorne, read for you by William Dingo, the sunrise spectator.
remember this:You can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog,
remember this:or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.
remember this:Happy Pride, and Thank you for listening to The Voice of Dog.