driving and striving

After spending an indefinite amount of time in Hades, one morning Pince woke up to the smell of cake and caramelized sugar. She lay there on her soft bed, keeping her eyes closed enjoying the sweetness and warmth. This was just like the smell of angelfood cake. Her mom had always made it in a bundt pan and when the cake would come out there would be the thin layer of cake left Pince would scrape off and eat. Angel food cake had that strange spongey texture, kind of like the bed she was sleeping on.

Wait.

Pince dug her elbow into the bed. It felt...crumby, spongey, slightly sticky.

She opened her eyes. She was surrounded by cake. This could hardly be true, how did she end up in a cake? She may be dead already, but she thought she would've noticed the heat of being baked in an oven.

It was slightly awkward to stand up, as the cake-ground had all give and barely any push-back––worse than a trampoline. After some inspection, Pince was certain that she was in a room made of cake. Or rather, a box made of cake. There were no doors.

Pince laughed. How odd to be inside a box made of angelfood cake! She grabbed a handful  and took a bite. Yes, this was definitely angelfood cake. She took another bite and started jumping up and down, singing, "RELUCTANTLY CROUCHED AT THE STARTING LINE, ENGINES PUMPING AND THUMPING IN TIME, THE GREEN LIGHT FLASHES, THE FLAGS GO UP, CHURNING AND BURNING THEY YEARN FOR THE CUP....HE'S GOING FOR DISTANCE, HE'S GOING FOR SPEED, SHE'S ALL ALONE, IN HER TIME OF––"*

The floor broke beneath her.

"NEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddd...."

Now she was falling through the air, through nothing, she couldn't see anything distinct, no clouds, no other walls, just light colors fading in and out, pink, blue, purple, green. Sometimes there was a flicker of light like the late afternoon sun shining through leaves. She tried to see where this would end, to see what was beneath her but there was just more nothing.

Nothing and she was still falling. This meant gravity and gravity means there must be something. Something she couldn't see. More things she couldn't see. This was always the way.

Pince began singing again, a new song.

Once I said unto another,
“In thine eye there is a mote;
If thou art a friend, a brother,
Hold, and let me pull it out.”
But I could not see it fairly,
For my sight was very dim.
When I came to search more clearly,
In mine eye there was a beam.

If I love my brother dearer,
And his mote I would erase,
Then the light should shine the clearer,
For the eye’s a tender place.
Others I have oft reproved
For an object like a mote;
Now I wish this beam removed;
Oh, that tears would wash it out!

Charity and love are healing;
These will give the clearest sight;
When I saw my brother’s failing,
I was not exactly right.
Now I’ll take no further trouble;
Jesus’ love is all my theme;
Little motes are but a bubble
When I think upon the beam.**

And she kept falling.

*Cake The Distance

**Eliza R. Snow Truth reflects upon our senses