By Roger L Wang
Leaning on the edge of the well, Anhelina crossed her legs meticulously. She threw her golden hair onto her shoulder despite there being no one else around to see. Meek hues of the morning sun peeked through patches of scattered fog, gently kissing her outer thigh. After a bit of time, she finally turned towards the dank well.
“Mr. Ribbit!” she cried, “Come out! Come out!”
“Here again? Let the simple amphibian be!” bellowed Sheldon the frog.
“This world is vast and great! There are so many wonderful places to be and people to meet! Please give it a chance!” pleaded Anhelina.
“Bah! In your wildest dreams,” said the frog, rolling his many sets of eyelids. “Not four jumps out and I’ll be swatted about by some housecat! Now, leave me alone!”
“You have to try at least once, right? Pretty please?” persisted Anhelina.
“Says who? The law? Even if it did, I am a frog and I am exempt from the law! Let me be,” croaked Sheldon.
Anhelina bit her tongue. “It must be awfully dark and damp down that well. Don’t you want to leave and explore?” she pressed. “Perhaps adventure across and inhabit a spacious pond?”
“I have been down this well my entire life,” said Sheldon. “In fact, I’ve grown content with the water that drips down here and the nibbles of moss that sprout about. Time and again, my needs are humbly met and I know not of want. An abrupt and hasty departure would bring nothing but corruption — I would forsake what little I have for this heedless proposal. Have you considered this may be what’s best for me?”
“You don’t know that,” grimaced Anhelina. “Whether you want me here or not, I just want what’s best for you. And that can’t be rotting away in this prison.”
“I am not an ambitious amphibian. If this is enough for me, then isn’t that what matters?” challenged Sheldon. “Alas, that world out there is yours and down here is mine. While yours is indeed vast, think how small and insufficient it may be for a giant! And how even more so for a god, a timeless supply of worlds and galaxies in his grasp! But, does this diminish the beauty of your own little well? Of course not, my dear. You may not see or understand the wonders of my plane, but there is little use of me to try and convince a giant otherwise!” ribbited Sheldon.
“That’s not the same!” protested Anhelina.
After a pause, she continued gently. “I’ve heard you enjoy gazing at the starry sky, for whatever fleeting, miniscule glimpses at least. Out here, there is tenfold…no, hundredfold…no, even more than that! You couldn’t possibly imagine how many beautiful constellations there are in every color and combination,” she said dreamily.
“I mean, have you ever seen a shooting star?”
“Perhaps not,” said Sheldon, unable to contain his interest.
“It’s like…a gracious and heavenly streak of light amongst a sea of stars.”
“A sea? Like the ocean? What does such a thing look like?” Sheldon asked, betraying his awe.
Anhelina smiled. “Forget the pond. The sea is the harmony of a million discordant streams converging into one. ”
“Sounds…spectacular,” Sheldon finally let out after a sigh.
“It looks spectacular too,” suggested Anhelina.
“Well, it does sound nice,” admitted Sheldon. “Perhaps a sight for one day — yet impetuosity is anything but necessary. There are other things I must tend to first; I need more time.”
It was Anhelina’s turn to exasperatedly roll her eyes. “Besides from deciding which damp spot to languish and mope around in today? Sometimes, you just have to take a chance! That time is now!”
“Such haste, Anhelina, and for what?” scorned Sheldon. “My kind may not live long relative to yours, however, we have ascertained patience as a teacher to us all. It is those with years to spare in often the greatest need of introspection and inner peace of mind.”
“Sorry…it’s just, nevermind,” muttered Anhelina.
“Besides, where would I even go?” invited Sheldon.
“Anywhere but here. The ocean is but one of many grand sights awaiting in the great beyond!”
Anhelina hesitated before continuing. “It’s unorthodox…I’ll admit, but I can bring you past it, the great beyond, I mean. We can traverse to 1492, then venture and explore from there.”
“Dates within the anthropocene do not concern me,” warned Sheldon.
“I thought we might begin our journey with the voyage of Christopher Columbus since you love the sea so much,” professed Anhelina. “I’ve heard those he acquaints end up with an excellent time! From there, we can visit considerable paradigm shifts in Earthrealm’s history to see if any strike your liking — one perfect for a start anew. I need not burden you with the rest of the logistics, but I can assure you these earthen dates occurred within similarly pleasant reputations — my, were Hiroshima’s cherry blossoms a sight to behold in 1945! I’ll take you myself, come; let’s leave this instant.” She lent out her hand, her patience starting to dwindle. “I promise you won’t regret it. Please.”
“What’s all this deceptive urgency I perceive, Anhelina?” Sheldon said, clearly dissatisfied. He raised his eyes knowingly, “it’s as if the world might end.”
Anhelina glared, her pretenses faltering. She maintained composure with a sad smile.
“Let’s not play games now, Sheldon Ribbit. Hmm, perhaps I do see the appeal of your well now, after all it does seem quite…quaint. What is it made of?” she deflected, running her fingers alongside the well’s ghastly edges.
“Rubble and cobblestone gathered from the collapse of the Berlin Wall,” mused Sheldon.
“The Berlin Wall was made of concrete,” Anhelina retorted impatiently.
“Whatever,” shrugged Sheldon. As he looked up, the distant tones of church bells began to ring.
“Thank you for the visit, Anhelina, but it appears time is up once again; perhaps another time, dear.”
Angrily pushing herself up from the decrepit well, Anhelina stormed off into the shattered morrow.
About the Author
Roger L Wang
Roger Wang is a senior currently working towards his philosophy and media studies degree at Rutgers University.
His appreciation of things equally Kafkaesque as they are sublime is what drives his interest towards the speculative fiction genre.
He has been published at 365 Tomorrows.
Ion Newcombe is the editor and publisher of AntipodeanSF, Australia’s longest running online speculative fiction magazine, regularly issued since January 1998, and conceived back around November 2007. He has been a zealous reader and occasional writer of SF since his childhood in the 1960s, and even sold a few stories here and there back in the '90s.
Mark Webb's midlife crisis came in the form of attempting to write speculative fiction at a very slow pace. His wife maintains this is a good outcome considering the more expensive and cliched alternatives. Evidence of Mark's attempts to procrastinate in his writing, including general musings and reviews of books he has been reading, can be found at www.markwebb.name.
Alistair Lloyd is a Melbourne based writer and narrator who has been consuming good quality science fiction and fantasy most of his life.
Geraldine Borella writes adult short stories and stories for children and has been published in anthologies for both. In 2018, one of her children’s short stories placed second in The Buzz Words Short Story Prize and she won an ASA Emerging Writer’s Mentorship. She currently works part-time as a hospital pharmacist and as an online creative writing tutor.
Sarah Pratt is an avid fiction writer and a Marketing Consultant.
Margaret lives the good life on a small piece of rural New South Wales Australia, with an amazing man, a couple of pets, and several rambunctious wombats.
Garry Dean lives on the Mid Coast of New South Wales Australia, and has been a fan of SF for most of his natural life. Being vision impaired, he makes good use of voice recognition and text to speech in order to write. Many of his stories have appeared in AntipodeanSF over the years, and his love of all things audio led him to join the narration team in 2017.
Timothy Gwyn is a professional pilot in Canada, where he flies to remote communities. During a lull in his flying career, he was a radio announcer for three years, and he is also an author.
Ed lives with his wife plus a magical assortment of native animals in tropical North Queensland.
Tim Borella is an Australian author, mainly of short speculative fiction published in anthologies, online and in podcasts.
Mark is an astrophysicist and space scientist who worked on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. Following this he worked in computer consultancy, engineering, and high energy research (with a stint at the JET Fusion Torus).
Jessie Atkin writes fiction, essays, and plays.
Brian Mahon is a former cook, lab technician, submariner, and now-and-then writer.
Bryan is a writer, activist and retired-barrister based in Melbourne, Australia. He appeared in the High Court in significant constitutional, native title and refugee matters including the Mabo litigation, Bryan has published numerous legal articles, and the book "A Mabo Memoir" (2013).
Deborah Sheldon is an award-winning author from Melbourne, Australia. She writes short stories, novellas and novels across the darker spectrum.
PS Cottier is a poet who lives in Canberra, with a particular interest in speculative poetry.
Old enough to just remember the first manned Moon landing, Kevin was so impressed he made science his life.