A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Gold cherry
Story of the week

By marandina

Wed, 10 Jul 2024
  • 2818 reads
28 comments
 

“If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended.” Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sarsen stones stand like stoic ancient sentries as rays of sunshine breach nebulous cloud cover overhead. A ring of blue stones sits inside. A few feet away, a shuffling queue of people listen to commentary through headsets, educational input for tourists kept at arm’s length by waist-high rope that runs the circumference of the monument. The atmosphere is reverential with the Summer Solstice due the following day; thousands will descend once more on the Holy site to worship Pagan Gods and give thanks to the elements for ushering in another summer.

With the sun at its daily zenith, around noon two attendees break ranks, jump the barrier and make straight for the innards of the primeval place. Onlookers gape, aghast as they watch two men dressed in white tee-shirts and grey trousers pull out orange plastic canisters. It’s like being a bystander as a mugging unfolds. Eyes widen as the interlopers point their weapons at the age-old monoliths and are quickly enveloped in a tan mist. They appear manic, running about haphazardly firing off what look like makeshift fire-extinguishers.

After what seems an eternity but is only a matter of seconds, a middle-aged Japanese man holding a camera runs towards the miscreants. He is followed by security staff who have been caught cold. The have-a-go hero tugs at one of the intruders, impeding his aim. The struggle is brief. Within minutes, the protest is brought to a halt but not before the mystery powdered paint has coated several of the large stones.  Police cars arrive adding to the chaos. Two tall officers in their thirties wander over to the melee. One of the perpetrators is in his late teens, the other much older; probably in his seventies. After a verbal exchange, both are led away and ensconced in the back of a patrol car.

The incident goes viral. Images show events that have unfolded since the two men violated protocol and infiltrated the megaliths. Social media is wall-to-wall invective:

I was sympathetic to your cause but you have alienated me now they say. Not all but most. Some invoke the wrath of primordial spirits to extract retribution for this desecration. The Stonehenge Twitter account declares its intention to prosecute. This will end in prison sentences it threatens with bristling indignation.

The men are driven to a nearby police station and questioned. Statements are taken and phone calls made. Usually suspects are released after a while but today is different. Roiling clouds have rolled in, coloured blue-black like bruises. The sky is dark, almost biblical. The unusual decision has been taken to detain the accused overnight in cells much to their respective consternation. They are led away down a drafty corridor where grey lifeless walls mark their quiet march. Doors clank open, ones with slots in them to deliver food to detainees.

Hours pass incredibly slowly. Like millennia on Salisbury Plains. Seconds become minutes becoming hours that turn to centuries. Only in the case of the two men, tepid afternoon dribbles into the estuary of evening. Night time awaits. They think about their cause; about the vagaries of climate change and the inaction of governments. The solution is simple – Just. Stop. Oil. Passion burns in both even at the cost of their future. Prosecution can lead to incarceration and dire consequences from employers. Of course, this is irrelevant when considering the fate of the planet. Thoughts of post-Armageddon:

He’s dead. She’s dead. Everyone is dead. Everybody is dead.

The younger of the two men lies down on an unwelcoming bed. The mattress is hard. He’s not sure he will be able to sleep. It’s noisy. There’s a residual chatter outside. Occupants of other cells are banging on walls, screaming and shouting. Opprobrium. But he drifts off after all.

He’s lying on a block of stone; cold seeping through clothes. He can feel the iciness of the surface through his tee shirt. Looking up his vision is blurred. He can make out figures standing around his prone body. There’s a desire to pull himself up but he can’t. Eyes strain to identify those around him. They are wearing robes, cloaks of some kind. A tall individual is holding a staff. It conjures images of Tolkien characters. Maybe they are druids.

The gathering parts and beyond is a forest. It is visible outside an amalgam of stones. He is at Stonehenge although trapped in a dream it seems. There are figures with their backs to him walking towards the trees. They are dressed as though from ancient Greece. Two men are adorned in loosely draped white cloaks of linen whilst two women are wearing silk pleated dresses. They wander arm-in-arm as two couples and disappear amongst the trees.

A figure wearing a crown of laurel leaves on its head is hovering in the air. It has a cherubic appearance – fairylike. It flits among the trunks, obscured by branches. The young protestor watches on, eyes wide as the scene becomes increasingly surreal. It reminds him of a play he saw once with his father; a Shakespearean production. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – yes, that’s it. Oberon and other characters. He was just a child at the time and didn’t understand a lot of what went on; only that it was captivating in a complicated way.

The sky is full of stars – constellations laid bare by the absence of light pollution. It’s beatific. So many pinpricks of light; too many to count. From the west, storm clouds are closing in. It starts to rain. At first, light drops but it’s not long before water cascades in torrents. Thunder rumbles like metal sheets followed several heart beats later by more lightning ripping across the horizon. Climate change. The tempest sweeps away the men, women and fantastical figures leaving an empty forest covered in debris. Broken branches and bushes torn asunder litter the foreground.

The boy is no longer prostrate like a pending sacrifice but is standing in the middle of the devastation. He hears voices. They are calling his name over and over. He closes his eyes trying to make sense of it all. When he opens them again, faces are staring down at him. He is in a hospital ward.  A nurse is asking if he is alright. She peers at him curiously. He feels confused and shaken. Raising himself, he can see his co-conspirator in the next bed, his head and body covered by a sheet.

As sense returns a doctor arrives, white coat and all. He explains that the powder-paint reacted with lichen living on the surface of the stones creating an hallucinogen that entered their blood streams. The effects only became apparent a few hours later. The medic advises to be careful about visitors. The recovering boy thinks about the protest and that it is now the Summer Solstice. Hordes will have descended for the ancient celebrations. Their story will be all over the news. 

The bearded doctor speculates that there is every possibility that the Press will be lurking, looking for a scoop. He carefully lifts the covering on the next bed. The older protestor looks over at his young companion. The consultant declares that he is unsure how to fix this particular problem.

Still staring at each other, the protestors both see the face of an ass looking back.

It seems…that they have reached…their Bottom.

 

Image free to use at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edwin_Landseer_-_Scene_from_A_Mi...

 

Certificate PG
Story
Short Stories
Surreal

Comments

Submitted by Ewan on

  not quite the ending I was expecting (that's a good thing, BTW) despite the clues.

Not sure about Just Stop Oil's methods myself. Equally, I want to know how long it took them to get to Stonehenge on their pushbikes, because of course they didn't use any oil-derived products to get there, did they?

The problem for us all is that as we run out of fossil fuel, the cost will go up and soon we'll be back in animal furs as the profiteering companies increase the price. Supply and demand. It's a race really, will we run out of Oil etc, before the planet burns or not?

IF Shell, BP and OPEC had any sense, they'd be pumping 50% of their ludicrously high profits into discovering clean alternatives to every kind of fuel that needs extracting from the rock, sea-bed or wherever.

But they don't.

Anyway, well done. The slightly baroque style suits this.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by marandina on

Thanks, Ewan. This came about from a writing prompt re the offline group I'm in. I saw the story on the news and followed the reaction on SM. Needless to say, there was a lot of vitriol. JSO went on to do the same thing to Taylor Swift's private jet which seemed to make more sense or more in keeping with JSO's mission/values.

I do know someone who has been heavily involved with these kinds of protests and was recently prosecuted and convicted. He ended up with a suspended sentence but the criminal conviction led to him losing his job. A prison sentence would have been problematic as he is a carer for his elderly mother who lives with him. You don't read about the repecussions. I imagine they aren't deemed newsworthy.

I completely understand what environmental groups are saying. I guess it's about taking people with you when you are trying to articulate your message rather than risking alienating the very folks you are trying to "save". Greta Thunberg does it well. Chris Packham says governments aren't listening and it is time for radicalism in protests.

We all live on the same rock and do need to look after it better. I don't think anyone disputes that.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Intriguing story! I did have two little puzzles–

to detail the accused overnight  – detain? Also I was a bit puzzled by the lightning following the thunder? Did you mean that? Is it the next flash? Lightning causes the slower sound wave. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by marandina on

Thanks for reading, Rhiannon. I did mean "detail" but "detain" probably works better.

I've put a couple of edits in so hopefully it scans correctly.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I'd say that Just Stop Plastic and Bombs and Rockets Whilst Significantly Reducing the Number of Internal Combustion Engines would be a better name for a pressure group. We need oil for our chip pans and massage parlours.

It's quite likely that your man was fully conscious when all the ritualistic druid stuff was going on. In that part of the world it happens mostly on days that have a 'Y' in them. I lived in Wiltshire for twenty years (not far from Avebury stone circle) and just being there seemed like a sacrifice.

A piece I found entertaining and worrying. Nice one Paul!

Turlough

Submitted by marandina on

Thanks, Turlough.

I'm sure you saw it on the news but, if not, here's the incident.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw44mdee0zzo

It lent itself to this surreal interpretation which folks seemed to like offline so I thought I'd post it here.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Thanks Paul. Yes I saw it. It brought outrage to the world and his pagan god. A very ill-mannered thing to do but it was only a bit of orange coloured cornflour and I'm sure the dear old henge has known far worse. The stunt gained a lot of publicity for a campaign which none of us should ignore, even if we don't agree with the methods.  

Turlough

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Paul,

I thought your story was imaginative and relevant to this news piece. I was intrigued by the  hallucinate dream sequence, it fitted in well with scenario they encountered.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by marandina on

As always, your thoughts are welcome Jenny. Thanks for reading it 

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

I remember hearing about the special lichen the morning after the event, but luckily they weren't destroyed. This is an interesting direction you've taken from that fact. Nicely done!

 

Submitted by marandina on

Thanks insert. Glad you liked it :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

"just a child at the time and didn’t understand a lot of what went on; only that it was captivating in a complicated way" exactly my memory of Midsummer Night's Dream, too :0) Vividly remember Queen Mab's billowing patchwork cloak, and the language way over my head but intoxicating at the same time is a remembered wonder, though I have read and read the play again, never quite so rich as that first time

I loved how you mixed magic with real events. That they ended up as asses, their message ignored because of the place they chose to announce it is clever - if there is any magic in the stones, I believe they would be on the side of those trying to save the Earth, but Nature is not kind, and nor are its lessons, which will be harder and harder to bear as climate change intensifies. That the stones would give them asses heads for such a mistake seems very likely!

As Ewan says, it would be great if fossil fuel companies devoted a larger chunk of their profits to research. On the Climate Question last night, and other such programs I hear frequently that we HAVE the solutions now, they just need funding. The world's richest individuals are throwing their money away on barren space rather than saving Life's future on Earth. Even Shakespeare who knew so much about humanity, did not foresee that

 

Submitted by marandina on

Thanks for reading, Di. And for the wonderful feedback. Detailed and insightful. Much appreciated and invaluable.

I did leave a diatribe about, amongst other things, climate change on your most recent piece. If you noticed it, I imagine you fell asleep before getting to the end :0)

 

Submitted by Ewan on

 This is our very well-deserved pick of the day. Please share and repost/tweet whatever your Social Media allows you to do in order that more people get to see this excellent work.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by marandina on

Oh that's wonderful. Thank you very much!

 

Submitted by celticman on

A Midsummer's Nights Dream is boring as shit, but I liked this. Getting to the Bottom of it. We can, of course, ditch fossil fuels. Lie, cheat, steal and all the things the tobacco barons did the fossil fuel billionaire's keep repeating. Our world has a cancerous growth. We can treat it now, or we can kill tens of millions, possibly billions of us in pointless wars over water and food. Doing nothing is not an option. As I've said, I'll be dead, but if you 've children or their children's children, they really are going to face deadly perils. Think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your world. 

 

Submitted by marandina on

Thanks, CM. I am pretty sure everyone knows something needs doing and it needs to be done around about now. It will be a massive challenge aligning all countries under the same banner and getting them to shelve their self-interest.

China appear to be rolling out coal-fired power stations like there's no tomorrow. And there won't be unless that approach changes quickly.

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

Congratulations on the golden cherries marandina - very well deserved!

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

China's coal use is not helpful, but they are doing more to tackle climate change than anyone else, if I understand rightly. It is because of China that solar power became affordable. It's because of China that EVs will become affordable even if only to compete with their subsidies. Biden had to subsidise Green stuff because China did? Not at all sure he would have done otherwise. China is the stick which is stirring movement on this. It could be Elon Musk or Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg saving the world, but they'd rather not. Our current government will not have the funds to do so that's for sure, yet we invented climate change in the industrial revolution, it's what made us "Great" . Will go check about your comment, Thankyou :0)

 

Submitted by marandina on

I watched an economics based video by The Economist a while ago about China and green projects including massive solar panel sites being built in the country. From memory, they have an internal net zero target to achieve by 2060. It certainly painted a more objective picture than the perception generated by the media for the most part.

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

That was simply a unique read, nothing predictable, more like a verbal collage using so many materials from different sources to create a thought provoking piece of art. I always found Midsummer Night's dream sort of trippy, I enjoyed how you've woven it into a very modern news story while retaining the trippiness.

The problem with these environmental protests is, rather like religion, there is always hypocrisy. I agree with the sentiment and then I drive to work, one person in one car to do a job which benefits one family, not the world. Public transport not available. Rather like Gary Linekar stating, Just Stop Oil are heroes while he wears the Next clothing he designed himself, Next is the ultimate fast fashion containing nylon derived from petrol. Textile industry appalling for the environment. Ebay has enough second hand clothes to feed any clothing addiction, even mine. 

 

Submitted by marandina on

Thanks Jane.

I think times are definitely changing along with attitudes so maybe the protests have made their mark even if subconsciously and with no small amount of controversy.

I thought Adrian Ramsay co-leader Green party did really well on one of the pre-election tv debates (It was just him and Farage on for an hour). Greens went on to win 4 seats albeit probably didn't get anything like the coverage they deserved due to the Reform party also winning seats. He talked a lot about basic things like re-instating decent public transport and taxing airlines in a fairer way relative to other forms of transport. It resonated with many in the audience.

I think politicians in general overlook how much value people put on things that used to be taken for granted like having affordable dental care, a functioning NHS without overrun A&E departments, a bus close by that runs on time and less toxic energy that means we won't all die as the planet finally burns to a crisp.

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

Really intriguing, Paul. I think it's great when real life events spark off something as thoughtful as this.

The Henge indeed has seen off a lot worse than this in its time, and as far as I'm aware the orange powder didn't do any real damage to the lichen. I can't help feeling that if governments and the fossil fuel industry were to get off their backsides and do something about climate change, actions like this wouldn't be necessary. Personally I do think they're necessary, sadly, because otherwise the issue would slip even further down the agenda. So many people still don't seem to take on board the fact that the 'odd' weather, raging fires etc that are happening all over the world are the result of climate change.

Congrats on the very well deserved golden fruit!

Submitted by marandina on

Thanks, Jane. I don't remember previous incidents but the Stonehenge Twitter account subsequently posted images of previous protests. I think one was a CND symbol daubed on the stones. It seems that it's a more popular target than perhaps we would like after all.

It was a relief that the lichen wasn't harmed. That sounds bonkers as I type (worrying about lichen) but I guess when it includes the only types of its kind anywhere in the world you just don't want another genus to disappear forever.

Hoping it doesn't come to an attritional programme of higher and higher impact protests to move the dial on effective action to resolve climate change. Resolving this one issue will directly impact on many others for the better. We must be able to solve this collectively. Surely.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

This is our Story of the Week! Congratulations! 

 

Submitted by marandina on

Wow - thank you, so much Rachel. Honoured and humbled. Paul :)

 

Submitted by David Kirtley on

I do like the way you brought the news story to life with the protesters' hospitalisation for halucinogenic effects, after the dramatic and epic scenes of druid ceremonies and extreme climate storms. It is as if the stones fought back for their desecration. You create images of the past, the present, and the future, all together, in very symbolic fashion.

I would hate to have to protest in this embarassing and personally/legally dangerous way, but I suppose it is a way of reminding us of the importance of these issues. The pressures of business and government are always pushing green objectives and ideas further into the future. The whole nature of our competitive society makes these changes so difficult for us, for businesses, and for governments. It remains difficult to know or work out the best paths forward. But ways forward must be found and attempted.

Submitted by marandina on

Thanks for reading, David. Topical with protesters sentenced to four & Five years just this week

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c880xjx54mpo

Let's hope we find that way forward together and get this issue sorted.