Sunlight and Shadow (21 page)

And with this discovery, day and night no longer warred with one another. For, in its new shape, the world could never be all one thing or all the other. The night that I was married is the time night and day began to live side by side in the world, a circumstance with which you are familiar, for it has existed ever since that time.

In time, the music my parents play came to be known as the music of the spheres. It may still be called this, for all I know. For they are still playing. They will play until the last gasp of the universe itself. You can hear them for yourself, if your heart knows how to listen.

And as for me and Tern, we did not settle in just one place, but decided to spend our days wandering through the new world which had just been born. Naturally we stop to see both his family and mine upon our travels, at holiday and birthday time, as often as can be managed.

But I think the truth is that neither Tern nor I needs a fixed place, as other people do, for the true place of each is in the heart of the other. That will be true for as long as our hearts beat and maybe even longer. I don't yet know.

So here, I think, is where the story ends. Or at least the portion of it I am able to tell you.

Author's notes

This story was inspired by my favorite opera: Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. The Magic Flute. That's right. I said opera. Not only that, I said I liked it. Why do you think they put author notes at the end of the book and not the beginning, if not to avoid scaring readers off entirely?

Seriously, though. You ought to try it. Opera is so fantastical, so much bigger than life. It's not all overweight sopranos marching around in weird costumes that always seem to involve helmets with great curved horns sticking out of the top. And Die Zauherflote is a great place to start.

There's even a film version by the great Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, which is one of my favorite movies on the entire planet. In fact, it was Bergman, not Mozart, who first created a husband and wife relationship for Sarastro and the Queen of the Night. It seems just right, though. What has always appealed to me about this story is its combination of whimsy and distress. Of sunlight and shadow. Yes, this would explain my title. I'm also drawn to the notion that, to truly win what your
heart desires, you must conquer your own fears. In our own ways, we all face trials.

I've definitely reshaped some elements to fit my world view, rather than Mozart's. The truth is, men didn't think much of women, or at least not of their brains, in Mozart's time. In the original trials, Tern (named Tamino in the opera) is steadfast and brave, and Pamina mostly tags along. And the character of Statos (Monostatos, in the opera) is strictly a bad guy for no other reason than that he's a Moor. So there's definitely some misogyny and racism going on. All the more reason to have a fresh look at the material, I say.

Thanks for reading. I hope you had as good a time as I did writing.

Cameron Dokey is the author of nearly thirty young people's titles. Sort of like birthdays, she's stopped counting. Her other fairy tales include The Storyteller's Daughter and Beauty Sleep. Her most recent Simon Pulse release is the romantic comedy How Not to Spend Your Senior Year.

When she's not at her desk, you can find Cameron in the kitchen creating some carbohydrate the likes of which Dr. Atkins would definitely not approve, or out working in the garden. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with four cats and one husband.

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