Poems and Tales from Romania | Page 9

night and day both in public and in
private. . .and thus continued their growth.
But eventually there was just too much money involved, and practice
sessions were too profitable, so the parents and vendors both alike tried
even harder to control when and where practices were held.
The Wonderlanders were forced to make a decision. . . .
Do we skate for them. . .or for us. . . ?
They tried out several possible solutions.
They spent a week skating only in public.
Doing exactly what everyone told them to do.
It was a pretty boring week, and not much happened, other than that the
parents and vendors had very little to complain about since the vast
majority of them really didn't know enough about skating; they could
not possibly have noticed the difference between inspirations and
perspirations.
Then they spent a week skating only in private.
No one saw them. . .at all.
They did not even come back for the weekend events.
The week was not boring. . .neither for the Wonderlanders nor for a
new set of prize winners. . .nor for the parents and vendors. . .an
already nervous breed. . .now considering their own extinction.
The Wonderlanders didn't really care about the prizes all that much and

this way they all got to actually skate more than they could in the
various competitions, where they actually only skated just very little,
when it came down to it. . .a little warming up. . .a short skate. . .and a
longer skate. . .perhaps totalling 10 minutes, then maybe something at
the end, maybe not.
Not much skating.
As for the prizes. . .each of them had more prizes than they really could
could ever hope to wear or display. . .most of the time a box under the
bed held them all. . .not one day out of a hundred did it get
opened. . .other than to put more prizes IN. . .not take any of them OUT.
It was like a black hole. . . .
The next week the Wonderlanders returned and faced everyone openly.
The two weeks did NOT balance out well. . . .
The Wonderlanders explained that for one week they had done ALL the
things asked of them, perfectly, without complaint, had turned over
ALL the prizes and money to their respective families, the vendors,
those involved with their particular events, had done very well.
But no one had really thanked them very much, and no one had really
noticed whether or not they were enjoying their skating. . .
For the other week, they had simply skated. . .albeit away from the eyes
of anyone but themselves and their friends. . .as they had for many days
and nights before they had become so famous. They had to say, for the
record, that they enjoyed the second week much more.
They offered to skate in public every other week, and not to keep a cent
for themselves, just so they could skate alone for themselves.
They offered to skate in public on the weekends, 9 times out of 10, and
not to keep a cent for themselves, just so they could be alone, skating
for themselves, or just living, the rest of the time.
There was not even a mummer of approval from amongst the vendors
or the parents. . .who wanted control virtually all of the time.
And so the Wonderlanders came to a fateful decision. . . .
They would skate as much in public as was expected. . .and lull the
parents and vendors into a state of false complacency. . .while the time
was spent perfecting their plans for a permanent escape, as it was now a
decade since this had all begun, and every one of them in the group
should have long since started their own life and family.
They found places to skate that were several times more remote than

their most secret places to date. They made arrangements with some
people near there for food and housing. . .people so far from their
homes that they only knew of them by name. . .and they never, never
used their real names.
Their lessons of privacy were learned well. . .and over a period of 10
years. . .yet they practiced the art of privacy even more. . .to spread out
their sources of supplies, and the times when they would need them,
and how many were being supplied. They masqueraded as a band of
wandering gypsies, working hard in the fields in summer and making
sure they looked nothing like the pales ice-creatures all of the world
knew them as. They pretended to be part of a much larger band of
gypsies, who lived even more in secret, then