storytime with steff: the pink palace

This was a departure for me, stylewise. I'd LOVE comments telling me what you like and don't like..

(Info about the photo will be at the end.)



The selfish prince lived in his castle by the sea. It was pink concrete, about, say, ten stories, with a deco-ish feel.

When in his library, pondering what great romanctic series to read next, Harlequin or Nancy Drew, the selfish prince would sigh wistfully and stare far into the east, taking in the majestic rise of Mount Baker, something he hoped his Little Prince Mount might one day aspire to.

In between the selfish prince’s sighing eyes and that majestic mount lay the impoverished land of the East Side. There lived all the sad little citizens, the hos and their illegitimate children, the crack lords, the illegal aliens, and all the precious little junkies, all smiling their sad smiles in between their desperate pleading for attention and help.

But the selfish prince just stands and sighs, wishing he’d one day have a real man unit, and wondering how to bring back the popularity of the feudal serf system.

Reluctantly, the selfish prince would occasionally venture out in the world, but down there on the storied Pacific Avenue, he always found it horrifically crowded with fags and tourists. He would only venture out because of the taxes he collected. He had to pretend he cared. A “boon,” they called it, in Royalty Speak.

It was on one of these unfortunate but necessary excursions that he had to bend down and tie his slipper.

His JellyBellies slipped from his robe’s side pocket and tumbled to the Seawall’s curb. His highness’s eyes raised up towards the horizon as he stood, and it was there he spotted the rock.

“Love,” it said, “is the unconditional desire to do good.”

“Aww,” murmured the selfish prince as he spat a sunflower seed at the rock before popping a watermelon Jelly Belly in his mouth.

Strolling across the lawn, he muttered “Fuck it,” and decided not to visit the lowly East Side citizens. No, he wanted to get a start on viewing his latest purchase, the first season of The Greatest American Hero. Whistling the tune to "Zippity Doo-Dah, Zippity Day" the prince paused to snicker at a guard before he strolled back into the Pink Palace.

There would be no unconditional desire today.

And the East Side would live unhappily ever after.

The End.



The top photo is not mine. It’s of English Bay, in downtown Vancouver, in one of the most densely populated regions of North America. The pink building has been a landmark since the ‘50s. My mother once told me she moved here partly because of that building, “Any city that has a pink apartment building seems like a happy place to live.”

And in real life, it’s about a block from the Unconditional Desire rock. So, not quite a true story... or is it?

I guess you’ll have to visit the East Side and find out.