The Story of Crumpled Anna

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When Crumpled Anna was born her limbs were straight and strong. As soon as she was old enough to walk it was clear that she was blessed with the gifts of speed and grace and the heart of a thoroughbred. She loved equally to run and dance, but her destiny was fulfilled on the day she first saw a bicycle. It was on her bike that all of her physical gifts found their fullest manifestation. She was able to ride at her very first attempt and once she started she never stopped. She rode at every opportunity. The combination of constant practice and natural gifts brought her to ever greater riding prowess until at last she could nearly make her bike fly. She found that she could build her speed to the point where, by jerking up hard on the handle bars, she could cast her bike up into the air and onto the top of a one story building. Once up she could traverse the city just riding the roofs, sailing from house to house to house. And that is what she was doing on the afternoon of her accident. It was a cruel wind that caught her by surprise just as she was about to touch down on the ridgeline of a small bungalow. It blew her off her mark and despite her extraordinary skills she could not recover. In a flash she tumbled down the slope and onto the ground.

That was Anna’s last ride. Now, as you see, she is twisted and bent. She passes her time near the entrance of a Garden of Faux Art where she greets each visitor as he or she arrives. Visitors should not be dismayed by Anna’s story. She now concentrates on dancing with the same constancy that she once rode. Despite what happened she still loves the wind. She pirouettes in the gentle breezes and grows quite animated when the stronger winds find her at her place in the garden.

She once was asked if she regretted the exciting way she lived before with the high risks that it entailed and if she didn’t hate the wind. “Oh no”, she said quietly, “The wind and I both, were merely acting according to our natures. It is far better for me if I forgive her. And besides we all decline over the course of our journey to the final worm bin. My decline was just a bit more sudden than most. I was given a gift. I used it as best I could. Now I am here, still in the company of the wind, the rain and even some occasional sun. It is enough. I am grateful.”