The Mysterious Stranger (Part 2) - Ring of Purpality

The flight had landed, she was anxious again. For this was no dream. She was flying out to New York City for real, completely on a whim. Yes, she had officially lost her mind. Who chases an unexplainable and bizarre dream? She wanted to see the unknown Australian actor. The mystery man, who first appeared in her dream, was the same person cast as Detective Winkle, the lead role in a movie based on her favorite art theft mystery series of books. Talk about getting caught up in a book. Here was the unexplainable part - She was certain that she had never seen him before. She had to be a psychic to have dreamt of a face from the future. Either that or she somehow completely blocked out her memory of seeing him somewhere in the past.

She had planned to meet up with her old friend Em. Lucky for her, Em was an assistant production manager with Raven Deer Films, one of the production companies producing the movie. She hailed a cab from LaGuardia and headed directly to the Guggenheim Museum, where a scene from the movie was being filmed. Em met her outside with a great big girlfriend hug and handed her a pass that would let her into the set. She followed Em, her red carry on wheeling behind her, not knowing what to expect or what to do next. What was she supposed to do when she saw him, or even got a chance to speak to him? Why was she really here? She had no answers, only a gut feeling that she needed to do this, follow her instincts.

For someone who planned things well, she was behaving exactly opposite. She hadn’t even booked a hotel. She was not planning on calling her cousin either. This trip was a reckless adventure and she was just going with the flow. The set was crowded, the main gallery on the second floor was blocked. Em asked her to wait in one the galleries on the third floor. The view of the set was supposedly much better there. Her pulse quickened as she climbed the museum’s ramp, and she sensed it was because he was somewhere nearby. Then she saw him, sitting on one of those foldable chairs, sipping water while a makeup artist fussed over his bronze locks. Her heart started to race. She pinched herself, no she wasn’t dreaming, this was real. She was really standing there looking at Matt Garelson from far and her heart was really going through a hell of a ride. Suddenly, the deep blue eyes looked her way. Wait, did she imagine him smirk, or was he smiling at her. Holy guacamole, he was actually smiling at her.

How was this happening, she was so far and how did he even know her? The adrenaline was pumping and her head was going to burst. This was a bad idea, she shouldn’t have come. She quickly looked around for an escape and noticed signs of a photographic exhibit. Taking that as an opportunity to calm herself down, she proceeded. She was glad she chose that exhibit, it was actually pretty decent - a modern art of colors from far but apparently photographs of volcanoes. One in particular titled “The Ring of Purpality” caught her interest. The photo showed a ring of sparkling amethyst crystals suspended in midair amongst plumes of purple gray smoke. The caption on the side explained that some strange condensation phenomenon in this legendary volcano located deep in the bowels of South Australia, produced the suspended crystal like effect of the hot lava in mid air. Mesmerized, she stood absorbing the photo. Her heart eased a bit as she enjoyed more such photos, and finally decided to call it a day. She texted Em asking her if it was alright to stay the night at her apartment. A few minutes later, with keys and directions, she was on her way to Em’s apartment in upper Manhattan.

Tired and still without a clue about her bizarre reactions to this stranger, she decided to do some sleuthing on her own. She Googled his name and got two pages worth of hits. Nothing interesting, except IMDb’s link had short bio on him, a relatively unknown actor, did a few small parts and mostly theatre in Sydney. Others were mostly news articles about him being cast for Periwinkle Chronicles. There was also a link that seemed to be a blog, and curiosity encouraged her to click on it. A quick glimpse through it confirmed that it was indeed the actor’s blog.

As she browsed though his musings, the title of a week old post knocked her out of her chair, once again. The title - “Maya in the Ring of Purpality “, had her baffled, however convinced that there were some deep and obscure reasons beyond her grasp rather than mere coincidences. Not only had she admired that photo today but also “Maya” was her name.

(c) Simply Untangled