(no subject)
Gather round children, for I have a story to tell. A story of wonderment and magic. It is the story of The Cashier, and his Lady, The Writer.
The Cashier and his Lady, The Writer, wished to wed, in the manner of their times. And so, being unknowing of the ways of their world, they went and consulted a wise woman. Paying her the fee she asked, the woman looked deep into her crystal ball, and uttered to the pair the following:
"Many trials have ye faced to be together, and many more yet to come;
You must run the gauntlet; you must have the patience of a hawk, and the endurance of a steed;
And at the end of your trials, you must face The Officer, and best her in a battle of wits.
Only then will you be truly together, never to be split in twain again."
The Cashier looked to The Writer, a small smile on his face. Leaning close to her, so as to conceal his words from the wise woman, he whispered in her ear "With you at my side, these challenges seem but a stroll through a grassy field."
Turning from his now-blushing wife, The Cashier nodded brusquely to the wise woman and asked her where they would begin. And so she told him.
------
The Cashier, with his wife, The Writer at his side, approached their first test. It was a stone tablet, the size of a large dining table, and of about the same height.
The wise woman had called this first test "Chronicling of a Lifetime." The Cashier agreed it was an apt description. Any pair wishing to be fully recognized in their realm was required to approach the stone, take the pen with the ever-flowing ink placed upon that stone, and write out the story of their life up to that point. Should the person falter and stop writing before they had completed this, or if a mistake was made in this description, the person would have to begin again, more tired and drained than when they started.
Taking a short time to discuss the situation, the pair decided it was best for The Writer to begin first; she, being a writer by trade, would surely have an easier time with the task than The Cashier, and she would be then able to aid him in his chronicle afterwords.
The task was long, and arduous, but in the end, the couple succeeded. Both were forced to restart many times, and a full month of attempts passed before they were successful. Near the end each was literally helping the other move their hand, due to complete fatigue.
And behold children, once the final word was written and the pen replaced, a magical light broke through the clouds, and shone brightly on the tablet, as though the gods themselves had looked upon the chronicle, and were well pleased with it.
A shifting noise could be heard from the tablet, and suddenly, a most amazing sight appeared, as a gigantic eagle appeared as if from nowhere, swooped down, and snatching the tablet, flew off with it.
Seeing that following the eagle was hopeless, as it flew far too quickly, The Cashier instead inspected the place where the tablet had resided. Underneath it, a single word was printed. Beckoning to his wife, The Writer, he pointed to the word. The Cashier looked to his wife and said "We will as long as we must." The single word printed where the tablet had been read "Wait."
Many months passed, and The Cashier and The Writer waited. It was hard to say who it was harder on; The Cashier, with his job in the Dam of Pots, or his wife, The Writer, forced to reside near the tablet at all times in hopes of the end of the wait they were forced to endure. Many nights the only comfort either could take was in the arms of the other.
But they did endure, and even thrive in each other's company. For who better than your love to spend a long wait with.
And one day children, what do you think the couple beheld? An eagle in the sky, flying directly toward them. With great excitement The Writer woke The Cashier, and pointed to the sky, saying "Look my husband, the eagle returns! Perhaps our wait is over?". Excited, The Cashier watched the progress of the eagle, and was elated to see that it dropped a small scroll to the ground at their feet. The couple rushed to the scroll and unwrapped it together. It read:
"You have written, and you have waited. Now you must best The Officer"
Below this was a rudimentary map and a time, several moons distant, when the battle was to take place.
Nodding, The Cashier turned to his wife, The Writer, and said "We must be off. Call Blue and let us make haste to the battleground" And thus they rode from the site of the pillar, astride Blue, on to meet The Officer and face their final trial.
----
The trial was set to take place at dawn. The rules were explained to the couple by a judge, who would oversee the trial. He informed them that The Officer, using the chronicles they had completed those many months ago, would question them on every detail of their lives. Each question would require an answer; any answer which did not match the chronicle would end the trial, with the failure of the pair and the victory of The Officer. Only by sustaining through the entire stretch of the sun being in the sky would the two finally be recognized by the officials of their land.
The sun rose. And the trial began.
Seven feet tall she towered in the sky over them. Appraising them with a steely gaze, The Officer held in her hands the tablet taken by the eagle earlier. She glanced quickly at it, apparently reading the contents in one look, and looked up at The Cashier and his wife, The Writer. And she smiled. And they were afraid.
The questioning began, small at first, as if to test the personality of the pair, to seek a weakness in questioning. By midday the pair was drained. An hour later they were both leaning on each other for support, physical and otherwise.
And yet the pair endured. What do you think it was, children, that kept them going? They had little in the way of magical talismans; their steed, Blue, was tied up far, far away, so he could not lend his strength to them; they had seen no spellcrafter to make them clearer of thought or sterner of spirit. No children, what kept them hale and clear-eyed was one thing alone: their love. And that, children, was the one weakness of The Officer. For she could ask all the questions she wanted, but no question could ever ferret out this love, to understand it in the same way that she could understand that tablet.
And so it happened that the sun set. And as the shadows crawled over the world, 4 figures still stood in the wake of the oncoming darkness: The Officer, with her steely gaze, the judge who presided, and the couple who had succeeded in their quest to be recognized.
Nodding once, The Officer handed the tablet to the judge, and walked off. The judge approached the couple and said "Congratulations. You have succeeded. Now nothing can ever separate you again."
The judge then proffered a symbol of their full status as a couple, an item referred to by most as a Green Tablet (though its color was closer to pink). Bowing slightly, the couple accepted their token. They thanked the judge and moved off, to retrive Blue, and begin their lives together, secure in the knowledge that none would step between the love they shared.
------
I hope everyone enjoyed the 3rd installment of The Cashier. I like using it as a vehicle for the bigger events in my/our lives; in some ways it feels like big events should have a big type of narrative.
Anyhow, this all may have been too vague for some of you to get what was going on, so I'll give a quick plaintext explanation of the story.
Heather and I filed for her permanent residency back in very late October. I know there are a lot of stereotypes about the whole process, so I'll try to give everyone a quick idea of how it really works (at least in the case of a US citizen filing for their spouse; things get harder if it's not a spouse you are filing for).
You have to fill out about.... we counted 100 pages of documents that we sent into the government, but a lot of them were copies of visa pages and the like. Once they get the paperwork, they take a little while to process it, cash the checks (around 500 bucks.....) and then they schedule an interview with a Homeland Security officer.
The interview is mostly what they use to establish that a) you're a couple and in love and b) that you live together and are not trying to scam the government.
It can take months or even around a year to get to the interview stage, so we were blessed to get one on the 23rd of January (our area is sparsly populated, thus less people to deal with).
The intervew went really well for us. I should point out that the officer I described in the story is NOTHING like the person who interviewed us. I had to villify the role a bit to get the story to click; she was really quite nice. I wouldn't say overly friendly, but she knew her job and was a good person, I have no doubt of that. We were uncertain at a few points during the interview that things would go well; we don't hav a lot of the stuff they like to see showing relationship, like shared credit cards or health insurance or the like. But what we had was enough.
And so Heather got approved for permanent residency in the US!! *cheer*. Just an FYI for everyone, that's not citizenship, she is still a citizen of Canada, she's just told the government that she's living in the country on a permanent basis.
We're still waiting for it to come in the mail, but once she has the green card, she can do pretty much whatever anyone else in the country can do (except have habeus corpus rights.... I'm REALLY pissed about that. The fact that the US government can, right now, go into our apartment, grab my wife and NEVER tell me what they've done with her is a scary, scary, angering thing to me.) She can't vote or run for office, but honestly, she doesn't mind that too much.
Anyway, that's our story (both versions of it).
Hope everyone enjoyed the latest installment of "The Adventures of The Cashier"
The Cashier and his Lady, The Writer, wished to wed, in the manner of their times. And so, being unknowing of the ways of their world, they went and consulted a wise woman. Paying her the fee she asked, the woman looked deep into her crystal ball, and uttered to the pair the following:
"Many trials have ye faced to be together, and many more yet to come;
You must run the gauntlet; you must have the patience of a hawk, and the endurance of a steed;
And at the end of your trials, you must face The Officer, and best her in a battle of wits.
Only then will you be truly together, never to be split in twain again."
The Cashier looked to The Writer, a small smile on his face. Leaning close to her, so as to conceal his words from the wise woman, he whispered in her ear "With you at my side, these challenges seem but a stroll through a grassy field."
Turning from his now-blushing wife, The Cashier nodded brusquely to the wise woman and asked her where they would begin. And so she told him.
------
The Cashier, with his wife, The Writer at his side, approached their first test. It was a stone tablet, the size of a large dining table, and of about the same height.
The wise woman had called this first test "Chronicling of a Lifetime." The Cashier agreed it was an apt description. Any pair wishing to be fully recognized in their realm was required to approach the stone, take the pen with the ever-flowing ink placed upon that stone, and write out the story of their life up to that point. Should the person falter and stop writing before they had completed this, or if a mistake was made in this description, the person would have to begin again, more tired and drained than when they started.
Taking a short time to discuss the situation, the pair decided it was best for The Writer to begin first; she, being a writer by trade, would surely have an easier time with the task than The Cashier, and she would be then able to aid him in his chronicle afterwords.
The task was long, and arduous, but in the end, the couple succeeded. Both were forced to restart many times, and a full month of attempts passed before they were successful. Near the end each was literally helping the other move their hand, due to complete fatigue.
And behold children, once the final word was written and the pen replaced, a magical light broke through the clouds, and shone brightly on the tablet, as though the gods themselves had looked upon the chronicle, and were well pleased with it.
A shifting noise could be heard from the tablet, and suddenly, a most amazing sight appeared, as a gigantic eagle appeared as if from nowhere, swooped down, and snatching the tablet, flew off with it.
Seeing that following the eagle was hopeless, as it flew far too quickly, The Cashier instead inspected the place where the tablet had resided. Underneath it, a single word was printed. Beckoning to his wife, The Writer, he pointed to the word. The Cashier looked to his wife and said "We will as long as we must." The single word printed where the tablet had been read "Wait."
Many months passed, and The Cashier and The Writer waited. It was hard to say who it was harder on; The Cashier, with his job in the Dam of Pots, or his wife, The Writer, forced to reside near the tablet at all times in hopes of the end of the wait they were forced to endure. Many nights the only comfort either could take was in the arms of the other.
But they did endure, and even thrive in each other's company. For who better than your love to spend a long wait with.
And one day children, what do you think the couple beheld? An eagle in the sky, flying directly toward them. With great excitement The Writer woke The Cashier, and pointed to the sky, saying "Look my husband, the eagle returns! Perhaps our wait is over?". Excited, The Cashier watched the progress of the eagle, and was elated to see that it dropped a small scroll to the ground at their feet. The couple rushed to the scroll and unwrapped it together. It read:
"You have written, and you have waited. Now you must best The Officer"
Below this was a rudimentary map and a time, several moons distant, when the battle was to take place.
Nodding, The Cashier turned to his wife, The Writer, and said "We must be off. Call Blue and let us make haste to the battleground" And thus they rode from the site of the pillar, astride Blue, on to meet The Officer and face their final trial.
----
The trial was set to take place at dawn. The rules were explained to the couple by a judge, who would oversee the trial. He informed them that The Officer, using the chronicles they had completed those many months ago, would question them on every detail of their lives. Each question would require an answer; any answer which did not match the chronicle would end the trial, with the failure of the pair and the victory of The Officer. Only by sustaining through the entire stretch of the sun being in the sky would the two finally be recognized by the officials of their land.
The sun rose. And the trial began.
Seven feet tall she towered in the sky over them. Appraising them with a steely gaze, The Officer held in her hands the tablet taken by the eagle earlier. She glanced quickly at it, apparently reading the contents in one look, and looked up at The Cashier and his wife, The Writer. And she smiled. And they were afraid.
The questioning began, small at first, as if to test the personality of the pair, to seek a weakness in questioning. By midday the pair was drained. An hour later they were both leaning on each other for support, physical and otherwise.
And yet the pair endured. What do you think it was, children, that kept them going? They had little in the way of magical talismans; their steed, Blue, was tied up far, far away, so he could not lend his strength to them; they had seen no spellcrafter to make them clearer of thought or sterner of spirit. No children, what kept them hale and clear-eyed was one thing alone: their love. And that, children, was the one weakness of The Officer. For she could ask all the questions she wanted, but no question could ever ferret out this love, to understand it in the same way that she could understand that tablet.
And so it happened that the sun set. And as the shadows crawled over the world, 4 figures still stood in the wake of the oncoming darkness: The Officer, with her steely gaze, the judge who presided, and the couple who had succeeded in their quest to be recognized.
Nodding once, The Officer handed the tablet to the judge, and walked off. The judge approached the couple and said "Congratulations. You have succeeded. Now nothing can ever separate you again."
The judge then proffered a symbol of their full status as a couple, an item referred to by most as a Green Tablet (though its color was closer to pink). Bowing slightly, the couple accepted their token. They thanked the judge and moved off, to retrive Blue, and begin their lives together, secure in the knowledge that none would step between the love they shared.
------
I hope everyone enjoyed the 3rd installment of The Cashier. I like using it as a vehicle for the bigger events in my/our lives; in some ways it feels like big events should have a big type of narrative.
Anyhow, this all may have been too vague for some of you to get what was going on, so I'll give a quick plaintext explanation of the story.
Heather and I filed for her permanent residency back in very late October. I know there are a lot of stereotypes about the whole process, so I'll try to give everyone a quick idea of how it really works (at least in the case of a US citizen filing for their spouse; things get harder if it's not a spouse you are filing for).
You have to fill out about.... we counted 100 pages of documents that we sent into the government, but a lot of them were copies of visa pages and the like. Once they get the paperwork, they take a little while to process it, cash the checks (around 500 bucks.....) and then they schedule an interview with a Homeland Security officer.
The interview is mostly what they use to establish that a) you're a couple and in love and b) that you live together and are not trying to scam the government.
It can take months or even around a year to get to the interview stage, so we were blessed to get one on the 23rd of January (our area is sparsly populated, thus less people to deal with).
The intervew went really well for us. I should point out that the officer I described in the story is NOTHING like the person who interviewed us. I had to villify the role a bit to get the story to click; she was really quite nice. I wouldn't say overly friendly, but she knew her job and was a good person, I have no doubt of that. We were uncertain at a few points during the interview that things would go well; we don't hav a lot of the stuff they like to see showing relationship, like shared credit cards or health insurance or the like. But what we had was enough.
And so Heather got approved for permanent residency in the US!! *cheer*. Just an FYI for everyone, that's not citizenship, she is still a citizen of Canada, she's just told the government that she's living in the country on a permanent basis.
We're still waiting for it to come in the mail, but once she has the green card, she can do pretty much whatever anyone else in the country can do (except have habeus corpus rights.... I'm REALLY pissed about that. The fact that the US government can, right now, go into our apartment, grab my wife and NEVER tell me what they've done with her is a scary, scary, angering thing to me.) She can't vote or run for office, but honestly, she doesn't mind that too much.
Anyway, that's our story (both versions of it).
Hope everyone enjoyed the latest installment of "The Adventures of The Cashier"