She, who thirst for inspiration, to create the most beautiful, most sensual, most vivid lipstick, sets out to seek the real colour of red.
*****
She, who loved her little baby so much. Oh, look at you, my sweet lil’ clumsy baby. Come to Mama. He looks up at her, with those tiny bright eyes, and pecked. She shudders and heaved out his breakfast. Eat well.
*****
She staggers to the shore. A little farther. She slumps, facing the sky, and the sound of the waves roaring in her ears. Just a little farther. A little rest. She closed her eyes… the clouds are like a beautiful pair of white wings, like an angel’s… Red lips…
Her eyes snapped open. Was it a dream? I saw it!!! The red flashed across the sky again.
“THAT’S IT! I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!!!” She knew nothing more.
*****
When she regained consciousness, a seagull was lying by her side, unconscious. Why? She wondered briefly. But then she saw it. The most beautiful, the most sensual, the most vivid red. The other reds paled in comparison to this.
As if in a trance, she picked up her scalpel, and scraped out the red into her test tube that she always carried around. Just like blood. Without quite knowing why, she whispers: “I’m sorry…”
*****
She flew across the ocean, headed for the sunset. My sweet baby must be hungry. That’s when she saw something white lying on the sandy beach. A dead fish? She turned around to get a closer look.
All of a sudden, it let out a terrible cry, a cry that tore through her heart, and she knew no more.
She woke up much later. My sweet baby must be hungry! She took off towards the reddening sunset. Red, like blood.
She saw those tiny bright eyes, looking at her hungrily. Sweet baby, Mama’s home. She moved closer. Those tiny bright eyes looked coldly away from her. What’s wrong? Aren’t you hungry? Peck at me, like you always do. Those tiny bright eyes ignored her and stared hungrily at the reddening sunset.
*****
She felt like a dead person being brought back to life again. I found it. Carefully, she took the tube to her laboratory, and closed the doors.
Days later, those doors opened. Out came a trembling, withered hand, clutching a tube containing a beautiful, sensual, vivid red ointment. I… did … it.
*****
Many days have passed. She was desperate, and her stomach is churning, threatening to overflow. Those tiny bright eyes still ignored her, and stared hungrily at the sun.
Look at me! Look at me! I’m your Mama! She’s anxious to know what is wrong with her sweet little baby, and did not seem to have noticed that the red spot on her beak was gone.
Those tiny bright eyes looked hungrily at the setting sun. The red spot that is never going to come.
Don’t you recognize me anymore? She tried to force the food down on him. His beak remained shut. The half-digested food trickled down his tiny little neck. Without pecking at the red spot, he is never going to eat anything.
She grieved. He doesn’t recognize me anymore!
*****
She sat on her wheelchair, and smiled shyly at the flashing cameras. I’m a legend! She quietly applied the red ointment onto the pouting lips of the models. It was like a dream: the flashes of light, the thundering claps, the sweet scent of flowers. The models smiled, displaying those beautiful, those sensual, those vivid red lips of theirs.
This is the colour of life.
But it came with a price, she mused, as she sat in her wheelchair and stared at what used to be her legs.
***
Those tiny bright eyes are still staring hungrily at the reddening sunset; each peck at the air grew weaker.
The sun sets. Darkness falls. One last peck, and those tiny bright eyes never opened again. She closed her eyes too.
She died, not knowing that her red spot was gone.
Her baby died waiting for the red spot that was never going to come.
*****
The sun sets. All of a sudden, everything went dark. Those beautiful, sensual, vivid red, were gone.
This is the colour of life. She now understood.
Fin
Random fact:
Gulls are typically medium to large birds, usually grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. A noticeable trait would be the red spot at the tip of it’s beak. The baby gull would peck on it, and then reaches it’s head inside the mother’s beak to feed on her half-digested liquidized food.
Translated from Bing Po, ‘Red as Blood‘.
