Over The Rainbow

Becca loved the Wizard of Oz. It was her favorite movie of all time. When she was a young girl, Becca would beg her mother to let her watch it at least twice a day. She could recite every single line from the movie. Her copy of the book was frayed at the edges from the one hundred times that she had turned its pages. Her bedroom was wallpapered with posters depicting Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion skipping down the Yellow Brick Road. She knew every secret that Oz possibly had to offer her.

Becca had always been enthralled by Judy Garland’s performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” As a girl she would slip on a pair of her mother’s high heels, her ruby slippers, and twirl around her room as the soundtrack played. She was captivated by the idea of escaping to that magical place at the other end of the rainbow. She devoted her life to rainbows. She knew under exactly what conditions rainbows formed. She could explain how the different colors appeared. Her pet peeve was when someone listed the colors of the rainbow as “red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple,” and omitted indigo. Whenever a rainstorm hit her town, Becca would run outside in search of rainbows. Her mother nicknamed her “the Rainbow-chaser.” Alongside the posters of the Wizard of Oz in her room hung posters and photographs of rainbows. There were visions of double rainbows, rainbows as seen from airplanes, rainbows that soared across stormy, grey-green skies, and rainbows that disappeared into the mist created by waterfalls. She was obsessed with rainbows.

As she grew older and life became more complicated, Becca needed the rainbows more than ever. She found relief from petty drama and her own heartache in her rainbow dreams. She became more and more taken with the notion of going over the rainbow. What lay on the other side? Becca was not sure, but she felt certain that if she could reach that place all of her problems would be solved. She spent her days writing or drawing about the place on the other side of the rainbow. At night she would travel through beautiful dreams of climbing a rainbow only to wake up just before reaching the end. Her heart ached with longing in the morning; she yearned to find that place more than anything else in the world.

One particularly horrible Friday, Becca trudged home through a rain shower. She could hardly bear to search the skies in search of a rainbow. To her astonishment, however, there was a rainbow stretched across the clouds, touching down not far from where she stood. Becca ran giddily towards the rainbow, her breath coming in short, excited gasps. She had found the end of rainbow! After what felt like eons of hoping and dreaming, she was finally given her chance!

Becca tore into the clearing where the rainbow disappeared and stopped short. There it was – the foot of the rainbow. The one dream she had been chasing her entire life lay right in front of her. Becca threw her bags to the ground and ran to the rainbow. Very slowly, she reached her hand towards the colored droplets. She scooped a handful of green and blue particles from the rainbow and brought them close to her face. The light displayed their many facets so that they resembled gems. They had no distinct smell, but Becca placed one on her tongue. It dissolved slowly, leaving the sweetest taste in her mouth. It was similar to honey but more heavenly. Becca smiled to herself; she knew that this could only bode well for what lay on the other side of the rainbow.

She hadn’t the faintest idea of how she was going to climb over the rainbow, she only knew that she must try. She eagerly searched for a foothold with in the droplets but could find one. So, steeling herself, she straddled the column of brilliant colors and pulled herself up. Inch by inch, drop by drop, Becca worked her way up the rainbow. She was soaked through and striped with color. Drops of sweat dripped from her brow with the exertion. After finally reaching the rainbow’s zenith, Becca slid to the ground, the colors blurring as she gained speed. She fell to the ground and lay there for a moment, apprehensive but certain of the wonders that awaited her.

Becca pushed herself to her feet and took in her surroundings. A cold weight gripped her insides as she did so. There was only grey rock everywhere she looked. There was no one, not even an Irish leprechaun. She could see no gold, let alone a pot full of coins. She was not in a magical land. She was not met by people that beckoned her into their loving midst. She was still alone and all the problems that she had left with her bags flooded back. The rainbow could not solve them. Becca was devastated. She sank to her knees and sobbed.