COLUMN: Fatima Ijaz: The Lions of Ypsi (Creative Memoir)

Those days I used to whistle to the elite silence of the university – they had given us these whistles so as not to disturb our night walks with predator thoughts. I carried it around my neck in a yellow necklace of beads that were reckless as I walked quickly, making sure no one was following.

On one such night, as I was walking, I saw two lions approach me. They seemed friendly and I wasn’t frightened. Instead of asking me my name, they asked me what was the song I was singing. I found this greeting a bit absurd but by far it was the most grounding one; there was no artifice.

I don’t know what overcame me and surpassed my hesitance; I replied in good charm: I was singing It’s my Life by Dr. Alban. They laughed and said: sweet. It wasn’t the kind of sweet you’d hear as a trick-or-treat. It was rather language-slang. Reminded me of Canadian winters. Yet, here I was in Ypsi land.

The lions were laughing. I was compelled to keep singing. In a while, we all had a chorus for each other, the two lions and I. The song went something like this –

Gun shot!

The wound ran across the night skies and I was harassed by its violence. Recovering from the sudden assault, I looked around at once for the lions. But they were gone.

I was all alone in the Ypsi night, the downhill of the street took me to another time. I guess it was just the whistle and I. If the gun-shot was real like the lions obviously weren’t, then could I trust what I could not hear anymore? Konecky used to say: Did the tree fall in the forest to a witness? I think I finally have found my answer. Though this philosophical puzzle has got me thinking for years. Konecky would be proud. I figured it out all by myself. He’d say ‘that’s the true philosopher – not someone begging for answers, but discovering them on her own. No guide. Just your instinct and intellect.”

The answer? The answer is that when I felt the lions existed, I was in another time and this time existed. When I felt they did not, they did not. However, this was another time. I’ve heard about parallel universes in physics. Could this be it? Who knows, I’m just a poet. Memory is a strange trick. If the tree fell in the forest, then it did. Even if I imagined it. It happened.

As far as the gun shot is concerned. Perhaps the lions went fiercely chasing into the night with nothing but sheer instinct and speed to capture that violence. I was left alone because it seemed fantastical.