HOW I SEE GHOST QUARTET
Story 1: Arabian Nights, or One Piece of Stardust
The story begins in 14th century Persia with Scheherazade (an incarnation of Pearl) telling stories to Dunyazad (an incarnation of Rose) and Shah Zaman, an incarnation of the Bear (including the later story of Rose and the Camera Shop Owner which she is “remembering” from the point of view of another incarnation of her soul, the Camera Shop Owner). At some point, Scheherazade tells Dunyazad that the ghost of Thelonious Monk is behind a door of the palace, setting up the idea that ghosts don’t simply appear after they die, but rather always have been there and are simply born into new bodies occasionally. After some time has passed, Dunyazad dies and Scheherazade is still telling stories to Shah Zaman trying to avoid being killed. It is then that a past ghost of Rose Red appears, with knowledge of her future corporeal self’s mission, and asks Scheherazade for a piece of stardust (for reasons that will be explained later). Scheherazade remarks that she doesn’t know how much more she has, implying that stardust is what her stories are made from. She then tells Rose Red the story of her feelings of emptiness and her dream about a tango dance in which her past self refused to dance with her, which means that the story/stardust now belongs to Rose Red. It is implied that not long after this event, Shah Zaman kills Scheherazade, because later the Astronomer mentions a “man in Iran” wasting away and talking to ghosts for forty-two years, exactly what Shah Zaman said he would do after he killed Scheherazade. Shah Zaman is said to have said that “every soul that ever died is living in the shadows of the sky,” continuing the show’s idea of nonlinear ghosts.
Story 2: The Wind and Rain, or One Pot of Honey
Years later, Rose Red and Pearl White are born by the sea. They live together happily for many years, and Rose falls in love with the Astronomer. They look at the stars through his telescope in his treehouse, and Rose Red writes poetry about the celestial entities they see together. The Astronomer, enamored by her talent and longing to portray some talent of his own (but he doesn’t practice enough) decides instead to steal Rose Red’s work and publish it in his name. Rose Red grows to hate him, but then he begins to see Pearl White. Rose Red discovers their affair and becomes angry with both the Astronomer and Pearl White. She yells at the Astronomer, saying that she always knew that he was shallow and didn’t truly care about her, and she leaves him with the threat that “we’ll see who’s smarter, we’ll see.” Angered, Rose Red runs into the forest and asks the Bear to maul the Astronomer and turn her sister into a crow. The Bear asks for a pot of honey, a piece of stardust, a secret baptism, and a photo of a ghost. The Bear gives Rose Red the ability to cross into her soul’s different lifetimes at will so that it is possible for her to complete the tasks. The different incarnations of Rose being possessed by Rose Red will appear throughout the synopsis (and one has already appeared, the 14th century Persian version of Rose.) After collecting all of the items (which will be explained in a linear fashion as they happen later in the story), Rose Red returns to the Bear, who reveals that he tricked her, and takes the honey without carrying out her demands. Rose Red, in her anger, descends into alcoholism and kills Pearl White herself by pushing her into a river. Pearl White’s body floats to the Miller’s pond and he, another incarnation of the Astronomer, takes her out of the river to dry. The Fiddler, yet another incarnation of the Bear, happens upon her body and makes a fiddle out of her breastbone, which is later bought by Rose Red, who passes it down to the Fool (who she remembers from one of the lifetimes she crossed through to collect the items, and is also another incarnation of the Bear), although he is probably unaware that this woman is his grandmother (explained later). He accepts the gift anyway, given his affinity for stringed instruments. Over a century later, in 1990′s Sarajevo, an incarnation of Rose appears to seduce the Soldier, who is an incarnation of Pearl to obtain her honey. The Soldier, who has grown depressed from her years of experience with death, requests that Rose let her cry on her shoulder and then asks her to shoot her in the alley. Rose, only in it for the honey, does so.
Story 3: Usher, or One Secret Baptism
Linearly, most of this story coincides with Story 2, and they intersect in various ways. An incarnation of Rose, probably periodically possessed by Rose Red due to Lady Usher’s claims that she was a cruel woman, gives birth to Lady Usher, an incarnation of Pearl, who grows up to marry a man named Edgar, who is an incarnation of the Astronomer. They have two children, Roxie (who is Rose) and the Fool (who is the Bear). Roxie is occasionally possessed by Rose Red, and Roxie grows up interpreting Rose as a dead twin sister to her, claiming that Rose tells her that she should cross over to her plane of existence and be like her: “all soul.” Rose also identifies herself to Roxie as a “starchild” which probably means a person who is unhinged from the usual plane of reality and is free to follow their soul throughout history as they please. This behavior from Roxie causes Lady Usher to develop anxiety. When Roxie is seven years old, Edgar asks her to stop talking to Rose, who he believes is simply an imaginary friend, to which Roxie replies with anger. Another event of note occurs when Lady Usher tells Roxie a bedtime story in the form of Arabian Nights (which Lady Usher remembers from her lifetime as Scheherezade). Roxie was born around the same time as Rose Red and Pearl White, and also had an affair with the Astronomer in her teenage years, and they have a daughter. This daughter is Starchild, who is Rose, who inherits the powers of a starchild, possibly due to being the child of a girl who grew up being constantly possessed by a starchild, but is unaware of the implications of her abilities. However, Starchild is kidnapped by another incarnation of Rose Red, and baptized in secret. Not much is known about the rest of Starchild’s life, but she has descendants, who will be mentioned later on. After Starchild is kidnapped, Roxie falls ill at the age of seventeen, which worries Lady Usher even more. After being sick for a period of time, Roxie dies, and Lady Usher forgives her for her continued acknowledgement of her “imaginary friend” Rose, who she believed in up until her death. Lady Usher preserves Roxie’s corpse for a fortnight. During that time, the family begins to fall apart with Lady Usher’s anxiety being worse than ever, and Edgar succumbing to alcoholism. The Fool, after being given the fiddle by Rose Red, leaves home, and moves to New York City. He begins to play the cello i a band and sell drugs to survive, but as he ages he settles down, has a daughter who is Pearl, and opens a camera shop. He has descendants who will be mentioned later. After the Fool leaves home, Edgar is the only one left to comfort Lady Usher, and one night when she is particularly distressed, he tells her the story of Pearl and the Pusher, which he remembers from his later life as the Driver. That night, Rose Red possesses Roxie’s body, unaware that Roxie has already died, and walks upstairs. When she sees Lady Usher, she sees Pearl White, and kills her.
Story 4: Subway, or A Photo of a Ghost
The Fool’s camera shop stays in the family for four generations and the fiddle stays in it. Eventually, it belongs to an incarnation of Pearl, the Camera Shop Owner. Starchild’s descendants eventually include another incarnation of Rose, who travels from Portland to New York City. Rose is in a subway station and a different incarnation of Pearl, who is is standing on the platform playing a game on her phone in which she is a soldier battling a bear. The Pusher (who is the Bear) is present in the station, and, upon seeing the Soldier fighting the Bear within Pearl’s game, is suddenly overwhelmed by the influences of both the Bear and the Fool, and pushes Pearl onto the track, inadvertently forcing the Bear to keep his promise to hurt Pearl and giving meaning to the Fool’s cryptic warning to Edgar, “If anyone pushes me, I’m gonna push them back.” The train is coming, and it is driven by the Driver, who is the Astronomer, who has zoned out and does not notice Pearl. In the few seconds left before the train hits Pearl, Rose is possessed by Rose Red, trying to obtain the photo of the ghost, and uses her camera to take a picture of Pearl in the subway track. There is no way she can avoid her death now, and this qualifies her as a ghost. Pearl uses her last few seconds to give herself closure, and is then killed by the train. Rose, disgusted at having taken the picture, smashes her camera, but not before Rose Red exits her body and takes the photo with her. Rose breaks down and begins to vaguely remember her other lives, and forgives Pearl and the Astronomer/Driver for everything. Rose goes to the camera shop to buy a new camera, and the Camera Shop Owner notices that she is distressed. She shows her the fiddle on the wall, and tells Rose the story of Rose Red and Pearl White, which she remembers from her life as Pearl White. She is correct when she says that the store has been in her family for four generations, but when she says that the fiddle belonged to her great-grandmother she is accidentally speaking from the point of view of her incarnation as the Fool’s daughter for whom Rose Red actually was a great-grandmother, since she was Lady Usher’s mother. Rose befriends the Camera Shop Owner, who suddenly feels compelled to give Rose the phone number of her friend, the Driver, essentially giving the Astronomer back to Rose and ending the ancient feud. Rose falls in love with the Driver and they live happily together for the rest of their lives, and have two daughters, most likely another Rose and Pearl.
Epilogue: Midnight
Years later, and yet years earlier, and yet right at that moment, the souls of all four of them meet in another plane of existence, in-between lives, or maybe after all their lives. They begin to slowly remember things as they piece together the collective story of their many lifetimes as they converse (I Don’t Know, Any Kind of Dead Person, Four Friends). As the final pieces fall into place, Pearl forgives the Bear/Pusher, and they become friends. As the sun rises, the four friends resolve to forgive themselves as well, for only thinking within their own lives and forgetting the vast beauty of the universe.
THE END
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