Qing Yuan – Colour your Newham

If colour turns to sprite in Newham, then this is a story about it.

On a peaceful afternoon, a round, smooth, bubble-like blue sprite was floating aimlessly in the street near the market place, in a form that would not be seen by humans.

“I’m hungry!” It muttered.

The main source of energy for the colour sprite is to draw on the negative colours in the hearts of humans, the colours that them dislikes. And each colour sprite is attracted to the corresponding negative colour, and although the analogy would be laughable, it could be interpreted as a dog being able to find food by taste.

“Looks like he doesn’t like yellow, let’s see because of what …… ouch, because he lives too far away from the market to come over very early every Friday when the sale is on! And yet the sale sign is yellow, causing him to be unhappy every time he sees one of those signs. Quite an interesting reason, but unfortunately not my cup of tea.” The blue sprite continues to float slowly as he says this to itself.

The wind blew gently and occasionally there would be a tinkling sound, presumably the workmen across the marketplace repairing the door frames. Everything takes its time, just like the sprite itself. In the afternoon the entrance to the market was not as busy as in the morning, and there were relatively few people. At a glance, most of the vendors were arranging their cloths and putting up fruits and vegetables, and so on, and only a few were hawking.

Suddenly something drifted past the sprite as quickly as a ghostly shadow. The sprite shouted, “I’ve never seen anything float faster than me, I must know who you are!”

Immediately afterwards, the sprite followed quickly, and as it gave chase, everything that passed around it was as swift as lightning. The chase eventually came to a halt on the corner at the back of the market place. The sprite looked curiously at the “ghost” and saw that he was in fact a small boy, dressed in dirty and torn clothes, clutching two small oranges and a piece of bread, which he looked like he had just stolen from the market.

The sprite slowly mimicked the young boy, changing from a smooth blue bubble to the appearance of a human child in order to communicate with the boy. “Are you hungry too? Don’t you have the kind of currency that humans use? And you’re running so fast! I could barely catch up!” The sprite didn’t notice that the young boy in front of him was too frightened to speak by the sudden appearance of the child. When the sprite noticed the boy’s discomfort, he explained that he had just happened to be on the corner and had seen the boy stop before coming out to talk to him, and he seemed to relax a little.

“No …… it’s not that I’m hungry, it’s that mum is hungry. And can you please do me a favour? I’m not quite strong enough on my own ……,” the little boy said shakily. The sprite nodded although he wasn’t sure exactly what he was going to help with.

The little boy led the sprite through the alleyways, it had been a long time since the sprite had been this close to a human, it found it new and interesting, everything it saw was so exciting, even if it was just the hay underfoot, the ash on the walls, the small pond of water they passed. Eventually they arrived in a nearby residential building, and after many loops up the stairs, with dim dark lights and a musty smell, the sprite couldn’t help but worry about the little boy’s life.

Opened the door,

Maggots weave in and out of flesh,

Blue symbolises grief and despair,

The sprite was satiated.

Author: Qing Yuan

Curious what colour Newham looks like to me?

Swaying with Newham

Blue sprite