Off to Sepia Wizard.


I once had a friend who thought The Wizard of Oz's opening sequence was black-and-white because there was something wrong with her video cassette.

It wasn’t until she watched my copy that she realised her mistake. Even though I was only ten, this rang alarm bells. Didn’t she question why the fault corresponded perfectly with each time Dorothy was in Kansas? Didn’t she notice how it neatly bookended the film? While I was too young to know a metaphor by name, I understood the concept. It wasn’t rocket science.

This wasn’t why we lost contact. I was more forgiving than that. The fact I thought I loved her helped me overlook it (I was a very passionate ten-year-old). I gave her a Valentine's card, took her on a date to see Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, but ended up being dumped for a boy who wore a Global Hypercolor T-shirt. I couldn’t compete with that. When I was hot it just showed up in sweat patches.

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