in the vicinity of where he wanted to go.
âShut your eyes,â he said.
We were walking quickly alongside each other. I was starting to get a little tired; I have never been an athlete. I tried to protest.
âShut your eyes,â he repeated, still without reducing speed.
Once again I did as he asked me. He was seven years old, I was seventeen, and I obeyed him. Soon this would prove to be the least remarkable thing about this late afternoon.
I closed my eyes. When I could no longer see, my other senses were sharpened. I felt the weight of the badgerâs arm around my neck much more clearly, heard the pine needles that crunched under my shoes, the wind that whispered in the branches of the trees, and felt the gentle breeze against my whiskers.
Then it suddenly got cold. First around my face, then around my whole body. It was a very tangible, physical experience, and involuntarily I opened my eyes. This happened at approximately the same time as the sounds of the forest abruptly disappeared, as if someone had hastily turned natureâs volume control down to zero.
The shock wasâ¦I cannot describe it.
I stopped, blinked, my jaw dropped, and I was not capable of intellectually comprehending what was obviously a fact.
We were inside the mountain.
Before me was a type of deep, high grotto where a brookwas purling by our shoes. From above, daylight forced its way in as finely sliced sunbeams through what must be cracks in the stone. Maximilian hauled the badger down to the water vein while I remained standing.
I closed my eyes, opened them againânothing was changed. I turned around. There was no opening, no entrance, only thousands-year-old rock. And deep inside I knew what had happened without daring to admit it.
The badger, Maximilian, and I had passed through the ancient, solid rock as if it had been air. Our molecules had been dissolved and put together again during the course of a few seconds. Or else it was the mountain that dissolved before us. That didnât matter. What had happened was impossible, yet I was standing there.
The badger lay on the floor of the grotto and drank directly from the clear mountain brook. Maximilian sat alongside, holding him by the shoulders. I observed them a while without seeing them, and then turned around again and searched for the opening in the rock.
I knew there wasnât one, but I was still compelled to look.
And the impossible would happen again, when we left the grotto after an hour. By then, the badger had recovered to the point that he could walk by himself. Maximilian asked us to hold his paws, and after that he told us to close our eyes. We did so.
This time the chill that embraced me for a few, to be truthful, unpleasant moments was even more ghastly, and the relief when I again felt the breeze against my ears was enormous. I did not dare look at either the badger or Maximilian when I withdrew my paw and continued walking.
We returned to Das Vorschutz; it took a little more than an hour, and I went directly home and up to my room. I did not want to see or talk with anyone. Obviously I did not saywhat I had been involved in, for the reason that my reader will very well understand. Who would believe me?
I never did find out who the badger was and what he was doing out in the forest, but the wound on his body was due to an encounter with a forest animal, a fox.
I myself had witnessed a miracle.
REUBEN WALRUS 3
I t was a matter of taking a deep breath, making yourself invulnerable, throwing open the doors to the large hall, and exceeding expectations. Be brilliant, humble, and empathic. Be eccentric, stately, and tragic.
At the same moment that Reuben Walrus heard the murmur, perceived the aromas, and saw the glow from the massive chandeliers, he regretted that he had let Denise Ant convince him. He took a firmer hold of one of her arms, as though he were clinging tight with his small fins, and she smiled encouragingly.
Denise Ant
âShut your eyes,â he said.
We were walking quickly alongside each other. I was starting to get a little tired; I have never been an athlete. I tried to protest.
âShut your eyes,â he repeated, still without reducing speed.
Once again I did as he asked me. He was seven years old, I was seventeen, and I obeyed him. Soon this would prove to be the least remarkable thing about this late afternoon.
I closed my eyes. When I could no longer see, my other senses were sharpened. I felt the weight of the badgerâs arm around my neck much more clearly, heard the pine needles that crunched under my shoes, the wind that whispered in the branches of the trees, and felt the gentle breeze against my whiskers.
Then it suddenly got cold. First around my face, then around my whole body. It was a very tangible, physical experience, and involuntarily I opened my eyes. This happened at approximately the same time as the sounds of the forest abruptly disappeared, as if someone had hastily turned natureâs volume control down to zero.
The shock wasâ¦I cannot describe it.
I stopped, blinked, my jaw dropped, and I was not capable of intellectually comprehending what was obviously a fact.
We were inside the mountain.
Before me was a type of deep, high grotto where a brookwas purling by our shoes. From above, daylight forced its way in as finely sliced sunbeams through what must be cracks in the stone. Maximilian hauled the badger down to the water vein while I remained standing.
I closed my eyes, opened them againânothing was changed. I turned around. There was no opening, no entrance, only thousands-year-old rock. And deep inside I knew what had happened without daring to admit it.
The badger, Maximilian, and I had passed through the ancient, solid rock as if it had been air. Our molecules had been dissolved and put together again during the course of a few seconds. Or else it was the mountain that dissolved before us. That didnât matter. What had happened was impossible, yet I was standing there.
The badger lay on the floor of the grotto and drank directly from the clear mountain brook. Maximilian sat alongside, holding him by the shoulders. I observed them a while without seeing them, and then turned around again and searched for the opening in the rock.
I knew there wasnât one, but I was still compelled to look.
And the impossible would happen again, when we left the grotto after an hour. By then, the badger had recovered to the point that he could walk by himself. Maximilian asked us to hold his paws, and after that he told us to close our eyes. We did so.
This time the chill that embraced me for a few, to be truthful, unpleasant moments was even more ghastly, and the relief when I again felt the breeze against my ears was enormous. I did not dare look at either the badger or Maximilian when I withdrew my paw and continued walking.
We returned to Das Vorschutz; it took a little more than an hour, and I went directly home and up to my room. I did not want to see or talk with anyone. Obviously I did not saywhat I had been involved in, for the reason that my reader will very well understand. Who would believe me?
I never did find out who the badger was and what he was doing out in the forest, but the wound on his body was due to an encounter with a forest animal, a fox.
I myself had witnessed a miracle.
REUBEN WALRUS 3
I t was a matter of taking a deep breath, making yourself invulnerable, throwing open the doors to the large hall, and exceeding expectations. Be brilliant, humble, and empathic. Be eccentric, stately, and tragic.
At the same moment that Reuben Walrus heard the murmur, perceived the aromas, and saw the glow from the massive chandeliers, he regretted that he had let Denise Ant convince him. He took a firmer hold of one of her arms, as though he were clinging tight with his small fins, and she smiled encouragingly.
Denise Ant
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