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Authors: Mark Hockley
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turning away.
Blushing furiously, Tom called
after her. "What's your name?"
She paused and stood with her
back to him for a moment, then turning her head ever so slightly,
so he could just see the side of her face, she laughed. "Why,
little Bo Peep of course!" She ran off over the bank and as she did
so, long golden hair spilled from beneath her hood and Tom recalled
the strange dream he had experienced the previous evening. Could
that have only been last night?
"Wake up, you sleepy head."
Tom was on a train, he and Jack
speeding toward his home for the summer holidays. It was going to
be the best holiday they had ever had.
"Time to be moving on," said
Mo.
Tom opened his eyes sharply,
the memories of where he was and all that had happened flooding
back so suddenly that he sat up with a start.
"I had a dream," he said,
feeling vaguely foolish, the girl’s face still haunting him, her
dark eyes holding him captive. Try as he might he could not shake
her image from his mind. And the truth was that he wasn’t really
sure that he even wanted to.
RETURN FROM THE PAST
Night had still not fallen as
the company of three trekked on, walking for what seemed like many
miles. They crossed fields and meadows laden with flowers, passing
through dense stands of oak and elm, as well as other trees that
were unfamiliar to Tom and Jack. The landscape never changed. It
was a verdant expanse stretching out before them, apparently
endless.
Tom almost missed the darkness,
it had been light for so long. Time had become displaced. It made
him feel strange inside, as if his body was unsure if it should be
asleep or awake. "Why doesn't time work the same here as it does
where we come from?" he asked the badger.
Mo chuckled to himself. "Time!"
he said with a grunt. "And what is time? Only a man-made thing. It
does not exist outside of the minds of Men. There are no rules
here."
Although Tom was still shaken
by his ordeal at the deserted inn, he was determined to learn as
much as he could. "So are you saying time here has no bearing on
time in our world?" He had accepted now that they were no longer in
the world where he had lived all of his life, the world where his
Uncle and Aunt were. He and Jack had somehow become lost in a place
where things happened as they might in a dream.
"That I do not know. But things
work differently here as you have discovered for yourselves," was
the best answer Mo could give.
Tom glanced up at lofty trees
as they passed beneath a tunnel of leaves. How did the hedge at the
end of his garden connect his world to this one? Or was it the
great oak that was the way in? He wasn't sure, but one thing that
was certain, they were here and they would have to see it through
to the end. Whatever that might be.
At the edge of a small wood,
they came upon a hedge beyond which tall reeds grew in abundance.
The ground was marshy here and reluctantly the boys followed the
badger down an incline, carefully treading the spongy earth. After
easing their way through a thick cluster of bulrushes they came
onto a dry bank, a lake of sable water before them. Huge lily pads
were scattered far across its surface, creating undulating patterns
of green.
"Look!" called Jack, pointing,
"a frog!"
"It's a toad, to be exact,"
corrected Mo as the toad jumped powerfully from one plant to the
next. Jack shot him a dark look, something in his expression almost
malicious, although neither Tom nor the animal noticed it.
The badger led them along
beside the edge of the water, Tom and Jack gingerly making their
way across the sodden terrain, following the sure-footed animal as
best they could. It wasn't long before they noted that the ground
was beginning to rise once more and soon Mo was leading them away
from the lake and over rolling mounds, the land choked by dense
gorse which slowed them down, reducing their speed to little better
than a crawl. For some time they went on like this, the boys
wasting no more breath on
Blushing furiously, Tom called
after her. "What's your name?"
She paused and stood with her
back to him for a moment, then turning her head ever so slightly,
so he could just see the side of her face, she laughed. "Why,
little Bo Peep of course!" She ran off over the bank and as she did
so, long golden hair spilled from beneath her hood and Tom recalled
the strange dream he had experienced the previous evening. Could
that have only been last night?
"Wake up, you sleepy head."
Tom was on a train, he and Jack
speeding toward his home for the summer holidays. It was going to
be the best holiday they had ever had.
"Time to be moving on," said
Mo.
Tom opened his eyes sharply,
the memories of where he was and all that had happened flooding
back so suddenly that he sat up with a start.
"I had a dream," he said,
feeling vaguely foolish, the girl’s face still haunting him, her
dark eyes holding him captive. Try as he might he could not shake
her image from his mind. And the truth was that he wasn’t really
sure that he even wanted to.
RETURN FROM THE PAST
Night had still not fallen as
the company of three trekked on, walking for what seemed like many
miles. They crossed fields and meadows laden with flowers, passing
through dense stands of oak and elm, as well as other trees that
were unfamiliar to Tom and Jack. The landscape never changed. It
was a verdant expanse stretching out before them, apparently
endless.
Tom almost missed the darkness,
it had been light for so long. Time had become displaced. It made
him feel strange inside, as if his body was unsure if it should be
asleep or awake. "Why doesn't time work the same here as it does
where we come from?" he asked the badger.
Mo chuckled to himself. "Time!"
he said with a grunt. "And what is time? Only a man-made thing. It
does not exist outside of the minds of Men. There are no rules
here."
Although Tom was still shaken
by his ordeal at the deserted inn, he was determined to learn as
much as he could. "So are you saying time here has no bearing on
time in our world?" He had accepted now that they were no longer in
the world where he had lived all of his life, the world where his
Uncle and Aunt were. He and Jack had somehow become lost in a place
where things happened as they might in a dream.
"That I do not know. But things
work differently here as you have discovered for yourselves," was
the best answer Mo could give.
Tom glanced up at lofty trees
as they passed beneath a tunnel of leaves. How did the hedge at the
end of his garden connect his world to this one? Or was it the
great oak that was the way in? He wasn't sure, but one thing that
was certain, they were here and they would have to see it through
to the end. Whatever that might be.
At the edge of a small wood,
they came upon a hedge beyond which tall reeds grew in abundance.
The ground was marshy here and reluctantly the boys followed the
badger down an incline, carefully treading the spongy earth. After
easing their way through a thick cluster of bulrushes they came
onto a dry bank, a lake of sable water before them. Huge lily pads
were scattered far across its surface, creating undulating patterns
of green.
"Look!" called Jack, pointing,
"a frog!"
"It's a toad, to be exact,"
corrected Mo as the toad jumped powerfully from one plant to the
next. Jack shot him a dark look, something in his expression almost
malicious, although neither Tom nor the animal noticed it.
The badger led them along
beside the edge of the water, Tom and Jack gingerly making their
way across the sodden terrain, following the sure-footed animal as
best they could. It wasn't long before they noted that the ground
was beginning to rise once more and soon Mo was leading them away
from the lake and over rolling mounds, the land choked by dense
gorse which slowed them down, reducing their speed to little better
than a crawl. For some time they went on like this, the boys
wasting no more breath on
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