CHAPTER
FIVE
Day
5: Stairway to the Stars contd
"You
are looking at her. Meet my good friend Aurora Borealis. She is going
to help us
onward. It will all make sense, very soon. Please stay silent,"
says Nanuq.
Suddenly
the colors in the sky seem to fold into each other, the separate
beams merge,
and form into a cloud like formation. It twists, turns, and swirls.
It’s now bright
green. OMG, the end of the spiraling cloud is coming down towards us.
“Dan,
help us,” pleads Si.
Beth
is looking more than a little flabbergasted. For once she doesn’t
speak in unison
with her brother.
“There
is nothing to be afraid of, Aurora is ready, she will take us to the
Land of Shadows,”
says Nanuq.
The
green cloud has stopped swirling, and is now stationary above us. If
I wasn’t seeing
it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it. There are stairs coming
down out of the
green cloud and they’re made out of stars.
We
three amigos gasp. I mean around here an Aurora Borealis can be seen
on a regular
basis, but never with stairs coming out of it.
"We
must climb the stairs Aurora has kindly provided. They will take us
to the Land of
Shadows," says Nanuq in a booming voice.
"Kids
are you sure you want to do this? I can go on my own," I say,
looking at Si and
Beth. The two kids look absolutely terrified. Thank goodness you
can't see me, because
I probably look terrified too.
"Dan,
thanks but we're both coming along," says Beth, taking hold of
her brother's hand.
She outstretches her free hand towards me. I smile and take hold of
it.
"Okay,
Nanuq. Lead the way; we're ready," I say.
"There
are many steps to climb and as many to descend, but once you step
onto the ground,
you will be in the Land of Shadows. Then I will take you to meet
another good
friend of mine, he has made arrangements for your forward journey."
"Will
you be coming with us all the way Nanuq?" I ask. I release
myself from Beth's
tight grip. She looks at me with those big ebony eyes. Whoa. Back to
business, I
stand in between them. Not her eyes nitwit. I stand in between the
two siblings, and I take
both of them by the hand. I can feel a surge of strength leave me,
and push into Si and
Beth. I’m hopeful that it will give them the power both
emotionally, and physically
to carry on.
"I'm
afraid I cannot travel with you beyond the house of the gatekeeper.
If I did I would
never be able to return to Earth. But you will be safe in the hands'
of the gatekeeper."
"We
understand. Lead the way then, Nanuq," I say. I squeeze each of
my friends hands.
Si gives my hand a big squeeze back, but loosens his grip slightly on
my hand.
We
have a bromance but we're just not serious yet. Ha, ha.
Alternatively
Beth is holding my hand so tight that I'm struggling to keep my particles
together. "We can take one step at a time together guys, and if
you want to turn
back at any time, you can. Okay?"
"Okay,
but I won't," says Si.
"And
I won't either," says Beth.
Nanuq,
makes a big roaring sound, I'm not worried though. His demeanor tells
me that
he's happy not angry. But nevertheless, Beth flinches. I can feel her
arm stiffen. I gently
pull it towards me, to reassure her. She turns her head towards me,
she smiles sweetly,
and her arm relaxes.
Our
spirit guide starts to ascend the stairs and we three amigos follow
on; the stairs sparkle
below our feet. I'm determined not to look down, in case I get a
severe attack of
vertigo. I suggest you don't either, unless you fancy falling down,
plop, into the great
void below. I would just float of course, like one of the little
white feather's that molt
frequently from angels wing’s.
You've
bound to have noticed them, as they glide effortlessly through the
air to the ground.
You didn't think the white feather that you saw the other week came
from a bird
did you? Duh.
Okay,
I won't describe a feather floating in a flowery way again, for the
moment anyway.
The stairs are very steep, and they seem to go on and on for ever;
we're now inside
the aurora borealis. The colors around us continue to change all the
time.
"Dan
do you have any idea what we're going to find when we get there?"
asks Si.
"I'm
sorry Si. At present I know as much as you do. But we're in this
together, all three
of us."
Si,
nods his head, and Beth squeezes my hand again. I could get used to
Beth doing that
on a regular basis. I mean on a professional basis only, not that I
would entertain her
stroking my hand romantically. Hold your loose-tongue.
Nanuq
stops ahead of us, he's panting heavily. He needs to go down the gym.
"Don't
worry my children, I'm going to disappear from your sight. But you
will see me
when you step onto this top step." Nanuq shouts his words to be
heard over the loud
whistling noise that can be heard. "The whistling noise you
hear. Are the winds of
change. Do not fear." Nanuq drops out of our sight.
"Come
on, it won't be long." I encourage my friends.
We
reach the topmost step, and we see Nanuq is descending slowly. He
turns round, and
lets out one of those big roars again. Si, and Beth both sigh. Are
you being silly again?
They're not both called Si, or sigh for that matter. Forget it, the
two kids probably
exhale air with relief, in seeing that Nanuq hasn't vanished into
thin air, and left
us on our lonesome.
We
start to go down the steps after him. I can't see where they stop at
present. I'll tell
you when I can. You're very impatient. I'm the guy it's doing the
physical activity here,
whilst you're lying in bed, lying on a beach, or driving a car. Oh
you can't read when
you drive a car. Okay, you’re sitting in class. Whoa, you can't
read me there either.
Put me away and get on with the lesson. I jest. You’re not as
irresponsible as that.
You’re a good kid, my best friend. Puuuke.
Hey
we’re descending these steps much quicker than we climbed them.
“Look
kids, we’re nearly there,” I say.
“Thank
goodness,” say Si and Beth in unison.
“One
more, and we’ll be back on terra firma,” I tighten my grip on
both of their hands.
Beth’s hand is surprisingly unresponsive, but Si responds by
clasping my hand firmly.
We’ve stepped off the staircase, my legs are aching. Aurora could
sure be doing
with converting the stairway into an escalator. We walk forward to
join Nanuq.
“Welcome
to the Land of Shadows my children,” says Nanuq. “We will rest
for a while,
and then you will meet with the gatekeeper.” He bounds forward like
a spring lamb.
I don’t know where he’s got his energy from. But I’ll have a
bottle of whatever he’s
having. I
let go of the hand’s of Si and Beth. The two of them are standing
with there mouths
wide open. I look around; yeah, I can see why they’re gawping. This
place is lush,
and green; not a bit of snow in sight. Oh, and I should tell you that
it’s no longer dark.
The sun is shining in a cloudless sky. I don’t know if they were
expecting it to look
like Tuk. Who knows?
The
Wind of Change begins to whistle even louder than it was doing
before.
“Safe
journey, my children. When you are ready to return home, I will be
here.” A
woman’s voice comes from behind us. We all turn around, and
standing on the bottom
step of the staircase is a very beautiful woman. She’s not a kid,
but a woman. She’s
very petite, dressed in a silver off the shoulder long gown, and her
long hair is being
swept back away from her goorgeous face by the Wind of change. Even weirder,
is that her hair keeps changing color. It’s an awesome spectacle.
“Safe journey
Nanuq.”
Nanuq
stops in his tracks, and turns around. “Goodbye, Aurora my beauty,”
says Nanuq.
The old smoothy. Aurora waves, and she slowly evaporates into a multicolored
mist that matches the bands that make up the twisting, turning
Borealis.
She’s
gone. She’s merged into the cloud, which is now levitating above
ground. The stars
that made up the stairway have started to disperse, and are
scattering themselves throughout
the Borealis. The wind is now blowing hard. The Borealis moves away, away,
and it’s gone. The Wind of Change, stops whistling and there is now
no wind blowing
at all.
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