Jerome the Gnome agreed, positive that such a little boy could never come up with a riddle that he, the great riddle master, couldn’t solve. So Tommy tried him.
“What strange creature has two eyes in front and many more behind?”
That one took the gnome by surprise. He didn’t know that one. A puzzled look came over his face as he pondered over the answer. He dove into his books to find the answer or at least some clues. But however hard he tried, he couldn’t solve this one. Finally he admitted defeat.
“The answer is a peacock.”
Jerome slapped his forehead. How could he have missed it? But he had, so he had to keep his word. He told them that this land was created by an old lady who had had enough of the normal world. She lived somewhere out there. He pointed out the window. He didn’t know exactly where she lived, but he was sure it was in that direction. The children thanked him, polite as they were, and went down the stairs.
Behind the boot they found a path, in the direction the gnome had pointed out. So they decided to follow it. The path led them straight to the south. To the left and to the right of them was grass, always grass. Every other kilometer or so the path was covered by a brick tunnel. The tunnel was long and small, and there was no apparent reason for it. The group went inside the tunnel, it was chilly there. Soon they were totally covered in darkness. After five minutes they saw light at the other end of the tunnel. They would have preferred to go past the tunnel but from the entrance of the tunnel there was a thick bush to both sides. It was very thick, so they couldn’t get through it. After they left the tunnel they looked back. They couldn’t see the bushes anymore, that was weird. A few more of those strange tunnels followed. Again at first the bushes, but they seemed to have vanished as soon as they left the tunnel on the other side. After a while they didn’t bother about it anymore. The road just went on dead straight. Another tunnel, they had stopped counting how many there were. But at the end the twins and their dog Jumbo didn’t end up on the road anymore. They were surrounded by bushes. When Tommy looked back, he cried
“Where has the tunnel gone? There’s only bushes now?”
Carol soon followed in surprise. Suddenly they were in the middle of what seemed to be a maze. How were they ever going to get out of there? The boy and girl sat down pondering, while Jumbo sniffed around. Then Carol had an idea. She had seen once on TV that there was a sure way to get out of a maze.
“You just have to keep one hand on the same side all the time. It may not be the fastest way, but we will definitely get out of this maze.”
Following her advice, Tommy and Carol placed their left hands on the bushes, and started walking. Soon they were totally lost. They thought they recognized some bits, but were never sure. All that kept them going, was the knowledge that sometime they would reach the end of the maze. But just when they were starting to fear that maybe there wasn’t an end to this maze, they saw something that could be the end. They ran towards it happily. But their happiness was short-lived. The maze had led them to a big square. Besides their path no less than seven paths entered the square. Hope left them there at that point. For a few minutes Tommy and Carol sat there. Jumbo lay there as well, almost as if he knew that the situation was getting hopeless. But then Carol got up, she hadn’t given up hope yet.
“We’ll just have to try every path until we get the right one.”
She decided. She dragged both Tommy and Jumbo with her, but not before marking the path they had come from originally. The first path they took, right next to the marked one, led them back to the square within 30 minutes. They marked both paths and chose another one. But unfortunately the result was the same. That was five down, three left to go. Luckily they didn’t have to try all eight paths, because number six seemed to be their lucky number. After about twenty minutes they suddenly found a tunnel after a corner. At the end of the tunnel there was light. They went for it, and found themselves outside the maze. As they looked back, all they saw was the tunnel and a long row of bushes on each side. Quickly the group moved on.
Jumbo picked up a scent. He ran along the path. The children followed him, but had to run too to keep up. At a crossroads he stopped and sniffed a bit. The children happily took their rest. But then Jumbo chose to go left, and Tommy and Carol had no choice but to follow. It didn’t take long for them to see a big farm ahead of them. Next to the farm, at a little distance, was a big barn. Both the buildings were surrounded by big meadows. In the meadows a strange and unbelievable array of… ehm… well… things were grazing. A big herd of camels on the one side, but also a number of bicycles. Bicycles roaming around without someone on it. And if that weren’t strange enough, on the other side of the farm the field was filled with huge standing clocks. They could hear their bells from a big distance. Fascinated by the sight of it, they decided to go to the farm. The nearer they got to the farm, the harder and more present the noise from the clocks became.
“Luckily the clocks are all at different times. It would be an incredible sound if they would all ring together.”
Carol screamed over the ringing of two big brown clocks near to them. Tommy nodded in silent agreement. Jumbo just pressed the flaps of his ears closer to his head. They opened the big gate at the end of the road, and walked over to the door of the farm house. Besides it on a bench sat an old lady, waiting for them. She welcomed them to her humble place.
“Welcome my children. Can I offer you anything to drink?”
The children gladly accepted the big glass of cold milk the old lady came back with from out of the farm house. Jumbo really appreciated the big bowl of water. She explained that she had gotten so tired of living in real life, that she had created this world out of her imagination.
“I don’t necessarily want fantastic adventures all the time, I just want a little more imagination now and then.”
The kids agreed with her, and complimented her on her farm. But they had some comments on the maze.
“Ah well, it shouldn’t all be too easy now?”
The old lady replied with a smile. The kids however disagreed. They were almost lost forever in the maze, and they hadn’t forgotten the adventure with the gnome either. Fantasy was alright, but within boundaries. And they ended their plea by expressing their wish to go home.
“Because our parents will be worried about us.”
In the end, the old lady saw their points, and agreed to take them back to their own world. So after a good meal she led them to her camels. Tommy and Carol were scared a bit at first, but the camels turned out to be very sweet creatures. The three of them rode on the back of the camels, with Jumbo running next to them. He always liked running, so he was very excited now.
Surprisingly fast they reached the big pile of white pillows in the middle of the green grass field. The old lady finally opened the bag she had been carrying with her all the time. She took out four springs, two for each child. She helped them tie the springs underneath their feet. Then she gave them instructions.
“Jump as high as you can. Once you jump high enough, you will go back the same way you came here.”
Tommy and Carol look at each other. The woman must be crazy. But after some consideration they decide to try it anyway. Because they really want to get home. So the kids start jumping. Tommy with Jumbo held tightly in his arms. It’s actually quite nice. Better still, it’s a lot of fun to jump around. At first they are a bit careful, but soon they bounce around happily and freely. Suddenly however Tommy doesn’t see Carol anymore. She bounced up, but didn’t bounce down again. Frightened Tommy stops bouncing. Scared he looks at the old lady, who smiles.
“Your sister has reached the right point and height. She is on her way home now. You try it too, and before you know it you’re home.”
So Tommy starts jumping again. It takes some effort to reach the same height as his sister, because he is carrying Jumbo. But in the end he succeeds. Suddenly he isn’t bouncing anymore, but he is being hurled into the darkness. It’s the same darkness from earlier that day. After a while he sees his sister’s face. It’s at the edge of the cardboard box. Soon Tommy and Jumbo are thrown out of the box. They land on the attic floor. Carol helps them up. They take off their springs. As the old lady requested, they throw the springs back into the box. Then they close it. As they do so, they hear a faint ‘thank you’ coming from the box. Everything was still as they left it. They rush down to find their parents still clearing the kitchen table as if nothing happened. They don’t seem at all surprised to see their children again. Tommy and Carol look at each other and decide to keep their fantasies to themselves. Fantasies were alright, but with boundaries.
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