Summer Spark O Magic
Well, it all started many a years ago, in a time where the news was black and white, and the only movin pictures scuffled across the screens like magic in the picture houses for the city folk. But we had our own kinda magic…and it lived right beneath us.
We lived on a big ol farm, none too fancy, but big enough for the whole family and a mess of visiters. The manor was none too pretty, needed new paint and plaster and the bricks looked kinda like grandad’s teeth. But she was a solid Marm built in what they call the
Ee-tal-anio style--which is pretty words for old. And old she was…far older then the mess oh fancy-folk who went and built her thought too. For she had a spark in her…she was built right over the sacred land of the Whimsies.
Don’t scoff at me! I’m your elder and I’ll throw you right over my knee. I was tannin hides well before you were born. Yeah, yeah. I know. Whimsy is a fancy word meanin silly and what-not but you sit and listen.
She had a spark in her. For the Whimsies don’t take to folk building on their land and they did their mightiest to magic the whole lot back to where they came from. But like I said…she had a spark in her. An soon you’ll understand why.
Now, when I was but a boy, a spot younger than you, I was quiet an always did what I was told. Wipe that smirk off your face. But, cause of this, I spent a lot of the time indoors while the others was messin in the creek or oft in the back woods. I took to the quieter games like checkers and cards and the like. Now it just so happens that one afternoon I was getting’ my checkers outta the crate when I accidentally dropped one of the chess figures out from the other side.
Now, I didn’t take much to chess, but I knew that when the Reverend came over he and Pappy would sometimes throw a game oh chess in the parlor. And there aint no way Pappy would think some other kid would have lost no chess pieces except me--so I figured I better find it. So, I drops down under the desk and feel around for the piece where I thought it had dropped.
Searched and searched. Didn’t find nothing but a bent jack, two marbles, and a half ate biscuit hiding in the corners and such. Well, I thought where the heck coulda it gone. So, I doubled over again and I found a small crack in the corner wall behind the desk that coulda just barely fit one of those chess figures…musta been a mouse or some mites. So I reached down through, sticking my finger in the hole, just as far as I can; but, I couldn’t feel nuthin’ but empty wall.
So I starts wrigglin’ my hand so I can get my hand deeper in there. Well I make a bit oh mess, what with the plaster and wood splinters and such, but after a few minutes I realize that ifin’ that figure rolled through this hole it be under the house now. I was startin’ to get a bit worried now. ‘Cause Pappy wasn’t too quick with the strap but he wasn’t feared to use it if we’d get outta line…like loosing a part of a fancy chess game.
So, Bein’ mid mornin’, and a Saturday to boot, the house was some empty except for me. So I headed to the larder an got a candle, a spot of maple, and a match from the oven. I rushed on out and walked about the house looking for a good place to enter.
She was a solid Marm but there was lots of places to sneak under her. So, picking what I figured was the best of the bunch, bout ten paces past the back cellar…and a goodly distance from the kitchen window, I set about.
Sucklin the last traces of maple from my finger, I dug down ducking under the brick and beam, squirming like a periwinkle, so that I might get all up under there. Wasn’t too long until I was unable to see what nothin’ but the cuffs of my britches as I look back at my feet. So I mustered up the candle and struck the match to light up the world. What a world it was!
I should say now that Whimsies is all sorts of things. They be little tiny bugs a crawling all about and they be spiders and ants and flies…and all sorts of small critters that we assumes not being nothin’ but bugs and insects. But there’s one sure difference Whimsies can talk…and when they talk they light up like a sheet oh amber tossed across a cheery fire! It’s a sight to be seen.
In the candle light, under the manor, a whole new world was liftin’ her skirts to me. All these little creatures were scurryin’ about--busy with there own business. Now, they all looked like little bugs to me at the time…but seein’ as I didn’t talk to none of them I can’t be sure…and I sure do bet there were some Whimsies mixed all up in the mess.
So, after I spent some time looking and exploring, really just happy to be under in this new world I spots a whiteness in the candle light. Right down under where I can spy a crack into the house, where I was stickin’ my fingers through, a see a hole in the earth. Now, the hole seemed a little strange in hindsight. It was perfectly round and the
white chess figure was just floating there suspended in the blackness…like the blackness was holding it up so’s I could look at it tempting me. Almost like there was no other environment for me to hafta stuff into my story I’m telling you…strange-like.
So whatta I do. I just grabs it. That’s when it gets a bit weird.
Now bein’ as my head was a bit groggy I might get some of the particulars a might wrong but most of this should follow as is. I woke up with my back leanin’ on the game piece. That same chess figure was now bout 10 times bigger than I was tall! Looking straight up I see nothing but black but as I start lookin’ to my sides the world seemed to light up in an eerie blue and green like I was floatin’ under water. I wasn’t mind you…it’s just the light plays trick on the eyes and everything…bein’ as small as I was seemed so strange: like weird magical plants and roots and grains of sand and dirt mixin’ about in a not-right way. All them-such things looked outta place and wonky like I was maybe even deep in the ocean or sumsuch thing.
Now, it didn’t take long for me to start noticing something a terribly lot more ominous. I wasn’t alone. Part of the blurry landscape and twistin’ colours was the creatures moving all about. Thundering loud buzzing flies zipping by, multitudinous centipedes lumbering amongst the ducks and weaves of the swirling new world I found myself felled into. And there was one of the creatures stalking up to my meticulously slow-like as if sizing up its prey and how it was going to eat it like.
A large black creature with six spindly arms two bulbous eyes and large pinchers jutting from the front of its maw purposefully loomed closer and closer to me until I was up under its now gaping mouth. Its pinchers leaned back as if to get a running start at my head so as to eat me all of a sudden--and not have to worry about chewing and enjoying such a rare juicy morsel such as myself. Just as I was finishin’ of the tail end of the first grace I could remember from Sunday school its large bulbous backside lit up like it was a crystal torch in a dark starry sky.
‘Excuse me sir. This is a high traffic intersection. You are unable to park your obelisk here.’
I was stunned. The bright glowing behind shut back to black as night again. All the swirling business busted into my periphery just liken before. I closed my eyes and shook my head to clear-out the fuzzes and anything else that’d help me with the thinking and the looking that I might have to do after I open my eyes again. I peaks open one eye again to clearly see the large black creature standing a good size and a half taller than me amidst the blue green bustle of this underworld.
Once again, his behind lit up like an
orange bonfire outside a drunken barn-dance illuminatin’ all the pebbles of sand and bits of earth that the hustle and bustle was walking across.
‘Sir. This is a commute only, non-transport, route. You can’t park here. Do you have the requisite permit to carry this obelisk on a commute only route? Sir, you are holding up traffic it the middle of a busy intersection.’
I guess I wasn’t much on talkin’ and the cat went and ate my tongue and then crapped it out in the back forty.
‘I will take your silence as an admission of your guilt. You are hereby charged with section 2 paragraph 7 of the Transit and Byway Authority Act. You must report to the Magistrate immediately and remove this obelisk from the public thoroughfare of be forcibly detained and fined an extra ten whimsics under section 4 paragraph 1 forthwith.’
All I could muster was a few jaws of my mouth, and I think I nodded, as the brisk talking, glowing, ant-like creature winked back into blackness. I soon followed as I think my mind wasn’t used to being kept in such a small package, what with me being a whole lot bigger normally and all, and fell into unconsciousness.
Now I hadn’t been unconscious before, none that I rightly know, so I don’t know ifen my earsplitting headache was normal or on account that I got all stuffed into a small little version of my-own-self. Either way I awoke to my world a swingin’ and a bobbin’. At first I thought I was fallin’ as the arched earthen walls an ceilin’ were shiftin’ as such--all the while it was flashing bright orange and then blue.
‘Course I was bein’ carried by that great big glowin’ ant right next to that giant chess piece. Now that chess piece mustin’ been three times as big o the ant but it up and went an carried it like it was nothin’ but a half basket oh dander. When my senses started to come back to my brain I realized the big flashing critter was talkin’ to somebody as we wound down a long twisting corridor that was much smaller than the big clearin’ I dropped into earlier.
‘Well. You know that isn’t the proper procedure for a class 1 accident. You need to file the proper paper work.’
‘Dammit Larry! Why do ya always hafta go by the book. Ya know there are plenty of other normal Yooneons I could hang out with.’
‘Sam. It is clearly indicated in the preface of the entrance guide that life and work will coexist adequately if all codes are followed correctly: not only for you, but all of your acquaintances.’
‘Well hoorah for adequately! Come on Larry! This is ridiculous! Why are you dragging that strange looking pink pillow creature and that big old statue to the Suhbcomete. There not gonna give two shakes about some traffic infraction.’
‘I beg to differ. It clearly states in section 4….’
‘Shut up! You gotta be kidding Larry! We’re supposed to be half way around the Whimsicanna right now mouth deep in honey and knee deep in…’
‘Watch you language! We’re in public.’
‘That’s what I mean Larry. You gotta live a little. Ditch this flesh bag, store the statue, and lets get going.’
Now, I wasn’t itching to get in the middle of the conversation so I stays as still as I could watching the dark ceiling flash by with little shadowy imprints of my silhouette flashin’ every couple seconds as the beasts talked back and froe.
But it didn’t take long until the ceilin’ started getting’ higher and higher like we were entering some grand chamber. An a strange palpable sound started washin’ over my body like warm summer breeze. I felt it before I heard it…ifn that makes any sense…not sure it does. But this sound was like a church choir practicing in a dance hall, filled with a bunch of people, while you have cotton in your ears. It was soothin’, present, yet away…and you couldn’t quite make out what it was sayin’.
‘Your just gonna get yelled at Larry.’
‘Sam. Let me do my job. You are a Venndohr. You don’t know the proper ways of the Yooneons. Article 34 demands I present myself in this fashion while dealing with any portion of section 4.’
‘Well, have fun with that. I’m gonna wait by the spinward gate so that I don’t get splattered with your problems.’
We didn’t move much further and as Larry stopped talking to his other Whimsie friend, the orange light disappeared again an I was washed over with the murky blue green of the underworld I was a visitin’. The choral sound grew stronger and I took a peak over the head of that there big ant, Larry, and spotted a
mess oh stone heads all buried twixt and tween rock an plants and sand. The big chamber continued to play tricks with my mind as the colours swirled like I was looking through a glass of water pointed at the sky.
Now them there half buried heads wasn’t just statues. As my eyes started adjusting to the murky blue and greens I started a noticin’ them shiftin side to side like they was wisperin’ to each other. Every once in a while an eye would open and look about the room and then close again as if it had lost interest. Some heads were sittin’ upright like they was loungin’ on a beach while other was crooked sideways like they was puzzlin’ out a hard fact-o-life. Now that I look back at it…it seems they was probably doin’ more than I thought.
Larry waited patiently. I could see nobody else was in the huge room. The light didn’t quite reach the walls on the farest sides of the chamber so as to make it look like we were in a world all to ourselfs. It was a might disconcertin’. Then, slowly, like a growing wave on the horizon the ambient sounds started loudening. Then there movin’ heads started to come into focus--except in your ears instead of your eyes. As they began to talk the words sounded like they were a million different voices not quite all in sync with the timin’ of what was happening.
‘State you case Yooneon 45792………two…….two……two.’
Larry then made a strange clicking sound that I’m a guessin’ was supposed to clear his throat…or however them there creatures managed to speak.
‘Thank-you Suhbcomete. This creature is responsible for an infraction of section 2, paragraph 7, section 4, paragraph 4, 5, and 8. As per article 34 and 17 I am presenting the defendant without direct authority from the Magistrate.’
‘Affirmative Yooneon 45792. Stand by for judgement……ment………ment……ment.’
Now Larry seemed pretty calm ‘bout the whole thing. But he wasn’t the one bein’ judged on…and he probable knew what he was a getting’ judged; whereas, I wasn’t so sure. So I started a scurryin’ as best I could to get off the back o the big ant and drop down to face my accusers.
“Whoa, woe, woes,” I says. “What ya be talkin’ about! I didn’t do nothin but fall down a blasted hole looking for some such playin’ piece so my Pa don’t skin the back right off my side!”
Ifin I could ever say that an ant ever looked concerned…it was then. He looked at me with his big towerin’ eyes and then swished two of his spindly arms back and froe like he was desperately callin’ the play at home base.
The whole room took on a tumultuous shade of red! Them there heads stopped idlin’ and whisperin and looked at me with hatred in them there eyes! Every one o them stared at me like I was a brazen mouse saunterin’ through a cat’s kitchen.
“uh.” I explained.
‘Don’t say anything while the Suhbcomete is session.’ Larry whispered in a tense strained voice.
The voices all seemed to sync up closer together and flicker with red and deep purple flashes as it directed its choral discussion to me.
‘You are a Nerworlder. You have no place here. Where did you come from? Yooneon 45792, where did you discover this Nerworlder?
‘Intersection 10-43-67809.’ Larry stated much quieter than before.
‘The Ringbreach…….each……..each…….each.’
The red in the air stayed. But a new orangey colour started a drifin’ in between and the voices started their dissonance once again makin’ it sound like the echo of a chorus in an empty barn.
‘The Ringbreach is a forbidden portal. The Nerworlders built over the Ringbreach despite our best efforts. They used mystical boards from the Otherworld to circumvent our disapproval. This must be one of the Nerworlders responsible. Yooneon, take this Nerworlder to the Severbreach so that it might go to the Nerworld.’
There was a bit o a dramatic pause as all of the angry heads turned a shade less frightenin’. They seemed to be collectin’ some manner o which to talk to me. Now, them colours and stares had taken a mighty scare outta of me so I was none to in-a-hurry to talk to those movin’ heads anytime soon.
‘Nerworlder. Please submit to your people. We need the Ringbreach to be clear from obstruction. It is one of the sources of our livelihoods…it allows us to prosper in peace. We are the Whimsies. We need the magic that flows from the heavens to survive. The Ringbreach allows us to feed off of the heavenly magic and live in harmony with the rest of nature. The blockage over the Ringbreach was built with the spark of the old world that has the power to stop our magic and suppresses us further into the earth…and if our portals continue to be closed we will surely perish.
Please go forth as spread the word of our cause.’
“I aint rightly sure I can as do what you say. But I promise I will rightly try if you get me back up to my home.”
The red and orange disappeared from the murky air and was once again replaced with the blue and green. All them heads let the tension fall from their stiff faces and went back to whisperin’ and twitchin’ like I had seen them doin’ before. Larry, that big ol ant, scooped me back up and set me on his back and set out to find his friend Sam.
Sam, it seemed, was a big ol ladybug all speckles and round, now that I finally got a look at him. He lit up in the same manner every time he spoke except his light was polka-dotted srpayin’ more of a pattern on the walls we passed by when talkin’. He didn’t talk to me an he seemed some angry with Larry.
‘Severbreach! That’s right back from where we came from! We wasted the whole day. Come on Larry. You. Are. Killing. Me. Im gonna go find Phil and make this day worth while. Enjoy your subsections and paragraphs.'
Larry didn’t seem to mind much. I get the feelin’ he liked doin’ his job more than talkin’ with Sam anyhow. We didn’t really talk much except for a brief goodbye as he showed my the way home. A small little hole, pitch black, with nothin’ but a floating mushroom sittin’ on a pillow of nothingness. Worked pretty much the same way…I took a grab for the tiny floating mushroom and I found myself sittin’ down prone on a grassy hill surrounded by a reddish pack o toadstools.
Took me a bit o time to figure I was about ten minutes from home off on the other side of the creek…and unfortunately it was quite dark as I figured it was well past suppertime.
Sure enough. I came home to a light on the porch a sternly cross Pa and a worry torn Ma fidgeting her hands up an down her untied apron.
Now it didn’t get none to better from there. As I had left the game sets strewn upon the floor, a fingerprint in the maple, was a blackened head-to-toe with dirt, and was still missin’ the piece o chess board that Pappy used to play the Reverend with.
Believe it or not, the stories of the Whimsies didn’t put my folks minds at ease about the whole situation. But, that spark in that old house insured that my summers where filled with excitement and magic…and allowed me many a adventure until that sad day when I stopped being able to visit my Whimsie friends in their ownself home…when I was unable to use the portals.
I’m a guessin’ that just too many portals were bein’ a built and filled and over time they just started to fade away.