Saving Mystic Village

I was looking through my bookshelf today and I found a story I wrote back in fourth grade. It was called "Saving Mystic Village." Here it is, exactly as it was written, all errors and ambiguities included. The influence of C.S Lewis is clear, and I laugh to see that I was already an advocate for the environment at that age (although I have found poems from as early as second grade about saving the earth).

Saving Mystic Village

Cindy and Joe, two kids who are 10 and 12. Cindy is 12, has brown hair, brown eyes, is tall, and skinny. Joe is 10, has brownish blonde hair, blue eyes, is the normal height for his age, and is skinny. Their story started when they were going upstairs to see what was in the attic. When they reached the attic, they found themselves in a very strange forest.

The forest smelled of the ground, but had many other strange and wonderful smells. The plants in the forest were like none they had ever seen. One kind of plant was as tall as a two story house, had a navy blue bloom with sharp looking gold stamens sticking out of the middle, a turquoise stem, two turquoise diamond shaped leaves that were as big as bathtubs at the bottom, and two "spiraling" leaves that were a pearly light green ascending from the bottom of the plant and ending one third from the top. Another plant was four foot tall, had an orange trunk, sharp gold leaves on top with silver spirals on stems shooting out of them, and brown vine like leaves hanging over the sides. The last of the three main plants in the forest grew on the ground everywhere except for on the paths that wound throughout the forest. It was forest green with cube flowers that were green, blue, and purple marbled together.

As the two kids took in all of this, it stared to rain, so they quickly crawled under one of the trees, and sat against the trunk as they discussed their surroundings.

"This place is definitely not the attic." Stated Joe

"How long did it take you to figure that out?" asked Cindy sarcastically.

"A few minutes." Answered Joe.

Cindy sighed. She never expected Joe to answer those questions, but he always did anyway.

"So how do you like our new attic?" Questioned Cindy.

"I told you! It's not the attic!" exclaimed Joe, "I think it's some kind of magical forest like in the book I just read."

"Come on, Joe! You can't be serious." said Cindy.

"I'm serious!" exclaimed Joe.

"O.K., O.K. Maybe we are in some magical forest," admitted Cindy. "But what forest are we in?" questioned Cindy.

Joe couldn't answer that question so he just sat quietly. Then, Cindy, noticing how uncomfortable the shrubs they were sitting in were, suggested they walk along the path in the drizzle and see what they could find.

After about 10 minutes, the rain stopped and Cindy and Joe saw a strange creature coming towards them. It had two furry gold legs with three sharp light green claws on each foot, a tall yellow body with black spots, a magenta-purple-blue-green stomach, orange spikes down his back and tail, red ears, an olive green nose, reddish-brown thick unkempt hair, and two light green horns that curved outward from each other.

"What do you think it is, Cindy?" inquired Joe.

"I have no idea," responded an astounded Cindy.

As the "animal" got closer it was carrying what might have been a picnic basket on earth. It was a brownish-green color and seemed a lot like a bag because it was sagging with the weight of whatever was in it and had a brown napkin folded neatly over the top. When "it" reached the kids it began to speak to them.

"Hello humans, My tolone (we are a type of animal that live in this forest) friends and I have been waiting for you for four quams!" the strange creature exclaimed.

"What are quams?" asked Joe curiously.

"In your language, days." answered the tolone.

"Oh." Joe said as if the answer to his question was obvious.

"Excuse me, but will you mind telling us who you are, where we are, and why we're here?" Cindy asked.

"Of course. My name is Lizar and any minute now my sister Momecton will be here. We are now in the Mystic Village Territory of the Great Clafondon Forest. Which is where my village is and where you will be staying for the nest week or less (but don't worry about the time, each of our days only equal ten minutes, but it will feel like days have passed). Now for your last question. You are here because the vain Kind Duffler of Clafondon has a problem with all the tolones in the forest. We don't know what it is, but it must be pretty serious, because he is destroying these plants, which our lives depend upon. So we brought you here to help us." explained Lizar.

"So we're here to help you." summarized Cindy.

"Yes." agreed Lizar.

Just then, another Tolone (that looked like Lizar, except that it had lighter features) appeared on one of the paths.

"Hey Momecton!" shouted Lizar. "We've been waiting for you. Come enjoy the picnic lunch I've prepared with our human helpers who have just arrived!"

"Sure, I'd love to!" answered Momecton.

Then Lizar started to pull things out of the picnic bag, but first he put a blanket of weird colors that no human had ever seen on the ground. The food looked like some of the food on Earth, but it tasted much better and soon all four were full.

After lunch, they started off to Mystic Village. Along the way, they discussed ways they might defeat King Duffer.

"Do you know of any weak spots the king has?" asked Joe.

"Yes," answered Momecton. "He greatly cares for his possessions."

"Is there anything you can offer him as a bribe?" Joe inquired.

"Yes. We Tolones are very fine miners." Lizar answered.

"Could you spare some gems?" asked Cindy.

"Sure," replied Lizar.

As they finished their walk, they finished their plan. When they finally reached Mystic Village,

The sun was setting. So Momecton quickly found a family that would let them stay with them until they returned home. Meanwhile, Lizar told the village about the plan and they started to work on it right away. The next morning after a very good breakfast, Cindy and Joe found that a fairly sized pile of gems had been formed. They were very happy and after lunch, their two companions and themselves set out for King Duffer's castle with two wagonloads of jewels.

When they reached the King's castle, they were immediately lead to his throne room. There, they told the King why they were there, and after a little thought, refused. A sad group of four and their two wagons entered the village later that evening and told them that their plan had not worked.

By the next morning, a new plan was formed. The creatures of Mystic Village and of the forest (who wanted to) would form a large army and try to attack. In two days the army was formed and a week later, they left an expectant forest and went to the castle.

Then after three days of anxious waiting, the army returned to the village, and the news of their success traveled quickly through the forest. Shortly after the army returned a huge party was thrown in honor of Lizar, Momecton, Cindy, Joe, and the army. That night, news was passed that the King's army had retreated to another kingdom, and the King had gone with them. So, at the party a new King was chosen and he moved into the castle.

Later, around midnight, Lizar and Momecton awakened Joe and Cindy.

"Are you ready to go home?" asked Lizar.

"Yes." The kids both yawned.

"Then let's go." Momecton whispered, "Remember to be quiet, the whole village is sleeping."

They went to the end of the forest where the kids had come into the forest.

"There's a door behind the moss on that rock over there. It will be open. Go through the tunnel and enter the first door you see. It should be your attic. Good-bye my friends." explained Momecton.

"Good-bye." Said Lizar.

Our two heroes found the door with ease and followed the directions to their attic and found that the clock on the wall read ten minutes after they had left. Later they both promised never to tell anyone about their adventure in Mystic Village.

THE END

In Which I Become Hopelessly Lost (Again) and Attend Homecoming

Yesterday was the homecoming dance. I hate dances. I really do. But for some reason I decided to try one again this year. For the first time in five years I wore a dress in public. For the first time in my life I wore high heels. Most surprising of all, I actually liked my dress. It was about as Maria-ish as a dress can be. On more than one occasion, I was told that I looked like a woodland fairy or a nymph.

I wouldn't even have considered going if it hadn't been for the group I went with. It included eighteen delightful people. I was one of the many drivers getting us all to dinner, but if I had known what getting there would involve, I would never have agreed to drive. I didn't even read the directions I was given before we left. I entrusted them to my front seat passenger and planned on following the person who knew where she was going. We lost said person when we got on the highway. I did not know we were going to drive on a highway. As you already know, I hate highways. Then we got onto another highway. That other highway was I-71 (which fortunately was not as frightening as it was when I had my temps). Then we got onto a smallish highway-esque road. All three had plenty of traffic. I was not happy at all. Once we finally got off the highways, we caught back up to the front driver. We promptly lost her once more when she decided to speed through a yellow light. After this, we got completely lost. The people following us also got lost. We found ourselves about to get onto I-71 again, but just in time we turned onto a narrow side street and got back on track. Eventually we arrived at our dinner destination. Dinner was a lot of fun.

On the way back, we resolved to drive closer together, and the leader promised to drive as though she was being followed by clueless people. Before we even left the parking lot, we lost one of the four cars in our caravan. Once we were all on the highway, we got off at the wrong exit and were lost again. We pulled over at what turned out to be a school of some sort with an awesome playground. It was castle-themed and included a dragon and a ship. Most of us got out and played on the playground while the head of the caravan called her dad and asked for direction. I declared myself captain of the ship, but did not manage to enlist many crew members before we departed.

Once we left, we had to take a detour to find a bathroom. After we left the Gold Star where we stopped, I got separated from the other two cars and was lost again. Several roads later, we somehow ended up behind the other two cars without knowing it. When they stopped to wait for us, we passed them. We couldn't really turn around very easily, but at that point they discovered that we were on North Bend Road and we figured that we could get to the school easily enough from there.

We were wrong. We wound up being moderately lost and debating whether or not we should leave our path and pursue a new one that we thought we recognized. We turned around and returned to the place we thought we knew, and eventually one of my passengers recognized where we were even in the darkness. In the end, we found our way to the school. We arrived just in time to be admitted to the dance.

For the entire duration of the ride to and from Buca di Beppos or wherever we ate, I was quite angry and on the verge of panic. We were driving in the dark on highways, people kept cutting me off (I nearly cussed a few of these drivers out), I was forced to do some risky driving to keep up with everyone, and there were a few other things that made me less than happy. Surprisingly, the fact that we were lost wasn't as terrifying as it has been in the past; I've gotten so used to it that I enjoy it as an adventure, so long as I have passengers with me. When I get angry while driving I just become a source of amusement to my passengers which in turn calms me down. When I'm lost and alone, I just panic. It also helped that most of the songs that came up when I pushed shuffle on my ipod were perfect for the situation. During the long stretch of time we spent driving with uncertainty down what was supposed to be North Bend (I'm not confident that it really was North Bend), The Long and Winding Road played, and we all had to laugh at the correlation between the title and our current predicament.

Homecoming itself wasn't that great. In fact, it was decidedly not great. That's all I have to say on the matter. I left early, and for the ride home I rolled down all my windows and put one of my favorite songs on repeat (it fits pretty much every mood I have, and it was particularly fitting at the time). That final drive was wonderfully refreshing, especially in contrast to my driving adventures earlier in the day.

More Adventures in Driving

These two adventures are more like un-adventures in driving, but they mark what could be a turning point in my navigational skills.

Saturday, it was my task to get to West Chester to watch Ronda and some others perform at a concert. Not only had I never driven to West Chester before, but I had to get there via highway. And one of those highways was one I had never driven on before (I-75). However, wonder of wonders, I managed to get there without getting the least bit lost! I also managed to get home without getting lost, but that was only because I called my parents to see if I had in mind the correct way to get home. I did not have in mind the correct way to get home. That potential crisis was averted.

On Sunday, I got my senior pictures taken. The outside pictures were taken at Spring Grove Cemetery, and once we were finished there I was to follow Annette (my photographer) to her house for some inside pictures. The only thing I hate more than trying to drive to a new place is following someone to a new place. We got onto I-75 during rush hour and ended up getting split up. I just barely noticed in time when she got off on an exit and ended I-75 ordeal number three. The rest of the drive to her house was uneventful. But then I had to get back home. She gave me clear directions to I-75, but once I got on I realized that I had no idea where I was. I tried calling home, but my parents were gone. I decided to try it alone, even though I was on the verge of panic. I found an exit onto Ronald Reagan, and figured that I could find some way home once I was on a familiar highway, and I ended up at a spot that I knew well. I-75 ordeal number four had been successfully completed!

I may have finally begun to overcome my inability to drive to new places without getting hopelessly lost!

How It Really Went

As I've already said I would, I'm now posting what really happened during and after the windstorm. Also, as I said before, I'm actually typing this first so I don't confuse reality with fantasy.

As I drove home from church, the wind had already begun to blow steadily. The car didn't steer as well as it normally did (for all its issues, the red car does steer fairly well), trees and signs swayed in the wind, branches dropped to the ground, and some traffic lights were blinking while others had stopped working entirely. I narrowly avoided getting hit by a locust branch, and a moderately hefty oak stick thwocked my windshield, but it wasn't big enough to cause any damage.

And then came the glorious event I thought would never come to pass so long as I lived in my parents' house. I was permitted (along with the oldest two of my younger sisters) to climb up into the large white pine in front of my house. I'm not sure why. It probably wasn't exactly the safest thing we could have done. But it was fun. Rachel and I went somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of the way up the tree. It was AWESOME! The wind caused the tree to sway and the branches to tremble. My time in the tree definitely ranks among my favorite experiences.

An hour or so later, as the wind continued to wail, the power went out. We weren't overly concerned. We had expected it. Eventually, we found out that it would be a while before the power came back on. At some point (it may have been Sunday night or Monday morning; I can't remember for sure), we learned that would could be electricity-less for up to a week. I was kind of hoping for a few days at least, but in the end we only went for just over 24 hours without it. Several of my friends still don't have it, and where the power lines or transformers are actually damaged or missing they aren't expecting to have electricity back until Friday at the earliest.

The Nichols and some of our other neighbors came over to our house. On our way to find other people to join us in a game of kick the can, I caught a squirrel. He was a frightened little fellow, so he didn't really try to run from me. When I picked him up, he curled into a little ball and put his paws over his head. I let him go after a moment. I couldn't bear to keep him captive any longer.

I liked the idea of living without electricity for a bit. It was nice in many ways. Maybe I'll try going Amish for a little bit. As night fell, I read by candle-light and wrote a letter to Sean McHone about Cincinnati happenings from a druid's perspective. I had already put a letter in the big package Ben sent to him, but it was a short and uninteresting letter. Plus, he wouldn't have to do any extra push-ups to get it.

Finneytown Schools announced that school would be canceled for the next day, so I stayed up late to finish an excellent book by the light of some scented candles. Contrary to my expectations, cinnamon roll and pear made a great smell combination.

Monday morning we packed necessary perishable food and drug items into coolers before they went bad in the powerless fridge. My mom's opinions on what had to be saved were unorthodox. Miracle Whip, ranch dressing, and Coke were at the top of her list, followed by her medications, with the more ordinary items trailing far behind.

After that we began to clean up our yard and our neighbor's yard. I got several scratches from some stubborn branches, but none of them were deep enough to bleed. My brother, Allison, and I created a stash of sticks that had high potential for becoming dueling weapons. Later, my mom found them and got rid of them before they were used. I was given the assignment of trying to dislodge a dead branch trapped up in a tree with no low-growing branches. I tried climbing the fence next to the tree, hanging onto the dead branch, and jumping, but all I managed to do was break off part of the branch. Most of it was still stuck. After several unsuccessful attempts, I was forced to give up. I could have just climbed the rough trunk, but I wasn't allowed to take off my shoes and there wasn't a safe path back out of the tree. Well, not a safe path for a shod person anyway. Toes can cling in ways that shoes cannot.

Jonathon and Rachel alerted me to the approach of a pair of our neighborhood LARPers and their captive. They agreed to let us take pictures of them. Please note that although we had collected branch weapons, we still have more dignity than LARPers. We were going to be duelers. Dueling is honorable and dignified. As we took some action shots, Alex/Stephanie Herbers, Logan Herbers, Daniel Wilson, Lauren Gifreda, and David Gifreda came up the street. Bruegger's Bagels still had power, so Jonathon and I joined them in a march to Bruegger's. Along the way, we found some plastic letters that had blown off of a sign, so I stuck them into my purse. You never know when you might need such things.

As we continued down Winton Road, we came upon two scenes that literally brought me to the verge of tears. My two favorite trees had been brought down by the storm. A majestic blue spruce had been uprooted, and the trunk of an ancient, giant black oak had snapped. It was devastating.

When we had almost reached Bruegger's, we were joined by Maddie Fessler, JP Muñoz, Alejandro something-or-another, and two people whose names I didn't know. McCall Dillon met us there. I had some of Bruegger's delicious chai tea. It was delicious, but I had forgotten how remarkably sugary it was. Too sugary.

From Brugger's we walked to Maddie's house. From there we drove to her great-grandma's house to help her clear her yard. We left JP, Alejandro, and their two friends behind. They aren't bright enough to be trusted with rakes. There wasn't much to do, so we drove to Maddie's grandma's house on Winton Road.

We had to take two carfuls to get there (Maddie's mom had helped us get from her mom's house to her great-grandma's house). Dan, Lauren, David, Jonathon, and I were dropped off first. We knocked on the door, but nobody answered. We remembered Maddie saying her grandparents actually owned the house next door as well, so we ventured to the next house. It was rather dilapidated, so we didn't even bother to knock. We called Maddie, and she told us that the door would be unlocked and we could just walk in. None of us were comfortable with that, so we sat on the hill facing their house. People gave us odd looks when they stopped at the stop light next to their house. I suppose they were justified. All of us except for Lauren and I were wearing all black, David looks emo, and Dan looks mildly goth at first glance. Even though Lauren and I weren’t wearing black, I was wearing a pirate shirt and Lauren’s hair looked emo.

Eventually the others arrived and told us that Maddie’s grandparents weren’t home. That would have been nice to know. They had a huge yard covered in debris. It took a while to clear. I got to be the official branch stomper. Whenever a trash can was full, I got to climb into it and compact its contents.

At then end of the day, we returned to our homes. We lit a fire in our backyard to cook hot dogs even though we had power back by that point.

An Epic Tale

Preface:
On Sunday, the tri-state area experienced a vicious wind-storm brought to us by hurricane Ike. The strength of the wind took down powerlines all over the place. This is the story of what happened during and after the winds blew.*

I started out for home as the wind began to pick up. I looked at my mode of transportation. It had seen better days. It hadn't completely failed on me yet, but a feeling of doom hung over me as I clambered into the red monstrosity I was forced to rely on.** With great trepidation, I swung out onto Winton Road into the wind's power. With the windows rolled down, I reveled in the rushing air and fought minor skirmishes with my not-so-streamlined vehicle as I made my way towards home. The traffic lights swayed eerily, blinking on and off, some dead altogether. I reached the traffic-light-free zone of the spiral I must follow to reach my humble abode. While I had escaped the dangers of unregulated traffic, I now faced a new trouble: falling tree limbs. The great giants of my neighborhood swayed and groaned and dropped their branches. I swerved wildly to escape certain death as a massive locust limb crashed to the ground mere inches from where I had been moments before. I was not so lucky only moments later when an oak branch swung from the skies to smack the windshield of the dilapidated red "car".


As I pulled into the driveway, I saw two intrepid adventurers making their way up through the treacherous branches of the monolithic white pine in front of my home. Despite the fact that the tree was a wounded war veteran who had survived an ice storm and was thus missing all limbs on one side of its massive trunk, my two oldest sisters clambered up into it to enjoy the wind's fury from a higher perch. After depositing my bag of holding and my unwanted foot-wear in my bedchamber, I rushed to join them in their adventure.

We crept to the highest reaches of the tree, far above the rooftops of our fiefdom. The branches swayed and creaked dangerously, but we had no fear. Stalwart adventurers never have fear. Instead we had breath-taking exhilaration. It was fantastic.

We had barely entered our home once more when a startling discovery was made: we had no power! How on earth was I to begin my music theory quest to transpose by ear the first 16 measures of Beethoven's 5th Symphony for all the instruments*** if I did not have that song on my ipod? Worse yet, my ipod had barely any battery left. How could I hope to survive without tunes? The power-restoring mages could only hope that we would have power again within a week. A week is too long for any hero to go without her tunes. Being the hardy fellow that I am, I readied myself for the ordeal to come.

Other adventurers from our local guild traveled many yards over asphalt and grass to reach our home and suggest that we go in search of other brave souls to join us in outdoors games not designed for those who are faint of heart. On the way, I saw a creature skitter through the fallen branches to my right (I think it was to my right. I'll just say it was to the east of me. I can be much more certain about that). I turned quickly and beheld a truly fearsome sight. A squirrel-beast of rare stature reared up on its powerfully muscled legs and prepared to attack my friends and me. I faced the monster fearlessly. It didn't take me long to send him away cowering.

Night was upon us earlier than usual. With ominous clouds filling the sky, the sun's weakened rays gave up on trying to reach us. I continued to study books of ancient lore far into the night and even sent a letter written in secret code to an agent in the army.

We received a call informing us that my Academy was also powerless. Powerless Academies are no Academies at all. Filled with shame, they informed their students that their presence would not be required the next day.

As dawn broke the next day, we still had no power. We stored only the most vitally important of out perishable victuals in insulated boxes of coldness and began to clear the wreckage of the storm from the lawn of our estate. The branches ripped and tore at our flesh and clothing, but we persevered despite these hardships. A few of my kin joined me in stock-piling weapons in the event that we would have to keep vicious villains away from our family. I made a daring attempt to save a faithful tree from the shame of a dead branch hanging limply from the tree's proud form, but I failed. The failure stung far more deeply than any wounds I had received, but I bore the emotional burden stoically.


It seemed as though my siblings and I had not stored up weapons in vain. Armed travellers approached our backyard near midday. We realized to our relief that these good people meant us no harm. They were true heroes and had fought many a brutal battle to rise to positions of fame amongst our people. As we basked in the aura of such accomplished champions of good, a motley crew of our friends approached us and invited us to join them on a long trek to the other side of the Hamlet of Finneytown. They had heard the the good baker Bruegger still had power, and they were on their way to seek fresh food from his ovens.


As we crossed bustling highways and climbed treacherous slopes, our ranks swelled as more comrades joined us in our quest. Although our group was light-hearted and hopeful, there were a few gruesome scenes that brought tears to the eyes of even the most reserved of our number. Several of our forest friends had fallen in the overpowering winds, including my two best dryad friends. May their pure souls rest in peace.


Once we had eaten our fill of goodly Bruegger's fine fare, we headed out in search of good deeds that needed doing. There were more than enough elderly citizens in need of our assistance to occupy us into the evening hours. As night drew nigh once more, we climbed into transport vehicles and returned to our homes. At my house, we lit a massive bonfire and satiated the hunger of the pagan gods. We cooked the entrails of our sacrifices over the flames and filled our stomachs once more.

By this time, power had returned to my estate. It is by this power that I now relate to you this tale. And yet possessing this power is bittersweet. How long must we wait ere we are presented with such grand adventures as we have faced these past two days?



*Before I wrote this, I wrote down what really happened over the past few days. I will post the true story in a few days.

**Soon and very soon I will no longer be driving the red car! I will be driving a little green car instead. Huzzah!

***That assignment is the only part of the story that has no hint of exaggeration. I really do have to transpose by ear the first 16 measures of Beethoven's 5th Symphony for all the instruments by Friday.