the Thinker

I felt as if my whole body has become very light and there was this strange, funny and tickling sensation in my tummy. All of a sudden, I felt as if as if I am falling from some great height. However, I did not feel scared, but a great sense of excitement and elation overcame me.

"Open your eyes now, miss," said Rain in a soft voice.

I opened my eyes and looked at Rain. Now I was able to see her much clearly, as I stood face to face to her. She really had a sweet little face and a pink complexion. Her eyes were light blue and lips were cherry coloured. She indeed looked like one of those fairies in the Disney movies.

"Miss, you look so pretty as a sprite," said Rain.

"Really Rain?" I asked and looked around for the small hand mirror I always kept on that table. It was near the pen stand. I looked at myself and a chuckle of delight escaped my mouth. I looked like a little sprite as well. I was dressed in turquoise and my wings were sparkling blue. One thing is for sure-these fairy-charms and enchantments make one look far more beautiful, than one really is. Though it is all short-lived, yet it is very pleasant.

"Miss, you really look like a little fairy," said Rain.

"Oh, thank you so much, Rain," I replied. I could not help feeling flattered and I must admit; I did sound a bit silly when I said that.

"So, ready for Neverland, miss," she asked.

"Yes," I replied, excited.

I had never imagined in my wildest dreams that someday I will have wings to fly. It felt very different from a 2.5-hour flight in an aircraft. When I was young, I always wondered how was it like to fly all on your own. Finally, my dream was coming true.

Rain showed me how to take a position before the flight. We spread our wings and stooped slightly from the windowsill. Then we pushed the ground with our legs and started to flap our wings. It was so thrilling. As we moved up in the sky, I managed to steal a look at my house, which appeared smaller and smaller every second. The night wind was soothing and refreshed us during the flight. I was behind Rain because she knew the way to Neverland; so, I had to follow her.

I do not know how long we flew, but I enjoyed every moment of it. As we approached closer to Neverland, Rain told me how to land on ground. All this sounds funny because one might think you do not have to land like a plane, when you have wings of your own. However, while flying, I actually understood how difficult it must be for birds when they fly for the first time.

Slowly, we started to move downwards and touched the ground again. I looked around and saw the place. The moon certainly appeared bigger here than in my world. The entire place was lit up with its light. It was so beautiful.

"How did you like flying miss?" asked Rain.

"Lovely Rain, it was wonderful and far more exciting than anything I have felt so far. Thank you so much," I replied.

"My pleasure miss; now, what do we call you?" her tone changed from a bashful to a more pragmatic one.

"Call me?" I asked, puzzled.

"Yes, miss. What is you name?" she asked.

I told her what they call me at my place. She shook her head in a disapproving manner and said, "That's a fine name miss. But if they hear that one here, then they might suspect you for a 'you know what'."

"Then what should I call myself?" I asked.

Rain had that thoughtful look on her face again and started scratching her head.

"How about calling you Earthy? You belong to the Earth?" asked Rain.

I could not digest that. "Just because I come from earth, it does not mean you have to call me that," I replied resentfully. Rain started to think again and then suddenly looked up at me with a smile.

"Umm..why don't we call you Bloom? It also goes with you blue colour, doesn't it?" asked Rain.

At first, her suggestion sounded very weird to me. But then, it sounded better than Earthy.

"Oh, all right. I am Bloom then," I said.

"And remember, if they ask where you are from, say that you come from the galaxy near Jupiter," said Rain.

"You are sure about that," I asked hesitantly.

"Trust me miss," she said. "Now come, time to see the great fairy carnival of Neverland," she added and led the way to me.

We walked into the forest where the moonlight flickered through the branches of the tall trees. Invigorating smells of wild flowers went in with my breath and rejuvenated me. It was so nice and peaceful.

"This is the eastern end of the forest miss, this road will lead us to the village," said Rain. As we moved ahead, a small settlement came into our view. They were small houses with square windows and brick chimneys. It all seemed very lively. We approached one of the houses, which Rain said was her house. However, I turned curious when Rain said that instead of entering the house from the front door, we would make our way through the back door.

"Why are we going in like this Rain?" I asked.

"Miss, don't you remember? I told you that I sneaked out to visit your world though aunt told me not to. We don't want to get caught, do we?" said Rain.

"Oh yes, now I remember. But isn't your aunt away for the err..carnival?" I asked.

"Maybe, But why take chances. You can never bet on what she would do. Now, do not make any noise and get in as quiet as you can," said Rain.

We got inside maintaining as much silence as possible. I was thrilled. Though I knew that it was not exactly polite manners to get into someone's house in this manner, I almost felt as if I am in some adventure movie. It was dark inside the house and nothing could be seen.

"Rain, Rain? Where are you?" I asked.

"Shhh..miss, no noise. I will get a light," whispered Rain.

In a few minutes, there was light in the room. I looked around and saw a little glass lamp that was shining. It had a strange greenish glow and in a way, it was very warm and cheerful. It was a small and tidy room with four tiny beds and a small shelf with some books. There was a small table at one corner, where this lamp was kept. A sweet aroma hung around the room.

"Here we are, this is our home miss, do you like it?" asked Rain.

"Oh its lovely, Rain," I said (Somehow, I could not help sounding silly in a 'fairy-talish' way. Guess the enchantment was working fine).

"And we made it back safely without letting aunt know about it, isn't that great?" asked Rain.

"No dear young lady, you did not quite make it 'safe'," said a strange and elderly voice.

We turned around, wordless. I looked at Rain. She had an expression of a thief, caught red-handed while stealing. I looked in front and saw a elderly female (also a sprite). She had a silver streak of hair in the front and her hair was tied into a tight and neat bun. She was wearing gold-rimmed spectacles and had a slightly fat nose and thin lips, which were tightly pressed now. Her eyes were a lot like Rain's.

"Aunt, aunt Neb..Nebula!" exclaimed Rain.

To be contd..

Summer has not yet arrived with its full blaze, but the warm night winds, the sweat on my forehead and my dry throat was already reminding me of its arrival. I tried to sleep, but it refused to come effortlessly. I opened the window thinking that perhaps, there might be some fresh air that will sooth my nerves and lull me. I went back to the bed and lay down.

Just as my eyelids were getting heavy, a faint noise woke me up. I opened my eyes and looked around, there was no one around. I tried to sleep again, but the moment I closed my eyes; the noise started again. I woke up and lighted the torch. The noise was coming from the study table. I went near it and flashed my torch on the objects lying on it. Nothing seemed to move. Confused, I started to move towards the bed again. Suddenly, that noise again! It was a very light sound of some liquid being splashed in very tiny amount.

I flashed the torch on the table again. The noise was coming from the inkbottle. I recalled that I had forgotten to put the lid on the bottle. Perhaps, something had fallen into the bottle. I brought the torch nearer to it and jumped back, frightened. What is this creature? Never seen the like of it in my life. It looked like a human, but its size was only a centimeter more than an adult human thumb. It had wide, big eyes, tiny hands and legs and it had two tiny little wings that were glowing in a golden hue.

"Please miss, do not hurt me. I lost my way. That crafty owl was after me, so I sneaked in from that window. I was hiding behind those big books on this table. Accidentally, I fell into this bottle. Please, do not hit me..," it said.

I was baffled out of my wits. This thing can speak. I summoned all my courage and asked, "What..what on earth are you?"

"I am a sprite, miss. My name's Rain," it answered.

"A sprite? You mean the one's in fairy tales and all that rubbish? You think I am a fool to fall for that? Now tell me, where are you from?" I was feeling more commanding now, as I realised that the creature (a sprite or whatever it called itself) was petrified of me.

The creature swallowed its breath and replied,"Miss, I am from Neverland."

"Netherlands? That is far away. How did you get here from there?"

"Not Netherlands miss. Neverland," the creature trembled as it mentioned that name again.

"Now where on earth is that?" I asked.

"It is there, miss. You have to fly left from that purple star there," it pointed towards the sky. I looked out of the window. To my utter shock, there was a purple star in the sky that night. I had never seen it before. Somehow, a strange sense of amazement and cheerfulness conquered me, as I looked at it.

"I was up there miss, flying with my cousins. We slipped out from home when everyone had left for the carnival. My cousin, Ben, found this way to the your world yesterday. We thought it will be so much fun to see your world. We have heard that men walk on wheels here. We asked aunt Nebula whether we could see them once. But she said, 'no, there are giants out there. Don't let me catch you trying to sneak there.' But, we wanted to visit this place so much. So, I was up there some hours ago flying with the others, but I lost my way. Aunt always told me,'Rain, you are very slow during a flight. You should hurry up.' Golly! She was so right."

The creature was now sitting on top of my dairy, which had its page open. Little tears rolled down its cheek and fell on the letters I had written on the page. A dark inkblot stared at me, where the teardrop had fallen.

"I should have listened to aunt. I was left behind in the flight. Was trying to sort my way out miss, when that horrible bird pounced on me with its ghastly claws. Flew for my life, saw this house of yours and sneaked in," it paused.

I took a chair and bent down to have a closer look at it. I could not help feeling sorry for it.

I said,"I am sorry if I scared you. But I got frightened myself when I saw you all of a sudden inside that inkbottle. You know, they teach us at school that you people do not exist. They say you are present only in fairytales."

"Oh yes miss, that's where we live. Neverland is the land of fairies. Tonight, we are having this huge fairytale carnival. They light up the entire forest with starlights. All the 'fairy-things' are put up for display. Its so beautiful," said Rain (Thank God, I remembered its name this time).

I never realised when I started enjoying this conversation with it. I was craving to know more about Neverland. "What are err...fairy, fairy-things?" I asked.

"Fairy-things miss, all those wonderful magical things, beings and objects you read of in fairy stories. There cannot be a fairytale without them. We have them in loads there from all kinds of fairytales. Wizards are also there. There are stops full of candies, puddings, pies and all those superb delicacies. There are fairies, prince and princesses charming, kings and queens, dwarfs, talking creatures, wizards and witches there. People from other fairytales also visit our carnival. You will love it there," answered Rain.

"But how can it be possible? There cannot be a real place like that," I said.

"Yes miss, there is. Do you want to see it?" asked Rain.

I loved Rain for asking me that question for I really was dying to see this place for once.

"Can you take me there?" I asked.

"Oh yes miss, but you cannot go like this," said Rain.

"Like this, meaning?" I asked, bemused.

"They call the likes of you are called 'giants' at our place. You have to be one of us to be there," said Rain.

"How do I become one of you?" I asked anxiously.

"Oh miss, you will have to believe in magic from the core of your heart and say 'Off to Neverland.' But you got to believe in magic," said Rain.

"Oh all right, I believe in magic now," I said.

"Okay then miss, close your eyes, spread your arms and say,'Off to Neverland'," said Rain. I did as per instructed and waited for some transformation. I wondered whether it will be like the one's they show in Disney movies. After a second, I felt as if nothing happened. I opened my eyes and was dismayed. I was wearing the same nightgown and my hair was as disheveled as it was before.

"What happened Rain? Why do I still look the same," I asked, disappointed.

"I do not know miss, maybe you still do not believe in fairyland and magic within your heart," said Rain with in a thoughtful manner.

"But I do, Rain," I said.

"Then let us try one more time," said Rain.

I stood up hopefully, closed my eyes and spread my arms. I was already in love with Neverland.
"It is my greatest desire to see Neverland. I do wish, I am there this time," I thought.

I took a deep breath and spelled out the magic words in anticipation, "Off to Neverland."

to be contd...