CLOUD NINE
I wrote this story snippet in 1991, when I first started studying with the first of two correspondence writing schools. K.G.
Once upon a time, there lived in a small town in Massachusetts a little girl named Jenny Taylor. She lived in a little house in a poor section of town with her parents, Dave and Ella Taylor.
One hot summer morning, it was rather foggy. Jenny was playing in the back yard with her best friend, Christy Brown, who lived next door. She fact that it was foggy didn't matter to them; it was the perfect setting to play "hide and seek."
"Are you ready?" Jenny asked Christy.
"Uh-huh. You stand next to that tree and count."
As Jenny turned to face the stately elm tree, Christy proceeded to slip away. Jenny leaned her face against the tree, hid her face in her arms, and began to count: "10!, 9!, 8!, 7!, 6!, 5!, 4!, 3!, 2!, 1! Ready or not, here I come!"
Eagerly, she opened her eyes and whirled around--only to stand stock-still, and gaze at the surroundings with amazed bewilderment. She couldn't believe her eyes.
The fog had become exceedingly thick. In fact, it was so thick that she could see nothing but thick white mist. What's more, she felt as if she were floating. Her bare feet could not feel the hard earth or the soft grass.
"Christy?" she called, softly--no answer. She called again, more loudly: "Christy? Christy!"
Still no reply. Frantically, Jenny cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs: Christyyy!!!"
There was still no reply. Jenny was really frightened, now! "Help!" she screamed. "Christy's lost, and I can't find her!"
At that moment, the fog suddenly lifted. Jenny's relief at being able to see again turned into more amazed bewilderment, as she stared at her surroundings. For no longer was she in her old familiar back yard. Instead, she was in a strange place, a place she had never seen before.
By her side was not the old familiar elm tree, but a stately palm tree. Placed here and there were more palm trees, such as one would expect to find in a jungle, plus a strange-looking bushes. Even stranger-looking was the ground. Instead of consisting of dirt, grass, and flowers, it consisted of thick white mist such as had enshrouded her only seconds before.
"Christy!" she called again. To her great relief, this time there was a reply.
"Over there!" Just then, a bewildered-looking Christy stepped from behind a palm tree, and upon seeing Jenny, ran up to her. "Where do you suppose we are?" she asked.
"I can answer that." A strange female voice spoke behind them. Startled, Jenny and Christy whirled around to find a beautiful-looking fairy standing there. She smiled down at them kindly, and went on to explain: "You are on Cloud 9."
Jenny and Christy smiled at each other happily. They knew what Cloud 9 was. It's the region where all things are wonderful.
"Are we going to live here?" Jenny asked the Fairy.
"No, you are only here on a visit," the Fairy answered. "No Earth person can live here; only fairies and animals can do that. But, we can bring Earth people for visits, and now it's your turn. I'm sorry if our mode of transportation frightened you."
"That's OK," Christy assured her.
She led them to a couple of big, thick, stately palm trees that stood next to each other. "These trees will be your homes while you're here," she told the two girls. Then, she proceeded to tap both trees three times. As a result, a door magically opened in each to reveal a circling wooden stairway that moved downward like an escalator.
"Go inside," urged the Fairy.
Eagerly, the two girls obeyed. Jenny entered her tree, and stepped onto the moving stairway. It took her downward into the earth. When she reached the bottom, there stretched ahead of her a tunnel that curved ahead of her somewhat.
Eager to find out where she was, Jenny raced down the tunnel. When she reached the entrance, she stopped suddenly and gazed about her in a rapture of joy and delight.
Ahead of her stretched a region that contained everything she could desire. The ground consisted of dirt, grass, and beautiful flowers. Stately elm trees, oak trees, fir trees, apple trees, orange trees, and cherry trees were placed here and there, as were raspberry bushes, strawberry bushes, and rose bushes. There were all sorts of animals--dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, parakeets, goslings, deer, fawns, parrots, raccoons, kangaroos, koala bears, etc. Ponds were scattered here and there, as were creeks. Above her, it didn't even look as if she were under the earth, for a beautiful blue sky stretched overhead as far as she could see.
For a long moment, Jenny just stood where she was and gazed at the wonderful sights that surrounded her. "I wish I could stay here forever and ever, and play with Christy!" she said out loud to herself.
Joyfully, she began to run. As she did, she threw her arms in the air and started crowing like a rooster. Ten minutes later, she stopped to rest, and sat down.
As she sat and looked around her, an adorable cocker spaniel puppy came up to her. She leaned her head against Jenny's leg, and immediately whined to be petted. Jenny smiled at the puppy and giggled, then she picked the puppy up and held her in her arms, against her chest. "Nice puppy," she crooned. "Nice puppy. I love you." She giggled again when the
©1991 by Kathryn D. Green
NOTE: The final page is missing, so I am unable to type the rest of the snippet. And since I have yet to come up with a suitable plot for this story, the chances of my completing it are highly unlikely. K.G.
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