A STRANGE PARADISE
By Bob French
It was my tenth birthday and my Mum
had arranged for some of my class mates to come over for a birthday party.
Halfway through stuffing my face full of birthday cake and sweets, my dad
appeared dressed in some sort of explorer’s outfit. He had a slouch
hat, dark glasses and sandy coloured jacket and slacks. I noted that
his boots were desert boots and had seen some service by the state of them.
He waived his arms
around until the room fell into silence.
“OK, Who’s for an adventure?”
Everyone started
cheering as I looked at my Mum. Dad never did anything spontaneous
before. He usually just sat in front of the TV while Mum rushed
around the house doing things like making the beds, doing the washing or
cooking. Anyway, he told us all to make a line in the hall way and
wait until he was ready.
We must of stood there
for nearly ten minutes, then the front door opened, letting the bright warm
sunshine flood our hallway.
“Right follow
me. No one must get left behind, so keep checking behind you to see
if your friend is there.”
With that we followed
Dad out of the house, marching as we went. He turned down the side
of the house and up to the back of a small lorry.
“Right, everyone
in. Once you are in, seat yourself down on the cushions and get
comfortable. The ride won’t take long.”
We’d gone no more that
five minutes before Jimmy, the boffin of our class, started to look a little
green. Then without warning he vomited up most of the birthday cake
he had stuffed into his face.
Frank, who had been
complaining about the amount of cake Jimmy was eating at the party laughed.
“That’ll teach you to be such a porker Jimmy. I think we should call
you ‘oink’ from now on.” This brought laughter from all his friends,
where the fear of being sick once filled the back of the lorry.
Suddenly, the lorry
started to bump around as though it was driving fast over a ploughed
field. The boys cheered and the girls screamed as they were thrown
all over the place.
Then without warning,
the lorry came to a halt, bringing a sigh of relief of everyone. The back doors
were opened and Dad laughed as he peered into what looked like a mass of bodies
scattered all over the place.
“Anyone
hurt? No! Right then get back onto your cushions and put these face masks
on. You must not play with them or take them off or try and sneak a
peep. If you do the magic spell which is about to be cast upon each
of you will not work. The last time a party came this way, one of
the boys took his face mask off.”
He left a pause until
Joan asked. “What happened to him Mr Jenkins?”
Dad simply said in a
quiet, haunting voice “I don’t know. He vanished. No one
ever heard of him again, so follow the rules and no peeping. Now line-up.
Once we were in a
straight line, Dad started to chant some foreign gibberish language which I
assume was the magic spell. When he finished, He asked us all to
shout “Ingo Alohomora,” which I recalled reading in one of Harry Potters books.
Once we had yelled the
magic spell we were told to turn to our left.
“Now please put your
left hand on the shoulder of the person in front of you and start to march.” We
could hear the sounds of laughter and music, and Frank yelled out, “We are
going to the fair.” But without warning the party turned a sharp left and
suddenly the warmth of the sun had left us. Now it was cold, and
there was a wind that rushed over us, ruffling our hair, and the sounds we had
heard before had gone.
We walked for about ten
minutes until Dad yelled to everyone to stop. The suspense was killing me,
something my dad always said when he was watching the TV. Then one by one he
flicked a switch on our masks. Everyone gasped.
“Stand still and one of
my hunters will assist you into the chief’s hut. Whatever happens,
do not panic, or attempt to take off your mask.
I could hear most of my
class mates chattering nervously. Then I felt someone take my hand and
carefully guide me into somewhere warm.
My hunter adjusted my
mask and suddenly I was transported into the deep undergrowth of a massive rain
forest. I heard Joan scream with delight behind me. Without warning
a huge warrior looking man approached me and pointed me to follow
him. Fear took over and I did as I was told. He took me
deep into a beautiful forest where a huge array of brightly coloured
butterflies fluttered around my head. Very gently I raised my hand
and they settled on it. Frank was ahead of me and I smiled because he had found
a stump of an old tree and had sat down and was talking to a pair of monkeys
who had come down from the trees to speak to us.
Over to my right I could
see Joan and Margaret, gently stoking a huge python snake that had, like the
monkey’s, come down from the canopy to investigate who the new guests were to
their part of the forest.
I heard my dad calling us
back to the Chief’s huge mud hut. He smiled at me. “It’s time to go
hunting.” And before the rest of my friends could protest, they were given bows
and arrows and spears.
Without warning, the
chief hunter raised his hand and we followed him deep into the jungle. At
first, we walked slowly and carefully, not wanting to give our position away to
the pray. We heard a variety of wild animal sound, but nothing
charged us or frightened us. Then as if by magic, the bushes opened up and we
stood and stared at a small lake surrounded by a variety of wild
animals. The chief hunter told us where to stand and not to
move. I was totally fascinated by the variety of animals that stood
side by side and drank from the lake.
The chief hunter then
looked up at the sun and nodded, then quietly, we moved back into the lush
green jungle and made our way quietly back to the Chief’s encampment.
Dad met us and explained
that it was dinner time and we had all been invited to eat with the chief. He
reminded us that if we refuse the food offered you will offend the Chief and
his people.”
I could see the
expression of fear on my friends faces as the invite sank into their minds. It
was Frank who broke the silence.
“I think we should ask
Oink to taste the food first as he seems to be the expert.”
No sooner had he said
it, than Jimmy had taken a bowl from one of the serving maidens and started to
munch his way through the food.
“Frank, this is really
good food. I think it tastes like trifle.”
That was all it took to
change the minds of everyone.
Once they had finished
the food offering, The Chief then explained to my dad that it was time for
dancing. Now I might be good at football, cricket and even swimming,
but I can’t dance to save my life.
The drums started to
beat to a rhythm and we were all dancing around a huge sparking fire, screaming
and laughing, except Oink, who had eaten too much and was slumped down beside
the Chief’s daughter.
My dad took me and Frank
aside briefly and warned us that what ever happens, Jimmy was to leave with us
two or he will end up being either married to the Chief’s daughter or their
next meal for the Chief’s tribe.
The evening became
darker as the time dragged on and then dad raised his hand.
“Right
everyone. It is time to get back home. Frank. Remember
what I told you about Jimmy.”
We danced for a few
minutes more then we were told to get back into a line, put our hand on the
shoulder in front of us and we started to move again. The journey
back in the lorry was just as rough, but we didn’t mind. The party
and the adventure out into the strange paradise had been something I would
never forget.
“Alright everyone,
please carefully remove your face masks and hand them to Harry, our
driver. I hope you enjoyed the expedition and remember; no one must
know that you have been deep into the rain forest. And met up with Chief
Monoluggo and his tribe.”
That night my dad sat
down in front of the TV and drank his tea. “You know luv, hirering those
Virtual reality masks for the party were a good idea.
Copyright
Bob French
