Portals

The Mews Garden

Only those that believe can be transportaled

PORTALS

Where is the little one, asked Mum

She is always wandering off

Hiding, lives in a different world

Well, said one of the girls

We were in the jungle exploring for lost treasure and suddenly

There was a big lion in our path

But I said, get out of my way naughty lion and I waved my stick at it and it slunk back into the jungle

Then when we looked round she was no longer there

The last time I remember seeing her was when I scared off the huge snake

She was behind us, pulling Fitzroy along the track by his ear

How does Fitzroy put up with it, thought Mum

They seem to have some sort of special bond

No one else would get away with it

Perhaps she was frightened and hid behind a tree, ventured another of the kids

More likely she has found another portal, said another

She could just about say portal, along with Mama and Dada

Ever since that TV programme

In the garden the little one had propped up Fitzroy behind a tree and then crouched behind him

Hiding from the others was easy

They were not particularly interested in her, she being the youngest

As long as she was safe that was all

Then when they went into the house, she took Fitzroy by the ear and dragged him through the portal

Wow, straight into another universe

Fitzroy found himself in a different world, a place where suddenly he could walk, run, shout

Do all the things people do

And this is what he did, wildly and with no restraint

He let it all out

The little one, by contrast, was like a doll

He would have to carry her and make sure she was returned safe

So, what to do, he took the doll-like little one on his back

And set off to where he didn’t know

Passed by a couple of jolly bears, they looked at him

Is that a doll you are carrying, what a strange game you do play

But they were good-natured, cheery types and Fitzroy walked with them a while

He learnt they lived in gingerbread houses which they also ate

And once they had eaten the entire house they would build another one

He learnt they lived without politics, without war, without crime

Just teddy bears doing teddy bear things

And he was assured it was not like a writer’s vision of Utopia

Where everything suddenly starts to go wrong

More Ikea than le Corbusier

Stay here a while, they said, and you will have gifts bestowed upon you

Of consciousness, of intelligence, of understanding, of freedom

It’s been like this for many eons and will be like it for many eons to come

Back at the Mews, Mum was fretting

Look Mum, said one of the girls, look at the cat in the garden

Look at the way it stares intensely when there is nothing there

What does the cat know

Bet it’s a portal, she giggled, and ran away to play

Fitzroy sat the little one down against a tree

Then ran and jumped and skipped and fell and got up again

Just because he could

Shouted and sang and whistled and screamed

Just because he was free

Then returned to the little one, looked into her pale blue eyes

I think this is the place where special teddies come when their work on Earth is done

But for you, I’m thinking you will want to be home

Back in your familiar surroundings

Sitting round the kitchen table with everyone for dinner

Though likely as not, you will not eat anything

Being such a fussy eater

Well, perhaps a biscuit or two

So that’s it, how do we get out of here

Don’t tell me you don’t know

Looking at her, she clearly did not know

But in this paradisiacal place there were no dramas, everything was cool

Fitzroy only had to call upon the gifts that had been bestowed upon him

So obvious, he only had to think he was back at the Mews

Then so it would be

Mum was watching the cat who was watching what

Then momentary glanced at the clock and back

And the little one was there, stroking the cat with Fitzroy in tow

Hiding in the garden again, sighed Mum

Gosh it will soon be time for dinner.