Summer Ends

On Sunday they all took a trip to the lake below the White City walls. They took a worm there and carried well-packed swimming and picnic gear. The beach around the lake’s fresh water was crystal clear and warmed to a comfortable bathing temperature, Tobias explained, by small streams tapped upstream from the cold river passing through, like a quarry with warm stones. When they arrived they picked up some lounge chairs and a big umbrella from a beach shack, and then they claimed a space on the beach close to the water. Once settled in, they were out of the wind and warmed by the sun.

Dennis and Jack were quick to run into the water, but Patrick hesitated.

“I can’t swim,” he said to Tobias and Nina.

“Well then, now would be a good time to learn,” Nina answered kindly.

After an hour of resting in the sun and watching the boys play in the water, Nina took Patrick to a big pavilion up the beach where people were changing clothes in changing rooms, getting ice creams, and looking at notices about get-togethers and classes related to recreation on the lake. In the reception she and Patrick made up a schedule for him to take a swimming class there.

Nina took charge of this problem of Patrick’s like a mother would; Patrick could make minor decisions like what time of day he wanted the class, but he had no say in whether he would take the class—he would. From this point forward Nina proved to be the authority on such things, and often Patrick simply did what he was told. For many reasons Patrick felt this as a relief; finally someone cared enough about him to take control. His respect for Nina continued to grow.

That summer Mr. Green’s class, too, blossomed into a multifaceted mix of structure and exploration. Patrick learned not just from Mr. Green but from his fellow students as well, as they spent part of each class telling each other about their lives before they came to Skyjland, in addition to talking about how they were learning to recognize their talents and make connections with others.

Each school day they spent time outside for sports, recreational games, or whatever physical activity they felt like spontaneously. The other classes in the east wing seemed to be particularly special, like Patrick’s, but he couldn’t put his finger on what made them so yet. Those children and teens met with children from all the castle courtyards to play for two and half hours in the middle of every school day.  In many classes were handicapped kids who needed regular physical training, and this way they had enough time for a decent lunch (and help with that if they needed) plus having fun with a variety of kids.

For the first time ever, Mr. Green could now be seen out in the courtyards too, although of course he did not take part in playing games. He seemed pleased just being out there watching the kids play, and sometimes he was seen sitting in one of the castle’s gardens reading a book or just enjoying the environment, with the two suns interacting, making the valley full of life accompanied by children’s laughter.

The general feeling Patrick got from Mr. Green’s class was an extraordinary freedom brought on by sharing life stories and newly found inner awareness with his classmates.  He was learning that although, of course, everyone is unique, everyone, even him, shares certain fears and desires.  He was learning that he is not alone.

 Many details about class, however, Patrick found odd, and so did his fellow classmates, but no one argued about them with Mr. Green. With his guidance they all had begun to become more aware of their own talent and their classmates’ talents. Mr. Green, though, kept a low profile, revealing about himself only what was necessary for teaching. It was frustrating that Mr. Green remained a closed book.

About himself, Patrick learned that he could focus on the emotions people felt under certain circumstances and thus learn more about them, and even communicate with them on this inner level. He also understood that he, through very precise control of his own emotions, could affect others, but he wasn’t quite able to do that just yet. Mr. Green had explained, “That takes time and training.”

But this wasn’t all. Patrick, as well as some of the other students, could change his appearance in front of people, similar to what great actors do without make up or costumes; but he could do it by moving between dimensions.  An actor creates the illusion of being a different person, whereas Patrick really could transform, on a very deep emotional level.

It was right there that Mr. Green stopped him and the others with this skill. He warned them not to go too far in this kind of transformation; as had explained it, that could mess up a person real good—the person they are changing in front of and themselves, too, if they weren’t able to deal with it properly. But the scariest aspect of all this Mr. Green had said was about that space between dimensions, because there you could get lost without being able to get back again.

Mr. Green had explained it as if it were a web, and they were spiders who could move from one thread to another.  It was like playing chess, controlling their opponents by giving them no options for their next move. But as spiders they needed to be steady and careful, because if they lost their grasp of the situation and slipped and fell through their web, there would be only one tiny thread left for them to climb back up again. And if that thread broke, they would be lost in a real nasty place, even worse than death—and forever.

Or the opposite could happen in a positive way. He told them to imagine helping people as if they were playing the piano, but if you hit the wrong note, you needed to be quick to get back into the melody again in order to save the day.

“To be able to master your talents like a spider masters its web—or like a piano-player is able to enchant the audience through music—you first and most importantly have to learn 1) who you are, 2) your character, and 3) the person you present yourself as in relation to your true self,” Mr. Green had repeated.

“But I know who I am.” Patrick thought, and so did the others, until one day Mr. Green put them to the test.

“Today we are going to talk about you and your integrity, which means you don’t have to expose yourself in this session or say anything about your thoughts or how you feel to anyone; this is for you only. We are not going to talk about your talents today, as that has nothing to do with this. Instead we’re going to explore you, that true person you are.

“Now, this is important, and you need to know that you can talk about this whenever you feel the need to. You have your parents, and you have this class. From hereafter each day, class will end with a half hour reserved for this, and we can expand that half hour if need be. Remember that this is for you.

“So, when you think about who are, what do you come up with? What is the first thing you think of when you think of “me”? Do you think of your body, like that you’re tall, of have red hair, or dress in jeans all the time? Do you think of behavior, like how, when you’re with others, you’re a leader or a follower? Or do you think about how you act when you’re alone? Do you think of what you want to be? Have you ever thought of what you don’t want to be? Or, on the other hand, do you think about yourself in terms of what others think of you?”

Mr. Green paused and looked out over his class encouragingly. His class looked curiously back at him; none of them knew where this was leading. After a couple of seconds making eye contact with each student, Mr. Green continued.

“That thought, your thinking, is that really you? Has anyone here heard of denial?”

He waited a second for a response. But everyone knew what denial meant, so they each gave him a so what look.

“Have you ever been in denial about your self, the person you are?” Mr. Green said suddenly, causing the class to look at each other.

“Think. How do you know that you’re not in denial about who you are? To know who you really are, you need to know something intimate about yourself that you’d rather not know or don’t want to show anyone or talk about. So what don’t you want to talk about? What are you trying to avoid doing? Why are you behaving the way you do?

“Your parents raise you to behave a certain way to fit in, to make your life easier when you’re interacting with others and with society as a whole. Your parents are there to help you in life; that’s their job—they need to do this and they need to do it for you, not for themselves or for somebody else. That’s who parents are. And if they’re not doing this for you, who are they, then? And if they try to make you do something you dislike, then who are you?”

Mr. Green paused and smiled gently at his students, although some of them started to look a bit scared.

“Okay, how many of you are with me so far?” he said, looking at each one of them.

No one raised a hand. No one even twitched a finger.

“How about wishing? You wish for something, like you wish you want to be a certain way. What you see when you look in a mirror may not match that wish. What then?”

“As you all are aware we have a lot of people with handicaps here in Skyjland. Those of you who wish that all handicaps would go away raise your hands.”

There were no delays—everyone in the class raised their hands.

“But isn’t your handicap part of who you are? Here in Skyjland we try our best to correct for handicaps and help people, so once the field has been leveled for handicapped people, who do they become? If you had surgery, say to drastically change your looks, who would you become? Those of you who think that altering your body wouldn’t make any difference raise your hands.”

Everyone in the class looked around, a bit stunned, not knowing what to do.

“Of course you don’t think surgery to make you look different, or even a new haircut, new clothes or a whole new style, would change who you are. You know yourself, don’t you? But how about your friends, your family, your parents—will they recognize you afterward? How do they know you? Do you know a person by looks?

“Okay, so maybe you’re thinking that even if someone changes his looks, he has the same behavior, and you can recognize him through that. Are you sure? Can’t behavior change when looks change? And why do we change clothes and hairstyles? Doesn’t that depend on our environment? Do we behave differently for certain occasions? So who are you, really?”

“If your body and behavior can change but you still feel the same, what decides who you are? Could it be that there’s something else other than our brains that decides our identities? In that case, what is it? Could it be that you don’t know your self, and another person would emerge if that smart brain of yours stopped fooling itself? How do you know that you are not in denial of your true self? Who are you? What decides?”

In one swift move Mr. Green jumped up to sit on his desk and took a break from all his talking. He smiled, letting everyone know that he didn’t expect them to understand this. But his true aim was to unlock their unconsciousness. 

It was difficult for Patrick to think about all this identity stuff; it was too much to take in, and he’d never thought in these terms before—none of his classmates had either. His uncertainty spread inside him and caused him to feel uncomfortable.  He could see that the others did, too.

“Now, I would like to tell you about Ms. Matey a bit and what she’s got to do with it.” Mr. Green arranged himself on top of his desk like he was preparing to tell a children’s tale, and as such he started.

“You know, Ms. Matey doesn’t only write tales, she also collects tales from ancient times, from even before mankind, from when life was very different. Not that life has changed much at its core, in fact not at all, but it’s different in that it used to be more open; things were not that complicated then. At that time there was no writing, as man had not evolved to write yet, but still, tales of life were spread. You know, life itself is like a tale, and we engrave our stories in its past. All these life stories have something to tell us, and you know what? There are life stories out there in the past that haven’t happened yet.”

The sudden shift in atmosphere with these riddles and ancient mysteries made the former tension in class ease, as Patrick and his classmates seemed to float away far beyond understanding.

“These stories are life, and they are not meant to be written down; they can’t be. There is something in these stories that connects us all, and that is who we are; it’s about life at its purest. The thing is that these tales can’t even be told with spoken language, because there aren’t any words involved. These tales you feel. But to reach that understanding, you have to take a journey, and only your true self can go. The destination is where your mind can’t follow, and it must be left behind. You’ll find this place on the other side of an ancient, eternal freshwater sea, and there’s only one boat on the shore able to carry you over. But don’t look for that boat, because your eyes can’t see it. Light is not what it seems there, and darkness isn’t either. The image you search for you find inside yourself, and the leaf you are given will sail you across.”

The class became deadly silent as fantasy entered the room, making the ceiling and walls vanish, revealing a bright star sparkling that no ordinary eye could see. The light it emitted reflected a silent sea appearing from its surrounding shadows, and beyond its horizon a falling sun colored the sky.

“It’s there beyond the horizon that you will meet your true self. It’s there you will find life and the future, but not without reflecting on your past from behind. You see, life is not like a straight line in front of us that we follow; our past is very much our future, too, following from behind, and without our past backing us up, we can get lost, unable to find our way back home again.

“Before that very first tale could come to its end, it had to find its way back to its past to connect with that first beam that opens the book of life, revealing its title. In the same way life has to find its way back to rest in peace when we die. As in life, we carry that map inside us, and it sometimes shows up in our dreams. If we are really silent, if we open up and listen to our hearts, that silent sea will appear, and we will be guided to that place called Where Horizons Meet.”

Mr. Green paused, like he was searching for his own inner peace. Light took another shape in the silence, and it swept like a breath through the room, making them all still, listening.

Beyond horizons is where night turns into dawn.

There we dream of a future, it’s there we are born.

Our past may haunt us, making us afraid of the dark.

In our fantasy the light is, it’s there we can find a spark.

The child will guide us to where we need to go.

Deep within we can feel it; we don’t have to know.

Where horizons meet is where past and future merge.

It’s there beyond, within us, where life and love emerge.

Looking back you see the future as from the other side;

Trust the child within you and you will never need to hide.

It took Patrick some time to recover from the feeling he had then; something, he didn’t know what, had entered him, and his classmates experienced the same. Mr. Green didn’t rush things; instead he sat there waiting for them after he had finished telling that very first tale from the past, following from when life first started.

Back home that day, Patrick didn’t go out with Dennis and Jack as he usually did to play. Instead he wanted to be alone for a while, and Dennis and Jack let him. They didn’t argue with him as they would have otherwise. Instead they went outside quietly by themselves while Patrick sat on the balcony in the sun, looking out over the valley.

Somehow Mr. Green’s message had reached him; there was something he needed to find, that he couldn’t deny it. He could keep it inside himself; that he knew because Mr. Green had said so, that he didn’t have to tell anyone. However, he felt that for himself that was not an option. In fact, as soon Nina came home Patrick told her about class, and when Tobias arrived an hour later, he told him, too.

That evening after Dennis and Jack had gone to bed, Patrick, Tobias, and Nina stayed out on the balcony talking quietly. Their tone seemed a bit solemn in the beginning, as the three of them searched for meaning in Patrick’s new ideas. They had never heard about Where Horizons Meet before, but they, too, could feel its significance. Patrick wasn’t able to recall the full tale as Mr. Green had told it, but nevertheless he felt it strongly. Before the end of class that day Mr. Green had said that they were going to search together for the words and their meaning so they could get to know the tale, the title in the book of life; and their true selves.

As the evening stretched out in time, the night sky softly emerged, but this night didn’t seem as dark to Patrick as before, with its stars popping out here and there, becoming more and more visible. He told Tobias and Nina about a line as he remembered from that tale Mr. Green told, that this was how we were born: “With all the attention the stars up in the sky showed Earth she got pregnant, and bonds of love emerged as signs of the Zodiac in the sky.”

Tobias and Nina could also feel a warmth spreading as more and more stars became visible, looking down on them. As that last streak of sunlight melted away behind the horizon, the night sky got deeper, and from afar millions by millions of tiny, twinkling stars covered the back of the scene. Patrick didn’t know about the signs of the Zodiac, so Tobias and Nina pointed them out to him.

“What do they mean?” Patrick asked as Nina described them by name.

“I’m not quite sure. There are those who interpret stars and their various constellations in relation to the Earth revolving, but that’s not what you’re talking about, is it? I think you’re right in what you see, and that what you did in class today is more vital than any of those other predictions,” Nina answered.

“I think so, too, Patrick. Looking at those stars tonight has sparked another meaning for me. They suddenly feel so close, like some friendly twinkling beings saying hello. I’ve never seen them like this before,” Tobias added.

Patrick nodded peacefully. Suddenly there was so much to see, another light…

“But that was what Mr. Green said!” Patrick suddenly burst out.

“What?” both Tobias and Nina asked.

“Light isn’t what it seems, and darkness isn’t either. The image we reflect and search for we find within ourselves, and the leaf we are given will sail us across. Do you think it’s up there, beyond the stars, where horizons meet?”

“I’ve never thought of the night sky like that. You may well be right there,” Nina said, curiously looking up in the sky with Tobias joining in.

“Would you like to go there and find out?” Tobias gently asked.

“I don’t know. Would you follow me?” Patrick answered, shyly.

Both Tobias and Nina had to think for a while, and it was Nina who came up with the idea.

“Why don’t we go on this spiritual journey nightly, just the three of us? Each night when the sky opens like this, we’ll go there, where horizons meet, to see what we can find, and we’ll tell our tales to each other.”

Patrick smiled back, pleased at his parents—they had read his feelings right. What began as a quiet, quizzical talk had developed into gentle joy instead. Both Tobias and Nina felt Patrick’s response deeply, and after a while longer out there on their balcony, studying the stars and the sky, they went to bed.

The following days in class, Patrick and his classmates told Mr. Green about each of them exploring the night; they all had experienced similar situations as Patrick had with his parents.  Mr. Green was pleased, and their half hour for getting to know their true selves after school expanded.

Tobias’ was occupied with his Bangers & Mash performance now, and he sometimes came home late. But that didn’t matter much because Patrick had become fully integrated with his new family, so they managed on their own. As summer moved on, Patrick kept in contact with Lilly and her friends, and sometimes they saw each other at the coast where Lilly lived, and they met for concerts up at the castle in the city. The apartment was big enough so that Patrick sometimes invited his friends home, which Tobias and Nina enjoyed especially; it reminded them of their childhoods surrounded by friends.

Over the summer Tobias had a lot of masters’ meeting to attend, and after a few he arrived home with a big smile on his face.

“What?” Nina asked.

“God, they are smart,” he had answered, without revealing anything.

Tobias involved Patrick from the start, teaching him some minor magic tricks but never giving him the full scope of the show, as Patrick was too young to understand it all. Tobias’ cast started to take shape, and as Patrick used his talent to get to know his classmates, he started to plan for some of them to come along, too.

Even though the children of Skyjland were free during summers from their regular school schedules, there were still plenty of activities for them, structured and unstructured.  They enjoyed sports and physical activities, of course, but there were a lot of science-minded explorations for them as well as art classes. There were no musts—things that you had to do; instead there were independent, entertaining lectures that anyone could attend. For the Skyjland kids these were popular events. It was here interests were evoked about what the future held for them. If someone were interested in animals and agriculture, activities were scheduled for them too; no one was cast aside.

All three of Tobias and Nina’s children spent a lot of time up in the tower wings with other children that summer. Patrick, of course, explored as much as he could in the south wing with Ms. Matey.

When he came home after having met her for the first time, he was absolutely amazed, just as Tobias and Nina thought he would be. She emitted an entirely different kind of wisdom, and despite being old, her intellect was razor sharp. Patrick went to many of her small lectures, but they weren’t ordinary lectures. She told joyful and meaningful stories. But she never mentioned any of those Where Horizon Meet tales that Mr. Green had told about. As summer began to come to an end, Patrick asked Ms. Matey about that.

“Oh, you see, Patrick, those stories are not for anyone to hear, and you won’t find them on a shelf locked up in a library. They are all out there for everyone to find, but you have to listen with your heart instead of your ears. There are secrets hidden within each one of them, and if you’re not true, you will instantly be misled. You know, there are a lot of people outside the Skyjland borders who are misled even without knowing about these tales, and we don’t want to make things worse, do we?” Ms. Matey had answered.

Patrick would have liked to ask more. Whatever talent Mr. Green possessed, Ms. Matey did too. Having finally met her only intrigued him more, and as summer ended Patrick went to class eager to learn further.

Tobias had finished his Bangers & Mash show setup, the cast had been selected, and now rehearsals were to begin. The premiere would be at the end of September at a big international arms exhibition in Eastern Europe. It had all been prepared for with whatever unconventional means Ms. Nodi could come up with. Mr. Zed and his wizards had finished producing all the equipment needed, Ms. Matey had giving it all her blessing, and Mr. Green attended many meetings but didn’t say much; he just sat there smiling and observing.

They were going to enter the exhibition in a specially prepared Mush 50 that looked more like an old carousel with various animal-shaped seats hanging from the Mush’s cap. The Mush shape was perfect, with many circus- and clown-like paintings all over its outside. With its size, no visitor could possibly miss it.

Tobias was in his glory, exciting, intriguing … well, everything. Without a doubt this was his specialty. Whatever would happen there at the exhibition no one would forget; that he was determined to make sure of. And with an ever-smiling Tobias was Nina, Patrick, Dennis, and Jack out on their balcony, celebrating the end of summer; with them this chapter ends too.

…

It has been a joy to introduce you to this Skyjland blog tale series, and I hope to be able continue with the next chapter soon. This series is very much written straight off, with Shelly adding a little language and Lisa the art. So far I deliberately have kept characters’ descriptions—looks and handicaps—a bit in the dark in an attempt to evoke fantasy, making you imagine them or possibly relate to someone you know or casually pass on the street. One aim with this series is to call attention to handicaps and diversity and the fact that these people are as intelligent and joyful to be with as any of us; that is the nature of life.

As this series also deals with senses, which we commonly address as sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, and that sixth sense we don’t understand that much about, I believe there are a vast many more. In addition to that, this series talks about the three-dimensional space we live in, which of course includes time, too. Well, I believe we humans limit it to that, as we simply can’t measure or grasp any further. What do you think? Could you explain everything that happens in life and the universe by just referring to a clock and the space of a room? I can’t, and in a truly scientific spirit, nothing has been proven yet; I plan to expand common knowledge of nature beyond the room, to bend time in circles, to slice it and make it all race against itself.

By now you probably have guessed that I enjoy adventure, science, fantasy, and life. And another aim with this series is to entertain and alter reality a bit, challenge the science we know today (scientists are not always right, you know), fantasize about nature, like if we did things in a different way what would happen then, and what would the consequences be, and, last but not least, to tell about those deep secrets of life that no human has heard before.

Life has played some tricks on me over the years, actually from when I was born, and I could say that I have been taken to unusual places, exploring my true self to the limit. For me the place where horizons meet is real; I have been there and I, in a kind of regular manner, return to it. It’s a nice and joyful place—I like it there—and there’s nothing to be afraid of. That is, if you’re not scared of your self, of course. But you don’t need to worry, and I would very much like to show you what that place is through Ms. Matey’s ancient tales further on in this series. Where it is? Well, of course, if you didn’t know it by now, it’s where you are.

That very first ancient tale Mr. Green told Patrick and the class (but I kept it in the dark for you readers) I wrote in June 2005. It’s called Children of the Universe, and you will find it by clicking here: My Poetry & Tale blog. I hope you’ll like it. It’s a strange piece, and there’s a story behind it, as well as that poem Where Horizons Meet, which has its origin in an illustration Lisa presented to me regarding a quite different poem I had written. But when I first saw that illustration I felt its significance, and the poem came to me in an instant. What Where Horizons Meet is most likely is more than you ever can imagine, and if you could, we have probably met there before.

Now, through this blog you know a bit about me, but I don’t know that much about you. If you would like to, please comment on this entry by giving me a short presentation of yourself, telling where you’re from and whatever you would like to share here. I don’t know, but my inspiration might just originate from the responses or lack of responses I get. So why don’t you just give it a try?

Best wishes,

Li Sam