The Slide-Way

by Diane Marie Taylor

The tops of the trees swayed in the moonlight as Arabinabin angled his crystal clear Mauki downward from the sky. He had just enough energy left to make sure he would land in the middle of the small forest hopefully far from intelligent people on this planet. He’d seen many lights from small buildings on his way down. He breathed a sigh of relief as he glided through the tall tree tops because his mind didn’t detect any high intelligence near by.

A branch suddenly broke off as he slid past. He cringed when he heard it snap and fall to the ground. Arabinabin felt sad that he had broken the tree and hoped that the wild tree could re-grow the branch. He set his Mauki down next to a short, squat tree with low hanging branches. He chuckled with delight because the fat tree looked just like his grandfather.

Arabinabin dissolved the door to the Mauki, stuck his head out the narrow opening and sent his mind out into the dark forest and beyond. The only life forms he detected were a few squirrels, it seemed that every planet had them, and a black animal with two white stripes with a bad odor. His mind did pick up a number of intelligences of some strength but they came from scattered living places far in the distance.

Feeling safe, he stepped his narrow body out of the Mauki and looked up at the stars. He suspected it would take him 2 or 3 revolutions of the planet before he found what he needed to refuel his ship and continue on with his cargo. All he needed was a small chunk of uranium. He worried that this planet might be so primitive, he would need to dig the mineral up out of the ground himself, so carried the proper equipment in his belt.

Just before turning outward and starting on his search, he pushed a button on his shoulder strap and then on the Mauki. Suddenly, Arabinabin as well as his ship became invisible. He looked back once more as he walked away. All looked safe and secluded. He turned and headed east toward the planet’s rising sun in search of uranium.

Donny and Mike had almost the whole week to play together. Donny was visiting with Mike’s family at their summer camp in northern Michigan. He’d begged and begged his parents until they finally said ok. But by the second day, both boys, after playing computer games, watching television and chasing each other around the apple trees were bored.

Mike lay down panting on the grass and Donny fell next to him.

“What can we do next?” Donny asked.

Mike shrugged. “Don’t know.”

The summer sun was shinning bright and it was real hot. Both boys were sweating from running.

“Wish we could cool off,” said Donny. “Can we turn on the hose?”

“Can’t,” Mike said. “Dad is using it to irrigate the garden. We better leave it alone.”

Donny looked over to the woods that stood far across the lawn. “Lets go for a walk in the woods.”

“Can’t” Mike said. “Outlawed. Might get lost.”

“It is a lot of trees, but we could do like Hansel and Gretel, you know, like in the fairy tale.”

“But remember the birds ate all their bread crumbs.” Mike said.

“Guess you’re right.”

“Wait. I have an idea.” Mike said, “Come on.”

Mike led Donny over to the flowers growing near the house. He picked up a handful of white stones and told Donny to do the same. Each boy filled up their pockets with the white stones.

“Lets go.” Donny said. “The birds won’t eat these.”

“Wait. My sister Sue, remember?”

Sue was babysitting the boys while Mike’s parents went shopping. Both boys quietly snuck around the house to the front porch where they heard Sue swing back and forth on the old glider. She was talking on the phone.

Mike motioned for Donny to come away again. “It’s ok. She’s on the phone. She’ll be on the phone for hours talking to girlfriends. Let’s go.”

So they did.

They put one of the shinny white stones every ten or twelve feet as they entered the woods. They soon left the hot sun behind because the dark, damp forest was cool and smelled of sweet earth and spices.

“This is so nice. Lets explore.” Donny said, stopping at a rotten stump laying on the ground.

Mike turned tree stump over and they watched little white bugs scurry away. Donny used a stick to dig beneath leaves to see what they could find. When they got bored doing this, they decided to play hide and seek. Mike went first while Donny counted to ten.

“Here I come, ready or not.”

The trees were big enough to hide behind and it took Donny a while to find Mike, but he tagged him.

“My turn.” Donny said as Mike counted to ten.

Donny ran hard towards a huge tree fat that he could see behind a lot of bushes. It was further away than he thought and by the time he got there, he stopped, out of breath and reached out his hand to rest it on the tree. He slipped and fell to the ground. His arm reached out sideways—and disappeared.

Scared, he sat up and pulled at his hand. He brought it back and counted all his fingers. It was all there. He reached his hand out again. It disappeared again.

“Wow. Cool.”

Next he got on his knees and crawled towards the same place, sticking his head in this time. He saw a tall green room with flickering lights high up like a computer gone to sleep. Donny turned his head and looked up but couldn’t see the top of the room through the green mist. Other strange stuff was sitting around in the room too, and Donny was curious to see what the objects were, so crawled the rest of the way in. Then he stood up and looked around.

This is really something. Must be a government hide out or something. Maybe I shouldn’t be in here, Donny thought. Just then, he heard Mike calling him. He look towards Mike’s voice and was surprised that he could see right through the walls of the green room. He watched and laughed as Mike looked behind first one tree and then the next looking for him.

Finally, when Mike came close to this tree, Donny put out his arm and hand. Mike was looking down, but when he looked up and saw Donny’s arm sticking out from no where he screamed and fell on his behind.

Donny stuck his head out. “Come on. It’s real cool. You gotta see this.”

“I don’t know.” Mike frowned. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Come on.”

So Mike did.

Both boys stood in awe in the tall green, misty enclosure. They looked around almost afraid, but not quite.

“Looks like a computer set up high all around the room. That’s why it might belong to the government.” Donny said in a whisper because it seemed like they should be quiet.

“Or a giant like in Jack and the Beanstalk,” said Mike.

“Good point. Maybe we should leave.”

They might have done just that except for the reference to Jack and the Beanstalk and the golden egg because right next to the opening was two large boxes and one was made of steel and looked like a safe.

“What if it has gold in it?” Mike whispered. “It has a handle on it. Let’s open it.”

“You open it. Shouldn’t it have a time lock or something?”

Mike shrugged and turned the handle on the steel box.

When he opened the heavy door wide, all they saw was an eerie dark swirl inside. It seemed to be calling or wanting to suck them inside, like it was some kind of evil. Both boys grabbed hold of the door and quickly slammed it shut again, with a clang. But before the door shut all the way, a small black pebble rolled out of the dark and onto the floor of the green room.

“Something fell out.” Donny said, and reached down to pick the black pebble up. “Eech,” he said and dropped it right away. “It felt slimy and awful.” Donny wiped his hands on his shorts.

Mike bent down and touched it. He also came away wiping his hands, as if to get the slime off.

“What is it?”

“Whatever. Let’s go.”

The black slimy pebble was a shadow all rolled up into a tiny ball and began to stretch out into a single fat line. The boys didn’t notice this because they were looking into the second box.

There was one more box standing close to the narrow door. This one looked to be made out of plastic and was tall and narrow.

“Looks harmless.” Donny said. “Why not see what is inside.”

At Mike’s nod, Donny opened this door and then took a step back in surprise, He could feel the hot sun on his face and hear the serf roll up the sandy beach in the distance.

“It looks so real!”

“Oh, man.” Mike said. “I can feel the heat.”

Donny knelt down and reached his arm and hand into the narrow box. He grabbed a hand full of sand and brought it back into the green room. His face had a grin from ear to ear.

“Yep. It is real. Let’s go.”

“Wait. You go first and I’ll hold your hand.

Donny stepped into the box holding Mike’s hand. He dug his fingers into the beach sand then looked towards the water.

“I want to go for a swim.” he said.

Mike climbed down onto the beach. They noticed the beach was about a foot lower then the edge of the box. They could still see the outline of the opening. It seemed safe enough, so why not?

Mike took off his shoes and ran for the high waves after Donny who was already throwing his shoes off and running into the waves.

They swam and tossed about in the waves for a long while. When they got tired of that they made sand castles with motes and roads and when they got tired of that they just lay beneath the hot sun to dry off.

Before long, Mike noticed that the sun was turning a deep rose red.

“It must be getting late,” he said to Donny as he nudged him awake. “I think we’d better leave.”

“Yeah.” He agreed.

They gathered up their shoes and socks and turned to the door. But they couldn’t see any door.

“Where’s the door?”

“Why didn’t we keep our shoes by the door?”

“We’ll find it easy,” Donny said. “All we need to do is look where we disturbed the sand.

They searched for a long time.

“Its gotta be here somewhere.”

“Didn’t we start playing over that way?” Mike pointed.

Donny wasn’t sure. The whole beach looked the same, water and sand and sun. Maybe it is time to get scared, Donny thought.

Mike thought of getting scared first because he sat down and began to sniffle.

“Wait. Let’s think. Remember, we couldn’t see it good from here. Like it was glass or something.”

Donny kept thinking of the shapes he learned to draw in geometry. “Like a tetragon or window with 4 dimensions.”

“I just want to go home,” Mike said.

Donny plopped down on the sand to think. He sat for a while, and then stood up. “Come on,” He said to Mike. “I think we need to look for the door sideways.”

“And how we gonna do that?” Mike asked with a sniffle.

“In circles, that’s how.”

Donny began walking in a large circle and looking towards the center. Mike followed, finally catching on to what Donny was doing. They circled up and down the beach and finally got closer to the beaches far edge where some green weeds were growing. As they made another circle, they could almost see the door.

“Stop.” Donny yelled. “I see it. Move slowly.”

They did one more circle and finally stood at the exact right angle to see the narrow doorway. They each breathed a sigh of relief as they climbed back through the door and into the green room.

“I just want to go home,” Mike said, and stepped out of the room and back into the forest.

Donny followed. “What if we want to come back? You know, go swimming again? We’d need to find this exact spot.”

“I still have some white stones left. Lets empty our pockets right at the opening. They did so, and walked quickly back to Mike’s house. They were able to follow the stones all the way.

When they got to Mike’s house, Mike’s sister was still on the porch talking on the phone and the sun was still high in the sky.

“I think it’s only lunch time. I am starving,” Donny said.

Mike looked up at the sun. “I think you’re right. Let’s go eat.”

They went into the kitchen and helped themselves to two sandwiches and two cans of soup, because after all, they had been swimming all day. Both boys giggled about the seeming time warp and kept eating.

“I am going back tomorrow,” Donny said between bites of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“Me too,” said Mike.

The next day, Donny and Mike had to go with Mike’s parents to see a farm and other places. Donny liked petting the huge horse, but even while he fed it oats, he thought of the green room. Wouldn’t it be fun to play with the computer controls and see what happened. He like the idea so much, he laughed out loud. Mike looked at him when he laughed. Donny went over and whispered, “I was thinking I can’t wait to go back to the green room.”

Mike nodded. And that’s what they did as soon as they got back to the house after Mike’s parents told his sister to watch the boys while they went shopping. The boys grinned and got ready to go back into the forest.

“This time, we will put a lot of white stones at the door so we don’t loose it and maybe our shoes and socks?” Donny suggested.

“Yeah,” Mike agreed then saw his sisters red head scarf on the porch table and grabbed it. “This would show up good.”

They filled their pockets with white stones and started for the woods. They had to walk carefully so they could follow the same trail as yesterday because some of the rocks got covered with leaves. Didn’t matter. They made it to the big, wide tree.

“That’s the one.” Mike said, “I remember you sticking your arm out.”

“I see a small pile of white stones. Sure doesn’t look any different then the rest of the woods, does it?” Donny said.

At Donny’s words, Mike ran up and shoved his arm into the spot. Half of his arm disappeared. “This is the place for sure,” Mike said laughing.

The boys stepped inside and were amazed once again at all the computers and electronic stuff that lined the room.

“But why is it all so high? Is that a high stool or chair over there on the side?” Donny asked. It would be hard to sit on or even climb up upon.

“Don’t matter,” Mike said as he opened the plastic door. “Let’s go swimming,” then added, “I wonder what this button is for?”

Donny walked up to the open door just as Mike pushed the button.

Suddenly the scene changed. They were now looking at a jungle, with long hanging vines and huge colorful birds.

“Dork,” Donny said, “You lost the beach.”

“We could go in the jungle and play Tarzan.” Mike suggested.

Just then, a very large bird with bright red and yellow feathers flew close to the door. It had teeth and looked like a flying dinosaur.

“Push the button again. Let’s see what happens.” Donny said real quick.

Mike pushed it again. Now they were looking at a tall city at night time with two huge moons in the sky.

Mike pushed the button again. The cityscape disappeared and they were looking at wavy hills covered in grass. Mike was about to push the button again, but Donny yelled.

“No. Stop. Look. It looks just like middle earth!”

Not far away, they saw a small home built into a hill with a lot of short, wide people walking around in a village filled with flowers. The whole scene looked just like the Shire where Hobbits might live. The village was surrounded by small, rolling green hills. A perfectly peaceful place.

But far in the distance they saw a path cut through two of the hills that looked chewed up and ugly. The ugly dirt path zigzagged over the hills as if someone had pushed a crazy lawnmower all over. Except for that, the people and hills looked peaceful.

“I wonder if they have big, hairy feet?” Mike asked.

“Let’s go find out.” Donny said as he stepped out the door, but remembered to pour the white stones at the bottom edge. Mike hung his sisters red head scarf over the door edge and followed. Then Donny and Mike skipped down the grassy hill towards the little village.

They were surprised when the whole village gathered around them smiling. The adults were the same size as Donny and Mike, and they really did look like Hobbits. Donny looked down at the feet a man stand next to him. They were big and hairy. They are Hobbits, he thought with excitement.

Someone grabbed his arm and began to dance with him while the people clapped. Donny laughed and danced in the circle with everyone else. When he got close to Mike he whispered, “Did you look at their feet?

Mike nodded.

Eventually, the dancing stopped. Donny and Mike tried to speak to the people but they just grinned, as if they didn’t know what was being said.

Before long, a very old man with white hair that fell in strings down to his knees walked into the group of people. He up to Donny and Mike and said, “Hello.”

“You know English?” Donny said.

“Yes, once long ago, when other humans came to visit I learned how to speak.”

“Groovy.” Mike said, then added, “Are you a Hobbit?”

The old man laughed and shook his long hair and said he didn’t know. “Just call me, Thome.”

“I am Donny and this is Mike. We came through some kind of door.”

“Ah, yes.” Thome said.

Donny thought it strange that Thome took their presence as common. Maybe it is true. Maybe these are real Hobbits and we are now on Middle Earth.

“It is all so green and perfect.” Mike said. He was thinking of Middle Earth too.

“Except for that chewed up path. Looks like someone went crazy with digging.”

At his words, Thome began to shake with fear, and said, “The Quang.”

He hung his head as he said this. The other people in the village got very quiet too and stopped what they were doing when they heard the word, Quang. Even the children stopped playing. Everyone looked at Thome.

Donny asked, “What is the Quang?”

The old man was shaking so hard he walked to the table and sat down at a nearby bench. “A curse put on us by one of our own, all because he was denied the love of a certain maiden. So now we have the Quang, a monster who rolls around cutting up our fields of corn and wheat, and maybe us too, if we let it.”

Ah, now Donny had the answer to the ugly, crooked path. It must be the Quang that did it. He said, “Well, just make the person who did the curse, do a backward curse.”

“Can’t, Thome said. “He died beneath his own wagon wheels right after he cast the spell.

“A real spell?” Donny was fascinated. “We don’t have real spells where we come from.”

“Be glad, young man, be glad. The Quang comes to wreck havoc on our village twice a day and no one knows how to stop it.

“Oh, I am so sorry.” Donny said, but he was still fascinated buy the idea of spells.

The people seemed to get over the word Quang soon enough because they began working and playing once more. One child, half as short as Donny, sang while he gathering up hay. Mike and Donny joined him. They seemed a happy people who could play and sing through any problem.

Donny had a huge load of hay in his arms when suddenly he heard a loud clang. All the people in the village froze. Then sound got loud as thunder and every single person dropped what they were doing and ran into their small homes built into the hills.

Thome grabbed Donny’s hand.

“Come. You must come.”

He went over and pulled hard at Mike’s hand too so both boys followed him into the small home built into the hill.

Donny was curious to see the inside anyway, but he was even more curious to see what was making all the thunder and clanging racket. Still, he got down on the floor with the other people and held his own hands up to his ears. Some of the people had climbed under a thick wooden table, while other people curled up on the floor covering their heads with their arms. The noise was so loud it made Donny cringe.

The noise was truly unbearable; nevertheless, Donny scooted over to the small window in the front of the hut so he could look out. He wanted to see this monster created by a curse.

He was surprised at what he saw rambling over the green hills. It was a monster, all right, but almost not. The Quang was made of mostly air and hay but was like a robot that walked on two legs. It looked to be made up of bits and pieces of stuff, rocks, dirt, knives, a wagon wheel, nuts and bolts, pots and pans and other junk, all rubbing together and twirling around inside the mechanical robot. That was what was making all the racket, metal scraping against metal and rock against rock with hay flying all around. Then Donny saw the tall robot bend in half as it moved forward, scraping up green grass as it did so. It looked to Donny as if it was wobbly and ready to fall down at any minute. It wasn’t a real monster because it wasn’t really alive. It was just a walking pile of junk shaped like a tall man.

He kept watching as the Quang started up a hill, almost fell as it bent down, then turned and went back where it came from, the chewed up the dirt path between two hills. As it left, the sound died away.

The people crawled from underneath the table and got up off the floor. Everyone went outside once more to enjoy the bright sunny day.

“Did you see it?” Donny asked Mike. He nodded. He’d snuck a look too.

“Maybe we could so something.” Donny suggested.

“Like in the bible. David and Goliath?” Mike said.

“You know how to aim a sling shot?” Donny asked.

“No.”

“Neither do I. Think, there must be something we can do.”

While they thought about what to do, both boys looked around inside the Hobbit home. It had rugs hanging on the walls and little figurines on shelves. It had something else that caught Donny’s eye, a large, thick coiled up rope that was hanging on the wall.

He got an idea. “I think I know what we can do. We could use that rope to trip the robot when it comes down the path.”

“Hey, sounds good. Who’s going to hold the rope?”

“We’ll tie it to the trees on each side of the path.”

Excited, Donny called Thome over and told him about the idea.

The old man, scratched his long head of hair and thought. “Maybe, just maybe it will work.”

Thome gathered up all the people and explained the idea to them. They got the rope down from the wall and began to weave it even longer than it already was. When the rope was competed, it was so heavy it took ten of the people plus Donny and Mike to haul it up the chewed up path to the narrow opening between the trees. As they got close, it was obvious that the Quang walked here all the time because the ground had ugly grooves dug deep into it.

With six of them on each side, they pulled on the rope to make it taunt and tied each end to a strong tree. They hoped to make it just the right height to trip the monster, close to the bottom, but not too close. When they were done, the people went back to their village and gathered in a circle. Donny didn’t know what they were saying but he could see by their closed eyes and clasped hands that they were saying a prayer. He stepped into their circle and said his own prayer, as did Mike.

Before long, they heard the loud thundering clang, just like before. Everyone ran inside their homes and covered up their ears. Donny and Mike covered their ears too but sat next to the window so they could look out.

The clanging sound was getting louder and louder. They could hear it on the dirt path. Then it got so loud Donny couldn’t help but to close his eyes in fright, just for a minute.

Suddenly, he heard a sudden clang, boom, crash. He opened his eyes and saw that the Quang was laying down between the two trees. But would it stay down?

He watched and waited. Silence. Then a slight tinny sound, then more silence.

Donny ran out of the little house and up the grassy hill to where the Quang now lay, Mike right behind him. The Quang’s parts were scattered in a wide arc. The wagon wheel had rolled down the hill. Nuts and bolts were laying in a pile. Knives and rocks and dirt and hay and pots and pans were scattered around in a wide circle. The Quang had been done in. In its place was the same pile of junk it was made out of spread over a large area on the grass.

“It’s all apart.” Donny yelled. “Gone.”

Slowly, the people came out of their homes, over the hill to the dirt path between the two trees. Donny could see the fear but determination on their faces. He realized it was brave of them to come close to see the mechanical monster. Then they saw all the pieces and nuts and bolts scattered around, They waited but none of it got up to walk again. They jumped for joy and began to dance around and between the pieces of junk.

These are a happy people. They should always be able to sing and dance and not be afraid of loud monsters, Donny thought. He felt pleased with himself. He looked over at Mike and nodded. They were both happy.

“Let’s go home.” Mike said. “I feel great.”

“Yeah, I feel good too. It is getting dark. We’d better go back.”

They waved good-by to the people, who didn’t want them to go, but dared not follow.

Donny and Mike didn’t have a problem finding the door again. The white stones were hidden by the grass but the red scarf showed up good in the now pink sunlight. They waved good-by to the Hobbits even as they walked back through the door.

As they climbed back into the green room, Donny was so happy and content, it took a moment for him to see the danger. As Mike closed the door to the opening, Donny looked around the misty green room. That’s when he saw the slimy black worm-thing stretching out from a curled up position. It was raising up like a cobra and about to strike.

“Get out,” screamed Donny, backing up. “Hurry get out the door.”

Mike was at the door. “I can’t.” he cried, hysterical now. “I can’t cause there’s a tree in front of the door.”

Donny looked towards the door then back back at the snake thing. Just as he did, as quick as a wink, a tree arm flew past him to grab up the snake thing. The black squirmy snake wiggled in the wooden hand. Then the hand opened the steel door, threw the snake thing inside, then slammed it shut.

Donny and Mike stood with their mouth open at the tree that now stood on this side of the door entrance. They couldn’t get out because the tree was blocking their way. And the tree thing was making grouchy sounds from inside and shaking and rubbing its upper leaves together.

Really scared now, Mike said, “Do you think it is angry?”

Donny squinted his eyes as if in thought. “No, I think it is laughing at us.”

“Y..e…s” said the tree, between bouts of shaking.

“Trees can’t talk,” Mike said.

At this, the tree started shaking so bad the electrical things on the high wall started to shake too. Loud roaring sounds started coming from the tree.

“It sort of sounds like laughter, doesn’t it.” Mike agreed.

Finally, the tree quieted and Donny and Mike felt less awed when it spoke this time.

“Loosed the shadow Noot, you did. Noot world, humans never want to visit. Happy its new home, not earth.”

“We didn’t mean to.” Mike said.

“We just wanted to go swimming,” Donny said.

The tall, skinny tree, actually seemed to nod. Its leaves rustled in merriment.

“You little humans Slide-Way, used. Harm not.”

“That is what you call that door?” He pointed to the plastic box. “Wish we had one,” He added.

“Side-Way great, huge expense. Whole planet must buy.”

“How come you can talk?” Asked Mike.

“From far away planet, I come. Fuel need, so land on earth. I…my people choose to walk, travel.”

“How come our trees can’t talk?”

The tree looked down at the two boys. It grew two eyes and a mouth that looked sad. It said, “Trees talk, do.”

“Well, I never heard them.” Mike said.

“Listen good,” said the tree. “Speak visit around world. Of two boys speak.”

The tree began to rumble again, as if in merriment.

When it stopped laughing. It bent down and said, “Trees choose, remain, stay, place roots. Protect life, earth.”

“I know we get oxygen from trees but I never heard about trees protecting us before,” Donny said.

The tree stood talk again and lifted up two thin wooden arms and spread them out in a wide circle, then said, “Imagine no trees, empty.”

Donny did imagine it. He saw earth as a bare planet like Mars. It was a horrible sight. “Yeah, well, maybe they do protect us.” he agreed.

The tree said, “Fuel. I leave. You leave.”

The boys were reluctant to leave because this new twist to their day was truly unusual fun, but they knew they must. They waved good-by and stepped out of the green room. As they walked away, Donny stopped for a minute to look back. He saw the tall, thin tree step outside of the invisible green room and step over to the wide tree. It reached up its arms and twisted them into the other tree. Then it walked to other trees nearby and did the same. This took but a moment and then it walked back to disappear in the green room.

Donny knew that if they come back tomorrow the green room and the tall, walking tree would be gone.

As they walked back to Mike’s house, the boys agreed not to tell anyone about their adventure. Besides, who would believe them. But when Donny got home to his own house later that night, he went out on the porch and sat by himself for a long while. He cocked his head and listened to the rustle of tree leaves high overhead. He wondered if they were whispering the story of the strange visitor who walked on two tree legs. Maybe they were sending the story of two boys who used the Slide-Way all around the world by now.

The end