The Land of Make Believe

by Michael Arnold

  “Suits me, Whisk-pey, you are the boss!”

  Chapter 2

  It didn’t take long for the gray clouds and the darken skies to relay the message of the great storm approaching to the people in the city in which Whisk-pey lived. People ran from their everyday duties outdoors to the trees which held their respective homes. With houses of various sizes, shapes and colors came the type of residences in which these dog-like human creatures lived.

  There were the wooden, stone, brick, porcelain and concrete tree-houses, to name only a few. But regardless of the type of houses, the Canine People built them effortlessly and lived in them freely. One particular canine-person didn’t take for granted the words of Whisk-pey’s father, Amose told them when Whisk-pey was a little baby.

  We, the people of Land Make Believe, where we make believe what we want with a little hard work and a little luck…, well, a lot of luck. We feel and understand the nature of the world, our world. To be perfectly specific, it comes with the trial and tribulations and for my little people here, not referring to my five foot and a half self, but referring to the kiddies! There is a storm that more than a time or two thinks it can come and invade our land and what we built. To be pretty truthful about it, the storm can do that – it’s nature. But one thing we don’t have to put up with, is allowing this storm to come in and take us as if we are some type of weaklings! We are no weaklings nor are we ignorant. For safety we shelter ourselves inside our protective homes until it is all over!

  The thought was over and the winds that appeared to move through the city from the North were building quickly. Kalite’s thoughts of her husband’s words of comfort didn’t mean anything when her daughter Whisk-pey was out traveling in the coming storm. “Come on, Kalite, we have to get shelter!”

  “What do you mean shelter, when our daughter is out there in this storm? I’m going to wait for her and I’m not leaving until I see her pretty little, yellow head, Amose,” Kalite yelled.

  He smiled as if what was about to happen in their city and the uncertainties of Whisk-pey’s location wasn’t something serious, and Kalite’s words were part of a joke. Kalite not only saw the frenzy in the city, its residents getting to their homes as quickly as possible, but she saw the large mass of what looked to be thick, white clouds and out of them the pouring of rain.

  “We have to go, Kalite. Whisk-pey is strong and she is very, very smart. She will make it home. I’m sure she sees the storm clouds just as we do. She knows about the danger of the storm. She is more knowledgeable than most of the adults here in Make Believe.” Amose turned his head away from Kalite, when her eyes turned from a look of concern to an angry glare as if she thought he was referring to her as another of these adults he was talking about.

  “Look, Kalite, just because she is fourteen years old and just a child doesn’t mean we have to treat her like one!”

  “For heaven’s sakes, Amose, she is out there in heaven knows where and we don’t have a clue where she is. It has nothing to do with her being fourteen and we treating her like a child,” Kalite yelled.

  While there verbal dispute went on, the heart of the storm began to beat faster with every breath it took for Amose and his wife Kalite to exchange vocal blows concerning Whisk-pey. The force of the wind increased, pieces of debris from the storm’s previous trip could be seen within the swirl of clouds.

  “I want to get you back to the house and I will go look for her. I, at least, want to know that you are safe, Kalite. Outside of Whisk-pey, you are my only true love.” That brought a smile to Kalite’s fuzzy face. As she reached to embrace Amose, what looked to be a huge rock, was rolling through mid-air in their direction at great speed.

  Faster than lightning it seemed, one of the city’s people noticed the flying rock. “Look out!” he yelled as he dove head-long into Amose and Kalite, knocking them down and out of the path of the rock.

  “Mr. Amose and Mrs. Kalite, my apologies. Are the two of you okay?” the patron said when he got up to see who he had saved.

  “Yes, we are fine, thank you,” Amose replied, brushing the dirt they picked up from the sandy ground off himself and Kalite.

  “I think this is going to be a very bad storm this time around. My tree house is just around the corner. You two are welcome to lounge there with me until the storm passes,” the patron suggested.

  “Thank you but we are a couple of blocks away. We can manage from here. You should get home to your family,” Amose said with a smile.

  “The air is becoming unclear. Will you be able to see your way through, Amose?”

  There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation in his voice but in his mind. With flying debris and an unclear path back to their tree house, Amose was indeed unsure. But since he had found a solution thus far to their problems and he was the city’s leader-man, he decided to keep the pretense of assurance alive.

  “Yes, Kalite, I will be able to see our way through.”

  She smiled when he said “our way through”. Then she grabbed his hand and the two of them began running.

  Whisk-pey smelled the sudden coolness of the rain, and the fragrance in the debris, the broken tree limbs and tree itself that the wind was throwing around. Before Whisk-pey continued observing the storm’s effect, she pulled Ento up out of his hiding place and put the synthetic shawl on him first.

  “There you are, perfectly protected from the storm’s devilment, Ento.”

  “Thank you, Whisk-pey, but what about you?” he asked in a calm, timid voice.

  Whisk-pey chuckled. “I want to make sure you were taken care of first. Friends come first, Ento!” Ento returned her smile. As she was positioning herself after she wrapped her shawl around her shoulders, a large and thick tree limb came at her. Before she was able to react, the tree branch lifted Whisk-pey off Gilma and its momentum pulled her backward. Holding on for dear life, Whisk-pey crawled up on the tree while cuffing Ento with her free hand. She focused as best as possible while trying to push out the fact that a hard landing could be fatal for her and Ento out of her mind.

  Gilma or any of the houses, or her city for that matter, was visible now. All Whisk-pey could see was the growing thickness of the fog and the pouring of the rain. The roar of the storm was beyond loud and the pounding rain spelled doomed for Whisk-pey. I have to land on my feet. If I don’t land on my feet then, then…

  She couldn’t end her thought. She was persuaded that adding any negative rhetoric would make matters worse. As she and the thick piece of tree were flying through the air, she lost all contact with the storm and the possibility of what would happen to her when she cuffed Ento in her hands and attempted to place him in her satchel.

  Whisk-pey caught a glimpse of the terrain below and thought, I see the ground. I have to jump now! But before Whisk-pey along with her comrade had a chance to jump, the tree crashed to the soft ground. Not feeling any pain, Whisk-pey searched for Ento before she patted herself for any injuries. When she didn’t feel her friend anywhere on her as she usually did or hear his low growling when he was speaking, she called out, “Ento, Ento, where are you?”

  A very rare panic seeped in. Because of the thin fog that was growing thick Whisk-pey was losing sight and losing it quickly. It will be dusk soon and I don’t think it will be a good idea for me to be out here looking for Ento at this time of the day. She pulled out her sling shot and peered into the fog even with vision of 20/10, Whisk-pey was unsure of her parameters.

  “Where am I and where are you, Ento?” She spoke to herself. She felt the hardness of the soil underfoot, the smell of burnt leaves, not to mention that she was coming closer to an expanse of high grass. It was then that she realized where she was.

  The Dark Forest!

  Quickly, she reached for her satchel, which was still hanging by the strap around her shoulder and neck, hoping to grab one of her rocks when she felt a warm, slimy, wet thing in her hand. She snatched her hand out of her satchel, Ento still lodged in it. He jumped off her hand and into he
r arms. Whisk-pey was bubbling over with joy – seeing his gentle smile made everything okay somehow.

  “Oh, Ento, I am so glad to see you,” Whisk-pey yelled, dropping her sling-shot and embracing and kissing him without squeezing the life out of him. “I think I am a land dweller, Whisk-pey. Anything past my head while I’m standing on two legs is uncivilized,” he said. “We are quickly going to have to figure out something else.”

  “Maybe, when we get home I will consider a new route instead of the skies. How does that sound, Ento?”

  “That sounds super fantastic,” Ento replied. “By the way, where are we, Whisk-pey? And where is that worm breath bird at anyway?”

  “Be nice, Ento!” Whisk-pey said, picking up her sling shot.

  Only seeing the thick fog and still feeling a great deal from the shock they sustained during their ordeal on the attempted flight home and possibly their tumble to the ground.

  “We are in the Dark Forest, Ento!”

  Whisk-pey tried calling Gilma as she usual did by placing her two fingers in her mouth and whistling. Not once, twice or even three times but a total of four times.

  “Where is she, Whisk-pey?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m not going to think the worst but we can’t stand here either. We are going to have to get out of here before we come in contact with any of those Devours!”

  “Oh no! Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I suppose, Whisk-pey?”

  “Just hang on, Ento. We are going to get out of here!”

  Ento, as it was normal for him to do, moved to her back for a few seconds, then moved to her shoulders, where he was most comfortable,. They walked with precision toward what Whisk-pey thought was the exit of the Dark Forest.

  “I don’t see any green land. Are we going out of the Dark Forest or are we going deeper into the forest, Whisk-pey?”

  “That’s a good question, Ento!” Ento should have been worried but since he was on the ground, it masked away any ill feelings or scary thought about what was the obvious for the both of them, which was being in the Dark forest. Whisk-pey held her sling-shot forward and one of her black rocks at the ready. Come on, this has to be the right way out of here! Whisk-pey thought.

  The fog got much thinner the deeper they went into the forest. That in itself gave her some optimism since she didn’t have a clue if she was going the right or the wrong way.

  There, in the Dark Forest the storm wasn’t over but it was winding down. “You think when we get home, whenever that will be, Whisk-pey, you think I can have two portions of food?”

  Whisk-pey giggled, turning her head slightly to the right where she met Ento’s green, bulging eyes. “Is that supposed to be a hard question or something, Ento?”

  “Why of course not!” Ento laughed. “It was a question that’s all. I just wanted to know because right now I could eat two portions and everyone’s portion in the city!”

  The two of them moved forward not knowing what was ahead of them. With the very next step Whisk-pey took, she felt something unusual to the wild grass, rocks, and tree limbs of the Dark Forest. What she felt on the soles of her feet was woven and prickly. What in the world is this?

  Her words stopped. Suddenly, she was grabbed by the feet and taken up, up and away. Before she could say anything, she was turned upside down.

  “Oh no, Whisk-pey, this doesn’t look good we are in a trap!” Ento screamed in despair.

  “Trapped you are, little frog, is right! Looks like you are a long way from home. I’m sure Daddy doesn’t know that you are here, and if he did he would have one big pissy-fit wouldn’t he, Whisk-pey?”

  “Who are you and how do you know my name?” Whisk-pey demanded.

  Ento maneuvered his way not out of the rope-made sack but into Whisk-pey’s satchel.

  The loud and high pitched voice’s only response was a laughter that gave Ento an instant shake while inside of Whisk-pey’s satchel.

  “Never mind. I know who you are and what you are. You are a Devour. We have no dealings with your kind,” Whisk-pey yelled.

  That brought more laughter to the voice that Whisk-pey could hear but couldn’t see. All she could see was the dead trees, the leaves that were crisps from the noonday’s sun, not to mention the black dirt on the ground that secretly held the trap in which she and Ento had fallen into.

  “Is that what you all call us, Whisk-pey? Devours. That’s what Daddy – Mr. Amose himself – told you to call us? I could just wrap my hands around him!” There was a long pause after the word him then the conversation resumed. “But I refuse to stoop down to his level!”

  “Yea, we won’t stoop down to his level!” another voice joined in.

  After it did Whisk-pey’s eyes widen.

  That voice sounds pretty familiar where do I know it from?

  “My time is coming and payback will be granted to me sooner rather than later. If I know Amose like I know him, he is probably out in the storm seeing how he can advance.”

  “You know nothing about my father!”

  “And you know nothing about me – us – the so-called Devours, do you, girl?”

  Whisk-pey didn’t respond. Her mind was empty of all thoughts at that point but not from the idea of somehow getting her all-purpose, and all-consistent sling shot that was just under her head.

  “Just like your father you have no idea, but I am sure his ignorance will find him out, if the storm doesn’t first!”

  “Yeah, that’s right if the storm doesn’t find him out first,” the second and un-schooled voice said.

  “Shut up, would you, and cut them down, why don’t you?” the first voice said.

  “Yes, boss. I am getting to it now!”

  Cut me down? What does he mean ‘cut me down’? He is letting me out of here? Surely he isn’t, Whisk-pey thought. She then stopped trying to retrieve her sling-shot.

  “Boss?” the second voice said.

  “What is it now?” the first voice yelled.

  “Our kind can’t climb trees they are the only ones that can climb trees.”

  “You dummy, we practiced this for hours, days on end. If I want something done right, I guess I have to do it myself. Step out of the way!” the first voice said. He reached for the net with his clawed hand and pulled on it. The net, which looked more like a sack made of rope, was then drawn down.

  “Now if you watch closely, this is all you have to do!” With the other hand that showed long gray claws, he swiped at the part of the net that had space in it; the net opened, dislodged from the top of the tree and fell to the ground. While peering at this gray faced hairy man, Whisk-pey quickly crawled and grabbed her sling-shot, and then crawled out of the cut opening in the net.

  “Oh no, boss, she has one of those things that shoots one of those stinky black things!”

  Whisk-pey held her sling shot at the first man. The second man, who looked similar to the first, except that he was golden brown, hid behind the tree right beside him.

  “Ha-ha-ha-ha, just like your father; a spitting image of him.”

  “And you are going to have a splitting headache if you don’t tell me who you are and how you know my father and my name!”

  “His name is Bodolf and my name is Fenris. Nice to meet you, Whisk-pey!” Bodolf turned toward the tree behind which Fenris was hiding.

  “Can’t you keep anything to yourself, Fenris?” Bodolf asked.

  “I try but when I got a sling shot pointing at me and it spells danger, what else am I supposed to do?”

  “You dummy! It’s not pointing at you. It’s pointing at me!”

  “Oh, now I see that. Sorry, boss!”

  Bodolf snarled then returned his attention to Whisk-pey. “We go back, way back, so far back I know the aroma of the rice with lime gravy Kalite used to make!” He laughed again.

  Ento slightly eased his head out of the satchel.

  “They know me very well, Whisk-pey. Now I think it’s best that you we get gone from here since we’ve finished talkin
g. So, if you would excuse me, Fenris and I will be departing now. And oh, by the way, please tell Amose that I said hello!”

  That was enough for Whisk-pey to let go of the sling-shot and let the black rock go when she heard the swoosh-swoosh coming from the top of the trees.

  “Gilma!” she yelled, looking overhead.

  “Oh no, not again!” Ento mumbled, rushing back into the satchel. Then, as she looked down, ready to let loose of the black rock in Bodolf’s direction, he was gone. Whisk-pey looked around her but he was nowhere to be found.

  There was land covered with trees without tree-houses. The trees were spread out over a wide expanse – enough of them to serve Amose’s purpose. “You see those trees, way over there, Kalite?”

  “Yes, I see them but that area is under construction. That’s where the builders are going to build more tree-houses, right?”

  “Yes, you are right but, and when I say this I don’t want you to panic at all, Kalite,” Amose told her.

  “I think I am okay, I’m not going to panic!”

  “Are you very sure you’re not going to panic?”

  “Yes, I’m very sure I’m not going to panic, dear!” she replied in the middle of the rain and the coming fog.

  “Over there where the builders are going to build tree-houses, we are going to have to go there and stay put until the storm passes,” Amose said.

  “Okay, I can deal with that, that wasn’t so bad!”

  “No, that part wasn’t so bad, you are right, but what we are going to have to do is hide ourselves inside the tree once I cut a hole in the bottom of it where we can shield ourselves from the rain but while I’m cutting you have to keep your eyes open. I wouldn’t want any flying debris to hit you and carry you out of the city!” Amose told her.