The Advent Calendar

by Steven Croft

  ‘Put me up to what?’ said Sam. ‘There really is a text message and it really does say “4NOW”. See for yourself. And the door is there, look!’

  Alice looked, first at the phone and then at the calendar. There was a new door in the bottom left quadrant: a simple blue square made of wood. ‘Col had better not be in on this as well,’ she said. ‘OK then, let’s go. Read out the numbers.’

  ‘Six, six, colon, one, two.’

  To Alice’s surprise the number six sprang back up again the first time she pressed it but stayed down the second time, like the other numbers. She held Sam’s hand as she pressed the final number and both of them tensed and looked anxiously at the floor.

  Nothing happened. No gap in the floor. No coloured smoke coming out of the calendar. Just a tiny crack, Alice thought, at the top of the blue panel.

  There was a sharp tap on the window. Sam went over and peered through. ‘There’s a rope ladder,’ he said, puzzled. ‘Just outside the window.’

  ‘Those windows don’t open,’ said Alice. ‘They are painted shu – oooh...’

  Just as she said this, the large sash window in the middle of the bay slid open by itself. Alice climbed out first, put one foot on the rope ladder and began to climb, with Sam following close behind. It stretched up as far as she could see.

  ‘Hold tight,’ came a familiar voice. ‘Can’t stay here long.’

  As they climbed higher, the ladder itself began to move upwards. Alice stopped climbing and leaned back to see what was happening. The rope ladder stretched above her for about twenty metres. It led to a large wicker basket. Above the basket was the faint outline against the stars of what looked like a huge balloon stretching into the night sky.

  Sam could hear the roar of the balloon’s furnace. It was gaining height already. He looked down and already the rooftops were growing smaller beneath them.

  ‘Hold on,’ called Col, over the side of the basket. ‘Don’t climb. I’ll pull you up.’

  There was a faint whirring sound. Alice gripped the sides of the ladder tightly as she was winched aboard through the trapdoor in the bottom of the basket. She stepped onto the basket floor and peered over the side. They were passing through a very thick layer of cloud. Sam joined her a second later as Col refastened the trapdoor.

  ‘All aboard,’ he said. ‘That was close. Nearly spotted.’

  ‘It’s not that easy to hide an enormous balloon in an English town,’ said Sam. ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘We’re there,’ said Col. ‘Look!’

  Alice and Sam blinked as the balloon emerged from the thick cloud – to their great surprise – into the bright light of a new day and a different world. Suddenly, it was early morning. The sun was peeping over the eastern horizon behind them and the light was spreading over the hills and plains below. Alice saw immediately that they were very high, but the balloon was losing height as they moved deeper into the countryside.

  ‘What can you see?’ asked Col.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ said Sam, as the dawn light raced over the land below them. Hills and valleys, deserts and dunes stretched in every direction.

  ‘It’s so dry,’ said Alice. ‘Nothing is growing. There’s no sea, no river, no streams.’

  ‘No trees,’ said Sam. ‘No crops or flowers.’

  The landscape was deserted – a vast tract of barren desert stretching for hundreds of miles.

  ‘It’s amazing,’ said Alice as they flew on in silence carried by the wind. She was looking back at their flight path. The warm east wind made her hair stream out behind her face. ‘Like a silent planet. Nothing lives. Nothing grows. Has it always been like this?’

  ‘For thousands of years,’ said Col, pointing. ‘Look, ahead of us. We’re nearly there.’

  The balloon was descending as they flew. Alice and Sam moved to the front of the basket. They followed Col’s arm in the direction of their flight.

  There, in the centre of the desert at the top of a hill were some ancient ruins in a strange pattern. They were different from everything else in that strange and silent world. Clearly they were not part of the natural landscape. Long ago the building had fallen down. The stones left behind were half-covered by sand.

  ‘Ancient ruins,’ said Alice. ‘There must have been people here long ago.’

  ‘The great temple,’ said Col, clearly moved by the sight. ‘See the pattern,’ he pointed. ‘You can still make it out.’

  ‘That looks like a great wall,’ said Sam, ‘with gates in the centre of each side. We’re coming in over the east gate.’

  ‘That’s the temple itself in the very centre,’ said Alice, ‘where the stones are thickest.’

  The wind had been fading for some time. Suddenly it dropped completely and the air was still. ‘Hold tight,’ said Col. ‘I’ll bring us into land.’

  Alice and Sam gripped the edge of the wicker basket as Col pulled some cables and released more air from the canopy of the balloon. They flew low over the centre of the ruined buildings. Col set them down, exactly as planned, on the west side.

  ‘Come and see,’ said Col, helping them out of the balloon. ‘Take your shoes and socks off though and leave them here.’

  Sand drifted over most of the ground but underneath the stones were sharp. Sam and Alice slowly picked their way barefoot across the dry ground and up the hill into the ruins of the great temple. They were clearly following an ancient pathway. As they drew near to the very centre, Alice saw, to her amazement, a tiny plant growing by the side of the path.

  ‘Col – look. Something does grow.’

  Col knelt by the side of the pathway and examined the small plant. Carefully he broke off a few leaves and gave them to Sam and Alice. ‘Taste them,’ he said. Sam placed one on his tongue. He immediately screwed up his face. ‘A bitter taste,’ he said. ‘Sharp and unpleasant.’

  Col led them now to the very centre of the ruins. At the top of the hill was a stone altar, cracked with age. As they approached it, a single cloud for a moment shut out the sun and the hill was plunged into shadow. Alice saw as they came nearer that there was something white on the top of the great stone.

  Col stood back, his head bowed, and motioned for them to approach. ‘Don’t be afraid.’

  The air was still, now. Sam and Alice drew near to the altar. At its very centre was a lamb, lying still on the stone. Its throat had been cut. The lamb’s body was still warm. Its blood ran down over the altar and into the cracks.

  ‘Col!’ cried Alice, turning round with tears in her eyes. ‘What has happened? Who has done this?’

  ‘Turn around, child,’ said Col. ‘Look on the east side.’

  Alice took Sam’s hand and together they moved around the altar from the west side to the east, not knowing what they were looking for. Alice saw it first.

  In the middle of the east side of the altar, flowing down like a tear from one of the stone cracks was a trickle of water. Where the water met the ground, as Alice watched, it became a tiny stream, finding its own pathway over the stony ground. Where the stream touched the dry ground, almost in an instant, the ground on each side began to turn green before their eyes as new things began to grow.

  ‘Follow it,’ said Col, excitement in his voice.

  Sam and Alice set off down the hill, following the tiny thread of water, which deepened as it flowed. Now it was tumbling and bubbling, like a tiny brook, catching and reflecting the sunlight. The cloud which shut out the light was suddenly nowhere to be seen.

  They moved as fast as they could but it was hard to walk on the stony ground, and the little stream of water outstripped them. Alice looked back and saw that plants were appearing now behind her in a green ribbon on each side of the water, spreading outwards.

  They walked on for ten or fifteen minutes, hobbling with sore feet now. Sam wond
ered again why they had left their shoes and socks back at the balloon. Bit by bit the stream grew larger and wider, gaining confidence and strength as it went on. Col pointed to a stone by the side of the river bed: it read ‘1,000 cubits’. The stream was now a metre wide.

  ‘Come and paddle,’ Col said, standing in the centre of the stream. Sam and Alice followed him. The water was cool and gentle on their sore feet. It came up to their ankles. They bent down, scooped up the water in their hands and drank.

  ‘Forward,’ said Col and led them on again. The green ribbon on each side of the stream was wider now, stretching away on either side. There was grass to walk on and wild flowers. Walking was much easier. A second stone read ‘2,000 cubits’. Again Col led Alice and Sam into the water. This time it came up to their knees.

  They set off again. Fields now stretched away on either side. Alice looked carefully. The greenery was spreading out into the desert, almost as far as she could see. The next sign said ‘3,000 cubits’. ‘Time to get wet again,’ said Col and led them into the water.

  Now the stream was fast-flowing and deep. Sam and Col stood each side of Alice. The water was up to Sam’s waist and Alice’s chest. Unsupported, she would have been washed away. They came out again and picked their way along the bank. Oats and barley were ripening now in the fields. To Alice’s surprise she could see men and women and children working there. Their songs reached them as they arrived at the final milestone: 4,000 cubits.

  Col led them again into the water, roped together for safety, but this time, it was clear, the river was deeper and wider than anyone could cross. Sam and Alice could both swim but neither ventured very far into the current. The water was clear and cold: good for a dip but too cold to swim for long. Both of them dived down under the current. To their surprise, now it was teeming with fish of every kind.

  Sam led Alice back to the bank and they collapsed, out of breath, on the shore. Together with Col, they sat and looked with astonishment at the far bank and then to the right and to the left and back the way they had come. Already, trees were growing by the rivers bank. Col reached out and gathered ripe fruit to refresh them. Sam bit into a peach: it was sweet and ripe and the juice ran down his chin.

  Alice gazed about her for a few minutes, drinking in the sight, contrasting it with the barren country over which they had flown in the balloon. She stood to get a better view. ‘Ouch,’ she said. ‘These cuts on my feet really hurt.’

  ‘Let me look,’ said Col. Both Alice and Sam showed him the soles of their feet: cut and blistered from the long walk. ‘Hold on a moment.’

  Col went a little way into the orchard on their side of the river and came back moments later with a handful of leaves. ‘Try these,’ he said, lifting each foot in turn and laying a leaf across the cuts. To Alice it felt cool and soothing, like a dock leaf on nettle stings.

  ‘Look now,’ said Col. Sam and Alice looked, rubbed their eyes and rubbed again. The soles of their feet were like new. Even Alice’s verruca scar had gone. ‘The river renews the whole earth,’ he said. ‘Even the salt lakes turn fresh when it touches them. The leaves of the trees are for healing and for rest.’

  ‘Healing and rest,’ thought Alice, dreamily, stretching out in the warm sunlight and closing her eyes.

  The next moment, as it seemed, Megs was shaking her by the shoulders. ‘Alice, Sam, wake up. Andrew’s just gone. He’s asked me to go with him to his club dinner. And I’ve said yes.’

  She kissed Alice. Sam rubbed his eyes. ‘Thanks for giving us a bit of peace, love. But what have you done with your shoes? And why, oh why is the window wide open on a night like this?’

  Sam and Alice looked at each other and their bare feet and smiled. ‘Goodness knows where Col has left our shoes,’ thought Alice. Sam was staring at the calendar up close.

  The blue door stood open. Inside the tiny space was the grey side of a stone altar, standing on brown sand. Running down the side of the table, like a raindrop on a window, was the beginning of a mighty river.

  12 December

  There was a light tap on the bedroom door. Alice rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. Six o’clock in the morning? The tap came again, more insistent.

  Without turning on the light, she struggled into her dressing gown and opened the door.

  ‘Col! What are you doing here?’

  Col pressed his fingers to his lips. ‘Special day,’ he mouthed, barely whispering the words. ‘Early start. Meant to warn you but forgot. Sorry!’

  ‘I’ll get dressed and meet you in the lounge,’ Alice mouthed back. ‘You wake Sam.’

  Col held out his thumb sideways on and smiled. Alice raised her eyes to heaven. ‘This way,’ she said, indicating her own thumb which was pointing upwards. Col grinned, put up both thumbs and tiptoed across to Sam’s door.

  Muffled groans found their way across the landing. ‘Festering flamingos’ was all she caught before Sam’s voice was choked off by Col’s signal.

  Alice drew back the curtains as she got dressed and gasped. There was a white covering on every surface. The snow glowed orange under the streetlamps. The light picked out the frosted cobwebs on the drainpipe outside her room. ‘Christmas is beginning to arrive,’ she thought, pulling on her warmest jumper and socks.

  Sam and Col were already in the front room when she went downstairs. Sam was in his warmest jumper and scarf but barely awake. He shone the light from his phone onto the calendar. A new door had appeared in the three o’clock position, a wooden one with an arched top, matching the one on Day Six.

  ‘This is the second test,’ said Col, in a soft, serious voice. ‘There is one at the end of every section. It’s also my last day with you. If you pass this test, you will go onto the next part of the calendar and a new guide. If you don’t, there will be no more text messages and no more doors. I hope you make it. You need to take this.’

  Col handed over his staff. Sam took it. Then he shook both of them by the hand, rather solemnly Alice thought. ‘Read out the code, Sam,’ she said.

  ‘Four,’ said Sam. Alice punched in the number. ‘Three,’ he called. Click. ‘Colon.’ Click. Each button stayed in place. ‘Two.’ Alice paused for a moment with her right index finger over the button. She took a final look at the room, at the calendar, at Col. She took Sam’s right hand in her left and pressed the number two.

  There was a sharp crack of thunder. Time seemed to slow for a moment. Something like a bolt of lightning shot from the calendar and landed at their feet. Instantly the front room and everything familiar disappeared.

  Alice and Sam were on their own again. It was early morning. The sun was rising to the east. They were standing in the centre of a wide pathway. In one direction, to the west, was a wilderness of scrub and thorn bushes stretching for miles. In the other was what looked like a lake or even the sea. The road ran down to the edge of the water and disappeared.

  There was a low, rumbling sound coming from the wilderness.

  ‘Whatever it is, it must be this way,’ said Sam, pointing into the wilderness and away from the sea with the staff. ‘Let’s get going!’

  ‘Wait, Sam!’ called Alice, who was much more awake. ‘It’s a test, remember. We need to think about this one.’ She looked around her in the dawn light.

  The rumbling sound was growing louder. A line of dust appeared on the western horizon. Sam remembered the Westerns he watched as a child. He bent down and put his ear to the ground. He was suddenly grim.

  ‘Horses,’ he said, standing back up again and pointing, ‘lots of them, coming this way.’ They both looked west. They could see now beneath the great dust cloud. The sun picked out the shields and weapons of a great army. Alice and Sam were standing in its exact path.

  Alice felt the panic rising. She stood as still as she could, watched and listened. Nothing but the rumbling across the plain growing louder.
She shook herself, then began to take a closer look at the edges of the pathway.

  ‘There!’ she said. ‘How could we miss them – one on each side?’

  Just behind them, clearer now in the dawn light, were two low stone pillars, one on each side of the path. Alice went to one and Sam to the other. On each was a great stone arrow pointing to the east. The entire surface of the pillars was covered in carved writing. Alice ran her fingers over the letters.

  ‘None of it makes sense,’ she called.

  ‘It’s all different languages,’ said Sam. ‘The same thing, I think, over and over again. Come on, we need to get out of the open. They’re coming straight towards us.’

  ‘We need to know what it says,’ Alice called back. ‘It’s important.’

  She tried to shut out the sound of hoof beats and wheels in the distance and focused instead on the shapes carved in the stone. Sam did the same but kept one eye on the western horizon.

  ‘Here,’ she called. ‘Words in English.’ Sam was beside her in a moment. The words were near the bottom of the stone. ‘Stretch the rod over the sea. Don’t be afraid.’

  Sam glanced back. He could pick out individual riders now. He estimated they had about three minutes. ‘Don’t be stupid, Alice. We have to run. Now!’

  Sam tried to pull her away to the side out of the path of the army. Alice pulled back.

  ‘Sam, it’s a test. Remember what Col said. You’ve got the staff. Follow the words on the stone.’

  Sam looked out over the sea, down at his niece and then back at the advancing army. He felt absolutely terrified.

  ‘Please,’ said Alice, taking his hand. ‘Remember all that’s happened. I want to see the end.’ She pulled him gently towards the sea.

  In a moment, Sam’s mind was made up. ‘Madness! Whispering wombats!’ he said, then ran after Alice towards the sea as fast as he could.

  The thunder of the hooves was louder now. Alice looked back and saw a line of cruel faces galloping towards her. ‘Stretch out the staff, Sam.’