The Magic Meadow

by Alexander Key

  “What’s so crazy about it?”

  “Why, the sun! Don’t you get it? The sun! It’s in the middle of the night here—but where you went it’s bright daylight!”

  “What of it?” said Princess. “That’s no crazier than going from winter to summer. I think it’s wonderful!”

  “It’s wonderful,” Nurse Jackson affirmed, “but it is sort of crazy. I just can’t figure it out.” She carried the dandelion from Lily Rose to Diz Dobie, then sat down and shook her head again. “Brick,” she went on, “at first I thought you’d teleported to some place in the South. Georgia, maybe, or even Florida. That would explain the flowers and the warm sun. And also the quail. But if it’s night here, it would be night there too. It would be night everywhere except on the other side of the globe, in Europe and Asia.”

  She stopped, then said, “I’d sure like to pin this down. Brick, think hard. Was the sun almost overhead when you saw it?”

  “Not quite. It was just a little to my left.”

  “H’mm. Without knowing directions, there’s no telling whether it was morning or afternoon. But it does rule out most of Europe. As nearly as I can remember, it would be early morning in France, but much later to the east. Say around noon as we get to India, and maybe afternoon in China.”

  “I wasn’t in India or China,” Brick said. “I’m sure of that.”

  “What makes you so sure?” Charlie Pill asked. “Man, you could have been anywhere!”

  “But not India or China. I was somewhere in America. I felt it.”

  “But—but you couldn’t have been! It’s night all over America!”

  There was an abrupt silence in the ward. Brick managed to struggle up on his elbows—it was a new position he didn’t immediately realize he’d taken—and looked around at the others. On his right, just beyond the thrust-aside screen, Princess and Lily Rose were staring at him tensely, eyes wide with wonder. Without great effort neither girl could do more than turn her head toward him, nor could Charlie Pill on his left, who was all skin and bones. Only Diz Dobie, who was stronger than any of them, was able to force himself over on his side. The brown boy had given the dandelion to Charlie and was now trying to speak, but as usual seemed unable to find words.

  Suddenly Princess exclaimed, “What difference does it make where it is? Maybe it’s on the other side of the moon—but who cares?” Then she added wistfully, “Oh, I’ve just got to go there! I’ve just got to.”

  “I’ve got to go, too!” Lily Rose said quickly. “If Brick can do it, I’m sure the rest of us can.”

  “Sure we can!” Diz Dobie echoed. “Golly, let’s—let’s try it right now!”

  “Now wait a minute,” Nurse Jackson cautioned. “I don’t want any of you to try anything until we’ve talked this over a little more. That place may sound nice, but it could be dangerous. Just because Brick managed to go there and return safely doesn’t mean everyone could do it. Suppose you got over on that hill—but couldn’t get back?”

  “I wouldn’t care in the least,” Princess said dreamily. “Why, I’d just lie right there on a bed of dandelions till I died. Sunshine and flowers …”

  The nurse shook her head. “Let’s not get carried away,” she reminded them. “I’m all for sunshine and flowers myself, but we have to be practical about this. Brick, you were on that hillside only a few minutes, but I’m sure you learned more than you realize. It’s just a matter of my asking you the right questions. Now, think back. What sounds did you hear?”

  He closed his eyes and slid down upon his pillow. “There was the funny noise those—those quail were making, then there was the grasshopper—he made a sort of clickity buzz. I remember now that I heard more grasshoppers in the distance, only I didn’t realize what they were at the time. There were some birds chirping or singing somewhere, and there was the water on my left. That was the main sound. I couldn’t see the water till I got my head up and looked down at the bottom of the hill, but I could hear it flowing. It was sort of gurgling, only it was more like music. It sure was nice.”

  The silence that followed was broken by a wistful sigh from Princess. Then Nurse Jackson said, “But Brick, those were all nature sounds. Didn’t you hear anything else? Traffic in the distance? A factory whistle? And what about machinery humming or clanking, or maybe a car’s horn?”

  He shook his head. “There was nothing like that.”

  “How about a radio, or a plane?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “No sounds of people?”

  “I—I didn’t hear a thing except what I’ve told you. It was, well, a real quiet place. Honest, I didn’t know a place could be so quiet.”

  “That’s strange. Didn’t you see any signs of people?”

  “I sure didn’t.”

  “But, Brick, people are practically everywhere. You can’t go anywhere without seeing signs of them. Tin cans, bottles, old tires, trash …”

  He shook his head.

  “There has to be something,” she insisted. “If you were ’way out in the country, there’d be other signs. Barns, sheds, fences—you just can’t get away from fences …”

  He started to shake his head again, then frowned instead. “I’m not sure, but maybe I did see something. It was just a—a sort of quick glimpse, so I don’t know what it was. I—I was so surprised at being there instead of here that I didn’t even think about it at the time. But—”

  “Can you remember what it was—what it looked like?”

  “I’ll try. Maybe—”

  Suddenly, before he could recall what he’d seen, he was interrupted by the door to the main corridor being thrust open. Miss Preedy, the night supervisor, entered the ward. She was a tall, severe woman who spoke sweetly, but Brick had learned that the sweetness was only a thin veneer over what seemed to be unbending metal.

  “What seems to be going on in here?” Miss Preedy demanded in her most sugary tone. “Having a little midnight party, are we?”

  “Oh, somebody just cried out in his sleep and woke up the others,” Nurse Jackson said easily. “But everything’s all right now.”

  “I see. And what is the screen doing open? Haven’t I said it was to be kept closed at night? Rules are rules, Miss Jackson, and I expect them to be obeyed.” Miss Preedy always ignored the fact that Nurse Jackson was a widow.

  “Yes, ma’am. But it had to be opened so I could check on things.”

  “Well, close it immediately,” Miss Preedy ordered. “I never approved of such an arrangement, but it couldn’t be helped in an old place like this. It’ll certainly be a relief when we finish moving to the new building. At least we can place the children around in some up-to-date wards, though one or two will have to be sent …”

  She shrugged and started out, but paused briefly to add over her shoulder, “And leave the door open, Miss Jackson. The ward doors should never be closed.”

  Brick was stunned. He’d heard that some of Belleview’s patients—he understood they were just the very old people—were being moved to a new place on the edge of the city. But no one had told him they’d all have to go, and that their group would be broken up. When that happened they might never see each other again.

  There was a stifled sob on his right, and he heard Lily Rose whimper, “Wha-what are we going to do if they s-separate us?”

  “Now, honey, don’t you worry about that,” Nurse Jackson said quickly. “They haven’t separated you yet, and if they ever try it, it’ll be over my dead body.”

  Her broad black face had become grimly stony. Defiantly leaving the screen open, she went over to the door and snapped out the lights, then peered searchingly into the corridor. Returning, she sat down again and said in a low voice, “Miss Preedy, she was just talking to hear herself talk. The truth is, they don’t really know what they’re going to do with you. If they’d decided anything, I’d have found out and told you, but they just don’t know. You see, there’s no place to put you. Somebody goofed on the new building and forgot to mak
e space for you, and over at the Children’s Hospital they’re splitting at the seams. So you’ll have to stay here.”

  “But—but isn’t Belleview condemned?” Brick asked.

  She chuckled. “It was condemned five years ago, but it’s still creaking along.” She paused a moment, then asked quietly, “Brick, have you remembered what you saw before that covey of quail scared you?”

  “Well, sort of.”

  “What do you mean, ‘sort of’?”

  “Well, I remember what it looked like, but I don’t know what it was.”

  “Oh, tell us!” Princess whispered excitedly. “Tell us all about it!”

  “There’s not much to tell. It was over on the other hill, on the edge of the trees, and I only saw it for a second before it was blotted out in the mist. At first I thought it was a wall, a high stone wall. I mean, that was the impression I got before the mist covered it. But it could have been some sort of building, a long low one. Or it might have been a shed, or even a fence made of wood. I—I just don’t know. Anyway, I’m sure going back for a better look at it.”

  He raised up on his elbows and glanced at their dim faces on either side. “How about it? Do you all want to try it again and see if we can make it together?”

  They tried it, and they tried hard, but it was no use. The hour was far too late, and they were exhausted. Brick was sure he almost made it, for there was a brief moment when he felt the sun’s warmth on his face. But it faded on the instant, and when he opened his tired eyes he found he was still in his bed in Ward Nine. Nurse Jackson had left, and by the sound of their breathing he knew the others had fallen to sleep.

  Disappointed, he drifted wearily away into a series of troubled dreams in which he seemed to be trying desperately to open a locked door. It was terribly important that he open it, but though he tried dozens and dozens of keys, none of them would fit.

  When he opened his eyes again it was morning and almost time for breakfast.

  Everything was strangely late that morning. Instead of one of the ever-hurried day nurses finally coming to take care of them, it was Nurse Jackson herself.

  “What’s happened?” Brick asked worriedly, knowing instinctively that something was wrong. “Why are you still on duty?”

  “Oh, we’re a little shorthanded,” she said easily. “I just offered to help out. After all, you folks are my special family.”

  But there was more to it than that, and Brick was very much aware of it. The others were too. Usually after breakfast they were wheeled to the therapy room and given exercise and a massage. Today, however, no one came for them, and even lunch was more than an hour late. When Nurse Jackson at last managed to bring it, Brick was surprised to see that it was only a tray of sandwiches which she divided among them on paper napkins.

  “The kitchen’s closed down for a while,” she told them. “I’m sure they’ll have it working by tomorrow, but in the meantime it looks like sandwiches for all of us.”

  When she had gone, Brick said, “There’s something awfully funny going on. She’s really worried.”

  “She’s worried about us,” Princess said. “I got that much without even trying to tune in.”

  “Maybe we all ought to tune in together and find out what’s happening,” he suggested. “How about it, gang?”

  “Yeah,” said Charlie Pill. “I think we’d better.”

  The others agreed. No one wanted to do it, but they decided they must, so they closed their eyes and pretended they were radio receivers tuning in on all the main thoughts being silently broadcast throughout Belleview. It was much easier than playing the traveling game, and in the beginning they’d had a lot of fun with it among themselves. But it was no fun at all when they tuned in on the people beyond Ward Nine. For ugly old Belleview was a place of pain and poverty and misery, and even those who worked here hated it.

  Brick wasn’t surprised when he suddenly heard Lily Rose crying. In some ways she was the most sensitive of them, more so even than Princess, who was the most imaginative. “I—I just can’t stand it,” Lily Rose said tearfully. “All those poor people!”

  “Aw, they’re no poorer than anybody,” Brick said practically. “You tuned in on those old drunks—they’re all broken-down from drinking, and now they’re feeling sorry for themselves because they’re not allowed to have any liquor. What’d you pick up, Charlie?”

  “People are being moved out fast,” Charlie Pill told him. “A lot faster than they’d planned. But I don’t know why.”

  “I—I know why,” Diz Dobie said.

  “Let’s have it,” Brick ordered impatiently. The brown boy had them all beat when it came to tuning in, but he sure wasn’t much on talk.

  “Well,” Diz Dobie answered slowly, “this building, it’s been condemned. They’re gonna tear it down.”

  “Aw, we know all that,” Brick muttered. “It’s ancient history. But the place is still here, and I’ll bet it’ll keep on being here for a long time to come.”

  “No, it won’t. It—it’s been re-condemned. They—they got orders first thing this morning to hurry to get everybody out of here by tomorrow night. Then they’re gonna start wrecking the place immediately.”

  “Oh, lordy!”

  Shock held them silent a moment. Then Brick said, “All I could get was that the kitchen is closed down, and that the people who work in it have either quit or gone over to the new building. And I think some of the nurses want to go on strike because of poor pay. But I didn’t pick up a thing about us.”

  “I did,” Princess said quietly. “It’s just as Nurse Jackson said. Somebody goofed on the plans, and now they can’t find room for us anywhere. They want us out, but they don’t know what to do with us. And—and Nurse Jackson’s worried sick about us because anything can happen, and we’ll probably be separated.”

  “Oh, no!” Lily Rose wailed. “We can’t let them do that to us!”

  “I don’t know how we can stop ’em,” Charlie Pill grumbled.

  Brick said, “We ought to be able to think of something.”

  They were silent a moment. Then suddenly Princess exclaimed, “I’ve got it! It’s the most wonderful idea!”

  Charlie Pill turned his head and looked at her sourly. “Yeah? I know what you’re thinking, and it’s crazy. You’re thinking we should all join hands, close our eyes, say ‘Presto,’ and go zipping over to that place of Brick’s. Sure, and what d’you expect us to do when we get there? Spend the rest of our lives flopping around on those goofy flowers?” He gave a derisive snort. “Now I ask you, who’s gonna take care of us and feed us?”

  “Stupid, we’ll take Nurse Jackson with us, of course!”

  “Yeah? And what about our beds, and maybe a tent to keep off the rain, and a truck full of food …”

  “Charlie Pill, you’re insufferable! Why, you haven’t a bit of imagination. Once we get over there, I just know we can work things out. Don’t you think so, Brick?”

  Brick didn’t answer at once. He’d suddenly found he could wiggle his toes, and it was such an amazing discovery that it left him momentarily speechless. He hadn’t had a bit of feeling in his body since that long-ago day at the orphanage when one of the big guys had pushed him down the stairs. But now, incredibly, feeling was coming back. Why? Could his trip to the dandelion place have had anything to do with it? It had to be that. Come to think of it, just before the birds scared him over there, he’d somehow felt he could wiggle his toes if he tried. The act of teleporting must have re-connected something that had long been torn apart.

  If going to the dandelion place could make him well again, wouldn’t it do the same for the others?

  “Brick!” Princess was saying. “What’s the matter with you? I asked you a question. Didn’t you hear me?”

  “I—I heard you,” he said slowly. “And I—I think you’ve got a great idea. It’s the answer to everything.”

  Charlie Pill gaped at him. “Have you lost your ever-loving mind?”

  Bri
ck laughed. “Watch!” he said.

  He thrust the bedcovers aside. It took far more effort than he’d thought, but he managed to raise one foot and to move it a little. The others gaped at him, and a tired Nurse Jackson, entering the ward at that moment, almost dropped the evening tray of sandwiches that she was carrying.

  “Brick!” she gasped. “What are you doing?”

  He laughed again and explained what he believed had happened to him by going to the dandelion place. “If it helped me,” he told her, “it ought to help us all. As soon as we’ve eaten I’m going back—and I want everyone to try to come with me.”

  Nurse Jackson gave a sad little sigh. “I sure wish you’d known about this weeks ago. Have you heard what’s going on here?”

  Princess said gaily, “Oh, we heard all about it, but it doesn’t matter now. If they want everybody out by tomorrow night, we’ll just fool ’em and vanish—and we’ll take you with us and never come back. You—you’ll come with us, won’t you?”

  The nurse rolled her eyes. “Of course I’d come with you if I could. My man’s dead, and my poor boy was killed in the last war. So you’re the only family I’ve got. But honey—” She shook her head wearily and began distributing the sandwiches. “Honey, you just don’t understand. You’ve been in bed so long, you haven’t learned about the practical side of life. You can’t go to a strange place empty-handed and expect to live. Why, old Danny Boone himself would think twice before he tried it!”

  Brick stammered, “But—but it won’t hurt to scout it out first. We’d have to do that. Please, will you roll our beds closer together so we can hold hands?”

  “Hold hands for what?”

  Charlie Pill said, “Ha! They’ve got the crazy idea it’ll be easier to go to that place together if we all hold hands.”

  “Well, maybe it would,” Nurse Jackson admitted. She thrust the beds together and said, “If I had better sense, I’d talk you out of it. But I’m just too beat. I’ve had only an hour’s sleep since last night, so I’m going back to my cot to get some more. If you need me, just press the call button and I’ll wake right up.”