The Road to Nowhere: Chapter One

 Chapter One

            “Tell us a story, Grandpa,” a small voice said. Three young children ran to their grandfather and jumped onto his lap.

            The man laughed. “Of course I will tell a story to my three favorite grandchildren!”

            “Grandpa,” said the youngest, “we’re your only grandchildren!”

            “Of course, that’s why you’re my favorites,” said the gentleman. “Now, listen to this story about three kids just like you. The oldest was a girl, and the two younger kids were boys….”

            “Now, these children were named Kara, Kyle, and Levi. When their ages were twelve years, seven years, and four years, something exciting and out of the ordinary happened to them. You see, one day when the children were going out to play, Levi, the youngest, ran out to the backyard before his brother and sister. He was chasing a butterfly-a butterfly who’s beautiful gold color is not seen today. He chased the butterfly all around the yard until it landed on a tree. Levi reached out to touch the beautiful

creature, but when he did, he was pulled into the tree!

            As soon as he had disappeared, Kara and Kyle came outside, their puppy, Syd, at their heels.

            “Hey, where’s Levi?” Kyle asked.

            “I don’t know,” said Kara as she looked around the yard. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

            “He must be around here somewhere,” Kyle said. “Come on, let’s go look for him.”

            So Kyle and Kara ran in opposite directions and began a frantic search around the yard. Just as soon as they were out of earshot, Levi’s voice could be heard from inside the tree, “Woooooaaaaahhhhh!!” He had discovered a tunnel of sorts inside the tree, and at the end of the tunnel was a slide. He was now sliding very fast, wondering what could be happening.

            When he reached the bottom of the slide, he found himself sitting at the entrance to a dark cave, and all was quiet. Levi shivered, not because he was cold, but because he was frightened. He was sure that he had seen fifty pairs of eyes peering at him from inside the cave. He wanted to run, but he was too scared to move. The eyes began to move toward him. He wasn’t so frightened, though, when he saw that the eyes belonged to fifty little men. Each man was about one foot tall, with a long, grey beard that dragged the ground. They wore suits of many colors, of which no two were alike. They were looking at Levi with wonder.

            “What is it?” asked one of the little men.

            “It is a child,” said another.

            “Will it hurt us?”

            “What could it be doing here?”

            “Maybe it is hungry. What do boy-children like to eat?”

            Levi smiled at the men and said, “Hi, I’m Levi. I won’t hurt you. But I am hungry. What do you have to eat?”

            “We have plenty of acorns,” offered one.

            “Children don’t eat acorns,” said Levi.

            “Do you like rocks?”

            “Yuck! Children do NOT eat rocks!” Levi exclaimed.

            “What about vegetables? We have plenty of them.”

            “Yes,” said Levi. “I eat vegetables.”

            “Good,” said a little man. “I shall return with your food.” He scampered back into the cave.

            “Tell us more about yourself,” said a squeaky-voiced dwarf.

            “Well, I have a brother and sister; they’re children too, of course. We also have a dog named Sydney.”

            “A dog?!” exclaimed a man as he glanced up the slide. “He’s not here, is he?”

            “No, he isn’t,” Levi answered. “Why are you so frightened?”

“Because to us dwarves, dogs are deadly creatures. Some of our dearest friends were devoured by dogs.”

            “Oh, how terrible,” said Levi. After a moment of silence he asked, “So, you’re dwarves?”

            “Yes,” answered one of them. “You are the first child we have ever seen. But we do not fear you, since children never harm creatures of our kind.”

            At that moment, the dwarf who had gone into the cave to prepare food appeared once again and shouted, “Dinner!”

            At once all of the dwarves cheered and tumbled over one another to get into the cave. Levi followed.

            Meanwhile, Levi’s siblings had returned to the backyard. “Any luck?” Kara inquired.

            “Nothing at all,” Kyle replied.

            “I suppose we’ll have to tell Mom that he’s lost,” Kara said, her eyes brimming with tears.

            Just then, the golden butterfly flew over the children’s heads. “Look at that!” Kyle said, pointing at the magnificent creature. Their eyes followed the butterfly until it landed on the tree and was pulled in.

            “Oh dear!” A wide-eyed Kara exclaimed. “I think my eyes are playing tricks on me!”

“No,” Kyle said. “I saw it, too. If a butterfly can do that, we can too.” He marched bravely towards the tree, stuck his hand in, and in a moment he too was gone.

            “Guess I’d better join him,” Kara said. She leapt into the tree, and all that was left behind was one of her sneakers.