The Road to Nowhere: Chapter Three

Chapter Three

            It was a beautiful walk along the old dirt road, and the three children saw all sorts of things that simply cannot be seen in our world. The trees waved in the gentle breeze; and by waved, I do not mean that the branches merely swayed, but each tree extended a long, leafy limb and waved at the children as they passed by. The flowers that grew along the side of the road were all cupcakes and candy bars and all sorts of things that children really like to eat.

            When it was midday, the children stopped to eat their lunch under the biggest, shadiest tree of them all. When Kyle opened the dinner pail, the children found meat, bread, cheese, mustard, potato chips, apples, and cookies. Between the three of them, the pail was empty in no time.

            As the children stood up to continue on their journey, they saw the golden butterfly. It looked as if it were sparkling, the way the warm sun shone on it. The butterfly approached them, then flew a little way farther down the road, as if it were beckoning the children to follow it. So Kara, Kyle, and Levi followed the butterfly down the road. The butterfly led them to a large meadow, and the children began to run around and feel the cool breeze running through their hair and enjoying the beauty of the day. Abruptly, Kara stopped.

            “What is it?” Kyle and Levi asked at the same time.

            “Look,” Kara whispered. “A unicorn.”

            And indeed there was a large unicorn lying in the grass. Her horn was a swirl of every color imaginable, and even some that aren’t. Her wings were purple-no, they were blue-but then they looked green. Why, its wings were constantly changing colors! But other than that, the unicorn was all white.

            Levi, who evidently feared no creature in Fairyland, said to his siblings, “Come on, let’s go see it.” So the three children tiptoed over to the unicorn, who was sleeping in the sunshine.

            “Look at its wings,” Kyle said. “They’re yellow.”

            “No, they’re not,” Kara disagreed. “They’re pink.”

            It was at that moment that the unicorn opened her soft grey eyes and looked up at the children. “What kind of creatures are you?” she asked fearfully. “Not unicorn hunters, I hope?”

            “Oh, no,” Kyle assured her. “We’re children.”

            “Children?” the unicorn asked. “I thought children were only make-believe.”

            “No!” Kyle said, quite surprised. “We are very real!”

            “Are you nice?” Levi asked the unicorn.

            “Yes,” the unicorn replied. “I would never hurt anyone. By the way, my name is Claydo. What’s yours?”

            “I’m Kyle,” Kyle told the creature. “This is Levi.”

            “And I’m Kara,” Kara added with a smile.

            “Pleased to meet you,” Claydo said. “What brings three children to Fairyland?”

            “I just followed a golden butterfly, and I fell in,” Levi stated.

            “Where are you from?” asked the unicorn.

            “We are from Alabama,” Kyle told her.

             “I have never heard of Alabama,” Claydo said. “How do you plan on returning there?”

            “We are going on a journey to the cave of a dragon named Quasbed, on the other side of Fairyland,” Kara said. “We are supposed to obtain a scale from him, and say the magic words. Then we will find ourselves in Alabama again.”

            “I hope you do,” Claydo sighed. “Quasbed is a very dangerous dragon. Only one creature has ever entered his cave and came out alive.”

            “Yes, it was a dwarf,” Kara said. “We’ve met him.”

            “But we can get the dragon scale!” Levi shouted triumphantly.

            “Ah, but do you know how to get to Quasbed’s cave?” asked Claydo. “To reach the cave, you must follow the road to Nowhere.”

            “But if the road leads to nowhere, how can it lead us to the cave?” Kyle asked.

            “No, no,” Claydo explained. “The land that Quasbed lives in on the very, very edge of Fairyland, in a place called Nowhere, where thorns grow instead of flowers, and huge boulders take the place of trees.”

            Levi gulped.

            “I will assist you on your journey,” offered Claydo. “I shall see to it that you make it to Alabama safely.”

            The children cheered.

            “Here, you may ride on my back,” Claydo offered. So the three siblings hopped on to Claydo’s back. And that is how the girl, the two boys, and the unicorn made their way down the road to Nowhere.