Escape to Otherworld

 

The Arry girls huddled into a circle, arms around each other’s shoulders, bending inward slightly. They began to chant!

Take us to the otherworld

Show us how to turn back time

Let our dream places be unfurled

In the land of literal nursery rhyme.

They repeated the words for a second time and they felt a tingling in their toes as the floor beneath them began to swirl and liquefy.

They repeated the words for a third time and felt a tugging on their feet! All three girls, still dressed in their buttery onesies, were sucked into the swirling vortex below them. WHOOSSHHHH!

Their legs felt all jelly wobbly as they landed, snap, crackle and pop, right into the kitchen of the Three Bears! Three bowls of steaming porridge were laid out on the wooden table, but luckily there was no one home!

“Quick”, said Harry. “Let’s find our way to Jack’s place before the bears come back!”

The clock on the wall of the Bear’s kitchen was showing exactly the same time as their own kitchen clock – 8:15 am.

All three girls rushed out of the kitchen door, along the well worn pathway, through the wild woods, past the home of Little Red in Fantasy Forest and over the river towards the fields where Jack lives. They could see the giant bean stalk rising up from the garden outside Jack’s house and disappearing into the clouds above.

“Hurry up, Barry,” said Harry. “We need to climb to the top to find the Giant Ogre, Olaf of Glassland”.

“Giant!” “Ogre!” yelled Barry. “I don’t wanna go, I’m scared of Ogres.”

“We need his magic harp to show us the way, to get some help to fix our costumes and get cleaned up, AND get back in time for school.” Said Larry. “If we are quick, and quiet he won’t even know we’ve been there.”

By this time Barry was wailing and arguing quite loudly – she was scared and angry at the same time – “No way, I’m not going up”, she said. “Right,” said Harry. “You stay here and wait for us”. Barry sat down at the base of the giant bean stalk and watched as Harry and Larry began to climb up. She could just see the salmon pink satin lobster tail and the blue denim overalls disappearing into the dense foliage; then promptly fell asleep.

Meanwhile Harry and Larry were making great progress, but it was hard work, and very tiring on their arms and legs. Climbing eventually stopped as they reached a wooden platform at the top of the bean stalk. They stopped puffing and panting and looked out over the glassy panorama before them.

“Things haven’t changed since the last time we were here”, said Larry. “I can see the Ogre’s castle over there. Can you see it reflecting through the glass? Looks the same! Reckon we can slide over there in our onesies?”

First Larry and then Harry stepped out onto the glassy surface; laid face down and pushed off with their feet. They glided gracefully although quite quickly, feeling the wind in their hair, and caking the peanut butter on their hands into hard lumps. They slithered like snakes over to the entrance to the Ogres’ castle; cleverly concealed behind the Giant Mirror sticking up out of the glass land. They were going a bit fast so they slowed themselves by using their knees and feet to swivel themselves in a circular motion around the Giant Mirror, slowing to a stop right in front of it.

They got to their feet, hanging on to the edges of the glass mirror to steady themselves. They both looked into the mirror at the same time and could see the Ogre’s castle in the distance. Taking a deep breath and holding hands, they both stepped through the mirror and laughed as they suddenly felt the grass beneath their feet instead of the glass. Ahead of them, through the long grass, they could see the gateway to the Castle. “Let’s go,” whispered Harry! The two girls ran as quietly as they could right up to the gateway and peered into the Castle garden.