Adam's Apples
"Remember, now..." Mrs. Levin bent slightly to touch Adam's cheek and Zonia's straw-colored hair. "...Never take the responsibility of handling the dream doodler lightly. Only think the kind of thoughts the Great King wants you to think. Do you understand, Adam?"
"Yes, Mrs. Levin," the boy said, strapping the dream doodler belt around his waist and snapping its buckle shut.
"And you, Zonia, stay close to your brother, okay?"
"Yes, Mrs. Levin," Zonia said with just a bit of apprehension in her voice.
"Now, don't be afraid. There is nothing more fun than Dream Doors, as you will see."
The teacher hugged both children, then stood and pointed to a large screen. She pushed a button on the pointer she held and the board lit up.
Toby looked curiously at the flashing lights, then toward the teacher when she spoke.
"The Bible time Before the Flood has been chosen for you. This will be your first Dream Doors Adventure."
"Quantum!" Adam said excitedly. "That's my favorite Bible time!"
Mrs. Levin chuckled, remembering that in her day, in the Before Time, the expression had been, "Cool!"
"Quantum!" Zonia said, trying to match her brother's enthusiasm.
The teacher was glad to see that excitement had replaced the little girl's nervousness.
Toby growled playfully, then stretched his thousand-pound body when the teacher urged the children to the center of the Exploretime cube. His long tail twitched with anticipation.
"Just use your imagination, Adam," Mrs. Levin said. "Imagine you're dream drawing, then push the "DRAW" button on your dream doodler and wave the dream doodler in the air."
Adam pulled the dream doodler from its holster, shut his eyes, and thought of the Dream Door that had appeared when the lighton earlier had made it appear. Adam pushed the "DRAW" button and quickly waved the dream doodler. When he opened his eyes, a many-colored door hung in mid-air.
"Wow! It's a beautiful Dream Door!" Mrs. Levin said. "Don't you think so, Zonia?"
"Quantum!" Adam's sister said quietly though with enthusiasm.
Toby's long tail gave a few extra twitches and he turned his head curiously when the teacher said, "Now don't be afraid. You can come out of your Dream Door Adventure simply by pushing the 'OUT' button."
Adam reached to touch the golden Dream Door lever, his excitement growing, his heart thumping. He reached and took Zonia's hand and she held tightly to the fur on Toby's neck.
"Don't be afraid. The lightons are watching," the teacher said, as Adam pulled the golden lever downward.
The door opened easily, a sudden wind seeming to create a suction that drew both the children and Toby through the portal. Before them swirled a beautiful array of lights. The whirling became faster and faster and Adam felt his feet lift from the floor while the twisting wind drew them ever deeper into the tunnel-like whirlpool.
"Ooohhh!" Zonia exclaimed, still holding tightly to a tuft of Toby's fur. The tiger snarled a surprised snarl. Adam could only say, "Quantum!"
"Use the dream doodler, Adam," Adam heard the voice say calmly inside his head. "Touch the 'DREAM DRAW' button."
Adam withdrew the dream doodler from its holster and pressed the button with his fingertip. Instantly, the tornado-like tumbling began slowing. Another few seconds passed and Adam, Zonia and Toby gently settled their feet and paws onto the solid ground.
The wind had stopped twirling about them. Adam and Zonia opened their eyes and looked all about them to see the lush forest in which they stood. Toby, too, took in his surroundings, his keen eyes spotting several large objects sailing high above and between the trees.
"Where are we, Adam?" Zonia's question came after several seconds of wonderment.
"I don't know...Look at the size of those trees!"
It was true. The trees were huge, far taller than any he had seen. Taller than even the giant redwoods of New Eden.
"We must be in the Bible Time...in the time Before the Flood," Adam said.
Toby growled his opinion, looking up at the tall treetops, and seeing the large bird-like creatures flapping, then sailing smoothly and silently.
"Look! Those look like pterodactyls!" Adam said, pointing in the direction of the flying beasts.
"But they are extinct," Adam's sister advised.
"We must be in the time Before the Flood! ...Real, live raptors!"
A loud scream from above and behind them pierced the air. Startled, they turned to see a gigantic pterodactyl diving toward them. The flying creature swept across them, barely missing them with a swoosh and a strong rush of wind.
Toby snarled and stood over the children, his paws flailing in the air at the raptor when it again passed over.
"Use the dream doodler, Adam," the lighton's voice said calmly. "Think about a safer place."
"Here it comes again!" Zonia cried as Toby prepared to defend against the attack. The reptile flew straight at them, its mouth wide, showing its jagged rows of teeth, its snake-like tail whipping behind its talons.
Toby avoided one of the raptor's talons as it tried to grab him. He knocked the bird's attempt aside with one sweeping blow of his big paw. The pterodactyl screamed angrily and swept upward in order to prepare for another attack.
Adam held the dream doodler at arm's length, shut his eyes, and thought of a safer place. A place with pleasant flower smells. A place with no pterodactyls. He pushed the "DREAM DRAW" button and waved the dream doodler in the air.
Suddenly it was as if the air itself split apart. They could see through the opening, the scene of open sky and landscape decorated with beautiful flowers. A small winding brook gurgled peacefully.
"Quick! Through the opening!" Adam ordered, and the three of them sprang through the portal and into the magnificent dream drawing.
"Quantum!" Adam said with amazement.
"YES!..." Zonia added, equally amazed.
Toby surveyed their surroundings and snarled a curious though pleased snarl.
"Wh....Where are we, Adam?" Zonia asked quietly.
"I don't know...I guess somewhere in the time before Noah's Flood..." her brother said almost as quietly while his eyes, wide with wonder, scanned the scene. Zonia clutched Toby's fur and stood as close to the tiger as possible. The three of them walked slowly, each seeing the brightly colored flowers of every description which grew to heights far above them. The flowers were more like trees than flowers, Adam thought. Their stems were as big around as his legs and the leaves...the leaves were big enough, each one, to make a shirt or a pair of trousers or a blanket!
Flowers covered the land as far as they could see, but the huge trees were no longer in view. Adam, Zonia and Toby walked for what seemed like hours to Adam's sister. "I'm getting hungry," she said rather mournfully. "And tired."
Toby, too, growled a low growl of complaint.
"Mrs. Levin or the lighton didn't say anything about food. But we can always punch the 'OUT' button..."
Adam took the dream doodler from its holster and examined the instrument.
"And I'm thirsty, too..." Zonia moaned and stopped to sit on a large flat-topped stone. Adam continued to study the dream doodler.
"Hmmh. I wonder..." he said quietly.
"You wonder...what?" his sister questioned while lying back on the stone to rest. Toby, who sat beside her, turned toward her and gave her a lick on her cheek. She sat up, making a face and wiping the wetness away with the sleeve of her shirt.
"There's no water around here, that's for sure," Adam said. "Let's try this."
He waved the dream doodler while pressing on the "DREAM DRAW" button, his eyes closed in concentration. An opening suddenly appeared out of nothingness, another beautiful scene hanging in midair.
"Hurry, Zonia...Toby! Jump through the opening!"
The three of them passed through the portal within a few seconds and suddenly found themselves surrounded by even thicker and more lush plant life than before. Adam searched for but couldn't find the source of the sound. "It's got to be here somewhere," he said, bending to look beneath the branches of leaves and flowers to try and see the source of the gurgling sound. Toby squatted low and slipped through an opening in the bushes. Adam caught a glimpse of the tiger's thick tail as the bush closed after it.
"Toby went in here...the water must be this way!" Adam said, taking Zonia's hand and leading her through the bushes where Toby had entered. In a moment, they saw the cat at the edge of a small stream lapping water. They joined him, leaning on their hands and knees, bending to sip the cold, refreshing water.
"This water...quantum!" Zonia said, wiping her face and mouth with her sleeve after having drunk her fill.
Adam said nothing, but looked up and down stream. Toby, too, seemed to be alert. Looking upstream, his yellow and black ears twitched while he licked the dripping water from his jaws with his big, pink tongue.
"Listen!..." Adam said in a hushed tone.
"What is it?"
"Ssshh..." Adam said to his sister, trying to hear the rumbling sound which grew louder and louder.
"What is that sound?!?" Zonia, like Adam and Toby, now knew the sound was coming from upstream. Suddenly, a rushing wall of water was upon them. They had never seen such a thing and even the tiger stood facing the thundering wave.
Toby, instead of running, bumped up against the children and they both grabbed him and clung to his fur while the water swept them downstream. Adam held on as tightly as he could, his arms around the tiger's neck. His sister held onto Adam, her arms around his waist while they both straddled their huge friend.
Even Toby could not control the rolling, tumbling tide. Any moment the three of them would be separated!
"Use the dream doodler, Adam. Imagine a dry place and use the dream doodler."
With one arm still around the tiger's neck, Adam fumbled with the dream doodler, finally managing to pull it from its holster. The sound grew louder and became a roar while the water gushed at them ever faster. A waterfall!
Almost too late! Adam closed his eyes just as they reached the waterfall's edge. He pushed the "DREAM DRAW" button and waved the dream doodler in the direction of the waterfall, which they now began tumbling over!
The boy, the girl and the tiger in the next instant shot through an opening that had suddenly appeared at the waterfall's edge. Each of them did somersaults, finally coming to a stop in a thick thatch of gigantic clover leaves.
Toby was the first to regain his balance. He nudged the children with his nose and licked them with his tongue, making sure they were not hurt. He then surveyed their surroundings, his tail twitching curiously. "Boy, that was a close one!" Adam said, finally managing to get to his feet, then help his sister to hers.
"Look! We're not even wet!" Zonia said, patting her brother's shirt and then her own clothing.
"Quantum!" Adam said, brushing some of the broken clover leaves from the dream doodler, which he admired with a big smile.
The valley below reflected the bright golden sky that seemed to form a dome above.
Adam, Zonia and Toby carefully made their way down the steep slope, their sliding feet causing stones to tumble in front of them. Just ahead, a gigantic boulder stood in their path. They would have to circle around one side of it through an opening only one at a time could pass.
Adam was the first to start through the opening, ducking his head to avoid the boulder's overhang. Zonia was close behind, followed by Toby, who sensed something was not right. The tiger gently seized the little girl by the seat of her pants and tugged her backwards.
"Toby! Let go! What are you doing?!"
It was too late for Adam, who was already into the opening. A huge, gray wall of some sort fell over the opening, blocking his way. Whatever it was, it was moving! Toby pushed Zonia aside and held her down with one huge paw for a few seconds, then whirled around and grabbed Adam by the pants leg and dragged him back to where his sister lay.
The tiger growled loudly and reared on his back feet, flailing his paw toward the big boulder. Zonia screamed when she saw the giant snake's head above the boulder. Its mouth was wide open and its forked tongue flickered in the air toward them.
"Adam! A giant snake!" she said, pointing for her brother to look up at the sky above the boulder.
The snake, twice as big around as Toby, again flicked its long, forked tongue at them, its yellow, slitted eyes glaring at them above the sharp fangs that were at least two feet long. The children, never afraid of snakes because snakes were harmless, nonetheless stood unable to move, terrified at this creature. They had never seen a snake this large. Not nearly this large. Adam remembered stories about snakes in the Before Time and the Trouble Time. They were deadly then. But he had never heard stories about them being as big as this one. This was not the Before Time or the Trouble Time, but the time Before the Flood! They must get away from this snake!
Toby swiped at the serpent and moved to get between it and the children.
The reptile lowered its head and upper part of its body onto the stone and started slithering toward them, continuing to flicker its wicked tongue in their direction.
All three of them backed up as Adam removed the dream doodler from its holster.
"I must think of the valley below..." he thought. "I want us to be safely in the valley below!"
He pushed the "DREAM DRAW" button and waved the dream doodler. The space between the kids and the snake split apart in midair and the three ran through the opening. In the next instant, they stood beneath overhanging tree limbs, each limb sagging because of the varieties of fruit that hung from them.
Thoughts of the huge snake made Zonia shiver and she trembled while her brother held her tightly.
"It's okay, Zonia. You heard Mrs. Levin. Nothing can hurt us during Dream Doors time."
Toby seemed to understand Adam's words. The tiger nuzzled his face against Zonia's, and softly growled a purring growl, his whiskers as thick as pencils tickling her skin. He seemed to want to add to Adam's comforting words.
Toby stretched his great body as far as he could stretch, and with one mighty swipe of a huge paw, brought a number of the luscious-looking fruit from one branch.
They sat in picnic fashion near the trunk of one of the big trees and ate their fill before getting to their feet.
"What do we do now? ...Where are we going?" Zonia's question caused Toby to cock his head curiously, then look to Adam.
"There's a path there, through those woods. Let's see where it leads." Adam's confident words set the three walking down the small, almost grass-less path that narrowed in the distance, then disappeared into the forest.
"It sure is dark," Zonia said, looking around and above at the thick foliage.
The children of Glorainia rarely knew darkness because all was bright and golden and pure in their homeland, which Zonia more and more thought about the further into the forest they went.
Soon they came into an opening where a pool of hot water bubbled. Clouds of steam shot into the air every few seconds and made hissing noises. The dark trunks of the trees surrounded the pool in an almost perfect circle. Flat stones lay around the pool, Adam noticed, as if arranged as places to sit.
Thin streams of light from above shone between the tree canopy. "At least," Zonia thought, "it is a little brighter here, although it is very spooky."
Suddenly, the rays of light seemed to become clouded over and the bubbling, gurgling pool seemed to again come alive with the hissing sounds.
Toby sensed something was not right and stretched his long body in front of the children, blocking their way from going nearer the pool. Adam and Zonia put their hands upon the tiger's neck while the three of them watched the opening grow darker and darker. Adam felt for the dream doodler at his side and felt comfort in knowing that it was still there.
The darkness seemed to grow denser. Now they could barely see the bubbling pool, or each other, for that matter.
In the next moment, glowing yellow eyes--many, many eyes--seemed to blink and peer at them from the dark woods surrounding the opening. They turned to see the glowing yellow eyes moving closer and closer.
Adam, Zonia and Toby backed up nearer to the center of the opening until they stood at the edge of the hot, gurgling pool.
Figures that had arms but that did not seem to have legs appeared to float from the dark forest surrounding them. The figures wore dark, hooded robes of purple or black-Adam couldn't tell exactly which. The only light seemed to come from the eyes that blinked within the hoods of the figures which now surrounded them and the pool.
Adam took out the dream doodler and held it while watching the figures come ever closer.
Toby snarled an angry snarl and started toward the figures, causing them to stop their advance.
"Toby!"
The tiger stopped, baring his three-inch-long fangs at the shapes, which seemed to threaten. One of the robed figures moved forward. A scratchy, echoing voice came from within its dark hood. "Why are you here? What is your purpose? Who sent you?"
Adam, clutching the dream doodler tightly in his right hand, spoke timidly at first, then in a louder voice. "We came through a Dream Door. I don't know why we are here. It's part of Exploretime."
The figure grew larger. Its voice became deeper, angry and the yellow eyes grew more menacing.
Toby crouched to attack the threatening creature.
"Toby! ...No!" Adam commanded, causing the tiger to relax from its crouched position.
"You are wise, young one...very wise," the echoing voice said from within the hood. "The three of you would make a very fine meal..."
Adam's finger moved to the "DREAM DRAW" button on the dream doodler. He held his sister tightly with his left arm around her and the two of them backed even closer to the pool of boiling water. Toby moved nearer to protect them.
"It's the apples! It's the apples, isn't it?!" the creature screeched.
For the first time, Adam and Zonia could see the sharp, jagged teeth beneath the glowing yellow eyes within the darkness of the hood.
"HE has sent you to find the apples! ...Well, you will proceed no further..." the voice calmed and ended with a wicked chuckle. Long, white, bony fingers emerged from the sleeves of the robe and waved angrily. "We shall have you all for dinner!" the creature said, moving slowly forward, followed by the other creatures who surrounded Adam, Zonia, Toby and the pool of bubbling, scalding water.