Adam and Eve 2/5

The Gardeners went along to the wood and because the Bells always went the other way, they turned left just to make sure that no one would see them. Adam found a long piece of rusty iron railing and propped it up against a tree to make a tent shaped opening. Eve wiggled her fingers to open the door and nothing happened.

“I don’t understand it,” she said, “it worked alright at the table half an hour ago.”

“What did the door look like that Leah showed you?”

“It was just three branches from a tree, they didn’t seem to be any special length or shape.”

Adam collected three longish twigs and pushed two of them into the ground balancing the third on top rather precariously. Eve tried the spell again and this time the twigs began to glow. Then a gust of wind blew off the top twig and the glow disappeared.

“Right that’s two things we’ve learned, the door has to be made of wood and its got to be strong enough not to fall over if the wind blows!”

“Why did it work for the books this morning they’re not wooden?”

“They are in a way! Paper is made out of wood pulp, so I reckon that’s good enough to allow everything to work. Now then let’s find some decent sized branches and have a proper go!”

There were plenty of fallen branches lying on the ground, so it didn’t take too long to find two really good uprights with small forked bits left on the end to use to support the cross piece. Adam used his pocket knife to sharpen the ends as best he could and also dug two small holes to give the points a start. Then he pushed the uprights into the ground as far as he was able and placed the third branch into the forked ends of the two sides.

Eve rubbed her hands together excitedly and opened the door. The spell certainly worked this time as water began to pour out of the opening! As quickly as possible she cancelled the spell.
“I’ve no idea what happened then. Perhaps I’m doing something wrong.”

“Do it again, count for five seconds and then close it. I’ll have a look through when it’s open and see if I can spot the reason.”

Eve did as she was asked and once again the water flowed through the open door.

“I can see what it is,” said Adam as the water rushed past his feet.

Eve closed the door again. Adam dipped his finger into one of the puddles and carefully tasted the water.

“Thought so, we’re at the seaside. I could see a sandy beach and the tide’s coming in by the look of things. I wonder if the position of the door makes a difference to whereabouts you come out?”

He thought for a moment and then pulled up the branches and moved backwards several feet.

“That should do it,” he said as he put the door back together again. We should be above the water level now, so have another go at it.”

This time nothing appeared to happen as the door was opened. Adam went through very cautiously, and then called to his wife.

“Come and look at this, is it anywhere you recognise?”

Eve went to join him and had a good look round. They were obviously nowhere near the seaside. They were standing on a thickly wooded hillside, while the view looked over a small river wandering through the bottom of a valley. There didn’t seem to be any people about and they began to relax.

“It’s nowhere I’ve been before in the alternate world, but then I haven’t really seen much of it. It doesn’t seem like the same place though somehow, it’s colder and uncultivated, so I guess we must be a long way from the village.”

“Perhaps the position of the door is critical as well. A few feet one way or the other may make miles of difference to where you arrive.”

They were still thinking over the problem when a loud roar made them look round. A huge brown bear was lumbering towards them and he certainly wasn’t coming to be stroked. They both ran as fast as they could back through the door and Eve cancelled the spell with a sigh of relief.

Adam moved the post to within an inch or so of their original position. “Let’s have another try here.”

Eve waited, ready to close the door just in case the bear was still about, but she needn’t have worried.

“This is amazing,” said Adam, “we must be within inches of the original place and yet I can’t see the sea at all.”

The countryside was open, so he was able to walk about without fear of being caught unawares too far from safety. He ran up a sandy little hill and stopped at the top. Then he came back to Eve slowly and thoughtfully.

“We’re in practically the same place as we were at first,” he said, “but the sea must be a couple of hundred yards away, obviously a small movement of the door makes a large difference in the place you arrive at. What exactly did Leah do to get you to the same place that George took you to?”

Eve described where Leah hid the posts and told her how to place them in the proper holes. It was obvious now why the holes were there.

“So if we want to get to the place you visited we have to go back to that spot and do as you did before. Anything else is just guess work. If we took our branches up there and placed them near the holes Leah used then we should be able to move about without too much effort. It should be worth a try, we’ve got plenty of time, so let’s have a go and see what we can find!”