aliens.....n curly ....

It was a dark, uncertain spring, the brightness of the morning quickly vanishing into the evening mist. The calls of the birds the only reminder that all the bird world was in love, and soon it would be summer.

As the evening were still too dark for playing outside, Ian spent most of the time after homework was over staring out of the window. He was bored with the tele, bored with the computer, bored stiff.

The road he looked out on was pure suburban Mattedshark, a road of bungalows, all neatly gardened, everything labelled and explained. Nothing exciting happened here!

Then one night: a crowd of dust swirled up from the driveway opposite, as he watched, the dust became the size of feathers, and slowly took the shape of a bear, standing on two legs. It ambled still standing up down the road, and by the time it reached the next garden had turned into a big square man who turned in through the hole in the hedge and vanished into the darkness.

Ian ran out: He looked across the road, he still couldn't see the mysterious figure, where had he gone? He followed the man's tracks down to the hole in the hedge and taking a deep breath, he threw himself through the hole....

He was in the grass.... deep grass around orchard trees, the mist was getting thicker, he couldn't see the man ahead at all. He felt unsure what to do, the house was only a few feet away.
"Excuse me?" he whispered into the grey blackness, "Excuse me?"
No answer came back. The mist was wet and cold, and he was covered in droplets.
Thoughtfully he plunged back through the hole in the hedge, only to find that his street was gone....

In its place, Ian found a busy high street, with a market place gay with multi coloured covered stalls. He walked towards the nearest one. On the table were boxes of shoes.
Shoes he had never seen before, they all had curly up toes. As if they had come straight out of Aladin. The stall holder grinned at him slyly and pointed quietly towards a pair of red shoes with a star shaped ruby in the middle.

"How about these?" he said calmly, wrinkly his one eye as he smiled at Ian. "You don't come here often do you?"
"First time," admitted Ian softly, wondering if the man would hurt him, "I haven't any money to pay you... I never thought I needed any."
The man thought for a minute, "Right," he said, "Wayfarer! Straight trade then, give me your shoes instead."
Ian looked down at his shoes, they were old shoes, not worth much. "They arn't worth new shoes!" He didn't want to tell a lie.

The man laughed, he didn't seem to care, "Where are you from lad?"
"Lavendar Avenue," said Ian, "It was through the hedge. Only now it isn't."
"Ah! First time! Now that's a terripickle! I bet you're worried sick!"
"My name's Ian." Ian felt he had to introduce himself. He wasn't as yet worried, although perhaps he ought to be. "Who are you?"
The stall keeper bowed, "I'm the Genie," he admitted, "I was in the stories in your world, although they all got mixed up."

"The genie of the bottle, lamp, ring?" asked Ian running his fingers through his short cropped hair. Mum thought that keeping his hair shorter than anyone's else's was a defence against fleas, a defence against the dark arts!

Genie looked amused, and sat down slowly, "None of them, you can call me Genie though, I answer to that."
"Is there a way back?" asked Ian, pondering whether he'd then have time to explore a little more. He pointed back to the hedge line, "I mean to my road?"
Genie smiled harder, and sharp pointy teeth showed, "I have no idea," he said cheerfully, "I'm not a Wayfarer, I heard you lot existed, our stories are about that. Now the shoes, have we a bargain. I get your valuable alien shoes, and you get my valuable alien shoes."

Ian had to laugh, suddenly he was alien and he was with an alien.
"Yes," he said, and pulled off his brown school shoes, and handed them over.
Genie handed him the red curly ended shoes, "You'll find them comfortable. I can't imagine trying to wear such odd things, have you square ends to your feet?"
Ian took off his sock and showed Genie his toes, and squiggled them about.
"What are they for?" Genie asked amazed. "Our feet ends fit into our shoes..."
"Balance, mostly," Ian replied, and pulled on his sock and then the strange shoes, to his surprise they neatly fitted, although he wished he had something to stop up the hole at the end of his toes.

Genie shouted over to the next stall holder, "Hey look after my stall mate?"
He got a nod, so he took Ian towards the hedge, "The books say that you have to imagine really hard the place you were, and then wait until you can feel it, and jump through."
Ian gulped, he knew he was hearing the story that Genie knew. He felt like Alice in Wonderland about to jump into the rabbit hole...

"Can you imagine it?" asked Genie impatiently, "Can you hear your Mother call?"
Ian listened: from far away, he could hear her full pitch....
"Ian Ian Ian, what are you playing at? You know you're not allowed to wander off in the dark..."

He took a deep breath and jumped into the hedge, there was this moment of disconuity, then he was through the thick bristly branchees and twigs and out on the smoothness of the path. He looked down at his feet. He had the red shoes.

Mum walked over: he knew it was going to be bad.
"You're grounded!" she said. "You scared me!"