STORIES FROM RORY No.1a

It's amazing how different the stories can be, inspired by the same set of images!

 THE MAGICIAN'S ASSISTANT

Jim was daydreaming in his armchair, planning his next magician program for a Save the Children charity event, when… Well, he must have dozed off…

… that is what he believed had happened afterwards. It couldn't have been anything else, as suddenly the room lit up and a huge jag of lightning filled the sky. This was followed by a loud crack of thunder and the heavens opened as a torrent of rain, or hailstones perhaps, rattled down so that he couldn't see anything except stair rods sliding down the window glass. Thunderstorms worried him and worst of all flooding, it had happened before, but never like this. His mind went straight to the cellar.

Their terrace was built on a hill and his house stood back from the next one further down the hill, so that a whirlpool always collected on his side of the walls of next door's front garden and gushed down the cellar grate in his pavement and siphoned straight into his deep cellar. There the sluice in the middle of the flagstones carried it away… it had happened before. But a cloudburst like this..?

So, here he found himself at the top of the cellar steps and there was a cataract pouring in through the missing glass in the cellar window and the level was rising frighteningly.

How he had managed to find himself up to the waist in the rising tide, he had no idea – he was slipping on green slime – and the current was dragging him off his feet towards the centre of this underground room where the sluice was now choked up with leaves and weeds, blown in from outside. Well, there had never seemed to be a free spot in his time-table and the whole storeplace needed clearing. But now there was a mixture of freezing hail and a torrent of water pouring in.

With a loud groan an over-loaded shelf slid sideways down the cellar wall and his boxes of fancy dress slid sickeningly into the whirlpool in the centre of the room. Water was sucking the trousers off his legs now, and still cascading in through the grating at street level above. Another crack of thunder and the heavens opened again as he was swept off his feet.

More and more colourful plastic tricks-of-the-trade bounced down, including a ragbag of clothes that he wore as a magician at children's parties. And there went his cape, and the plastic box painted to resemble a pyramid, and where his assistant stepped inside to be cut into two, yet again, and re-appear... remade!

His cloak was bobbing, filled with air, and now swimming towards him. His own arms were waving and threshing, as they grappled with the debris that had already blocked up the sluice and the more he frantically tore with his bare hands the more things slithered off the tottering shelves, and his past literally floated before his eyes. By now the water was up to his chest and the cellar steps were blocked by bobbing rubble. He was by now frantic.

He knew his end was approaching. In despair he dragged his arms up through the heavy water and put his hands together to pray, although he had never been a strong believer. He was more into the magic stuff, like waving his wand that was floating some yards away. Than something dropped down off the shelf and hit him on the back of the head and all went black.

Then, it seemed as if he was looking above water level and a shape seemed to be rising up out of the water and floating into some sort of shape. It was amorphous and holding out its flapping arms to him. Was it asking him to join in some dance with it? It was then that Jim noticed it had something like wings about its head. He reached forward to grasp the extended hands and he felt as if he were being lifted and flying and, as he looked down, the water was gurgling back down the drain and the last runnels sucking back down the grating, like someone slurping tea.

He himself was now sitting on the cellar steps and the cellar floor was dry and the magic stuff was all back on the shelves. But, there, out of the corner of his eye something seemed to be moving. It surely couldn't be his dark cloak slithering back into the box? No… it was some dead leaves sliding down, outside his moist spectacles. Even for a magician, that would have taken some swallowing.

He got up gingerly and found he could walk, and his clothes had dried as if they had never been wet. So strange. It must have been a dream. But his head was aching and, when he felt, there was a large bump on it. He couldn't remember what had happened after that. In fact he wasn't quite sure what had happened before, for that matter.

He looked across the cellar, to take his bearings. There, on the shelves, now back on the wall, there was something hanging over the side of the ragbag box.

He went over to investigate and there was a very large feathery thing sticking on to his magician's cloak. He couldn't remember ever having done an act of magic that needed wings. He never did ducks and birds and stuff. Yet, there it was, a very large bunch of feathers, almost like a couple of small ruffled, wings. It felt a bit damp. This was all very rummy really. Well, he supposed it was all grist to the mill. The wings would come in for something, perhaps his next charity event? He was always in great demand and it was all voluntary, of course.

Then, his eye fell on the pyramid he often used at the front for advertising his shows. It read “JIM THE JOKER – for Children's Charities. Enjoy, and... Do come again.” But he didn't remember having painted that bit underneath, which read:

“One good turn deserves another!” – and the paint felt a bit wet…

Edna Leach 15.02.21

edited 21.02 21

The Ankh Key and the golden dragon

Tomorrow my family and I would leave Egypt, and so we wandered around the large market for gifts to take back for ourselves and friends. It had been a well-deserved break for Nancy my wife and Josh our son.

“Ah, that’s what I want,” I said to Nancy. “That Ankh Key on the shelf, I have always wanted one. They fascinate me. And this is for me, no one else.”

I also bought a rainbow coloured pyramid. It looked like a prism that I’d had as a child.

Josh our son bought an abacus, which he seemed to be drawn to. We did spend rather a lot of money. Well loaded-up, we returned to our Hotel. When we got back to our rooms, we unpacked and admired the items that we’d bought.

I noticed something out of the ordinary, especially for Egypt. We asked each other who had purchased this glittering item.

No one owned up to purchasing the golden dragon. On inspecting the beautiful dragon we then noticed another curiosity on the bottom of it. Confused at what it could be, we decided it was probably a rose compass. We stood back, shaking our heads in disbelief.

How strange, and we queried how did we ever become the dragon’s owners?

We had an early start in the morning and needed to be at the airport in plenty of time, so we went to bed early. I was restless and kept waking up at odd times through the night.

The image of the dragon was interrupting my sleep. Why would any of us purchase a dragon, and why the rose compass?

Paying our bill at the Hotel desk, we caught a cab to the airport. Our luggage was taken and put on the belt ready to be put on the plane.

We had a game of Ludo while we waited and Josh threw the dice. It landed on six so he began the game, which he also won.

He turned his attention to the abacus which kept him occupied until boarding the plane.

On the plane for Britain it wasn’t long before we were up in the air and heading home. I got up to go to the loo. I had to wait as someone was already in there.

Finally it was vacant, what a relief.

I sat there and noticed a news paper. Well, blow me down, a picture of the dragon we had become the proud owners of glared back at me! I couldn’t believe it was a picture of the same dragon and it was right there on the front page. I read the article. It also had the rose compass on the bottom. I took the paper back and showed it to Nancy my wife.

A strange happening was reported about the dragon, and an Ankh key was also mentioned.

A person that had previously owned the key and the dragon was glad to be shot of these articles as they were receiving too much bad luck. It seems they could not get a decent night’s sleep through having nightmares about these two objects. Something about an ancient Egyptian tomb was reported, connecting the dire dreams with the two items which we were in possession of.

This news worried me a lot, as I believe in curses and dark happenings relating to ancient tombs.

I felt very anxious and I said to Nancy, “I’ll be glad when we get off this flight.”

“Now you are frightening me, Michael, as I also believe in these bad things.”

Nancy had hardly uttered these words when the flight got very bumpy and uncomfortable. There was a loud clap of thunder followed by others and the lightening was very intense. It was terrifying and people thought we would crash.

In the Pilots’ cabin, Brian and Liam were frantic as they could not control the plane. It just turned and twisted, dropped down and just as suddenly came back up. The storm was horrific and the pilots could not see where they were heading. Brian shouted to Liam, “Oh God, this is damn dangerous as we can’t see other aircraft heading for us. I can’t say where the hell we are, or where we are going.”

The passengers were panicking and the air hostesses were doing their best to stop the anxiety but failing. The Hostesses were gritting their own teeth and praying that this would end happily.

One person across from us was sleeping peacefully. He never budged an inch. I wondered if he was dead. Before I could check on him he coughed. Still he never woke up. I thought, Lucky blighter he’s well out of it.

The weather did not relent and we continued being tossed around. Children were screaming and huddling into their parents; adults had rosary beads and prayed. I was praying and Nancy tearfully hugged Josh.

I will never know how long we were in the grips of this storm. It seemed like we were caught in this nightmare for years. We came down to earth with a heck of a crash.

Some people had minor injuries, some a bit more severe. Passengers’ luggage was strewn around.

I checked Nancy and Josh, and although they were in shock, they were safe and sound.

Folk began to alight from the plane and met with another shock. They were in the middle of the desert. We had landed in the Valley of the Kings, to be precise.

After the shock had subsided, people were checking their luggage. I checked ours, and most of our belongings seemed to be intact.

Gleaming in the hot sun, the dragon caught my eye, and right beside it was the Ankh Key.

I picked them both up and got what felt like an electric shock. A bright light was guiding me.

I was being steered across the sand. Folk were making comments about me wandering around.

“He must still be in shock,” they said. This alarmed Nancy and Josh, and they followed me.

I had no control as to where I was being guided. The electricity from the light I believed came from the dragon and the Ankh key. With no will of my own, the light drew me to an old tomb and guided me through the door. It turned me towards a wall. I studied the wall and right down at the bottom, out of sight of prying eyes, I noticed what was a keyhole. I placed the Ankh into it and it opened. I was then guided down a very long passage and down a flight of ancient steps. It stopped at another doorway. This door was well rusted and I examined it to see how I could open it. I struggled to find a way to open it. I found another keyhole well hidden, and I placed the Ankh key in it to open it – only to find myself looking at treasures beyond belief! Blinking my eyes, I walked around the room.

Nancy and Josh had caught up with me. Great sighs sounded behind me when they saw what was in the tomb.

A sarcophagus rested there, on the stone table. It was magnificent. I studied the walls and then some of what I think was toys. It was then Josh spotted the tiny coffin just behind the larger coffin.

Among the toys was a golden dragon, and this brought a tear to my eye. I looked at the dragon in my hand, but it was no longer there.

Beside the ancient child deity was the golden dragon. I was just holding the Ankh key.

I realised that this is what the storm and everything that had happened to us all on that plane was all about. “Oh, so you belonged to this child,” I thought. The hieroglyphics on the wall told me the story and this made me weep openly.

A young Princess had lost her child. It happened when the young Prince, who was the child’s father, had knocked him down in an accident, while racing in a chariot. His Princess died of a broken heart for the loss of her son. The writings said he never forgave himself, as he loved the Princess, and was delighted when she bore him a son. The child was only five when he was killed. It said also that he never loved another, although he had many wives.

Other passengers were trickling into the tomb and I asked them to leave. I was afraid about people taking treasures for themselves.

The authorities were called to report the crash. They began to take stock of this Tomb and its treasure. It made good reading in the news papers.

Nancy and I will never have to work again, as this discovery made us wealthy. The wealth I really loved was to know I had taken a favourite toy back to a child who had lost it when he’d died.

I begged authorities to leave the dragon with the child.

It took weeks before they managed to remove the plane. On examination it was choked up with sand and they said that it had crashed during a sand storm. I thought differently.

People that had been on the awful flight with us still contact us to ask how we are and to talk endlessly on the phone about the remarkable story and the treasure I had discovered.

It’s all still a mystery, but I have always loved a good mystery, and I believe what I believe.

Josephine Smith

This is another story inspired by Rory's Story Cubes - the selection you can see pictured below: