Category: imagination

Causing Chaos

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‘So you want to be one of us?’ Robin announced after a long hiatus, Joseph nodded in reply. ‘Well it’s not that easy you know…’ Joseph didn’t flinch, kept control of his emotions and looked back into Robin’s eyes, not too fiercely, but enough to show he could stand his ground.

‘We can test him first’ Andrew chimed in.

‘Of course we’re gonna test him, everyone gets tested.’ Andrew looked away sheepishly. ‘You think you are up for that?’ he added talking to the new recruit.

Joseph looked up from the floor and nodded, ‘I am fast, what do I have to do?’

The crew nodded at each other. The boys were all sitting in the attic of the ruin at the top of the village, they had transformed it into a base for their crew and met each weekend to organise their next mission. Today was the induction of a new lad, Joseph, who had just arrived in town.

There was some chatter between the crew and after a few moments Joseph turned to the new boy.

‘Okay listen and listen good, I am only gonna say this once.’ Silence fell around the room. ‘First we gonna blindfold you and take you to the centre of town, you gotta find Mr Finlay’s shop and get into the attic, I’ll give you a clue, there is an old fire escape at the back, it’s not solid but if you are quick you’ll get up it.’ The boys all looked at each other, sly smiles emerging on their faces. ‘Then once you are up there you gotta open one of his old chests, I ain’t gonna tell which one you gotta go for, but you gotta find a skull, the bigger the better.’ Robin paused and signalled around the room with his eyes.

Joseph followed his gaze and saw seven or eight large unidentified skulls hanging on a rope high in the room. He hadn’t noticed them before. Robin continued.

‘Once you got the skull you gotta make you way through the alley ways and back to us, but watch out there maybe a few extra challenges on the way.’

Thief

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He hid behind the tar barrel waiting for the sailor to move, time was short but if he went now he would definitely give his position away, so he sat, huddled, waiting.

There seemed to be some discussion about the theft but the facts that Toby could overhear didn’t worry him. They were thin on the ground and they definitely didn’t know he was aboard. The two sailors finally departed, Toby had his chance.

He crawled out from behind the barrel and crossed the deck, making sure to avoid the ropes and the wooden board, that looked as if might squeal and give his position away. He paused by the mast, double checked the last few meters and scrabbled to the ladder. Swiftly he spun around and climbed down, as he got close to the water he gave one last look back to the deck, no one, then slid into the water.

After six or seven strokes he was clear, he had to swim fast, but not make any sound, he kept his body low, deep in the water, taking long strokes praying the morning sun would not reveal him.

Finally he pulled himself up the pebbled beach and ran towards the undergrowth. He felt his pocket, it was still there. He let our a small cry of happiness, smiled and vanished into the olive grove.

Stealing the Stars

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Alex entered the room, the children knew they should still be asleep, but the arrival of their Uncle the night before was too exciting and the anticipation of fun and games too much to keep their eyes closed.

‘What is going on here you little ratbags.’ Uncle Alex teased the children. There was some little giggling coming from under the duvet. ‘Are there two little thieves hiding from their Uncle under there?’ Alex moved towards the bed where two small children were hiding.

‘We not thieves’ came a muffled denial and then a head popped out, ‘you are a thief’ said Sarah

‘Yea you are a thief’ confirmed her younger brother.

‘I am not’ Uncle Alex replied before jumping on the bed to wrestle the two children. After a few minutes of rough and tumble Sarah’s brother pipped up.

‘Why did you call us thieves?’

Uncle Alex pointed to the jar by the side of the bed filled up with fairy lights. ‘Look, there is the evidence’

Sarah and her brother looked at each other puzzled.

‘You two have been stealing the stars’

Instinct

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The children sat on the grass and watched their dog mooch around. Sniffing the tree trunks, bushes and the corners of the strange white building that didn’t seem to house anything. Perhaps it was a storeroom in times gone by.

‘Imagine being a dog’

‘Woof’ Rebecca replied

‘Very funny, no imagine, not having to think’

‘I am pretty sure dogs think Sarah’

‘No, like just thinking now… oh smell that, oh that smells better, oh actually I think another dog is coming.’ She mimicked the nose of their dog sniffing the air. ‘Just thinking of what is in the now, what is there.’ She paused as Muji came back from around the white building carrying a stick. ‘See look, he just lives for the now.’

‘And your point being?’ Rebecca asked

‘I just wish I could live for now and not have to worry about the future or the past. I just want to hunt for sticks.’

‘Hmmmm…’ Rebecca mused. ‘That’s what all those self help, meditation apps tell you, live in the moment, but it’s not really that easy. You have lots of stuff going on, exams, Brian, Mum’s birthday, A-level choices, things as simple as what to wear to church next Sunday. Muji just has, where is my next meal coming from?’

‘But that’s my point, what if we could stop worrying about all those things and just work on instinct, you know stop questioning if one way is better or the other. How cool would that be?’

Rebecca smiled, ‘I reckon we would end up with a lot of bad decisions!’

They giggled together… ‘Like splitting up with Brian.’

‘Or buying Mum tickets for Spice Girls’. They laughed louder.

‘I think she would actually quite like the Spice Girls concert.’

‘Yea your right… See perhaps instinct is a good idea.’

Moving Sound

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The beat flowed, the bodies followed, it was steady, continuous, but fluctuating. The rhythm held the dancers, kept them still for moments and then released them, allowing them to express their own interpretation of the music.

Hands united, eyes focused, pupils widened. Those that played were lost in the beat, those that danced felt the sound waves, felt the music as if it were an object hanging in the air. As they danced they moved the sounds around like a giant Rubik’s Cube, twisting and turning, spinning and falling. They played and danced till the sun had gone and returned. They smiled and laughed and the next day they thought. They sat and watched the horizon, mind stumbling to find last nights clarity.

A Trap

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We were promised everything. It had never happened to me before but we walked into the room, ready for a fight and… There was no resistance, no maybe, no we will think about it, no no’s! Just yes… It was unerring.

Before we went into the meeting we had discussed what we were willing to give up and what we wanted to fight for, but when all of those things were granted, I have to admit, we were a bit weak asking for more, timid. But they granted us more anyway. We were basically promised the world, so we gave in, we just accepted that all things were going to be great and signed.

And it was not like they didn’t deliver, for the first three months we couldn’t believe it, we were given everything that they promised, all the tools we needed and all the extra resources we asked for, we were swimming in luxury.

But then it changed, however it was not them who changed things, it was us, we had been drowning in the good stuff and it was suffocating. We just didn’t have any fight, any edge, we lost our spark, our willingness to think creatively, we just expected things to be there in place and for people to get it.

We had it so we expected everyone else too as well. But that’s not how it works. Some people out there are still fighting, searching, they have the edge. We were just stuck in the honey pot with all the others who have it, or at least think they have it.

Dancing to a different tune

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The Angel played and the birds danced, soaring high into the sky, up up up to the mountain tops and then, pressing their wings tightly to their bodies they plummeted back down toward the church. The Angel loved those birds and they loved her music. They would play for hours circling the spire, perching on the cross, dancing to a different tune.

Dragon Lillies

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‘You go’

‘No way… you first’

‘Nope you threw it, you can go and fetch it’

‘But what if she is there…’

‘Then you better get in and out quickly’

Emily walked up to the walled garden, took one look back at her sister, let out a long sigh and scaled the wall. Davina looked on, the corners of her mouth unsure whether to bloom into a smile or wither to concern.
‘Can you see it?’ Davina called out as Emily dropped down into the garden. But she received no reply, Emily was either ignoring her or out of earshot. ‘Is the witch there?’ She called a little louder. But again there was no response, her options of ignoring and unheard changed to under a spell or dead. ‘Are you okay?’ She started to shout, but failed to finish as her subconscious mind prevented the words from leaving her mouth, afraid of drawing attention to her sister on the wrong side of the wall.

Behind the ear of the Monkey

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‘What are you looking at?’ Mum asked Nathan as she tucked him into bed. Nathan didn’t reply he just wriggled a little lower and pulled the covers to his chin. ‘What did Monkey do today?’ Mum changed tact.

‘He is very old isn’t he?’ Nathan replied in reference to his pet monkey.

‘He is you are right. He used to belong to your Daddy.’

‘So he is older than Daddy?’

Mum stopped to think for a moment, ‘I think your Daddy got him when he was about 2 or 3 years old, so Daddy is a little bit older but not much.’

Nathan paused for thought. ‘Have you looked behind his ear? Look at the colour of his fur.’ Nathan pulled Monkey’s ear back to reveal soft yellow fur. ‘Did his whole face look like that once?’

‘I am not sure, you will have to ask your father that.’

‘It feels like Muji’s fur under his chin its soft and cuddly, will Muji’s face change like Monkey’s?’

‘Maybe, Muji is a puppy still and he will get older, but I think he will always stay cuddly’

‘I don’t want to get old’

Mum laughed and hugged her son, ‘I don’t want you to get old either, shall we make a promise to stay young forever?’

‘Yea like Monkey’s ears and Muji’s fur.’ Nathan turned to his mother and smiled his big smile. Mum kissed him on his forehead, tucked the duvet around him and Monkey and agreed.

‘Yes like Monkey’s ears’

Adventure Starts Early

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‘It’s like fishing, you put the maggot on the hook, the fish tries to eat the maggot and gets a little surprise’

‘And then?’

‘Well, the bike is like the maggot, they will come running down the path, see the bike and then come looking for us up the hill.’

‘So we are telling them where we are, that’s stupid’

‘Well that’s what you think, but you are wrong. We will see them coming up the hill and then when they get into the boulder field we will double back and run back down the path, easy peasy.’

There was a pause as the plan settled in Joe’s mind. He nodded his head in agreement but still had questions. ‘What about the bike?’

Jacob hadn’t thought about the bike ‘ummm… the lock’s pretty solid we will come back for it later.’

‘Later.’

Crackkkk… A loud snap echoed through the forest.

‘Quick get down, they are coming.’

‘Buuuut…’

‘No buts get down.’

‘But my bike.’