Visions Of The Past

[lagoonagreen]

Visions Of The Past

by Lila May Guptill (Lunaria)



Chapter One: The Church

"My footsteps made no sound on the carpet's thick pile as I walked down the isle toward the front door. As I open the door a gust of wind blows autumn leaves into the building. The door closes behind me with a metallic sound. I take a deep breath of fresh air into my lungs. My shoes make clickity clackity sounds on the sidewalk leading away from the church. I couldn't wait to leave. One more minute of that droning sermon and I would have screamed. My mother would be very angry if she ever found out I left in the middle of the church service. I am not devout like she is. I think church is for the older generation. I am young and full of life. I want to explore my own path where ever it leads. I continue to walk away from the church and head down by the river. It is Sunday and there are no people milling about. Probably all in church and then home for Sunday dinner. Home for me is 754 Rhyme Square, Three Harbors, Minnesota. I live with my mother and father and big brother. My name is Lagoona Celeste Green. I am 13 years old and in the eighth grade. I will be expected home after church I better keep my eye on the time. I will have a little while to sit by the river anyway."

Lagoona sat on a big rock that was close enough to the water that she could daggle her feet in the water. There was a breeze blowing across the water that misted Lagoona's freckled face. She had copper colored hair that went with the freckles and brown/green eyes. She liked to sit by the water and think deep thoughts. She was doing this now when she was startled back to reality by her best friend yelling, "Lagoona, hey Lagoona, what you doing down here? I saw you leave church. I wanted to follow you but I'm in enough trouble now". "Hi Stacy. I couldn't take the sermon any longer. Had to get out of there" "Hey you wanna go exploring today?" "Ya, Stacy That'd be cool if I can get out of the house. I have to get home and eat dinner before they figure out I ditched church. Give me a call after you think I'm finished eating. I will have to do the dishes too." "Okay, I'll call you", Stacy chirped.
Stacy was a cheerful child. She was shorter than Lagoona and had blond hair and blue eyes. She lived next door to Lagoona at 753 Rhyme Square. They had a secret code that they used to speak to each other at night from their bedroom windows. Now they walked together to their respectful homes to eat dinner. Later they would go exploring together.
Lagoona entered the front door of her house and into the kitchen. "Set the table, dear. Dinner is almost ready." Her mother was from the old school.
She believed in all the things they did in the eighteen hundreds. And she tried to make Lagoona live that way too. But Lagoona had a way to get around that.
Lagoona set the table as she was told. She had learned long ago not to say no to her mother. It was easier just to do it and thereby side step a long discussion. After all she was into her own thoughts. Especially today she wished her mother would stop talking. Her voice ground into Lagoona's thoughts. Dinner over, Lagoona gathered up the dishes while her mother put the leftovers away. Putting soap in the dish pan and then the dishes she began washing them. Her brother Larry, was suppose to wipe the dishes but he bound out of the house right after he ate. "Now I suppose I will have to wipe too", she said to her mother.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt you, dear " Larry always got away with everything.
"Someday I am going to fix him good", Lagoona said under her breath.

The dishes were put away and the phone rang. It was Stacy as was planned.
"I'm going out with Stacy, mom." "Okay dear, don't be out late. There is school tomorrow." "I won't , mom."
Stacy and Lagoona met in front of their houses. They decided to go explore the caves down by the river. They each had a flash light with them because the caves were dark and they knew they would need them. No one was informed of where they were going because they had been warned to stay away from the caves. But the pull to explore them were just too compelling.
Arriving at the entrance to one of the caves, they entered. It was dark all right and they needed to use the flash lights right away. This cave was very large. The girls continued to walk way to the back were they saw an entrance to another part of the cave. After walking way to the back of this part another entrance appeared and so they entered that one. Halfway into the cave Lagoona saw a large bone. "Hey Stacy, come here. Look at this". Stacy came to see what Lagoona had found. "Man that sure is a big bone. I wonder what it is from?" Lagoona picked the bone up and Stacy took one end of it.
Suddenly, without warning they both were whisked away. It was like going very fast down a spinning tunnel.

[lagoonagreen]

Chapter Two: Mammoth Land

When they stopped spinning they sat on the ground to get their bearings.
Looking around nothing was familiar to them. They were in a field, but they didn't know what field. "Wow, what happened?" Lagoona was white as a sheet and so was Stacy. Both girls were sick to their stomach too.
After they felt more like themselves they stood up. The grass was up to their waists. "Man, where are we?" , Stacy said with a shaky voice." I wish I knew",
Lagoona said, whose voice wasn't any steadier. They started plowing through the tall grass till they came upon a solid structure. It seemed to be a large cave. The girls entered. There was a fire burning in the middle of the cave. No one was there. The girls looked around and saw the beautiful art on the walls of the cave. There were animal skins and crude tools too. "We must be in prehistoric times," Stacy whispered. "Ya sure looks that way," Lagoona whispered back. Do you suppose we are dreaming or something?" Stacy shook her head. "I don't know where we are, what happened , or anything. I just want this to end and I want to go home."
"I agree with that", said Lagoona. Suddenly they heard a lots of grunts and shuffling feet. Into the cave entrance walked about ten people/animals. They were short, hairy and wore animal skins for clothes. They had meat with them. Looks like they made a fresh kill. Funny thing was they did not seem to notice the girls. They went about their business of putting the meat on a stick over the fire and one of them kept turning it.

Now it was really weird that no one saw the girls standing there. The tenants of this cave went about their business of eating and then they went to their own corners of the cave ,pulled animal skins over them and went to sleep.
Lagoona and Stacy were really hungry at this point. The meat smelled good. There were leftovers and Lagoona carefully went and got some. No one seemed to see her. She and Stacy ate the meat. The fire had died down to just a glow. Enough light from it was left so the girls could faintly see the entrance out of the cave. They edged toward it and ran far away from the cave.

They finally stopped running and took account of their situation. Stacy spoke first. "You know, Lagoona, this is very weird. Where are we, how did we get here, and how do we get home? I am very afraid. What if we can't get home?" Lagoona was thoughtful for a long time then she spoke. " It all started when we touched that bone. Somehow we entered another timeline.
We traveled to the past.. I never believed in this stuff before but now that I experienced it I know it is real. We have to retrace our steps and find that cave where the bone was."

So the girls started walking but stopped abruptly when they saw a herd of wooly mammoth. Their shaggy fur touched the ground. They were huge.
The girls stayed low in the grass until they passed. They got up slowly and continued their walking. They hadn't walked much further when they saw the cave they came out of. Entering the mouth of the cave they saw the flash lights they dropped when they touched the bone. Picking them up they flashed them around 'til they saw the bone. Lagoona whispered, "Stacy, put your flash light in your pocket. We are going to both touch this bone and see if it will take us back to our time." Stacy did as she was told. Lagoona also pocketed her flash light. They edged up to the bone and both touched it at the same time. The spinning tunnel sensation happened again.

[lagoonagreen]

Chapter Three: Home again

When they stopped spinning and their vision cleared they saw they were in another cave. Lagoona spoke. " This must be the second cave we went through. This must be in our own time" Stacy did not answer. She was being sick. All the contents of her stomach left her. "Oh, Stacy, are you all right?"
"I am now", replied Stacy. "Lets get to the first cave we entered," said Lagoona. The girls walked and found the first cave. Way up they saw the mouth of the cave by light streaming in. After they were out of the cave and in familiar surroundings the girls heaved a sigh of relief. And after that Lagoona lost the contents of her stomach. Stacy commented, "It must be that we cannot take anything from the past into the future. Are you all right, Lagoona?" " Am now", Lagoona replied.

Stacy and Lagoona vowed never to go near those caves again. They made their way back to the center of the city. It was getting dark and they were afraid they were very late and would have some explaining to do. By the clock on the tower it was almost 9 PM. Both of their curfews were 8PM
They stopped to make up an excuse of why they were late. And making haste to their front doors they said goodnight. Each knew they would be punished for being out after curfew, but they were so glad to be home safe that they didn't care.

Lagoona entered her front door and was greeted by her mother. "Where have you been Lagoona Celeste Green?" "Sorry mom", Lagoona explained why she was late. Which of coarse wasn't the truth. But she couldn't tell what really happened because her mother would never believe her.
"Well young lady, you march right up to your room and get to bed. I will deal with you tomorrow and so will your father."
Lagoona went gladly to her room. The less she had to deal with her mother the better.
Lagoona took a shower and then got into bed. Her dreams were very weird. She dreamt of those prehistoric people and the mammoths and the cave where she ate that meat. She slept fitfully. Morning came and the alarm woke Lagoona. She felt as if she hadn't slept at all.

Going to the bathroom to brush her teeth, she looked in the mirror. What she saw startled her so much that she forgot about her teeth. She had hair all over her face and body. Running to the window to hail Stacy she saw that Stacy was already trying to hail her. The message was " come now to the field, hurry" Lagoona wasted no time. The girls met in the back of their houses and high-tailed it to the field as fast as they could. The field was over grown with trees, brush and high grasses. So no one would see them. They looked at each other in disbelief. Stacy was suffering from the same ailment as Lagoona. Hair all over her body.

They were changing in other ways too. Their eyebrows were getting very bushy. They were having a hard time thinking and trying to talk.
With effort they made each other understand what they were saying.
The gist of what they were communicating to each other was that the meat they ate in that prehistoric life time must have started a change in their bodies. Even though they threw up most of it some must have gotten digested. Now they looked like those prehistoric people. They couldn't live their lives with these people here in this life time now. There was only one thing to do and that is go back to the prehistoric life where they at least will be accepted. And they wondered what life was really the one they belonged in. Which one was the dream. Which one was real. With resignation they headed back to the cave. They found the cave with the bone in it and both held it. Within minutes they were in the spinning tunnel. When the spinning stopped they were back in the field where they saw the mammoths.

[lagoonagreen]

Chapter Four: Really Home

The Girls sat in the field looking at each other for a long time. By this time they looked just like prehistoric people. All their modern facial features had changed into cave people features. Their minds had changed also. They couldn't remember anything from the other life. The only thing that stayed the same was Lagoona's freckles and copper colored hair and Stacy still had her blond hair and blue eyes. They started communicating by using signs with their hands and discovered that they could understand each other.

Some people were making signs at them. They recognized these people as their parents. The gist of the conversation was, " Where have you girls been. We were worried about you. Hurry home. Dinner is almost ready". The girls walked faster 'til they reached their cave. It was a large cave with a skin hanging over the cave entrance to keep out the cold. Inside there were lots of furs laying on the ground. A large fire was in the middle of the cave, but there were also small fires for each family. Stacy and Lagoona seemed to know where their fire was. They both went to the same one. It seems they were sisters. Dinner was meat. They ate with gusto because they had just come back from a very long journey and they were very hungry.
Having finished their meal they pulled a fur over themselves and went into a very sound sleep. Each girl had dreams of a strange land. One that they did not understand.

Copyright © 2004 Lila May Guptill (Lunaria)