The Window Lights

Good night my favorite daughter," said Asia's mother Janet.

"I'm your only daughter, silly!" replied Asia.

"I love you more than your hamster," said Janet lovingly, nuzzling her face into Asia's neck.

"Stop it!" yelled Asia, "you're wetting my neck! Besides, I don't have a hamster because you will not buy me one."

Asia frowned and crossed her arms. She had asked her mother that very day in the kitchen if she could have a hamster and all she got in reply was 'maybe, now wipe the dishes'.

"Ah, but tomorrow, yes tomorrow has a pleasant surprise waiting for you."

Asia's eyes lit up. She glanced at her mother and asked in a mysterious voice: "does it have fur on it?"

"Indeed it does."

"Indeed I'm happy, indeed indeed!" shouted Asia.

Janet kissed the cheeks of her ecstatic six year old daughter and pulled the top of the covers over Asia's shoulders.

"Now go to sleep and pleasant dreams to you and Belinda."

Asia pulled her rag doll, Belinda, close to her side and thought a moment.

"Can Belinda have a hamster too?" she asked.

"One hamster is enough for both of you. Now you go to sleep."

Asia gave her mother a hug and then settled into the most comfortable spot in her bed. She closed her eyes quickly in the hope that morning would come all the sooner so that she could buy her new pet. She listened to the footsteps of her mother leaving the room, going down the hall and into the living room. As her mother sat upon the living room couch she could hear the couch creak, and even heard a page being turned of the book her mother was reading.

A blue jay night light perched on the night stand by the bed dimly lit the room. The window was partially open to allow the cool springtime air to come breezing in. The crickets and peepers from the wild country beyond the yard always calmed her down, lulling her into sleep.

"Goodnight Belinda," whispered Asia to her doll. "You were a wonderful girl today even though you got mud on your dress. Pleasant dreams, Belinda."

Asia listened to the chirrups of the crickets and then heard no more; for sleep had taken her to that place that is only lit up occasionally by dreams.

While she slept, while her mother read a romance novel in the living room as she so often did late at night, and the grandfather clock ticked away the time in the hallway outside Asia's bedroom door; a visitor came through her bedroom window. Not through the crack, but right through the window pane, as if the glass was not there.

He was a sandy-haired man riding on a cart with an umbrella that turned as he went. Cloth bags filled the back of the cart full to the brim with glittering fine sand. He reached for a handful and then, looking over toward the bed  he said:

"Greetings Pharos, she sleeps peacefully in your guardian care."

From the side of the bed a gentle but radiant light glowed, and barely visible stood the lovely figure of an angel who replied:

"She is like a garden of flowers
Petals blooming in the midnight sun
She dances now in ancient towers
On beyond the book of hours
But fast returns in starlit showers
A stranger road to light upon.
For in the chamber of the deep
A princess lays in a deathlike sleep
Long ago the spell was cast
So long ago in the distant past
That even if this child fair
Should hold the key within her care
She would not know quite how to turn it
So now is the time that she must learn it.
Throw your star dust in the wind
Her dreams tonight are not within
Good evening then my spirited friend
Until you come to serve again."

 The sandman looked at the child sleeping in bed and said:

"Then I better prepare my cart
It croaks and moans and falls apart
Ah, she is such a lovely peach-blossom!
So! Then, all is well with the world
And like the world I must make my rounds.
Peace to you, Pharos!"

Then the sandman threw his sand over the head of the sleeping child and, as the umbrella turned, he left as he had come, disappearing out the window into the night sky.

Usually the dream sand would settle down into a child's eyes and the child would drift off into dreamland, but tonight was different. Tonight the angel fanned his wings, sending the dream sand adrift through all the spaces of the room. It caused the room to shimmer and shine in a soft, golden glow.

Asia played very hard all day and therefore slept soundly every night, but tonight for some reason she awoke. She stared for a few moments into the glowing, shimmering mysterious light in her room. She brushed some strands of her strawberry blond hair from her eyes, then reached for her doll Belinda, who had somehow slithered down deep under the covers.

"Do you remember if mommy left the light on, Belinda?" Asia asked her doll. "I do not think she did, because the bulbs are not lit. Maybe it's morning. Maybe the sun is shining funny through the window."

Asia looked over at the window but the night sky was dark. She looked again at the ceiling light, then over to the far wall. Asia gasped, for out of a shadow in the wall came running seven small children wearing white evening gowns. They laughed and hopped about and quickly formed a ring around her bed. They began to sing while circling round:

"Ring around the rosies
A pocket-full of posies
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!"

Asia landed on a grassy field with Belinda in her hand. The children laughed and tumbled all around her. The bed had disappeared and, for that matter, the house. Asia was in an entirely different place. She was in shock, but the children's laughter helped her relax.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Who are you, who are you?" echoed the children. Then they said all together:

"We are
We are the children
We are the children of Grandmama.
Come with us
We hear the call
We hear the call of Grandmama!"

Asia wanted to make friends with them. They were, after all, not as tall as she and seemed quite friendly. "I must be dreaming," she thought. "I must have woken up in a dream." This made her feel much better. She started to tell them about the hamster she was getting the next day when she would wake up, but they ran off. They ran back the way they had come. This time however, instead of there being a wall shadow, there was a cave entrance tucked away in the side of a hill. It was dark, as most caves are, except that strange lights were flickering from within. The children gathered around the entrance and sang together:

"Grandmama, we want to come in
We've found your child once again
He was fat but now she's thin
That is how we know how naughty she's been.
Grandmama, we want to come in
We've found your child once again!"

An old, very old woman stepped out into the light and blinked her eyes. "This will not do," she said. "I cannot see, it is so bright. Come in my darlings, come in."

Asia and the children followed the old woman into the cave. For a time, Asia could not see, for her eyes had to adjust to the darkness of the cave. The old woman seemed friendly enough, not like a witch or someone mean at all, but it still made Asia nervous to walk into a dark cave.

"Well, it is only a dream and so far it's been pleasant. I will think about good things," Asia thought, remembering that her mother once told her that good thoughts bring good dreams.

Asia looked back at the cave entrance that they had gone through and it seemed to get smaller. There were others just like it, other windows that flickered with lights all along the walls of the cavern.

Asia almost lost her balance.

"I think you better sit down, young lady," said the old woman.

"You better sit down or you will get wet!" shouted the children.

Asia looked around and realized that she was not standing on the ground. It was a large wooden raft floating on an underground river. The cave was quiet except for the splashing sounds of tiny waves washing against the sides of the raft.

The old woman sat on a chair to one side of the raft trying to calm the children down. They were tugging on her dress singing:

"Grandmama, we found your child
We found her sleeping in the wild
On the grass we took her up
We took her up to dance and play
Then led her to you straight away.
Now read to us the stories all
Flickering brightly on the wall."

"I am not your child," said Asia. "I am Janet's child."

"No, of course not," the old woman agreed. "My child is bigger than you, older than you. He is a he and you are a she, and last of all, naughty as can be."

"Did he run away and now you cannot find him?" asked Asia.

"He did run away but I think I have found a way to find him. I see you have brought a friend."

"Oh, well this is Belinda who's a bit afraid because it is dark in here and she does not know you."

"Well, it isn't so dark really. There are the writings of the dwarves." The old woman pointed to the walls.

Asia looked at the walls and saw the windows glowing with golden radiance. She could see pictures flickering in the lights.

"Hey, there is my room!" she exclaimed pointing toward one window.

"That is where you came from," said the old woman in a soft, gentle voice, "and anytime you want to return to your home, you can go. However, the children and I are hoping you will stay so I can read to you the story they tell. I believe you will like it."

"Okay, I will stay," said Asia shrugging her shoulders and sitting down. "It's just a dream, right Belinda?" she whispered to her doll.

"Anyway, I must start. The only reason the children brought you here was to get me to tell another story. They are a terribly restless bunch!"

"Yes, well they are just little children you know," replied Asia.

A window glowed bright in front of them. It looked very much like a giant television screen, except that there was no glass between the viewers on the raft and the picture shown. The children became very quiet as the old woman told the story.