The boy and the end of the world
Part 1: What an Adventure this would be
There once was a boy called Tim. He was of eight years, a red-haired, gangly boy assorted with the awkward elbows and sniffling nose that most boys his tender age had. He liked collecting Liverpool soccer star stickers, though he did not know why they hardly won. He also loved to pick up the odd-looking pebble on the ground and kept these in a small pail in the back of his small bedroom. Finally, he loved asking questions. Why was the sky blue? Why did cats have nine lives? How do the birds and bees do it? These questions he asked both amused and irritated his teachers and parents and peers. They would say, "Tim, you'll find out one day," and pat him on the head, give him a long look and Tim knew he should not ask anymore. But he always asked again later.
One day, a Friday it was actually, Tim was in his schoolroom, listening to Mr Garthy explain about the wonders of the universe, the sun, the planets, stars, moons and all that. It really was rather fascinating. So was Susie Williams sitting in front of him, she with her red curls and deep green eyes, but that's a story for later. Tim loved the lesson he was having, and he soaked up all the information about the solar system, the nine planets and how round the Earth was. That was where his habit kicked in again. He put up his hand.
Mr Garthy was ready for Tim's daily questions. "Yes Tim?" he pointed.
"Sir? Is there an end to the world? Or if that's bad english, an end of the world? What's over there?" Tim asked rather matter-of-factly.
Mr Garthy laughed, and laughed and laughed until his face was tomato red in their seasons. The whole class sniggered, giggled and chortled along. Mr Garthy finally calmed down and bellowed, "The end of the world? My dear boy! There is no end of the world! The Earth is round, one end links to the other, like a ring. There is no end!" He gave a finishing grin and continued on with the suns, moons and stars. Tim listened half-heartedly as being ridiculed did not bode well with any boy wishing not to look the fool in front of Susie Williams.
When class ended, everybody went for lunch in the canteen. There, Tim asked all his friends, teachers and even the canteen chef if there was an end to the world. His friends laughed in his face and called him a fool, his teachers patted him on the head and assured him the obvious. Only the canteen chef ventured some information.
"You don't want to find the end lad," she said, a heavy-weighted lady but jolly as per the stereotype, "The end is not a place for someone as young as you. It is full of despair, depression, death, temptation. It is the home of the devil, of fallen angels cast down for defying our Father, of the demons that lurk under the beds and in the cupboards. It is not a place for mortals, much less a boy." She would say no more.
Tim was intrigued, perturbed and tempted all at the same time. He needed to know more about the end of the world. He needed to find out where it was and why it was shunned by everybody. He found himself in the library an hour later sitting by a computer. He was surfing the internet for information. He was sure he could get some good ones there. Tim typed in "The end of the world" in the search engine provided and clicked "Go". It took him 3.714656 seconds to get fifty thousand sites. That was the easy part, he supposed. Now he had to find one that was actually related to what he was looking for. Hours passed by and it was almost time for the library to close. Tim had discarded hundreds of useless links and was lamenting on how he would not get his answer after all. Just then, one of the few thousand links caught his eye. It was a link to the site "The site of the book of the dead". Tim clicked on it and a black, rather poorly-done webpage popped out. It had pictures of skeletons and ghosts and zombies with half-eaten brains all over. He scanned through the site and found a small section on the end of the world. He highlighted it for better reading and silently read.
tread past the fox of quick slyness,
through (silently) the forest of whispers,
into the cave of fulfilled slumber
and under the rainbow.
There, the end of the world waits,
the crevice of eternal eternals,
BE THERE OR BE SQUARE
- The Book of the Dead Chapter Seven (Finding the end of the world made easy)
Beneath it was a small line of words saying: "Just go to Kensington Road near the old St Andrew's Church in Liverpool. First step's there." Tim laughed and was rather pleased at that time. He hurridly printed out the directions and stuffed the paper in his orange schoolbag before running home. At home, he asked his mother whether she knew where the end of the world was.
"The end of the world?" she had repeated while pouring some apple juice for him and the daily three shots of vodka for herself, "Is that what they teach you in school now?" She downed all three shots and went upstairs to cry again. Tim knew the conversation was at an end and went into his room. He had thought about asking his mother to drive him there but the state would not allow her to handle a vehicle after the last few incidents of drunk-driving. Tim had to think of something else and he did think... for two minutes, before deciding to go to the end of the world himself. It should not be hard, he reasoned as he took out a small brown suitcase, it was in Liverpool! He could go there and come back by Monday. He opened his ultra-super-extremely-super-very secret piggy bank and broke it. It had about fifty pounds
and sixty pence within. He put the money in his pocket. He packed in some sweaters for the cold, five extra shirts and pants to be safe, and plenty of undergarments. He stuffed in his favourite blanket and locked the suitcase. He scrawled a note that said: "Off to see the end of the world, will be back soon, Monday I guess," then, orange bag on his back and brown suitcase dragging along, Tim left the house for his trip.
He was so excited.
end of part 1, part 2 on its way
I write when I have stuff on my mind.... i should write more.
