Getting There: How I Learned to Love Dragons And Crazy, Talking Cats

It was a beautiful dream to be floating on the clouds above a lavender and cerise-tinged sky, neither night nor morning, but that magical time in between. The brisk wind whistled in her ears and through her hair. She was afraid bugs might fly into her teeth so she wore a pasted-on smile. For once, in a very long while, Andi felt truly happy. This was the best dream or adventure so far … Until the carpet plummeted towards the mountains. Except, the closer she dropped, the mountains became big sand dunes, not rocks, and she breathed a sigh of relief hoping the sand was soft. She tumbled from the carpet onto hard, hot sand, while the carpet darted away, like an irritable bucking bronco.

“You rotten, crummy—” she rose, spitting sand and brushing it off her sweaty face. She looked about the desolate landscape of rolling dunes, which radiated heat and swirling dervishes of dust rose and fell. “Where am I?”

She looked at the sky, now a pale, watercolor-blue bowl over all. Not a cloud there for shade or imminent rain. She looked at herself, noting bared arms and legs. While cool now, in her shorts and black camisole top, she would soon be a sunburned lobster. Andi stamped a bare foot in the sand and then hopped about—it was blistering hot already. She screamed in anger and frustration, “Where am I? Did you do this, Cat?”

Stepping as gingerly as she could, she struggled to the top of a dune, hoping for a lovely oasis or a road, a car, a camel, anything with the sign of life and civilization. It was a sea of nothingness. Only sand. The heat shimmering like water above some areas, she knew were only a mirage like out on the Bonneville salt flats, nothing was there. She turned about, wondering what to do and where to go.

“Maybe, the trick is to stay here. I’ll dig a hole; it should be cooler in the shade.” She theorized aloud.

She brushed aside the already sweat-damp, wind-tossed hair from her face. She reached up and wound it into a knot, hoping it would help keep her cool. Then like a dog, Andi dug with hands and feet until there was a four-foot-deep hole, except the sand kept running into it, or the wind chaffed at the edges of the hole.

“Suck-ola!” She looked up at the sky to admonish, “God? What did I do to deserve this?”

A rough wind blew across the dune and nearly filled the hole with sand.

“Is that your answer? Huh? Should I walk or stay here?”

The wind buffeted her body, unraveling the knot of hair at her nape. The tresses full of sand blew again into her face. She began to walk down the slope of the dune with the wind at her back. At least the sand was not blowing in her eyes—much.

She walked, stumbled, and fought her way down the slope, even tumbling and sliding on her backside. She arrived at the bottom of the great dune and looked up at the messy path of her descent. “Whoa, that was a long way down. Too bad I didn’t have a sled.” She rubbed her chaffed legs, pulled at her shorts, shaking out sand. She swallowed thickly. “I need water.”

“Hello? Anyone here?” she yelled. Her voice caught on the wind and dissipated as she walked between the huge hills of sand.

☼

The wadi was only mud, no standing water, only a patch of motley reeds stuck up out of the damp sand. “There is water here, but how deep?” She stood studying the narrow patch of wetness, then stooped, and took a handful of mud.

“If the animals do it and the people of the Kalahari do it, then I will too. I’ll wear mud to keep cool. At least I won’t get burned to a crisp.”

She swiped the mud on her arms, chest, a few stripes on her legs then across her cheeks and forehead. The mud dried nearly instantly, but it felt cooler. “Thanks Mr. Armstrong, for the National Geographic movies about the desert tribes.”

“You forgot your nose.”

She spun about, seeing no one, she yelled, “Is that you, Cat? Are you here too?” She grabbed up a clump of mud and was ready to throw it at the cat when the disembodied voice came again.

“Not a cat, but you need a hat.”

Andi didn’t see anyone, not even the wisp of smoke that was Ain-u-tep when it was spooking around. She shouted, “I’m not a magician, I can’t summon a hat out of the air, you know. If I was, I sure wouldn’t be standing here. I’d be home asleep in bed.”

“You need a hat and palm nectar balm.”

Getting no other response or physical help, with a sigh, she trudged around the edges of the wadi, afraid the middle might be quicksand; she would really be lost then. She yanked at a reed, it was dry, razor sharp, and sliced her palm. She yelped and then sucking her hand, she broke the stalk by stepping on it. She sat on the dry sand and blotted the wound with her shirt.

“Man, this burns like a paper cut.” She shook her hand.

“Put the mud with white spots on your wound.”

Andi reached out to scoop up the paler mud. It smelled badly, but when she smeared a bit on her palm, it burned then felt cool. Stifling a sob, she said, “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t like it here. How long must I be in this hell?”

“I have been here for more suns than I wish to count.”

Bitterly Andi said, “Too bad for you. I don’t deserve this.”

“Neither did I.”

“Who are you?”

“Make your hat. Strip the leaves and the fibers from the reeds, and weave them together. You need three reeds. Only three.”

Suspicious remarked, “Three huh?” Andi pulled out a pair of thin reeds and sat on the sand. She fashioned a flat piece crudely braided and woven out the leaves. She chewed on a small end piece finding it juicy, a bit sweet but earthy.

Musing as she worked with the third reed, “This isn’t so hard. I made enough of woven friendship bracelets in fifth grade that I can do this. And that luau party where we made palm frond hats was stupid, but hey, I did it. Yet—” she stopped and perused the desolate valley about her, while a hot wind sawed at the nearby reeds and lusted with her long hair. “Yet, I can’t help but feel weird, like I can do this. Maybe not all is lost.” She looked around.

“That is good. Do not despair, have faith in the gods.”

Andi caught on the words, replied, “I have faith in God, but I don’t know about this. Why must I experience this? Is it a test?”

“Life is a test, each day.”

Andi laughed as she bent the woven reeds and then wove a strip to secure the piece into a funnel-like shape. She plopped it on her head, “Hey, not bad, you don’t have a mirror, do you?” She jumped up and pirouetted as she had seen Brook do when trying on outfits. “I must look like a real country-bumpkin; all muddy and wearing a dopey hat.”

“You look fine.”

“You can see me? Come out, whatever your name is.”

“Ah, now you know the secret. Say my name three times and I’ll be free to see you properly.”

Andi again suspicious, asked, “Are you a dragon?”

“No! Dragons are selfish and vile horrible beasts. How rude. Go away! Be gone from me!”

Andi looked around the wadi hoping to catch a glimpse of the person. The sun had passed over the next dune while she had spent time weaving the hat. It was growing shady here, and now cooler. “So, what, am I supposed to do about it, then?” Exasperated, she said spitefully, “If this is a test, then I passed. I made the stupid hat. Satisfied?”

“Go away.”

The voice sounded so disappointed and filled with tears, its gruffness gone, it now sounded female.

“Hey, I’m sorry. Can I help you?” She waited, and then said, “You helped me, telling me to make a hat. Who are you?”

The voice said, “Call my name three times. Aaliyah Abadi Aroseth.”

“Weird, not sure I can pronounce it like you do.”

“Not weird, it means she who is exalted. I possess a generous spirit.”

“All that is your name?” Andi waited then hearing only the wind whistling in her ears, she called, “Aaliyah Abadi,”

“You must say it all, Aaliyah Abadi Aroseth!” The voice corrected.

Shaking her head, Andi grumbled, “Aaliyah … Abadi … Aroseth,” trying to roll the vowels and r like the voice had. Then louder, her voice grew to a shout the next two times, “Aaliyah Abadi Aroseth! Aaliyah Abadi Aroseth!”

There was a clap of thunder and the dunes around her shook with an avalanche of sand sliding nearby. Andi fell to the ground as something pushed up from under the mud. Soon a large jar noisily emerged from the squelching mud as if an infant being born. It was about the size of a big potato sack, but decorated with swirling writing, birds, and flowers.

She crawled out to the amber colored jar and smoothed the dark mud from it. “So, what is it?” She searched for a lid or opening, “Aaliyah, are you in this jar?”

“Yes.”

“You want out, right?”

“Obviously.”

“Will you do anything bad if I do let you out?”

A sob. “No, I promise. Please free me.”

“I hope you aren’t a snake in there. I hate them.”

“I will do as you wish.”

“Yeah, that’s what happened to Adam and Eve. They believed the wicked serpent and ate the darn apples then got kicked out of Paradise.”

“I am not a serpent.”

“Okay then.” Andi tugged at the large jar saying, “It is ceramic I think, maybe I can break it.”

“No, it is precious Persian alabaster, but it will break. Find a rock or your sword.”

“Right, I’m gonna find a rock in a sandy desert. Don’t got a sword.” Andi searched for a rock big enough to break the jar, all the while the thing inside moaned and cried, each time asking for freedom and promising riches to Andi.

“Andi, such a strange name for a person, but you must be mighty and powerful if you are here in the desert. Why else would you be here alone? Do you have a great army to help you? Where is my kingdom, is it still there?”

“I have no idea. Maybe I am only to free you?” Andi replied and leapt upon a heavy object. She dug it out of the mud, it was the handle of a saber, most of the metal blade long rusted away, but the heavy handle was intact.

“I found something, maybe a sword!” She ran back to the jar lying on its side in the sand. She beat upon the stone jar. She nearly gave up after some minutes and with the thing inside crying from the jarring echoes.

“I don’t know what to do. It won’t break.” She looked around, noting the daylight was going fast, the sky above now tangerine orange. “I have an idea.” She struggled to pick up the jar and between carrying it and rolling it, she toiled up the next dune. “I feel like Sisyphus.”

She then pushed it off the high dune, watched it roll down the slope toward the wadi. Of a sudden, the jar hit a bump, sailed out and forcefully crashed at the bottom. Like an egg, it broke in half.

Andi wasn’t sure what was in the jar, but to see a female shape wearing cream-colored silky pajamas was a surprise. She slid down the dune face to the wadi below. The first hint of stars peeked at the horizon above in the dusky evening. She couldn’t believe that she had been here all day. Now hoping she was rescued, she strode forward to the crouched figure sobbing in the sand.

“You are free now, Aaliyah Abadi. I want to go home.” She touched the woman’s shoulder. “Are you hurt?”

The woman uncurled slowly like a new leaf. She lay looking up at the sky. Her obsidian eyes reflected the stars and the hazy twilight. Crystalline tears fell and pooled on the sand.

Andi licked her lips wishing for water. She had been without water or food for an entire day. She missed dinner last night!

“My eternal thanks are to you Mistress Andi. Ha, but you are only a child. How marvelous. You must own a unique power to have been strong enough to save me.”

The woman then rolled to her side and kicked out her legs, the veils of her silky pants ballooned on the errant hot breeze. After stretching her legs, she sat up and thrust her slim dusky arms heavenward. She rolled her head, the ebony silk of her waist-length hair bobbed on the breeze. She opened her eyes again, then breathing deeply she gracefully arose. Slim, darkly skinned, her features finely shaped, with almost feline slanted eyes, she was a beautiful vision of a female goddess.

Putting out a graceful hand, she made a sign in the air as if it were light as a feather, then Aaliyah cooed, “Tell me your wish, child.”

“Is this like Aladdin and his magic lamp? I get three wishes? Are you a genie?”

“I am Djinn, of the hot desert sands.” She waved at the area, “I once was a princess where there was a paradise, more beautiful than this horrible place now. But I fear that was long ago. Of what kingdom are you? Whom do you serve?” She stepped daintily about on golden sandaled feet, her tiny toes painted like pearls, with gold rings on a few.

Andi laughed, “I don’t serve anyone. We have no king. I’m American.”

“You must be a long way from home. How do you come by here? Were you with a caravan?” She quested as she paced about Andi. “Where is your army?”

“Nope, a flying carpet dropped me somewhere” Andi replied and waved a hand, “back there a couple of dunes away.” She sighed, “So what do we do now?”

The petite woman shrugged, but her smile was demure like Mona Lisa. “I think you want to travel, yes?” Her hand flew up and out like a bird, “You want to be free too, yes?”

Andi almost answered but then she eyed the woman cagily, to ask, “So if I ask three things I will get them?”

The woman stepped daintily towards her. “Yes, if that is what you wish.”

“Can I make a wish for myself, or someone else?”

“For you, it is best.” She nodded then closed an eye to wink at Andi. “Ah, you have someone you care about then? You would wish for them?”

Andi nodded. “Does it have to be now? And should I make a wish to go home, or can you do that too?”

“She can do anything for you, within reason.”

“Ain-u-tep!” Andi spun about, recognizing the voice and spying the glimmer of green eyes among the withered reeds.

The cat crept from the reeds around the wadi to sit near the pair.

Suddenly, Andi blurted, “I want your necklace, Aaliyah. That is your freedom price.” Andi’s hand went to her mouth. “I don’t know why I said that!”

The cat smiled. “Yes, give it to the Kitten, she deserves the gift.”

Aaliyah, put a hand to her throat. “My mother gave me this and her mother before her! No, it is my birthright. I won’t be able to do wondrous things without it.”

The cat nodded, “Exactly.” She looked to Andi, “Tell her your wish, Kitten, then take the necklace.”

“Are we going home?” Andi yawned, “I need a bath and a nap.”

“Yes.” The cat agreed.

“Okay, I wish Scott Bays was still my friend and that he liked me.”

Ain-u-tep turned about in a circle, her fluffy tail like a plume of smoke, “Wrong wish. That is already a truth, you don’t need it. If you want a love potion, I can give you that. Wish for something else.”

Andi sighing, chewed her lower lip.

“Hurry.” The cat chuffed.

“I wish to be beautiful and have lots of friends, like Brook.”

The Jinni approached Andi. She stroked her muddy face, “You are already beautiful inside. You are an unselfish child, do not wish for that.”

She put a hand on the pendant above her breasts saying, “I will give you two special wishes, something you can use when you need it most. Say, ‘Give me my wish Aaliyah Abadi Aroseth’ and it shall be granted now and forever should you need it.” She smiled up at Andi and nodded. “Do it, dear Andi.”

Andi repeated the wish, and the Jinni put the necklace in her hand. “You must make one more wish, this time for me. Hold my hand and say, ‘Send Aaliyah Abadi Aroseth back to her time and home, where she is princess of all Djinn.’ Say it.”

Andi kissed the petite woman’s cheek. “Thank you, Aaliyah.” She repeated the wish, “Send Aaliyah back to her time and home, where she is princess of all—”

The cat suddenly sprang upon the Djinn and grabbed the necklace in her mouth. The woman turned to black vapor; the alabaster jar righted and was again whole as the vapor was sucked into it.

The Djinn screamed as the cap sealed the jar, “You said it wrong! Trickster! Thief! My charm!” The jar rolled down the slope of the wadi and fell into the sucking damp sands. Within moments, it and the Djinn were gone.

Andi stood frozen, her face horrified by the event. The cat dropped the necklace at her feet.

Ain-u-tep sat down and purred. “Kitten, put on the necklace, and we shall both go home. And do not forget the saber pommel, you’ll need it, too.”

Andi reluctantly pocketed the pommel then put on the green jade and gold piece in the shape of a flame, it hugged her chest feeling warm and oddly at home.

“En-y-va.” The cat leapt upon Andi and in a wink, everything was dark as midnight.

☼

Andi awoke with a yell. She leapt from her bed and turned on the light. She was covered in mud, but still wore the odd necklace from her dream. She tossed the pommel on the floor. “Ugh, how creepy!”

Ain-u-tep spoke from Petunia’s cat perch. “The Djinn’s jewelry looks good on you. You were smart not to fall for a silly wish, like for riches or fame or immortality. Then giving her the broken wish was the best part—”

“It was? But she is back in the jar buried in the desert! She wanted to go home.”

“She is home. Her city was buried thousands of years ago, by an evil Djinn, Jawad Baba, so she is still princess of it.” The cat snickered. “You did well. You were lucky the magic of your crooked spell worked without a glitch.”

“I said it right,” Andi retorted then put a hand to her mouth, “I forgot to say all of her names. Oops, my bad.”

“Yes, you were naughty and tricky but lucky. Djinn truly are not generous creatures, no matter how they seem. She was taking her pendant with her when she disappeared.” The cat made a huffing noise and curled her tail about her body. “Now, let’s get some sleep. You have school in the morning.”

Andi disgusted with the cat’s interference, dashed to the bathroom for a quick shower. She brushed her teeth and was caught by her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes glowed, her teeth sparkled white, she had dimples and the old scars of acne were faded. Her nose was sunburned. She combed her damp wavy hair and for a second, thought she was pretty. but then dismissed it saying, “I’m sure it’s the magic necklace or a nightmare.”

She fell asleep after reading a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, her favorite poet. Later she awakened, the moon shining bright in her room, then a sound … purring. “Petunia?”

“No, it is me.”

Andi settled again, “Goodnight Ain-u-tep. Thanks for rescuing me.”

“As you wish, Kitten.”