The New Doctor

 

            Hospital waiting rooms were the worst. Brandy fidgeted while she watched the clock. Her appointment with the new doctor was supposed to start twenty minutes ago. Mom had gone down the hall to the vending machines to get them both a snack.

            Waiting for Mom to come back, Brandy hoped this new doctor would be able to help her. Her previous doctor hadn’t been able to do much for her illness, so he referred her to the specialist. The new doctor’s office was in the large downtown hospital.

            Now she sat in the waiting room, trying to calm her nerves. Where was Mom? The vending machines weren’t that far away. Suddenly, there was a crash from the hallway. “Mom?” Brandy called out. She got up and walked toward where the noise had come from. She looked down an awfully long hallway. (Much longer than it had appeared when she first arrived.)

            Her breath stuck in her throat when she saw a large, powerful black panther bounding down the hall. Brandy yelped and turned to run. She ran blindly, without knowing or caring where. She just had to get away from the panther. She heard it crashing behind her and swore she could feel its hot breath on her neck.

            Chancing a look behind her, she ran faster when she saw that the panther was getting closer. Her illness had left her weak, but adrenaline helped her find speed. She hadn’t been able to run like this for at least a year.

            Brandy followed the long hallway in front of her. Strangely, it didn’t appear to have any other hallways or doors intersecting it. There was only one way to go – straight.

            She pushed her body faster and felt her heart hammering in her ears. There had to be somewhere to hide. Why weren’t there any doors off this hallway? She felt like she’d run at least a mile. How big was this hospital, anyway?

            Finally, the eternal hallway seemed to have an end. A closed door rushed up to greet her as she ran toward it. Praying that it wasn’t locked, Brandy turned the handle and threw herself inside, slamming the door shut behind her. She locked it and leaned against the door, listening for the panther.

            There was an enormous thud as it seemed the panther had run headlong into the door. Loud snarls and scrapes told Brandy that the panther was still trying to come through, but the locked door held fast. She breathed a huge sigh of relief and looked around at her hiding place.

            It was the strangest hospital room she had ever seen. The floor was made of tile near the door, but it merged into what could only be described as a forest floor. Dirt and roots had pushed up through the tiles, and trees were growing inside of the room. Brandy moved forward to get a better look and saw that there was a path through the undergrowth.

            She breathed in the smell of pine and earth before setting off down the path, feeling more and more like she had come outside somehow. What she thought had just been a small room, turned into something enormous. The further she walked, the more confused she became. How was this possible? Soon, trees surrounded her, and she could no longer see the walls. This inside forest was immense.

            She continued walking along the path, looking for anyone who would be able to help her. She knew she couldn’t go back the way she had come. She did not want to get close to that panther again.

            Soon she heard the sound of water running. The trees were starting to thin and bright sunlight shone down on her. When had she come outside? Suddenly, the path ended. A large, grassy field sprawled out before her, and a beautiful fountain stood in the middle of it. She walked up to it and admired the water shooting out of the top and traveling down several small waterfalls, before it was caught in the stone basin in front of her.

            This fountain had to be at least twenty feet tall. It was a few moments before she noticed the sign standing next to it. It said: “Come and drink of our cool, clear water and enjoy its many benefits! Only 25 cents!”

            Next to the sign was a small vending machine full of paper cups. Disappointment filled Brandy. She never carried any money with her. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and started walking again. Her right hand closed around something circular in her pocket. Pulling it out, she was amazed to discover a quarter!

            She happily inserted the quarter into the small machine, and a paper cup came out. Brandy held it under one of the waterfalls until it filled. She put the cup up to her lips and drank the water.

            It was the best water that she had ever tasted. Usually, water didn’t really have a taste, but this was amazing! She drank the entire cup full and felt the water move through her body all the way to her fingers and toes. She closed her eyes and savored the taste of the water still on her lips.

            Mom shook her shoulder. “Are you all right, Brandy?”

            Brandy’s eyes shot open and she was once again sitting in the waiting room. Mom was looking at her in concern with a chocolate bar in her hand. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Brandy said quickly.

Mom didn’t look quite convinced. “I’m sorry I was gone so long. I went over to the nurses’ station to see how much longer we would be waiting. They asked me which doctor we were seeing, and they said that there was no Dr. Fountain that worked anywhere in this hospital. I told them that we had been referred here by your other doctor, Dr. Youth, but they had never heard of him either.” Mom’s look of confusion was total. “So, now we have nothing to do here. I’ll have to find another doctor for you, apparently.” She held out the candy bar. “I got this for you anyway, so this won’t be a totally wasted trip. I’ve never seen this kind of candy before, and I thought you might like it.”

            Brandy took the candy bar without looking at it. She stood up and followed Mom out of the hospital to their car. Brandy was amazed at how good she felt. Normally, she would have had to stop and take breaks, but she felt full of energy. Walking was finally easy today. She still felt good when she got in the car. Then she looked down at the chocolate bar and smiled. She had never seen this kind either, but the events of the day almost made sense when she read the name of the candy: Fountain of Youth.

Sneaking Out

 

            Gwen thought she was going to die from the oppressiveness of the cave. She and her family had been stuck inside for a week because one of the humans had caught a glimpse of her and organized a dragon hunt.

            It didn’t matter how many times she told her parents that she was sorry. Dad was adamant about everyone staying in their magically sealed cave. As long as they stayed inside, no one would be able to find them.

            She rearranged her wings irritably. They had another week of hiding before Dad said that maybe they could go outside again. Gwen’s anger rose and steam came out of her nostrils. How could she wait that long? She needed to stretch her wings before they felt like petrified stone. She was so desperate to fly around outside that she decided she would sneak out tonight.

            As soon as Gwen made a plan to sneak out for a small flight, she felt her body relax. “Only a few more hours, and I’ll be out of here,” she whispered. She counted down the minutes until she would be free of this awful cave. Bedtime came slowly and Gwen couldn’t wait.

            A long time passed after lights out, but Gwen finally decided that it had been long enough since everyone had gone to sleep. Luckily, they each had their own little alcove to rest in, and Gwen’s was on the opposite side of the cave from her parents.

            After pretending to be asleep for at least an hour, she felt a little stiff. Just another thing that could be cured by flying, she thought. She slowly stirred from her alcove, and waited a minute for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Without fire, the cave was dark, even for dragons who had excellent night vision.

            Gwen slowly moved toward the cave’s exit, staying as silent as possible. She was congratulating herself on doing such a good job when she stumbled over a large rock. A huge “crack” rang out which echoed through the still cave.

            She froze, hoping against hope that her parents wouldn’t be woken up by the noise. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her brother, Patrick’s voice. “Who’s there?” he called.

            “Shhh!” Gwen whispered frantically. “You’ll wake up Mom and Dad!”

            She heard Patrick yawn. “What are you doing, Gwen?”

            She debated telling Patrick her plan, but she knew he would tell on her if she didn’t. Patrick was a very protective older brother.

            “I need to get out of here and stretch my wings,” Gwen whispered to Patrick. “Don’t tell Mom and Dad, and I’ll let you come with me.”

            There was silence, and Gwen thought she had made a mistake by inviting Patrick. She had almost resigned herself to going back to bed when Patrick said, “Okay.”

            Her hopes rose as Patrick joined her. The cave’s exit wasn’t too far, but they had to navigate around several boulders and rocks strewn around the cave. Her heart leaped into her throat every time she or Patrick tripped over one of these. She knew they were making more noise than was wise, but the night sky was beckoning to her.

            Finally, Gwen and Patrick reached the cave’s exit. Gwen had never been so excited to see the twinkling stars in the velvet sky. She was just about to fly outside when she heard a most unwelcome sound.

            “Where do you think you two are going?” Mom said, appearing right next to Gwen.

            “Mom!” Gwen yelped. Quickly, she thought up an excuse. “We were just coming to look at the stars.”

            “Yeah, that’s right,” Patrick added.

            Mom’s eyebrow rose as she said, “Is that so?”

            With Mom’s eyes boring into hers, Gwen knew that she couldn’t fool her. She heaved a sigh and whined, “I’m so bored, Mom! I can’t sit here in this cave anymore!” She glanced over at Patrick. “This was all my idea. Patrick just wanted to come along.” Her shoulders sagged as she waited for Mom to dole out punishment.

            The punishment didn’t come. Mom smiled and said, “I feel the same way that you do, you know. I wanted to see if the dragon hunt was still on. Dad’s already outside, checking to see if the coast is clear.”

            Gwen flapped her wings happily at this news. “So, we can go outside?” Her voice rose in excitement.

            “Yes!” Patrick cried as Mom nodded her head.

            “Just wait for Dad to get back.” Mom eyed Gwen seriously. “Just so you know, there was no way you guys would have snuck out of here. You made a huge amount of noise as you stumbled around in the dark. Not to mention that our magic allows us to know when anything comes in or out of the cave.”

            Gwen hung her head sheepishly. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

            Dad appeared, landing just outside the cave. “Oh, good. Everyone’s here.” He smiled. “Who’s ready to go outside?”

            Joy flooded into Gwen as she shot out of the cave entrance into the night air. She took a deep breath of the free air as she beat her wings to pull herself higher into the sky. This was amazing! The week of being trapped in the cave melted away, and she felt alive.

            Her family joined her in the sky. She looked over at Mom and realized that she never had a chance of sneaking out of the cave. Dragons were very protective of their young, and Gwen was grateful. She felt safe when she was surrounded by her family. She just hoped they never had to endure another solid week of cave time.

Beautiful Gems

 

            Jay flew over his usual hunting ground. His friends said that he had enough food hidden away already, but Jay was always on the lookout for more. Who knew when the bird apocalypse would happen and all the food would disappear? You just never knew.

            Jay spread out his handsome blue wings and let out his scratchy call. As a proud blue jay, he showed off his colors as often as he could. Hold on, there was something interesting! He flew down closer to see what it was.

            There it was! It shone in the grass and sparkled as the sun’s rays hit it. Jay landed next to the shiny thing and pecked at it with his beak. It was hard and definitely not food. He wondered how it would look at home. It wasn’t very big and he could easily carry it. He stared at it, admiring its shiny green depths. It was so beautiful! Truly an amazing gem!

            Jay carefully held the emerald in his beak and flew back to his home with it. When he reached the shrub where he usually roosted, he gently set down his prize. Where should he put it? He tried several different places before finally deciding to wedge it in the crook of his favorite branch.

            Jay hopped back to admire its beauty and the way it gleamed when it caught the light. He felt deep satisfaction and turned to fly away again when something else glimmered in the grass. Was this another gem?

            It was! But this one was red and possibly even more lovely than the green one. Jay picked up the glowing ruby and set it next to the green emerald. After admiring how well the green and red looked together, he turned to leave, when – lo and behold – there was another gem! This one, however, was a blue sapphire. “Oh, good. Now I have a gem that’s the same color as me!” His excitement grew.

            Soon, a rainbow of gems glittered from his hiding place. The next time he went to place a gem (this one was a dazzling diamond), Jay realized that there was no more room. Where else could he put it? Aha! The places where he had food hidden would be perfect. He began taking the gems to his food caches and replacing the food with gems. Food wasn’t so important when you had a lot of it, right?

            “What are you doing? Why are you throwing away the food from your cache?” Barry asked Jay. Barry often followed Jay around, hoping for some easy food.

            “Isn’t it beautiful?” Jay asked, focused on the purple amethyst he had just placed in his cache. “I have to save it. You keep telling me that I have too much food anyway.”

            Barry glanced at the gem and said, “Hmm, it’s beautiful, but can I have your food?”

            “Yeah, sure,” Jay said easily. “I can always get more food, but no one else will have such an amazing collection of gems.”

            Barry ate Jay’s discarded food and then shrugged his wings at Jay’s odd behavior. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing.” He shook his head and went off in search of more food.

            Most of Jay’s friends saw him that day, slowly emptying his food caches. They were only too happy to take the food that Jay so carelessly threw out. Finally, at the end of the day, Jay couldn’t find any more gems. He sighed in relief and realized that he was hungry. He went to his nearest food cache and was surprised to discover only gems inside it. “Huh,” Jay said softly. He couldn’t believe that he’d thrown everything out. Surely, he had saved some food in another hiding place.

One by one, Jay flew to each of the places where he had previously hidden food. Each one was full of nothing but gems. He became panicked when he realized that he was totally out of food.

            Jay moaned to himself. It was now almost completely dark and it would be hard to hunt for more food. Jay went to sleep still hungry next to his shiny gems.

            In the morning, Jay woke up, ready to look for food. He gazed at his gem collection and was startled to see only dull rocks where he had carefully placed the gems the day before. “What happened to my gems?” he cried.

            Clay, another blue jay who roosted in the shrub next to Jay’s, heard him and said, “What gems? Those are the rocks that you placed there yesterday.”

            Dismayed, Jay flew off to check his caches. Each one was full of rocks. Bitterness and disappointment threatened to overwhelm him, but he flew off to find some food. At least he would do what he could to fill his belly. He visited the berry patch and ate as many raspberries as he possibly could. He saved a few to take back to his cache and was about to take off when something caught his eye. It was a dazzling blue sapphire. Jay looked at it, thinking. Finally, he shook his head and said, “Not this time.” He left with the raspberries in his beak. He wasn’t going to fall for that trick again.

Dolphins!

 

            Daphne moved through the water effortlessly. She swam several laps around her enclosure in a matter of minutes. She couldn’t wait for the next show to start. As a dolphin at the zoo, she didn’t have a whole lot to do. She looked forward to showing off her tricks and skills. It wasn’t that she loved doing it, but at least she wouldn’t be bored.

            Daphne jumped out of the water and dove back down. That’s when she noticed something strange. She had lived here for the past five years, and Daphne knew every inch of her pool. She swam over to where the water seemed different. What was that? The water was shimmering. Swimming through it, she felt her skin tingling. She wanted to find the source of this strange, sparkly water – after all, she didn’t have anything else to do.

            The water started swirling as Daphne continued to search. Bubbles appeared and obscured her vision. The water churned as she spun around faster and faster. Soon she lost track of which way was up as white water surrounded her. She closed her eyes as she started to panic.

            Suddenly, Daphne realized she was no longer swirling. She opened her eyes and nearly swallowed a bunch of water. Dolphins! She hadn’t seen another dolphin for years. She used to share her pool with an older dolphin who had passed away two years ago. Since then, Daphne had been swimming alone. Joy swelled inside her as she saw that there were more than ten dolphins swimming around her, watching her.

            “Hello, friends!” Daphne said excitedly.

            Smiles appeared on every face, but no one spoke.

            “It’s so good to see you! One minute I was in my pool, and the next I’m here! Where am I exactly?”

            One of the dolphins swam up to her with a confident and regal air. All the other dolphins looked to her expectantly as she said, “We’ve summoned you here to let you know of our plan.”

            “What plan?”

            The dolphin smiled reassuringly and said, “You have lived in a pool all your life, correct?”

            “Yes, I’ve never been to the ocean. Is this it?” Daphne looked around excitedly.

            “This is the ocean, but unfortunately, we can’t keep you here for long.”

            “Wait, what?” The happiness inside Daphne started to dissipate.

            “While we don’t have enough magic for you to stay here, we would like to give you a gift.”

            “You mean I have to go back?” The ocean around her was so much bigger than her pool – there was so much to explore. Did she really have to go back?”

            “We can’t free you from your prison, but we can make it a little easier for you.” The dolphin gave Daphne a small smile. “Just remember that you are a noble creature.”

            Bubbles started to form around Daphne again, and the sparkly water was back. “But wait!” she cried frantically. “I don’t want to go back!” But it was no use. The bubbles swirled around her to the point where she couldn’t see anything again. She stopped struggling and gave in to the inevitable.

            Soon, the water slowed down and the bubbles dissipated. Daphne was back in her pool, in the enclosure she had always known. She sighed as she thought of the vast ocean and the other dolphins. She slowly swam the length of the pool, trying to push away the bitter feeling of being stuck back here.

            Daphne had swum the entire length of her pool when she realized something was different. Another dolphin was swimming right next to Daphne, watching her. “Hi,” said Daphne uncertainly. “I’m Daphne, what’s your name?”

            “My name is Gypsy,” the dolphin replied. “I’ve been sent to be your guide.”

            “My guide?” Now Daphne was confused. She didn’t need anyone to guide her in her own pool.

            “Queen Callie sent me to tell you about your new home,” Gypsy replied calmly.

            Daphne had so many questions, she didn’t know which one to ask first. She decided on, “Who is Queen Callie?”

            “You met her today. She’s the one who is organizing this for all the dolphins held in captivity.”

            “I met a Queen?” Daphne breathed softly.

            “Yes. She wanted to make everyone a little more comfortable. She’s given you an upgrade in your living conditions.”

            Daphne looked around, saying, “Nothing has changed. This is the same pool that I’ve lived my life in.”

            Gypsy gave Daphne a secret kind of smile and said, “Look again.”

            Slightly annoyed, Daphne turned around to survey her pool and saw that it was gone! The ocean stretched out in front of her. She took off like a shot and realized that it wasn’t exactly the ocean, but her pool was much deeper and larger than it had been before. She swam back to Gypsy and said, “How is this possible?”

            “Queen Callie wants every dolphin to live their best life. She’s magically expanded your pool, and the humans won’t even notice. To them, it will appear to be the same as it ever was. Also, you’ll be getting a new pool mate.”

            Daphne really perked up at this news. “Really? Who?”

            “Me,” Gypsy said. “I volunteered to come live with you when you visited Queen Callie earlier today. However, I had a few requests.” She swam to a side of the pool and Daphne saw something.

            “Toys!” she cried joyfully. There were enough toys here to keep Daphne busy for quite some time. She definitely wouldn’t be bored anymore.

            Queen Callie gazed at Daphne and Gypsy through her magic portal. She watched as they played and she felt the satisfaction of a job well done. Now she only had a few hundred more dolphins to visit. She smiled as she got back to work.