Grandma’s Secret Journey

A Secret Place

Grandmas are exceptional people. They fill our lives with warm hugs, sweet scents, comfy tastes of oven-fresh cookies and best all long summer days filled with giggles. I fondly remember bright, warm sunny moments playing hide and seek. There were long evenings chatting about my most cherished secrets. Grandma memories last lifetimes and repeatedly pull our recollections of comfort in moments of sadness. Memories of grandmas mean a lot even when we are not little girls anymore like me. Sometimes that goodness enters glorious dreams. Many years ago, my grandma brought me a magical dream.

It was a time in my childhood that I looked forward to the most. The first weeks of summer vacation were always marked with eager anticipation and joy. On a very special day, I sat gazing out the bedroom window. Off and on I glanced at my clock sitting on my nightstand patiently waiting for the sight of grandma’s car. Promising that during the school break, she would take me on a fantastic trip to a secret place.

It was my first time on an airplane. Thrilled at the thought of soaring near the sun with grandma made my heart flutter. But grandma explained that after the plane ride we would travel to a secret place. We would take flight through the clouds in a completely different way meant for only her and me.

Suddenly, what I was waiting for happened on this cheerful cloudless day. Grandma’s car pulled up to a stop in our driveway. As the car door swung open out popped grandma waving up at my bedroom window. Not waiting a moment, I ran down the stairs to greet her. Butterflies were in my stomach as I leaped for the screen door. But mama standing near with my suitcase in hand took me in her arms and whispered, “Promise you’ll be a good little girl. Don’t be any trouble and be sure to remember to call as soon as you get to grandma’s house.”

Quickly running and yelling my greetings down the porch stairs, I ran into grandma’s arms. My brother and the family dog came bounding from the back yard. He laughed and hugged grandma as she returned the hug with kisses and handed him a bag filled with treats. She always brought us treats. But this time my treat would be going with her to the special place.

As our car approached the airport, I began to feel butterflies in my tummy again. I observed grandma’s cheery face as she pointed to the airplanes climbing into the sky. She pointed to the one waiting for us.

A pretty lady showed grandma and me to our seats and quickly sat by the window. I wanted to see the sky as we flew from the earth. I could see everything as we soared. Feeling the thrill of lifting into the air I thought, “This is so cool.”

The higher we climbed, the smaller everything got. The cars, trucks, and houses became a tiny city. And then, “Ouch, my ears are hurting,” I cried. Grandma said, “Flying high makes your ears feel like they’re popping. Close your eyes and hold out your hands.” Placing something in my hands, she whispered, “Open your eyes! Like magic, this will take away the pain.” It was a small bag of bubble gum.

Then suddenly our plane began jumping, jiggling and wiggling around, shaking us as if we were inside a mixer. The reading lights above me began to flicker. I was afraid and squeezed grandma’s hand and cried, “I‘m scared“.

She held my hand tightly and suddenly all became quiet. The lights came on and the shaking stopped. Then magically there was a black sky and thousands of stars. Something sparkly zoomed passed the window; it looked like a shooting star. The captain told us to buckle up and prepare for landing.

I asked grandma. “Landing…where are we going to land?“

I couldn’t see the airport. There was nothing but black a sky and thousands of twinkling stars. Then while looking out the window, I saw brilliant lights of yellow, purple, orange, and red. As they came near, the lights began to transform into buildings. Closing my eyes tight, I squeezed Grandma’s hand as the plane began to land.

Filled with enormous excitement I couldn’t wait to see where we were. As grandma and I walked to the exit, we overheard unusual voices. One proclaimed openly. “Welcome friends… Welcome to our planet Amdnarg!”

I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming. It was real and so were the unusual, little people that gathered around the plane to greet us. They possessed little green faces with big, round eyes. Some had more than two eyes and were of assorted colors. Their hands and feet were long and skinny. Their ears were pointy and curved at the tips, and others looked like antennas. The tallest one appeared to be the leader of Amdnarg. He introduced himself,  “I am Argus.  Welcome! Would you care to try some cookies and our unique juice?” They looked like normal cookies and they smelled so good.

Reaching for a bright rainbow-colored one, I said eagerly, “Sure, I‘ll try one… Hmm…yummy, I’ve never tasted cookies like these before.” They taste like chocolate and roasted marshmallows… no, wait. They taste more like strawberries and vanilla ice cream. Hey, these cookies keep changing flavors.” I said in amazement.

I stuffed some leftover cookies in my pockets for later. Grandma drank only the juice.

A laughing Argus said, “Now if everybody is ready, we’ll show you some sights of our beautiful planet Amdnarg.“

Argus opened the door to a large bus shaped like a big rainbow-colored balloon. It was a peculiar one without wheels. It flew like a plane but stayed low to the ground. It landed in front of an enormous gold castle that Argus said was their giant toy factory. I discovered that every magical toy moved and played wonderful music.

Seeing a weird toy, I asked, “May I keep the robot to show my friends at home“?

Argus laughed out loud, “Why sure…you most certainly can.“

Collecting my gift, we returned to the big balloon bus waiting for us. Grandma and I sat in our seats. Waiting for the bus to move I heard a strange sound. Looking around for where the sound was coming from I saw nothing, only a brilliant, green plant sitting outside on the bright blue street. The strange sound came again and sounded like this, “Epee… ouuu… eeech“ The noise penetrated my ears causing the sound to echo.

Suddenly, the green plant grew into a giant. One of its leaves reached into the window where I sat and took my toy. It put the toy boat into its big mouth. It was growing bigger and bigger. I yelled to grandma, “Oh no! This dreadful giant plant is picking-up our bus, help!”

The giant green plant became a monster that began to shake our bus as if it were a toy. Argus shouted to the plant to place down the bus. At that moment he chuckled and said, “He merely wants to play. He only looks treacherous.” I decided not to ask the giant green plant to give back my toy.

Argus said,  “There‘s a magnificent place I must reveal to you. Close your eyes then open them on the count of three, one… two… three.“

When we opened our eyes, there was an eerie silence. Nobody said a word. We were surprised to see the most fantastic sight. It was a tremendous park filled with brightly colored swings and sliding boards and huge toy animals meant to sit upon and fly. All of Amdnarg’s children were playing.

I instantly jumped off the bus to join the children on the playground. It was magnificent. The branches on the trees were covered in chocolate from where marshmallows and cotton candy grew. There was a field with endless rows of shrubs with colorful cupcakes and popcorn. They were surrounded by musical flowers and a pond overflowing with pink lemonade filled and rainbow-colored ducks. Amdnarg children fed them jelly beans. There were swings-sets, monkey bars and slides all around me. And then that familiar peculiar noise came again, “Epeeee… ouuu… eeech.“

Oh no, it’s that big, ugly plant again, and he’s coming straight at me. “Please don’t eat me,“ I screamed.

Luckily, the children of Amdnarg held out some cookies. This allowed me the chance to run away. I ran as far and fast as I could but got lost. I found myself surrounded by more bushes filled with cupcakes and popcorn. But I wanted to go home and continued to walk. The hours seemed to pass as I looked for the Amdnarg children; I saw no one and began to cry out for Grandma. But she was nowhere nearby. I thought, “How will I get home now?” And I was frightened that the giant plant would discover me before Grandma.

I kept walking and walking and walking and then got tired. I rested under a big tree with chocolate-covered branches. The grass was as soft as cotton so I decided to take a short nap. Later, I thought, I would set out to look for grandma again. Drifting off into a deep sleep, I felt a hand gently shake my shoulder.

A familiar voice whispered, “Wake up sleepy head.” Opening my eyes, I shouted, “ Mom, how did you get here?“She laughed, “Here? What on earth are you talking about? Hurry, you’ll miss breakfast.“

What a big surprise. I had awoken from my magical grandma dream in my bedroom. Or was it undoubtedly just a dream? It still felt so real. How could this be?

Pulling back my bedsheets, I felt something crunchy. Jumping from my bed, I saw purple Amdnarg cookie crumbs tumble to the floor. Grabbing for my shoes, I found a little note tucked inside. It was from my grandma. The note said, “Hope you had fun on our special secret trip.”