Jim's Gym Journey

Chapter 6 - Changing Tracks Jim stared. The eucalyptus trees towered, branches weaving in a lattice of green. He knew this place. He remembered, when his hands were small and made shapes in the mud, dragons and fairies and knights on adventures, when those hands reached up to branches and climbed until that blue sky adorned his eyes and his chest didn’t feel so heavy anymore. When his hand was clas ped in another’s, that boy with the earth-brown eyes and the smile like stars, running and jumping as if the world would never end. “I feel as though I’ve seen this place,” Raven said, that look in her eyes like she could see the entire universe at once, “the time has come to end our chase.” And yeah, Jim could feel it too. He looked around for the camera, and walked, Jim and Raven, side by side. “Look,” Jim said, worn hands gesturing to a family of koalas, the little joey clinging to the mother. They continued, and between eucalypts and fronds they saw families of kookaburras laughing together, tree-kangaroos climbing, father and son nose-to-tail, and four Hastings River mice making their way across the forest floor. Suddenly, a bird cry pierced the air, lonely and desperate like a strangled bell. Jim looked around until he saw a willy wagtail, trapped in a kangaroo thorn. It was alone, no other birds to help, and for a second Jim saw the forest as he saw it now, great eucalypts reduced to stumps, barren and abandoned. “To be trapped is a terrible thing,” Raven muttered, eyes mournful, “to see the sky, we must free its wings.” “I know,” Jim said. They both knew, too well. Together they untangled the willy wagtail, and it rustled free, flapping its wings. It looked to Jim and Raven with earth-brown eyes, and as it flew away the light caught the white of its wings, shining like stars. Raven smiled, softly, and for the first time in Jim’s life, he felt seen. A flash of pastel pink caught his eye, and there, nestled between the leaves of the kangaroo thorn , was a pink polaroid camera. “The last camera has been found,” Raven exclaimed, “away, to find the buried treasure in the ground!” Jim laughed, her delight infectious, and held up the camera to his eyes. Through it he could see a glint of light . Jim grabbed Raven’s hand, and they ran, like knights on an adventure, like fairies darting between trees, like the world would never end. They arrived at an inconspicuous brown patch of mud. They dug, searching for the buried treasure, until Jim’s hand knocked against something wooden. It was a chest, rough-hewn from eucalyptus trees. “It feels ancient,” Jim said, and lifted the lid of the chest. Inside was a gold crown. He reached out to grab it, but Raven pointed to the inside of the chest. An inscription . He read, “ With the whistle of a train, you have journeyed far and wide. Past bubbly waters, though not lost in the tide. The light was fading, but you muddled through, and hungry monsters can be enemies, but maybe friends will do. Now you have found the gold , the battle fought and won, and yet your trials are not yet done. You face a choice: save yourself, and abandon your friend, or take a chance, and stick with them till the end?”