A Sprinkling of Thought Dust

BEFORE THE STREETLIGHTS

  As evening twilight settled over the Silver Realm, Electrum got ready to leave for the Tween World to find Dusty. He had meant to go that morning, but the King had other plans. It was late afternoon by the time he escaped from the endless meetings.

  His room was warm as he pulled on his flight jacket and decided regular trousers would be fine. No need for the bulky flight pants over the top.

  The cold air was refreshing as he flew over the river. When he entered the gate though, he realized his mistake in not wearing the whole flight suit. It had been years since he had come through the gate this late in the year. The walls were barely visible through the thick fog, and the icy mist closed in around him.

  He emerged into the Tween World and followed the river through a wooded area. It was warmer under the trees but he didn’t stay in the woods long. Dusty would be near the houses.

  The sun hid behind cloudy skies. Real clouds were rare in the sprite worlds. The Gold Realm never had clouds, and the Silver Realm only had twilight mist on the ground. You could always fly above it. The only places they had clouds were inside the gates.

  He passed through the streets trying to catch a glimpse of Dusty’s gray form. Soft yellow lights were starting to come on inside the houses suggesting warmth. It would be nice to get this done and return home to a snug hammock.

  He spotted an animal moving in a feline way and sighed happily. Swoop down and have a little chat. Then he could head home. He flew lower, following the cat as it wove in and out beneath parked cars. He was just about to call out when the cat turned and stepped out from the shadow.

  It was bulky and yellow. The chill in the air was nothing compared to the fear that swept through Electrum as he flapped his wings in a frantic effort to reverse direction. How could he have mistaken this yellow monster for Dusty?

  With a low chattering noise the cat leaped. Electrum gasped digging his wings into the air to gain altitude. He jerked his knees up to his chin. The cat’s paw swiped through the air just under his feet sending him tumbling through the air.

  Coming out of the spin, he looked for a place to land and get his bearings. Light shone from a second story window and he dropped onto the sill.

  Below, the cat climbed several feet up the wall before jumping back down. Without a backward glance it dashed across the yard into the darkness.

  Electrum sat panting. The flight jacket now seemed much too warm. He glanced inside the window. It wouldn’t do to be seen. Three boys crowded around an object that emitted flashes of light. None of them seemed interested in anything outside the room.

  Electrum straightened his hat leaving dust on the sill. Staying a safe distance from the ground, he flew off to continue his search.

  Inside the room, Trevor typed furiously as Brandon shouted coordinates from his scientific calculator.

  “Quit dribbling the lunar cruiser across the surface,” Archie said. “Park it in the crater. You guys do better on the basketball court.” He reached for the joystick.

  “Wait,” Brandon said. “I’ve almost got it. Drop it to 42…no 36.”

  Archie grabbed the joystick knocking over the bowl of popcorn. The air was filled with the white kernels. On the screen, the lunar cruiser leveled out briefly and almost made it to the crater before crashing in a blaze of light. **GAME OVER** flashed across the screen in bright red.

  Trevor slumped back in his chair. “Way to go, Archie.”

  “It’s not like you guys were going to make it,” he said as he shook popcorn off his shirt. “A few more bumps on the surface and it would have exploded anyway.”

  Brandon looked up from his calculator. “We’re missing something. Maybe we have to look up some facts.” He ran his fingers through his hair and popcorn kernels fell out.

  “Sounds like homework,” Archie said with disgust.

  “Might come in handy in the real world,” Brandon said.

  “In the real world we’d be looking through a telescope instead of a computer screen.”

  “Like the observatory at school?”

  “There’s no telescope up there,” Archie said.

  “Sure there is,” Brandon said. “My uncle told me they used to have classes up there when he was a kid.”

  Archie snorted. “That was a hundred years ago. It wouldn’t be much good now.”

  “Would too.”

  Trevor glanced out the window and jumped up knocking over the chair. “Wow, it’s late. I gotta go. Sorry about the mess.”

  “I’ll help clean up,” Archie said. “We don’t want your mom freaking out about twilight again.”

  “Thanks,” Trevor mumbled and dashed for the door.

  “One more time,” he heard Brandon saying. “You type.”

  Trevor struggled into his jacket as he ran down the street. His shadow stretched out in front of him and his breath came out in puffs of white vapor. It was going to be close. He glanced at the streetlight. It hadn’t come on yet. A streak of glittering sparkles in the air made him blink.

  He was coming up to the rickety fence around the corner house. The gate wasn’t latched securely. Faint light flowed from the open door outlining a dark form on the porch. Caesar, the German Shepherd. His eyes glinted red in the dim light as he waited for someone to foolishly come within range.

  Trevor knew that the chain allowed Caesar to come all the way to the gate. In his first encounter, only inches had separated him from the charging beast.

  “Sorry to disappoint you, Caesar,” he said as he crossed the street.

  The rest of the way home was dog free. He picked up his pace. His father was great with science projects, but couldn’t grasp the danger of neighborhood dogs.

  But his current concern was his mother and her obsession about twilight. It wasn’t so bad in the summer, but since Daylight Savings Time had kicked in, night came early. She had warned him that the next time he didn’t make it home before the streetlights came on, he would be grounded. At this rate he wouldn’t see the outside world again until he was thirteen. Since he was only nine, that was going to be a very long time.

  A car rounded the corner with its headlights gleaming ominously. He’d never make it in time. His only hope was to cut off a couple minutes with a shortcut. The stone fence around Mrs. Hayworth’s garden loomed ahead.

  Before he could change his mind, he catapulted over it. As his feet hit the ground, a loud yowl rent the air followed by a long drawn out hiss. Startled, he crashed against the wall, his jacket cushioning the impact.

  He had almost landed on a twenty-five pound ball of yellow fury. Its puffed out tail was only slightly smaller than its round, arched body. One paw raised with claws extended. Yellow eyes gleamed at him. It was the largest cat he had ever seen.

  Trevor scrambled to his feet and dashed across the garden. Something loomed out of the dusk, colliding with him. Flailing his arms he fought to free himself.

  The painted face and button eyes of a scarecrow grinned up at him. He struggled to his feet clawing at the figure’s red scarf as it wrapped around his head. It trailed out behind him as he sprinted for the back gate.

  Behind him a door slammed open. A woman yelled, “You kids stay out of here…”

  Ferocious growling and snarling drowned out the rest of her words. A turmoil of high-pitched barking chased him all the way to the gate. No time to open it. The scarf flew off and fluttered on the wind behind him as he executed a perfect leap and landed on his feet running. Glancing back he saw a Pekinese shredding the scarf in a frenzy.

  As he rounded the corner, his house came into view. Breathless, he pounded up the steps. The streetlight on his corner winked and grew into a steady light as he opened the door.