When he woke up the next morning, Nemo could still be heard snoring lightly in the other bed. It was quite early, judging by the light outside the windows. Sarah and Garret were not around, so he thought they were probably still asleep. He got up to stretch his legs and wash his face, and that’s when he got the confirmation that his theory had been correct. Not only was he now wearing proper clothes and shoes, but he was also carrying a shoulder bag, in which there was another t-shirt and a second pair of sports shoes.
Since he had always appeared in this world wearing whatever he had on when he went to bed, he figured he could go to bed fully dressed and awake the same in Endërland. It was the shoulder bag he had not been too sure about, but it was still worth a try. Before going to bed in his London home, he got dressed, put the t-shirt and shoes in the bag and put it on. Luckily his dad had not gone into his room to see him, or he would have thought his son had completely gone bonkers.
He took out the shirt and shoes and left them by Nemo’s bed. Nemo was a bit smaller than him in stature but he was sure they would fit him just fine. He then decided to get some fresh air, and so went outside to check out the garden. Sarah was there, gathering fruits and vegetables.
‘Good morning!’ he greeted.
‘Good morning, Daniel! How did you sleep?’
Daniel smiled. Moving daily from one world to the other, seemed like he hardly ever got any sleep at all. Yet, that wasn’t so. His body was fully rested and his mind as fresh as ever, even though it felt to him like he was awake twenty-four hours a day.
‘Very good, thank you. Can I help you with anything?’
‘Of course,’ Sarah replied with delight. ‘Here, take this bowl and gather me some baby tomatoes over there. Only the best ones; they will make for a delicious salad at lunch.’
Daniel took the bowl and headed in the direction he was told. The garden was quite big and the variation of plants being grown was vast. He was able to recognize only some of them. Some he had never seen before, while others seemed familiar, yet different. Like this huge tree right in the middle of the garden, which gave large red fruits that looked very much like oversized cherries. Daniel thought this to be a bit strange, as he loved cherries and had always fantasized what they would taste like if they were the size of an apple or orange. And here, this was exactly what seemed to be going on.
‘Sarah, what tree is this?’ he asked her.
‘That’s a cherry tree, of course. You’ve never seen one before?’
‘Oh, I have. It’s just, where I come from, cherries are quite small, barely the size of my thumb.’
‘Really? Well that sounds awfully small. Want to try a real one? Take a few so we can have them after breakfast.’
Daniel grabbed four of them and put them in the bowl with the baby tomatoes. Everything looked incredibly juicy and delicious and there were so many different things to choose from.
‘How do you manage to grow everything so perfect?’ he asked again. ‘It must require a lot of care and hard work.’
Sarah looked at him as if she didn’t understand.
‘Not really. The only work we do is plant the seeds; after that everything just, grows. Is it not so in your world?’
‘Not exactly,’ Daniel answered, helping her carry everything inside. ‘We have to work very hard to make sure everything grows well and is not spoiled by bad weather or insects, or even people sometimes. They don’t always turn out like this.’
‘People? Why would people spoil the harvest?’ Sarah seemed genuinely puzzled.
‘People are very different in my world,’ Daniel said with a trace of sadness in his voice. ‘They don’t care much about nature, or each other. All they want is to build big houses for themselves, and have lots of cars and money. A handful of them grow richer by the day, while a great many more starve to death. It’s not like here, where there’s plenty of everything and everyone seems happy.’
‘Sounds like a dreadful place to live in,’ Sarah said, looking at him with compassion. She knew close to nothing about his world, but if it was anything like what he was saying, it didn’t sound very good.
They went back in the house and put the fruits and vegetables in the kitchen, where she began to clean and wash them. Daniel continued to help her prepare breakfast.
‘What did you mean when you said people starve to death?’ she went back to the conversation. From the look in her face, Daniel realized that she had no clear idea as to what he had been talking about.
‘I mean people die of hunger, because they got nothing to eat,’ he explained. Sarah’s face didn’t change.
‘Hunger?’ she asked again. Daniel had to stop and assure himself that she wasn’t playing with him. How could she not know what hunger is? Did they have a different word here perhaps?
‘You know, when you want to eat; when your body needs food and your stomach feels empty and starts making those weird noises. That’s when you are hungry. But you know what I’m talking about, right?’
Sarah’s face looked even more perplexed, if that were possible.
‘Haven’t you ever felt like that?’ Daniel asked, now clearly confused.
‘No,’ she answered. ‘Have you? I mean; ever since you got here?’
That was a good question. Daniel tried to think of the last time he’d felt hungry in this world. He had spent two whole days on the beach with Nemo, without eating or drinking anything, but hadn’t felt the least hungry or thirsty.
‘No,’ he replied, completely stumped. ‘Why is that?’
‘I don’t know, but that’s how it’s always been in Endërland. We never really feel the need to eat, and most of the time we don’t. We only do it because we enjoy it a lot. And it’s always a great time when we get together around the table, especially when we have guests.’
She smiled here as she said this. Daniel was still taking it all in and realizing the implications of this both in this world and his.
‘If only this could be true in my world as well. Things would be so much different…’
Soon Garret got up with little Angel, and after them Nemo, who kept yawning as if he was ready for a second trip to Sleepville. As they all sat down to have breakfast, the conversation continued around Daniel’s world and all the things that were different from this place. But now as he ate, he was seeing food in a completely different way. The cherries were unbelievably tasty, and everything else as delicious as it looked. He could eat as much or as little as he wanted and it wouldn’t have mattered. He was beginning to love this world a bit more every day.