Zach slowly walked up to the whole hole in the fence, Nate was right behind him. They were both excited and little scared, too. Adventures can be like that, especially when you are trying something new, especially when a hole in a fence suddenly appears and invites you to explore what is on the other side. Nate’s eyes sparkled with the excitement. Zach adjusted his backpack and his resolve. Nate stepped up next to him. They stood right at the edge of the whole hole.
Zach looked at Nate. Nate looked at Zach. They both took a deep breath and with grins on their faces they stepped over the invisible line where the fence would have been and into the whole hole.
No sooner had they crossed that line then a slight breeze picked up and ruffled their hair. It was a cool and inviting breeze. They couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from but it felt good on their faces. And in the breeze there was a faint but elusive scent of chocolate chip cookies, lemonade and cotton candy. If they tried to smell it, it eluded them but as soon as they quit trying it was there.
Zach and Nate both noticed immediately how rich all the colors were. Everything around them seemed so brilliant. It was as if they had stepped from their backyard into the best High Definition television ever created. The sky was bluer, the grass greener. All the textures vibrated with color and life. The clouds were so soft and billowy they reminded Zach of cotton candy. “I wonder if that’s where the smell is coming from?” he thought to himself as he looked around.
All of a sudden Nate shouted, “That is so cool.”
Zach turned around to see what Nate was talking about. For the first time he noticed they were standing on a well worn path or road. When he looked in the direction from which they had come, the road stopped right at the fence line, right at the line where the whole hole divided their yard from everything on this side of the whole hole. When Zach turned back around and followed the road with his eyes, he noticed that it led up to the river. As he looked, he could tell that the road continued on the other side of the river as well but it seemed to just fade into the woods.
Zach did notice that the path was lined with beautiful flowers which had multicolored petals and bright green leaves. They swayed and moved with the slight breeze.
Zach heard Nate giggling and remembered why he had started to turn in the first place. As he turned, he also took a short step off of the path to where Nate was laughing and giggling. When he did, the leaves and petals of all the small flowers along the path seemed to explode in a shower of color all around him. He was surrounded by a burst of fluttering, tickling color. He was startled at first but then he began laughing and giggling as much as Nate.
The cloud of color surrounding them was actually the wings of small butterfly like creatures. It didn’t appear that they were dangerous but the close proximity of all those wings in motion was like one giant tickle fest. The boys could hardly move because they were laughing so hard. Zach tried to roll further into the grass beyond the flowers but as soon as he did, more and more of the Tickle Flies surrounded him. So Zach tried rolling back toward the path.
When his feet hit the path, the number of Tickle Flies or whatever they were called, began to decrease. When Zach rolled all the way onto the path, the annoying ticklers all settled back into their places. Zach was trying to catch his breath from giggling and laughing so hard and could hear Nate still laughing. So, he jumped up and ran over to where Nate was lying in the grass giggling. Nate could hardly breathe and tears were running down his cheeks from laughing and giggling so hard.
Zach reached in and grabbed his brother by the hand and pulled. There was some reluctance on Nate’s part but, with Zach’s help, he gave in and began to get up. As his feet touched the path, the intensity of the Tickle Flies began to decrease. And when Nate was finally standing on the path, all of the little creatures had returned to their places and the path appeared to be lined by flowers again.
“Wow, that sure was weird wasn’t it?” said Zach.
Nate was still giggling and wiping laugh tears from his face. “Yeah!” he said, “Let’s do it again.” At that, Nate started to step off the path again. When his foot touched the grass, the Tickle Flies burst into action again.
Nate was giggling loudly when Zach realized what was happening. Zach pulled Nate back onto the path and said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think the Tickle Flies are guarding the path. They don’t want us to get off the path.” Then Zach pointed toward the creek, “Look, the flowers line both sides of the path as far as the eye can see. They don’t want us to leave the path.”
Nate, wiping tears from his eyes and still giggling a little, looked and asked, “I wonder why?” As he looked around, he pointing off to the fields around them Nate said, “Well, it doesn’t look like there’s anything interesting out there so let’s just stay on the path.”
Zach said, “Good idea. Let’s see where the path leads us OK?”
“OK,” said Nate, “The Tickle Flies want us to follow the path, so let’s just see what kind of adventure they want to take us on and where the path goes.”
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