DOROTHY'S DREAM CHAPTER 4 THE MAGICAL WINGS

                           

                                            Chapter 4

        THE MAGICAL WINGS

                   And with one of its six legs, which now served as a hand the butterfly pointed out to something behind Dorothy. Perplexed and annoyed at what it was pointing to, Dorothy turned her head and looked behind her. The moment she turned and looked over her shoulders, her eyes widened, and her jaws dropped. 

          In the place where her shoulder blades must be, she saw something that looked like a clear, rainbow-coloured, thin film. As she looked at it, it fluttered. She turned her head to the other side; it was there, too. She looked at the butterfly, still wide-eyed and shocked and said in an awestruck voice, 

                       “They are wings.” 

           The butterfly nodded smugly; Dorothy however had not yet figured out the butterfly’s features properly, so she couldn’t see its smug face. So she remained wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

                 “It’s about time that you put your wings to good use, I think,” said the butterfly, stretching out its leg, which again served as a hand. (To avoid further confusion, let us consider the legs as hands for now, shall we?). 

              Dorothy took the butterfly’s hand. As she did so, she was amazed at how the butterfly was becoming bigger and bigger slowly. It became as tall and big as she was. Now, she could see the butterfly’s face vividly. It had two bulging black eyes, and in the place of the mouth, there was a small coil in the shape of an ‘O'. When the ‘O’ moved, the sound came out, so Dorothy guessed that must be the mouth. There doesn’t seem to be a nose. The body of the butterfly looked like what you would expect a butterfly’s body to be. It should have been scary and frightening to a kid, but because of its kind voice, the twinkle in its black eyes and the O mouth that looked like it was stretched into a smile. The butterfly looked rather friendly and warm to Dorothy.

                She wondered how big the butterfly had grown up so suddenly. Then she gasped when she realised that it would be impossible to hide the butterfly now from the adults. So, she turned to look at the window to see if Nanny Debby had noticed anything. But she was shocked to find that there was no window, only a brick wall. And the wall seemed strange to her. It was so long and tall. “Where in the world am I ?” Dorothy thought, feeling lost. She looked frantically around to see where she was.

                “If you are looking for Nanny Debby, I suppose you should look up there,” said the butterfly pointing at the wall, somewhere over Dorothy’s head. 

            Dorothy craned her neck and looked up. There it was, way up than where it usually was. It took Dorothy a minute to grasp what had happened. She turned around and saw her wheelchair. It was so big; standing there like a giant metal structure. Behind it, the tree was even bigger and taller. It was then that, Dorothy realised that the butterfly had not grown up, but she had shrunk down. 

              Dorothy wanted to scream. She was overwhelmed by mixed emotions—fear, confusion, doubt, and excitement. However, even before she could open her mouth, the butterfly yanked her up in the air. Dorothy felt herself rising in the air and her wings fluttering at the back, giving her goosebumps. She never forgot how she had felt at the moment; it was too much to express in words.

              The butterfly held on to Dorothy. Just as she never learned to walk, she never learned to fly. So the butterfly held her hand and guided her. It taught her how to duck branches, how to swirl, how to push up to fly higher and how to bend her head down to fly downwards. Dorothy never thought that learning could be so much fun. Despite that few flying tricks seemed harder than the others, especially the landing part. Since Dorothy didn’t use her legs, she stooped, put her hands out and landed softly. As the butterfly too stooped to land on its legs, Dorothy never found it awkward or embarrassing.  

                She didn’t know how long they flew. The more she flew the more she felt comfortable. The initial fear and misgivings were slowly washed off and she felt more and more accustomed to flying. The butterfly held onto her all the while knowing she must be scared.  Finally, they landed in a floral garden. 

                This floral garden was in the very grounds of Eden mansion. It was a beautiful garden with a variety of flowers. Ranging from roses to marigolds and lavenders to pansies, the garden was a delight to eyes. It was a well-maintained and cared-for garden. James loved flowers. He often said that they reminded him of God's care and provision. He had a great interest in gardening from childhood. So, when he moved into Eden's mansion the first thing he desired was a beautiful floral garden. Whenever he was in despair, he would walk down to the floral garden and gaze at the flowers and remind himself that, "Wherefore, if God so clothe (& care) the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe (& care) you, O ye of little faith?"

...... to be continued