Backyard Friends
Moments in Time Journal entry #5
Eight years ago I painted a purple door on my backyard fence and created a cozy little vignette. I had no idea how much joy and pleasure it would bring to me and my family members.
Two years ago I posted this painting but I didn't tell you about the meaningful story that evolved when our blue eyed blond haired granddaughters, eight year old Desiree and six year old Alyssa came for a weekend sleepover...
When I heard the excited dogs barking I knew Tim and the girls had arrived.
"I'm outside on the deck, come on out!" I shouted and waved.
After hugs, giggles and happy greetings on this beautiful sunny day the girls turned and looked at the white cottage and the purple door;
"Gramma, is that door real?" Desiree asked looking intrigued. "Can we go through the door?
"Yea can we? Alyssa chimed in bouncing up and down.
"Sure, but you had better knock first." I replied.
They dashed to the purple door quickly realizing that the door wasn't real but they knocked anyway.
After lunch we sat on the deck sipping lemonade and basking in the glorious sunshine. The girls were quietly gazing at the quaint little scene with the purple door. They appeared to be day dreaming. Curious as to what they were thinking about I asked; "If people lived there they would have to be small, do you have any idea who?"
Desiree responded with quite an imaginative tale; "Well, Pluto is no longer a planet you know Gramma, people had to leave in a hurry, they escaped and found your little cottage to live in. Alyssa excitedly expressed; "And they were little, and, and, and they were scared."
The girl's imaginations were going wild, their eyes were sparkling, you could see their creative clever little minds whirling with ideas. I started jotting down what they were telling me, and so the story began.
Backyard Friends
Chapter 1 - Starlations
One sunny afternoon Tarina was giving her backyard fence a coat of gray paint and found herself getting rather bored just painting one colour, so she decided to paint a purple door and attached a real white glass doorknob.
Tarina is an artist with a great imagination, her green eyes twinkled and smiled as she explored all the beauty that surrounded her. She continued painting white paint all around the door, she was getting excited as a tiny white cottage began to emerge on her backyard fence. She didn't miss a detail: she hung an antique window beside the purple door, and behind the window she painted flower reflections, then she hung a window box, added bright chartreuse potato vines, ivy and purple petunias.
One evening Tarina thought she caught a glimpse of someone, someone very tiny opening the purple door and rushing into the cottage.
"Oh that's ridiculous, my imagination is working over-time." She thought to herself.
It was difficult for Tarina to sleep that night, she was sure she saw something, you know how your mind can explore and wander at night. She drifted off to sleep dreaming of the cottage. The next morning she ran outside to take a closer look, there were no tiny footprints, nothing seemed disturbed, everything was still and quiet.
When she began to water the flowers she was astonished to see a green lantern hanging on the right side of the door; "who put that there? Perhaps it was her husband Will, she thought, but why?
Tarina began weeding, she enjoyed working in the garden, the sun was warm and comforting and the soil felt good in her hands, but she felt a little uneasy, as if someone was watching her. When she looked around no one was there.
"Hi", said a timid small voice.
Tarina was so startled she fell off of her garden stool and her spade went flying in the air! She quickly got up, whipped off her glasses and rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Standing before her was the most darling little boy with curly brown hair, and pensive hazel green eyes. He couldn't have been more than 3 feet tall.
He quietly spoke again, "My name is Thor Rist.
Still shaken Tarina managed to find her voice. "My name is Tarina. Is there anyone else with you?"
The purple door opened. Out came two little girls. My name is Scarlet Star, I am 10, this is my sister Rela Leaf, she is six. I see you have met Thor, he is 12.
Tarina couldn't speak. She looked at them carefully, Rela Leaf was precious, her angelic blond hair was cut in a bob, she had dazzling blue eyes, and a dimple in her cheek made her look like a sweet little princess. It was obvious that Scarlet Star was very confident, she was a graceful beauty with long blond hair and gentle green eyes.
"Where did you come from?" Tarina asked curiously.
"We are Starlations from the planet Eladneas." Thor said proudly.
Scarlet Star continued; "Earthlings don't realize that the small planet Eladneas has been under captivity by a leader named Master Penton. Three days ago the whole starlation population was urged to flee from their domes and get off the planet because Master Penton declared that all starlations will have communication devices implanted in their brains. He wants to have total control of all starlations dictating what he wants them to do. We already have tracking devices planted in the back of our necks.
Thor Rist expressed; "Our parents called us from work frantic, they explained what was happening, and told us to leave at once! They said they would find us as soon as they could. We put on our thermal suits and jumped into our flight costal, and found our way here. May we stay until our parents find us?"
"I would be honoured." Tarina nodded and smiled.
Chapter 2 - Gifts (to be continued one day)
It was magical creating a six chapter book with Desiree and Alyssa, one I shall always treasure! Children are born with a spontaneous gift of imagination, I felt honoured to have been a part of the Starlation journey in the story Backyard Friends.
