Amelia and the Secret in the Moon

Far to the North, where the sun sleeps for much of the year, lived a little girl. Amelia lived with her father but he was often gone hunting over the frozen artic steppes. With no other children to play with she found herself making friends with the small animals of the Tundra: a lone baby reindeer who lost its mother, a small arctic fox, and an owl. Most of the time she was alone and she spent her time taking care of the house and using her imagination to keep her company.

One night, when her father had gone hunting she decided to have an adventure of her own. It was a full moon night and she could see far and wide. Close to where their home was built was a mountain. It wasn’t a terribly imposing mountain, but big enough that if you climbed it you could see for miles in every direction.

Wanting to know just what was at the top of the mountain, Amelia gathered her friends, packed her things, dressed warmly, and set out for the top of the mountain. As she climbed, she watched the moon grow bigger and bigger, getting closer all the time. The strange thing was that she thought she could see the shape of a door on the moon! Curious now, she climbed faster and higher. The only one of her friends still with her was the owl, neither the reindeer or the fox were very willing to climb.

Finally, she reached the top of the mountain and was surprised to see the moon, right in front of her, and if she looked just right it looked as though a set of steps made of light were stretching down towards her, reaching up to a door in the face of the moon. Her friend, the owl, flew ahead and up the stair, circling, and reassured Amelia cautiously stepped onto the first step. She was sure she would just step through it. It was a stair made of light after all.

She didn’t though, her foot settled firmly onto the step as if it were as solid as stone. Hurrying now, because she didn’t know how long the stair would be there, and she didn’t want to tumble down, she scrambled up the stair! Finally, she reached the top and stretched her hand out towards the door.

Holding her breath, she carefully pulled the door open. What was on the other side? Was it a house, the one belonging to the man in the moon as so many tales told? Was it something terrifying? Or maybe something wonderful?

As the door creaked slowly outward Amelia was overwhelmed by the smells that swept through the crack in the door, it was that of a warm wind and sweet smells, such as she had never smelled before. Hurrying, she pulled the door all the way open and what she saw made her stand and stare. Never

before had she seen such a sight, growing up in the North as she did. Before her stretched a field covered in flowers of all colours and designs, the grass was a brilliant green and a great forest of trees stretched into the distance.

Strangely, this place inside the moon had a sky! A warm, wonderful blue covered in glowing lights that lit up the space before her. Awed, Amelia stepped through the door and felt the soft crush of grass beneath her feet. Feeling too warm, she pulled off her winter clothes and her boots and set them carefully beside the door. As she walked forward, she glanced back to make sure that the door was still there. As beautiful as this place was, she knew that she would have to return to her father before the night was out, he would worry otherwise.

Reassured that the door was still there, she turned towards the field stretched before her and ventured forward. As she did, she heard the sound of children’s voices and laughter, scattering across the field before her. Going towards the sound she saw a group of four children running through the grass and trees, playing.

One girl, about her own age saw Amelia and came to a sudden stop, calling to the others as she did so. As Amelia waited, uncertain of what to do, the other children came running towards her calling: “Hi”, “Where did you come from?”, “How long have you been here?”, “Why haven’t we seen you before?”, “Want to come play?”. This last question was the one that Amelia had been longing to hear. All year she spent alone with her father, out on the Tundra, save for twice a year when they went to a local settlement to replenish their supplies. In all that time, she had no one to play with save her three friends, the reindeer, the fox, and the owl, and that certainly wasn’t the same as getting to play with other children! So, hearing from these children, that she didn’t know, but who seemed to be having SO MUCH fun in this warm and wonderful, secret place, she didn’t hesitate. “Yes!” she cried, “I would love to play.” With a squeal of glee two of the other children grabbed her hands and pulled her off into the meadow, laughter and shouts trailing in their wake.

Hours passed while Amelia and the children played, and gradually the light within the moon began to fade.

Stopping to rest from all the play, Amelia looked around and saw that the colors that had been so brilliant when she had first opened the door into the moon had faded into mere whispers of their former selves, and looking towards the door, she saw that the outline of the door was beginning to fade as well. “Hey” she called to the others, “the door is fading!” “Oh no!” they cried as they turned to look. “Quick, it’s time to go!” With this cry they all scattered into different directions, heading for other doors fading into the landscape. The girl who had first approached Amelia, her name was Nonny, stopped and turned just before pulling open a door. “We come here to play at every full moon. It’s the only time that the doors are open. None of us had anyone to play with when we found these doors, it doesn’t look like you did either. Come back at the next full moon. We’ll be waiting for you!” With this, she pulled open the door and vanished from sight.

Amelia turned and ran towards her own door. As she got closer she saw the outline begin to fade even more, so with a last burst of speed she scooped up her clothes from next to the door, yanked the door open, and threw herself out, tumbling down the last few stairs and into the cold snow with a “thump.”

Coughing and pulling in air she turned to see the sky beginning to break into color, heralding the first morning light, and the moon behind her retreated into the sky.

“Father!” Amelia suddenly thought. “I have to get home before he does. He’ll be so worried if he finds me gone when he comes home from his hunt!” Rushing, she pulled on her warm winter clothes and quickly scaled back down the mountain.

Her friends, the animals were at the house. The fox had curled himself into a fluffy, white ball, sound asleep next to the door. The owl roosted in a nearby tree, and the reindeer munched contentedly on some hay by the nearby shed. “Well, I see that you are all just fine,” she said as she opened the house door and stepped in. Looking around, she saw that she had arrived home before her father. Slipping out of her winter clothing and back into her pajamas, she pulled the curtains on her window shut, and cuddled down beneath her blankets in her soft, comfortable bed.

As the light of the sun dawned through the kitchen window, Amelia was sound asleep in her bed, dreaming of her time with her new friends and waiting for the next time that the moon came so she could return to them and the summer inside the moon.