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The Pied Piper Portal

Follow Me

By Dennis HumphreysPublished 2 years ago 40 min read
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by: Dennis R. Humphreys

The Foley family moved into the area just four months ago from a larger suburban area. Some of the suburbs were getting as bad as the cities so Jym's parents decided to move into the country. Jym hated it at first, being away from all his friends, but he soon found there was fun being outside instead of sitting around on nice days inside, playing games on his smartphone. It was an epiphany for the ten year old who had only known one way of life that was a sterile result of social media.

He was an only child of two parents, Greg and Dorothy, who were in their early thirties. His father was a marketing consultant for a medium sized company in town about an hour away while Dorothy taught at the same school Jym was attending. He preferred riding to school with his mother rather than boarding the bus every morning into a swell of obnoxious bullies that always seemed to fester under the radar of the teachers.

The three of them were just driving back from town one Saturday afternoon, after having lunch at their favorite steak house. Driving down the country road towards their house, just a few minutes away, Jym was sitting in the back seat while his parents were talking and laughing. Jym was tired of playing one of his electronic games and put it down to look out the window. There were hundreds of cows out here...black ones, spotted ones, off white ones with the curly hair on their backs, big and small, thin and fat. Most of them ignored their car as they passed but there was always one who looked up and stared, following them down the road. There was one Jym was watching, as they drove along that stopped eating in one spot and began moving to another. Jym watched as she just seemed to disappear. It started at her head and in a second or two her hind quarters disappeared from view.

“Mom...Dad! I was watching one of the cows and it just disappeared out there in the field,” Jym yelled excitedly.

“That's nice dear,” his mother answered dismissively.

“No! Mom I'm serious... it just vanished,” he repeated sitting on the edge of his seat.

“It probably just walked behind a bush or a small hill,” his father suggested.

“Dad, I know what I saw. Honestly, it really disappeared,” Jym emphasized hating when he got that condescending attitude from them. He wasn't a little kid anymore. He knew what he saw.

“What do you want us to do about it Jym?” his father asked.

“I don't know. I'd like to just know how and why,” Jym told him scooting back into his seat not satisfied with his parent's attitude.

He knew when to keep quiet. If he pushed it, his parents would just get exasperated with him, not having seen it themselves, and chalking the incident up to his imagination as they did last month when he saw the flying saucer fly overhead... or when he found fresh dinosaur tracks on the side of the road down from where they lived. They always wanted proof or some nonsense instead of using their senses but then they were adults and adults all lived in their own little world.

Jym found it strange and need to check it out. He could walk back to the spot in just ten minutes so he figured that's what he would do. His parents didn't mind him taking off by himself out here because there were so few people and the people out here looked out for each other. It was safe for him to go exploring on his own which is what he was constantly doing.

They pulled into their driveway and collected the few groceries they picked up after lunch on the way home.

“Is it OK if I go exploring?” Jym asked his mother after getting out of the car.

“That's fine, just don't go far and make sure your phone is on in case we need to reach you,” Jym's mother warned as she watched her son head back down the road from where they just drove.

“You know, he's probably headed back to that disappearing cow,” Greg told his wife.

“Oh let him. He's at the age where his imagination is bigger than he is,” Dorothy told her husband. You ought to hear some of the stuff I hear in my third grade class. I used to blame it on too much television.

Jym ran most of the way back to the field where he saw the cow disappear. He looked over the fence at the other cows that ignored him watching. He tried pinpointing the exact spot where the event he saw happened. When he was reasonably certain he knew the spot he climbed over the wooden fence. He decided to play it safe and move around behind a couple of cows that were near the spot and herd them into it. Jym wanted to see if the event was a one time thing or if it could be repeated. He wasn't big enough for the cows to bother with and consider him a problem. They just kept on munching the grass oblivious of his approach. Then he heard something strange and unexpected... a flute! In the middle of a field with cows he heard a flute. It was unmistakably the instrument he heard. The boy looked around to see from where it was coming. The two cows nearby heard it too as they looked up. There was something about the tone and the playing that was compelling. It seemed to draw the two cows that were there towards it. They ignored the grass they had been eating and it looked as if they were eyeing some greener grass on the other side.

Jym watched as they continued to walk, ignoring him or not noticing him. The young boy stood silently by as the cows walked towards the suspicious spot. Suddenly, the first one disappeared as if someone erased the cows body starting at its head but then the second cow continued behind the first cow not noticing or caring that the other cow vanished. In a short moment the second cow was gone. There wasn't a doorway or anything to account for their disappearance. The landscape was without any aberrations. Jym even looked up into the sky and there were no spaceships.

Still about twenty four hundred pounds of beef were gone and you couldn't blame rustlers. Jym walked around the area in a wide circle investigating the site but staying away from whatever wasn't there. The flute playing began again... it's melodious, captivating sound and rhythm. It wasn't a familiar melody but rather there was something disruptive in its tones and hypnotic frequencies that lured you into wanting more, transcending your present reality.

Jym decided he heard enough and tried to close his attention to it by walking away, to leave the field, but he couldn't. The sounds, expertly played, drew him into a mesmerizing addiction. He found himself turned around and following where the cows had gone. He was no longer in control but found himself laughing and skipping lightly towards the sound. Where was it coming from? In his delirium, Jym didn't care.

As he moved towards the sound, a hypnotic combination of high frequencies, repetitious in their delivery, he saw visual changes occurring around him. It was another world, more colorful than what he left. He inhaled deeply the air that actually smelled sweet. There was the sound of animals emitting pacifying sounds you couldn't describe, but they weren't birds. The sweet smell, he noticed, was emitted by thousands of flowers in bloom everywhere in every color imaginable and some not so imaginable. The sky was different too, a bright blue with a greenish hue and the hills in the distance appeared purple in their hazy atmospheric perspective. The scene was one in a dream but he was awake and he marveled at what he saw wondering where exactly he was.

As he looked about he listened for the direction of the sweet sound, even sweeter than the air. It came from around an old crooked fence post amidst some bushes where several cows laid appearing to watch the post, listening.

Jym went to the post and saw two legs on the ground coming from it. Knowing fence post almost never have legs, he walked around to the other side and observed the maker of the music.

It was a short, skinny man around fortyish with long, curly hair that hung below a tattered hat that held tightly to his head revealing an elongated head of an unusual nature. It tied under his chin but was left untied. He wore a dirty smock of green, that laid just above his knees and tight fitting pants that were brown, and it was hard to say what their color was, or if it was from dirt. There were a few holes in the pants that covered two very skinny legs.

He continued playing as Jym stood in front of him watching. He acted as if he didn't know Jym was there but it was hard to imagine he didn't, so Jym decided he was ignoring him. Jym stood there quietly watching for awhile before he spoke.

“Hi there. Who are you and where am I?” Jym asked two completely good questions.

But the little man said nothing and continued to play. 'Perhaps he is deaf and can't hear me' Jym reasoned to himself but then thought perhaps he hadn't sight as well and was completely unaware of his presence. It was a completely reasonable guess on Jym's part, he thought, so he lightly kicked the man's foot, which he now noticed was wearing peculiar shoes that were long and very pointed... much longer than his feet.

The man looked up suddenly as if he were startled but he was angry as he looked at Jym and scolded him.

“Don't you know it's dangerous to interrupt someone when they're doing something?” he asked in a very agitated way.

“For whom?” Jym asked.

“That's what make it so dangerous... you don't know,” he snapped back.

I'm sorry. Where am I?” Jym asked again.

“You mean you're here and you don't know where you are?” the man asked fidgeting with his wooden flute.

“I wouldn't ask if I knew,” Jym answered.

“Children shouldn't be rude to adults,” the man stated.

“I wasn't being rude. I'm sorry if you see it that way but I came here under mysterious circumstances and have no idea where I am. I do know this is the most unusual place I've ever seen,” Jym admitted to him.

“I thought you said you didn't know where you were?” the man looked up at him as if analyzing the boy.

“I don't understand,” the boy responded, confused by the man.

The man, acting like Jym was the dumbest person he ever talked to, began cleaning his flute with his shirt tail, probably making it dirtier still.

“Boy... you're in the town of Unusual in the country of Unexpected,” the flute player answered.

Jym now suspecting he was even further from home, here in this place, pushed himself to inquire further.

“And what world is this?” he hesitated to ask but did anyway.

“What world? Why it's Otherworld, of course. Anyone with any sense about them knows that,” he retorted.

“Why? I don't know this place and I've never been here before,” but as he answered there did seem some familiarity that he didn't quite understand.

“It's the place of your dreams... or nightmares, it depends on your inclination. It's the place you go to at night when you shut your eyes and fall into oblivion. There you will find this world and there, if you look closely, you may see or hear me,” the man explained.

“And who are you? You never answered me,” Jym reiterated.

“And just who are you that stand in front of me, drenched in insolence?” the man asked.

“I'm Jym. Now you have to tell me your name,” Jym stubbornly repeated.

“Oh, alright,” the funny little man replied, acting as if it were painful to answer, “I am known as Achoa, the piper in these parts.”

“Achoa? That sounds like a sneeze,” Jym commented, half laughing at the thought.

“There you go again... you're either arrogant or insulting. You're outrageous,” Achoa snapped and put his flute back in his mouth to play.

“What do you do with the cows that come here from my world?” Jym blurted before the man started playing again. He didn't want to have to interrupt him to ask and start another tirade of admonishment.

“We eat them of course. Anything that comes through the portal is eaten,” Achoa replied matter-of-factually to Jym but the answer made Jym nervous. He remembered the old nursery stories his mother told him when he was a child, remembering now, the one about the Pied Piper of Hamlin. Could this man be the basis to this story?

“This world has a shortage of food. The ground contains toxins so anything that grows from it contains things toxic to us. Anything that eats it is toxic. There is very little here that isn't toxic. Those mountains you see in the distance are volcanoes that have spewed such things that have become natural to the earth here but are unnatural to my people,” he explained.

“Are you the one in a story my mother told me when I was younger...the Pied Piper of Hamlin?” Jym wanted to know.

“Ah... Hamlin... I remember the city well. I was contracted by the city mayor to get rid of the rats there. That wasn't a problem, we eat those too. What you don't know from that nursery rhyme is that the mayor needed to deplete the population because he thought it was getting too large to control and he wished to stay mayor his entire life. It was very lucrative for him, so he paid me to take all the children with me back here under the guise I did it in retaliation for not getting paid for removing the rats,” Achoa explained.

“It sounds like you left one big rat behind,” Jym commented.

“You have a sense of humor with a truth underlying its utterance,” the weird little man laughed.

“Whatever happened to all those children?” Jym asked Achoa.

“We ate them of course and did whatever else we wanted. Some were used as slaves but slaves have to be fed the little food we have, so we have few slaves,” the piper answered.

“That's so gross. That isn't natural,” Jym judged.

“Don't you dare judge us. You come here uninvited, across the portal border into my world and you don't expect to be used for what we want in this world. Your world is no better,” Achoa commented, annoyed.

“Is that what you intend to do to me now?” Jym slowly asked.

“Perhaps...although you exhibit some degree of intelligence, so perhaps, we may keep you as a slave,” the man smiled at him and said.

“And what if I ran back through the spot I came into here through?” Jym asked backing up from the man.

“It would do you no good, I've closed the portal. The portal won't open again unless I play a combination of sounds from it. It will stay open until I close it with the flute,” he explained putting the flute to his lips and motioned his fingers over its holes without playing a note.

Jym stopped backing up. He needed to know more if he wanted to escape now.

“Why is this portal here now. Before it was in Germany?” Jym asked.

“There are portals all over your world I can open at anytime with my flute. Wherever the need arises,” he explained as he continued, not acknowledging Jym, by avoiding looking at him.

“The need?” Jym asked the piper.

“Whenever we need food and whenever your different countries want to deplete the population somewhat... same difference. It's an arrangement we have. Right now we have two very active portals in your country. They're in your states of... oh, the one state has a long name... ah! California, and the other is in...Texas along your borders there. We're importing much food there, the kind we like...young children. Very tasty!” he giggled the most diabolical giggle that Jym ever heard.

Jym realized he needed to get out of this place but needed to trick the piper for without the portal being open he couldn't escape. He had no idea how to do it but if he didn't do something quickly he might end up on someone's dinner table. It was then he heard noises and people talking. He looked and saw a crowd coming down the worn road towards them. Jym waned to run but he didn't know where. He certainly couldn't live off the land if things were as toxic as the piper explained. He had no reason not to believe him since he was completely at his mercy.

“I see we have a young boy, a little older than what we like, he'll just have to cook longer,” the fat little man leading the crowd told Achoa.

“I think we need to keep this one,” Achoa told the man, “he shows a good degree of intelligence and capable of instruction... the perfect slave.

“If you think so. We do have enough cows at the moment though we prefer human children. It is about time to open the Texas portal. Perhaps you should do that next, then we can get our fill of chili,” the man announced sending murmurs of approval throughout the crowd.

Then Jym thought perhaps he wouldn't have to trick the piper. When he opened the Texas portal he might be able to escape through it while it was open. His parents could always come get him then, wherever he came out in the state, even though it was several hundred miles from them.

Then his hopes and idea were dashed.

“We'll take him back to town with us. We'll start training the boy to be a proper slave,” the man told the piper.

“That's fine then,” he told the man and then turned to Jym to speak. “You are to go with the mayor here of Unusual then and some of the townspeople that have come with him.”

“Why can't I stay here with you?” Jym asked, hoping the piper's ego would cause him to request Jym's presence, if he thought he wanted to stay.

“No, you go with the mayor. As long as you show some penchant for slavery you won't end up on the dinner table. The minute you show unwillingness or failure to learn your place you will be dispatched,” the piper warned him.

That plan ruined Jym's scheme so he had to think of something else, as he was led by the mayor and the crowd back to town. When they walked over the top of the hill Jym saw a great city... an odd looking city. The colors, like everything else here, were exuberant and unnatural in their combinations. The roofs were tall and pointed with the four sides meeting in the middle, made of bright orange clay, fired to stone consistency. The walls were of stucco and painted various colors of lime green, pinks, and iridescent blues. The streets and walkways were of red cobblestone lined by gas lamps with crystal balls on top. The sweet smelling flowers that greeted Jym when coming through the portal were everywhere else... the small lawns in front and in the back of the houses there were flowers. The town extended as far as one could see and was the home of many, many people. The houses all had chimneys rising from the tall roofs, even higher. There was obviously no modern conveniences using oil or electricity.

Jym was taken to the mayor's house and there put into a cage and locked. His escape was thus further hampered. The one possibility he saw was through the new portal the piper opened. He had to be there to know when that was, so he could take advantage of it in his plan to escape. It seemed less likely now.

He was kept in the cage without food or water for three days. When he was let out it was to be taught how to clean the house and do other chores he hated doing at home, He wished he was there now doing them. It was a long day and he was hungry and thirsty. He didn't want to ask for anything for fear of angering the mayor or his wife. Finally at the end of the day he was called into the kitchen to eat and drink something. They were rewarding him, like a dog, after he did his tricks, with food and water. They had done the same with him, withholding sustenance for three days to make him more obedient. Inside Jym was furious but he kept his feelings to himself and acted very thankful.

Several days went by and he continued to do what he was taught and told to do. He was fed twice a day and given water. The water had a bad taste to it but it satisfied him. The food was a strange concoction of pasty material scattered with other things that looked like bits of vegetables. He assumed since they couldn't raise anything here, that they had gotten the stuff from his world to feed the population. If the mayor and his family ate this way he wondered what the poorer part of this world ate.

Then the mayor's children appeared, a boy and a girl, one day. Jym hadn't seen them because they were at some kind of camp and now they were back. The mayor's wife, Lan, introduced them to Jym while he was in his cage.

“Jym, these are my two children, they're twins as you can see,” she told him but Jym couldn't tell, they were complete opposites in the way they appeared. “My boy's Gan and his sister is Han.”

Jym thought this was ridiculous, the mother's name was Lan and mayor was called Ban. But all he had to do to remember their names was to assign the first letter to them, the rest was easy enough to figure out. The children were about Jym's age and the girl seemed fascinated with Jym. Perhaps this could be advantageous. He could develop a friendship with her that might help give him what he needed. He spoke to her to begin working towards that outcome.

“Did you like camp?” Jym asked her. Han was flattered he was speaking to her.

“Yes. We did all kinds of things. We learned about numbers and how to read and write, We learned about our people and the past,” she told him.

“That sounds like school,” Jym commented.

“What's school?” she asked him.

“That's where you learn to do the things you just said but you go every day for several months a year,” he explained. “Do you go to school?”

“No we're here every day, we only go to camp to learn these things for a month every year,” she told Jym. Then he wondered if their day, week, month and year were even the same as home.

Thus began a friendship Jym hoped would lead to his freedom. Han came and spoke to him

when he was in the cage but she wasn't allowed to speak to him while he did his chores. Finally one day Jym decided to put a thought in her head.

“Is it nice outside?” he asked Han.

“Yes it is. I love to go out and play but I don't have many friends being the mayor's daughter,”she told him.

“I like to play outside too. I haven't seen what it's like out there since I came here. I spend all my time in this cage when I'm not working,” he told her looking as sad as he could which she took notice of easy enough.

“Would you like to be my friend and play with me sometime?” Han asked, lighting up with joy.

“I already thought we were friends but sure, I'd like that,” Jym replied, thinking, 'so far, so good'.

“I'm going to say something to father. I want you and I to be able to go outside together,” she said in a defiant way and marched out of the kitchen.

The next day the mayor opened the cage door to let Jym out... earlier than normal.

“Alright Jym, my daughter insists that you be left out to play with her outside. Understand there is nowhere for you to go and you must still do your chores. You know well enough what they are and what's expected so as long as they get done, the rest of the time can be spent playing with Han. Is that understood?” the mayor asked as Jym stepped from the cage.

“Yes sir,” he assured the mayor and the mayor left. It was still too early for Han to even be up but Jym thought he'd start doing his chores so he could get them done to have more time with Han to be outside.

So he went about doing the things he had to do. The mayor's wife got up a little later and was pleased to find Jym working.

“Han will be up in about an hour. She'll be pleased to find you'll be ready to go outside and play with her,” Lan told her.

Han came downstairs a while later and became excited when she saw Jym working to get some of his chores done so they could play. She went into the kitchen where her mother had prepared a breakfast of the same stuff they all ate everyday... the mysterious pasty stuff that Jym was getting bored of already. These people seemed to accept it without complaint, but Jym, given time, might even be ready to eat the hand they feeds him should they place a cooked human hand in front of him.

Several days of the routine gave him some intense playing with Han. Both the mayor and his wife were pleased with Jym keeping their daughter happy while still getting his chores done. Jym was just thankful for being rid of the cage and able to go outside to play. Each day he inadvertently pushed a little harder to go further. His intent was to get to the piper and his window of opportunity.

He began talking about the piper with Han.

“I like the piper that brought me here. He's an interesting person to talk to and he really plays his flute well,” Jym told Han.

“”He's OK. I've met him several times but he's a little creepy,” she told Jym.

“Really? I don't think so,” Jym replied and then dropped it, not wanting to be suspicions.

Finally the one day they made it to the top of the hill, from where had first seen the settlement. Looking down the opposite side he could see where he had met Achoa. He couldn't see him but he was sure he was there somewhere.

“I can see where I first met Achoa from here,” he told Han.

“I like the view from up here and come here quite a bit,” Han told Jym.

“Does Achoa live alone... I mean is he married like your parents?” he asked the girl.

“No, he has no one. He just sits down there and plays his flute constantly.

“Oh. He must be very lonely then. If that were me I'd be lonely not having someone like you to be with,” he told Han hoping to act like he inadvertently complimented her.

“You don't miss your family you left behind on the other side?” she asked with a smile on her face.

“Not anymore,” he told her figuring she was taking his hook but then he dropped the matter and changed subjects, acting nonchalant.

A few days went by and Jym didn't say anything but Han finally did. She must have been thinking about their conversation though, because she brought the subject up first that day.

“Let's go see Achoa, she suggested and keep him some company,” Han suggested.

“Is that OK?” Jym answered, his stomach jumping inside for joy.

“Sure. I'll take him a couple of biscuits here that mother made,” she told Jym.

“That's very thoughtful of you,” Jym complimented her, conditioning her further for what he wanted.

They both walked the distance, shoving each other, poking each other, and laughing as kids their age do. It wasn't long they appeared where Achoa was. When he saw them coming he stood up from his seat on the ground against the fence post.

“Is it alright for you two to be here?” he asked them both but directed his attention to Han.

“Yes, and I brought you something,” she said handing the piper the biscuits. You would have thought she brought him a bag of gold. He immediately sat back down and began chewing away at them.

He appeared happy to have company and Han acted as if she was happy to have made the decision to visit and take him something to eat.

“I'm glad you two came to visit,” he told the two of them.

“Why don't you play us something on your flute,” Han suggested. “Something delightful.”

Achoa thought for a minute and began moving his fingers before blowing into the flute. Soon unusual, peaceful sounds flowed out of it. Han got up and started dancing, spinning around and around in a sensual way. She came over to Jym who was feeling light headed suddenly. She pulled him to his feet to get him to dance with her. Jym joined her but was beside himself with the images he started to see in his head. He felt good, too good and looked at Achoa frantically running his fingers up and down his flute. He smiled back at Jym when he caught him looking. It was a manipulative look and there was something expectant in it but what took him off guard was Han, when she kissed him on the lips. It was then Jym realized that Achoa was able to do anything and make someone do anything he wanted by playing certain tunes on his instrument.

No wonder he successfully rid the town of Hamlin, from its rats and its children.

Jym pulled away shaking his head.

“Stop your playing,” Jym shouted, and the piper stopped.

“Why do you want him to stop. I was feeling so good, weren't you Jym?” she asked far from innocently.

“Yeah, but it's not right. Don't you find it a little creepy to do something because the music inspires you to do it and the player knows what he's doing playing it?” Jym asked her.

“Not at all,” she told him.

“I think we should go home,” Jym told her hearing the piper laughing under his breath.

On the way back to the mayor's house they walked quietly until Han spoke.

“I'm sorry I embarrassed you. I don't know what came over me but thinking back I'm a little embarrassed with what was running through my head and what I was doing,” she told Jym.

“That piper is what came over you. When he starts playing that flute he starts controlling things. That's why he's successful with what he does using it,” Jym told her and then followed it with a warning. “Just don't ask him to play it the next time we see him and if he does, ask him to stop right away.”

Jym spent the night wondering how the piper did control people and their emotions with the pipe. It was only a flute but then he remembered his father talking about how scientists could seem to make things magically happen with the use of various frequencies and how the military had begun using them in the field with enemies, making them sick. All music is, he thought was various frequencies.

The next day, Han, was herself again, and she wanted to take more of the biscuits to Achoa. There was some other stuff too that tasted strange and Jym didn't care for, but it was the texture of yogurt. He noticed Han's family went wild over it when Lan made it. There was some left from the night before and she put it into a covered can to take.

“Remember... no flute playing. I'm not sure what would have happened yesterday if it hadn't stopped,” Jym warned the girl.

“I'm sure nothing bad would have happened. I thought about it going to sleep last night and I liked kissing you,” she admitted. “Did you like my kiss?”

Jym didn't want to reject her or insult her, that might ruin his chances of leaving.

“I really like you Han, and I really liked the feel of you kissing me,” he told her, a slight exaggeration but in truth he did like it.

She stopped and after a couple of steps, Jym looked back at her and was about to say something when Han ran to him and threw her arms around him, giving him a big kiss. He didn't pull back and responded in kind. Yesterday was his first kiss other than on his cheek. Today was his first where it was something he participated in with a girl.

“I really like you Jym. I like being with you,” she told him.

The piper saw them coming and greeted them as they walked up to him. Han handed him what she brought.

“You two are going to spoil me,” he warned them as he took the biscuits and the yogurty mixture from Han. He immediately launched himself on it, devouring it like he hadn't eaten in days.

“Who makes this potewa,” he asked as he shoved his fingers into the can, scraped the sides of it, and then licked his fingers clean.

“My mother. I'm glad you like it,” she answered him. “ Do you ever get lonely down here by yourself?”

“I always have a few animals, mainly cows that keep me company and I talk to, but I do miss someone to answer me sometimes. I have to stay here to open and close the different portals. It isn't always easy to open a portal and sometimes takes days but I can't stop playing my flute to socialize. The timing has to be right,” he explained.

“ Why this spot?” Jym asked him thinking he could do it anywhere.

“It's here the intersection of two of the magnetic lobo lines are. Playing the correct frequencies with the lines make portals open, however there are different combinations to open the other end to different places,” he told them both. “We are at the receiving end.”

“When do you know the portal is open. It doesn't look any different,” Jym asked.

“No but there's a great deal of static. It even makes your hair rise straight up when it opens. There is still enough static after it opens to know it's there. The hair on you neck and arms tickle,” he said. I've been trying for days to open the Texas portal. Storms at the other end screw things up a lot of times. Do you want me to play you a tune, Han?”

“No thank you. That's alright. I have a slight headache,” Han lied to the piper.

“I can fix that with a tune. It'll just take me a minute to remember it,” he offered.

“No I'm fine, don't worry about it,” she assured him.

Jym was ecstatic knowing he hadn't opened the portal he wanted yet. He didn't want tp ask too much more about it at the moment so they talked about the flowers and what was in the ground that made it toxic and anything, for the most part, that grew in it. There were a few things that grew, when you boiled them, removed the toxicity, but just a few things.

It seems the ground wasn't always that way until about five hundred years ago when the volcano erupted. It flowed lava for several days and cast a toxic dust into the atmosphere that came to the ground when it rained. Many people died inhaling the dust, almost ending their entire civilization but the rain came at the right moment giving those that were left a reprieve. However, now the land wasn't farmable nor could they raise animals. There was one animal that seemed to be immune to the toxins and did not absorb them. That was the denarah. It was not very good to eat but was still almost hunted to extinction until the people started raising herds of the creatures for food. They were the size of a large dog, and they were tough and sinewy. Doing what the piper did fed their civilization, what was left, supplemented it.

The two children left after their visit and walked home.

“He told me a few things I did not know about,” Han told Jym along the way.

“He told me things I knew nothing about,” Jym told his companion.

“Would you like to lie with me for awhile under that tree over there,” she asked Jym.

“There are a few things I need to do yet. We better get back. I don't want your parents to forbid me being with you because I didn't get everything done today,” he told her truthfully but he also wanted to feed her interest in him.

That night he laid awake again thinking. He realized he'd be subject to that same flute playing tune that pulled him into this place if the portal was open and the piper played to draw children into it from the other side. He might never escape through the portal if that was the case. He would have to find something he could put into his pocket, to stuff his ears with, when he tried to make his escape, that way he wouldn't hear the tones played. Cotton would be good but he hadn't seen anything like that in the mayor's house or anywhere. Then he realized the pillow they gave him to sleep on was soft so maybe it had something inside that could be used.

He carefully pulled some of the stitching out of the pillow case and opened it an inch or so near the corner. He reached in with his finger and pulled some out. Looking at it, it was soft and appeared to be feathery but like a milkweed seed, the kind with a light parachute that the wind could carry to other places to grow. It was larger though. Some of this would work, maybe with a little spit on it to keep it in his ear, but it should work. Jym stuffed a handful into his pocket and buttoned the flap so it would be there when he needed it.

In the morning when the mayor stopped to unlock his cage he spoke to Jym.

“I want to commend you on your work. Plus, I've never seen my daughter happier. She loves playing with you and having you around. I think we have a very good relationship here. Keep up the good work,” he commended Jym.

As Jym watched him leave and he felt his pocket. There were the soft, milkweed like seeds in his pocket. He was set so he went about his chores for the day waiting for Han to show. The mayor's wife came into the room singing a good morning salutation to Jym while he was dusting,

“My dear boy, my husband and I were talking last night what a joy you are to have around and Han thinks you're wonderful as well,” she warbled as she flit into the kitchen. Jym just shook his head as he watched her disappear around the corner.

He continued working and went upstairs to clean. He ran into Han skipping down the steps. Jym was greeted by a big kiss and a squeeze around his neck. Gan appeared and passed them on the step.

“You aren't fooling me for one minute,” he whispered to Jym. “If I have my way I'll be having you to eat in a fortnight.”

Jym shuddered at the thought, worse still coming out of his ass some hours later.

“Jym, my love, today is going to be a glorious day. I think I may have Achoa play us a special tune for just the two of us,” she told him as more of a promise than a statement. At ten years old he wasn't sure of what she expected.

As they walked Jym kept feeling his pocket as if the item he packed into would magically disappear and he would be stuck here forever. He knew if he tried and failed Gan would most likely get his wish. The idea of him ending up being thrown into the cesspool was a hideous ending. He felt Han take his hand and hold it. Jym didn't pull away mainly because it suddenly gave him more confidence as they walked.

As they neared the place where Achoa stayed Jym felt the hair on the back of his neck tickle and noticed the hair on his arms straighten out and away from his skin. The portal was open.

They found the piper sitting on the ground preparing to play his seduction tune...the one to bring creatures from the other side into the portal. Before he started Jym needed to shove some of his pocket's content into his ears. He nonchalantly pulled some out of his pocket and put it into his mouth giving it a good dowsing before he stuffed into his right ear.

Han gave Achoa his treat which by now he expected. He sat down to eat it placing his flute next to him. By now, the piper's hair was even standing up so there was no doubt the portal was open, at least by the piper's account. Hopefully he wasn't lying about it but he had no reason to or suspect Jym and his plan to flee. While the piper was busy eating and Han was asking him something about playing that special tune she mentioned earlier, Jym put some more of the seeds in his mouth and wet them. He took it then and stuffed them into his left ear. As he was about to run, Han stood up and went to him grabbing his hand. She noticed something hanging from his left ear.

“Jym, what is that hanging from you ear?” she asked him beginning to reach for it.

“I'm sorry Han,” he apologized as he began to run for the spot where he knew the portal was.

Immediately Han followed him and the sudden action of the two children surprised the piper. When he realized what was happening he grabbed his flute but by the time he began blowing the first note both Jym and Han had disappeared through the invisible opening.

The sight on the side was wonderful to behold. The foliage was normal again. The sky was its regular color. The group of houses in the distance had normal roofs with normal colors. Jym moved further away from the portal before cleaning out his ears. He didn't want the slight chance of being lured back through the opening by the piper's song. He turned around to give one last look when he saw Han standing there. She had followed him but he could tell she was going under the spell of the flute as she began her return. He couldn't let that happen, not back to that place, so he ran to her shoving a bunch of the seeds into his mouth. When he caught up to her he shoved some in either of her ears and held onto her until she was normal. It only took some seconds as he pulled her further away from the portal. When he was comfortable they were far enough away he pulled the stuff from his ears and listened. The sound was imperceptible, so he pulled the seeds from Hans' ears.

“Well that does that, we can't go back. If we do they will surely eat you and I couldn't stand that. I could go back but I want to stay with you,” she told him.

“I couldn't let you back to that place. It's a terrible place. You'll find it much better here,” Jym assured her. “Let's walk to those houses. I can call my parents.”

Then he thought about his phone he still had in his other pocket. He had forgotten about it since he hadn't use it on the other side. There was no signal. He had turned it off and put it away. It should still have plenty of battery power and should have a signal. He turned it on and sure enough there was a signal as he saw the opening screen come up to view.

“Hello, dad. It's Jym he cried,” excited to hear his father's voice but his dad didn't sound like how he expected.

“Son, where have you been? It's been weeks since you disappeared. You mother and I have been worried... sick,” he told his son. Jym heard his mother in the background mumbling something but couldn't make out what she was saying.

“Dad, I'm here in Texas. It's a long story I'll tell you later. Can you come and get me?” Jym asked.

“Sure but where in Texas? Maybe the best thing to do is get to an airport. We can arrange to fly you back here. It would be faster. Where are you exactly?” he asked. Jym realized he had no idea where they were so he asked his father to hold on while he checked the app program he had on his phone that gave it's longitude and latitude while looking at a map that showed visually where he was.

“Dad I'm in a place called Brownsville, Texas,” Jym told his father.

“OK, son, hang up and I'll see about getting you to an airport. I'll call you back as soon as I can,” his father told him and disconnected the phone. He thought it odd that he could hear his mother in the background but she didn't ask to speak with him after not being home for days.

“My dad's going to see about finding a way to get us to an airport so we can fly home,” Jym told Han.

“You can fly? What's an...air... port?” Han asked.

“Oh that's right you don't have that where you're from. There's so much to tell you,” Jym told her.

* * *

“What is Jym doing back?” Dorothy asked her husband.

“I don't know how he got back. Our government contact assured us the arrangement would be permanent. They're going to want their incentive check back for getting rid of our kid. Damn it, Jym, you always screw up a good thing,” Greg shouted as he put his fist through the drywall.

urban legend
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