asked me to help him. I did and he left me without keeping up his end of the bargain. Amna was the name of the kingdom where he lived.
Images and thoughts poured into my head as if someone stood above me with a pitcher. Everything came back, the cliff, the clockmaker, the shadow, the water ship, and most importantly Ramonia the princess to the adorable king.
“You were there.” I breathed.
“Sorry?”
“You are Ramonia the princess.”
She started to look scared. “What are you talking about?”
“I remember now. I was on a journey. I needed to find someone to help me find a way home.”
“Looks like it worked.” She whispered. She kept glancing over her shoulder to make sure nobody else was listening.
“Did it?”
Was I home? Was this the reality I wanted to find so much? If so I think I liked the world I was in better.
“Do you know anything of a cliff?” I asked.
She took my hand. “Lawrence did you remember to take . . . you know.”
“Take what?”
“Your pills.” She whispered as quietly as she could.
“Pills?” I said loudly. “I’m not on pills.”
She shushed me. “Be quiet not everybody needs to know.”
“Know what? You think I’m crazy don’t you?”
Her breathing grew shallow. “No I don’t. But I know how you get when you don’t take your medicine.”
I glowered at her. “I’m not crazy.”
“I know. Remember the promise you made me when we got married. Do you remember? You promised that you would always take your pills. We don’t want another episode like at my parents’ house.”
I pulled my hand away from hers. “What are you talking about? What episode?”
“You know.”
I stood up. “I don’t know and I don’t want you acting like you don’t know what I am talking about.”
“I don’t.” She whispered angrily.
An idea hit me. “I know what I’ll do. I know a way to show you that I’m not crazy.” I looked up at the building. “I’ll go to the top. You’ll see.”
I ran out of the restaurant into the rain. She followed close behind yelling something I didn’t hear or even care to listen to. I made it to the elevator and she caught up. It came and we were the only ones to get in. I pushed the button for the top floor.
“I’m telling you that after this you will see that I am not crazy. But it would be better if you were on the ground floor.”
She took my arm. “I don’t know what you are thinking about but you better not do anything. Now let’s go back to work and things can get back to normal.”
“Things can only get back to normal if I prove to you that I am invincible. I don’t know why but I am. I’ll show you.”
She embraced me. “Just stop it alright. You go back to your desk and I’ll run home and get your medicine. Everything will be better after that.”
I thought it over. “Alright.” I said.
She pressed the button for our floor and we got out of the elevator. She walked me back to my desk and went to ask the boss something. I watched her get permission to go home. I gave her a few seconds to get the elevator. And then I stood up and slowly walked out of the office. I had to be fast so she would be right below me.
I found the stairs and ran up to the top floor. There was a front facing office and I went in. The desk clerk tried to stop me but I went to one of the windows without acknowledging them. It wouldn’t open. I went back out into the stairs. There was a ladder that went up to the roof. The door was open. I climbed up onto the roof.
A few people were working on something nearby. I bypassed them and went to the edge near the Amna International sign. I spread my arms out and was ready to show everybody that I wouldn’t feel a thing when I hit the ground.
I was just about to let myself fall when I saw something to my right. A pair of brown eyes floated nearby. I had seen them on the water ship. Once again they made me feel like they knew more about me than I did. I was an open book to their gaze. I hated the feeling. My feet sluggishly took a few steps back. The eyes were unblinking and unwavering. This time I knew that they were not eyeballs floating there but a flat image. I wanted to know their secrets as well as they knew mine. I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t want them to look at me anymore. I ran from them. The only feeling I had was one of fear. My feet carried me away, but my mind was not on where I was going. I fell through the entrance to the stairs and hit the ground hard. There was no pain. The eyes came and rested a few inches from my own. I closed mine to try and get rid of the horrid feeling they brought. There was no way to shake it.
8. The Canoe and the Sun People
I didn’t dare open my eyes. The thought of those ghastly things looking at me was enough to want to keep my eyes closed forever. I tried my best to do just that.
Nobody came to my aid. No one seemed to notice that I had fallen. Was there anybody even there? I listened for the rain. My ears were not picking up the rhythmic patter of rainfall. In its place was a new sound. It was a sort of crackling or bubbling. I tried to place it. There was nothing in an office building that I knew of that could make that noise. I wanted to look but gave myself a little longer to recuperate after seeing the all knowing eyes.
I felt myself lightly rocking from side to side. I was no longer face down but face up, leaning back against something. There was no transition from one position to the other. I suddenly became aware of everything new at once, the noise, the rocking, and the new position.
I slowly opened my eyes. I dared not wait any longer to see my new surroundings. My mouth dropped open. These surroundings were new all right. And they were possibly the most outlandish environment I had ever experienced.
Everything was bright. The colors ranged from yellow to orange to white. There was a type of fog I was unfamiliar with. It was not the white or gray fog I was used to but a yellowish fog that caused mirages and heat shimmers.
I was riding in a small canoe over what looked like whitish water with some yellow in it. The canoe caused ripples just as it would through water. I had a sinking feeling that I knew where I was, but at the same time knew it was not possible. My mind tried to tell me I was on the surface of the sun. The lack of heat proved that to be false.
There was someone with me in the little canoe. It was Ramonia. She stared at me intently. She wore a pretty white dress and held a little parasol as if on any normal excursion on a nice lake. I looked at my own outfit and saw that I was wearing a nice suit with an overcoat and had a top hat on my head. I put the hat on my hand and twirled it around, shaking my head at all this insanity.
“It is a wonderful day, isn’t it?” Ramonia said happily.
I looked up but could only see a yellow sky. “I suppose.”
“These little excursions always bring out the best in me. Do they you?”
“Say what?” I said. I hadn’t been listening. I was looking around trying to find some bit of normalcy.
“I said they bring out the best in me. Don’t they bring out the best in you?”
I turned around and looked behind us. There was nothing in any direction but more yellow.
“Yes, I guess so. Can I ask you a question?”
She nodded cheerfully.
“Do we work in an office building?”
“A what?”
“An office building. I guess not. Are we married?”
She giggled uncontrollably. “No.”
“Oh, well do you know of a cliff?”
She raised a finger. “I have heard of one.”
“Really.” I slid a little closer to her.
“Yes. I believe it is overlooking a great diving spot.”
“That sounds like it.”
“But who would dive into the sun now? It’s so hard to see down there.”
“Wait, did you say dive into the sun?”
She nodded.
“We are on the sun?”
She nodded again.
“And the cliff is on the sun?”
“Everything is on the sun.”
“Never mind, I don’t think we are talking about the same cliff.”
“Are you sure? You have to pass the great palace of the sun just to get to it. That’s where we are going now. Maybe we will see it.”
That’s the second time I heard of a great castle or palace next to a cliff. I really should have turned around before jumping off of mine.
“How long until we get there?” I asked.
“It shouldn’t be too long now.”
I nodded slowly and leaned back against the back of the canoe. I found the source of the bubbling. It was the boiling yellow water. It wasn’t a rolling bubbling but a slow and steady bubbling. Fish jumped out of the water nearby. They looked to be on fire but didn’t show signs of burning. They jumped out of the water and arched over the boat leaving a trail of smoke behind.
There was serenity out there like I had never felt before. Everything was so calm and tranquil. It wasn’t like the bustle of the city I was just in. The bubbling produced a warm melody that soothed me and comforted my frenetic thoughts. I no longer cared to piece together the gaps in my memory or to learn why I was moving from place to place at such an impossible rate. I only wanted to sit in that little canoe with Ramonia and forget about everything else. My eyelids grew heavy and I almost drifted off to sleep. But then I saw something off to my right and I was wide awake.
Several people were walking about on the surface of the water. I couldn’t make them out clearly because of the