Gabrielle’s Magical Notebook

(This is the story I told for the our annual Night of the Burning Plum.)

Once upon a time, not so long ago and not so far away, a plum fell from Heaven down to Earth. As he passed through our atmosphere he caught fire and then fell into the middle of a hard, cold road. He picked himself up and brushed himself off and set off down the road seeking some shelter from the darkness and the cold.

It wasn’t long before he came upon a mighty fortress. The walls were tall and the moat was broad. He called across the water to the watchman.

“Please, sir,” he said, “I am so cold and I am so tired. May I come in and rest within your walls?”

“No,” the watchman replied. “We don’t let anyone in. We stand behind our walls and keep everything out. The world is dangerous and we don’t let it come in here.”

The plum looked at the fortress and he saw what he hadn’t before. He saw the walls were lined with armed men whose eyes were cold. The moat was full of piranahs and crocodiles to kill any who tried to enter. So he turned away and went back into the cold.

He travelled for some time along the road when he came to a palace. Its spires glistened in the sunlight and what he could see of its gardens were beautiful. He went to the gatekeeper and asked to be let in.

“Please,” he said. “It is so dark out here and I am so weary of wandering. May I come in and rest in your sunlight?”

“You may come in,” the gatekeeper said. “But I doubt you want to. There is a new king on the throne and the passageways are all full of treachery and deceit.”

The plum looked at the palace shining in the sun and he saw what he had not before. He saw the assasins lurking in the shadows and the poison at the bottom of every cup of wine. So he turned his back in despair and traveled on in the dark.

Night had fallen like a lampshade when he came to a crossroads. At the crossroads was a house that was simple and plain, but warm light shone from every window and he heard laughter from inside. He knocked on the door which opened by a woman in simple garb.

“Please, madam,” the plum said. “May I come in? It is so cold and so dark out here on this road. May I come in and sit by your fire and listen to your talk?”

“Of course,” the woman said.

She showed the plum into the house where the family Blessed and the family Laughter were feasting together. The plum sat and he listened to their talk and he felt their warmth and he wondered at it.

“I don’t understand,” he said to them. “How can you feast in this simple house? And how can you laugh so loudly? It is dark and it is cold outside. There is fear and treachery throughout the world and your house sits at a crossroads. How can you sit so happily?”

“Yes,” they answered him, “We sit at a crossroads in a dark world. But the Father of Lights has given us each other. So we laugh together and we feast together and we pray the darkness back to hell.”

“Please,” the plum begged, “May I stay?”

“Or course,” they said.

So he stayed with them and their laughter made him burn bright and warm. He warmed their house for them even when the fuel was expensive and he added light to every meal no matter how meager the food. And together they sat at the crossroads in the dark, cold world.