Narnia's Victor
by Burnette Chick
Chapter 1: The Wooden Wardrobe
David was visiting his Aunt Polly for a few months. His father was off fighting in the war, and his busy mother, who was left with her six children, sent David off to his aunt and two of his brothers to their grandparent's house. Aunt Polly, who was actually his great-aunt, was now an old woman, but she was strong and determined, and very hard-working.
David loved to visit his aunt. Aunt Polly had always seemed to claim David, the second-eldest of her nephew's children, as her favorite. She had many interesting stories to tell of her youth, and David loved to sit there and listen to them.
As David and his aunt walked inside, David looked in awe at the grand old house. Aunt Polly had been a hard-working woman in her youth, and this beautiful house showed it. David loved the house, which he hadn't seen in nearly seven years.
"Now," said Aunt Polly, opening a door. "Here is your room."
David smiled at the room he had always stayed in as a child. It had been so long ago that he had slept in the bed and sat in the room. He set his things down and went to eat supper with his aunt.
The next morning, David went to explore the house. Aunt Polly was out with friends, so he had the house to himself and the crabby old housekeeper. He went into one room to find a beautiful wooden wardrobe. It seemed to take the color away from everything in the room. It was like it had its own light; like it was the most important thing in the house.
David walked to it and touched the wardrobe. It felt so alive...so unlike anything David had ever felt before. He was about to open it when the housekeeper walked in.
"Don't touch!" she cried.
He jumped. He looked up at the housekeeper, who looked like a cat about to pounce. She said, "That is an ancient and beautiful piece of work. Please keep your hands off of it. Your aunt left me here to look after you, and I will not have her coming back to all her special artifacts in ruins, so don't touch anything." The housekeeper left in a huff, as if David was a little child getting into everything. In reality, he was a sixteen-year-old boy left in a large, mysterious house on his own. He lightly opened the door and looked inside at the fur coats, and continued on his way through the house.
When Aunt Polly returned for lunchtime, David asked her, "I saw an old wardrobe in one of the rooms. Where is it from?"
Aunt Polly smiled fondly, as if lost in memories. "Now, it is much more than an 'old wardrobe'," she said. "It was made when I was about your age, by a friend I was very fond of." She took a bite of her salad.
"Well, it's a fine wardrobe," David admitted.
"Yes, it is," replied Aunt Polly shortly.
David was surprised she didn't say more about it; Aunt Polly usually had quite a story about everything, and the wardrobe seemed very special. He ate his supper in silence as Aunt Polly seemed very deep in thought. At last, she said, "The wardrobe is very special to me," she said. "It came from an apple tree, which came from a very special land. I've never been there since, so the wardrobe is a way for me to remember it."
"A land?" asked David.
Aunt Polly smiled. She said, "It seems like a dream now. I can't really tell you about it; it's too distorted in my memory, and anyway, the land is for one to experience for one's self."
That was all she would say, though David continued to plague her with questions.
By that evening, David found himself in the wardrobe room again. He didn't know why, but there was something about the wardrobe that drew him toward it. He walked over to it and touched it again. Finally, David couldn't stand it anymore. He could tell there was something unusual inside the wardrobe, and he wanted to know what it was.
He walked into the wardrobe and started backing through all the coats. After several layers, he knew the wall of the wardrobe was behind him. David reached back to touch the wall and fell.
David struggled to his feet and almost lost his balance again. He was blinking in spring sunlight, and he was standing on grass in a place he had never seen before. Somehow, David knew he had found the "land" that had produced Aunt Polly's wardrobe.