Part 11: Sweet Dreams
As soon as they arrived at Joshua's, Jack was led up to the bedroom. Jack sat on the edge of the bed as Joshua went to turn on some music. Jack looked round and saw a book on the bedside table. That's good, he thought, he likes to read too. He picked up the book, it was a hardback and the sleeve had been removed so the title could only be read on the spine of the dark green cover. 'Hans Andersen: His Classic Fairy Tales'. Jack couldn't help but smile as he flicked through the well thumbed pages.
"What?" Joshua said as he turned round to see Jack's beaming face.
"Nothing," Jack said, "I was just looking at your book."
"That's got my favourite story in it, 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier', I've loved it since as long as I can remember."
"I'll have to read it sometime."
"I'll read it to you, if you like." Joshua said, sitting on the bed and taking the book from Jack.
Joshua sat with is back against the wall and jack laid his head on Joshua's shoulder as he found the correct page.
" 'Once there were five and twenty tin soldiers. They were all brothers because they had all been made from the same old tin spoon. With their rifles sticking up over their shoulders, they stood at attention, looking straight ahead, in their handsome red and blue uniforms.
" "Tin soldiers!" were the first words they ever heard in this world; and they had been shouted by a little boy who was clapping his hands because he had just been given them for his birthday. He took them immediately out of the box they had come in and set them on the table. They were all exactly alike except one, who was different from the others because he was missing a leg. He had been the last one of his brothers to be cast and there had not been enough tin. But he stood as firm and as steadfast on his one leg as the others did on his two. He is the hero of our story.
"Of all the many toys on the table, you noticed the pasteboard castle first. It was a little replica of a real castle, and through its windows you could see right into its handsomely painted halls. In front of the castle was a little lake surrounded by trees; in it swans swam and looked at their own reflections because the lake was a glass mirror. It was all very lovely; but the most charming part of the castle was its mistress. She was a little paper doll and she was standing at its entrance dressed like a ballerina. She had a skirt of white muslin and a blue ribbon draped over her shoulder, which was fastened with a spangle that was almost as large as her face. The little lady had her arms stretched out as if she were going to embrace someone. She stood on one leg, and at that on her toes, for she was a ballet dancer; the other, she held up behind her, in such a way that it disappeared under her skirt; and therefore the soldier thought that she was one-legged like himself.
" "She would be a perfect wife for me," he thought. "But I am afraid she is above me. She has a castle and I only have a box that I must share with twenty-four soldiers; that wouldn't do for her. Still, I would like to make her acquaintance." And the soldier lay down full length behind a snuffbox; from there he could look at the young lady, who was able to stand on the toes of one leg only without losing her balance.
"Later in the evening, when it was the children's bedtime, all the other tin soldiers were put back in the box. When the house was quiet and everyone had gone to sleep, the toys began to play. They played house, and hide-and-seek, and held a ball. The four and twenty tin soldiers rattled inside their box; they wanted to play too, but they couldn't get the lid off. The nutcracker turned somersaults, and the slate pencil wrote on the blackboard. They made so much noise that the canary woke up and recited his opinion of them all in verse. The only ones who didn't move were the ballerina and the one-legged soldier. His eyes never left her, not even for a moment did he blink or turn away.
"The clock struck twelve. Pop! The lid of the snuffbox opened and jumped a troll. It was a jack-in-the-box.
" "Tin soldier," screamed the little black troll, "keep your eyes to yourself."
"The tin soldier acted as if he hadn't heard the remark.
" "You wait till tomorrow!" threatened the troll, and disappeared back into its box.
"The next morning when the children were up and dressed, the little boy put the one-legged soldier on the window sill. It'd hard to tell whether it was the troll or just the wind that caused the window to open suddenly and the soldier to fall out of it. He dropped down three stories to the street and his bayonet stuck in the earth between two cobblestones.
"The boy and the maid came down to look for him and, though they almost stepped on him, they didn't see him. If only the tin soldier had shouted, "Here I am!" they would have found him; but he thought it improper to shout when in uniform.
"It began to rain; first one drop fell and then another and then soon it was pouring. When the shower was over two urchins came by. "Look," said one of them, "there is a tin soldier. He will do as a sailor."
"The boys made a boat out of a newspaper, put the soldier on board, and let it sail into the gutter. Away it went, for it had rained so hard that the gutter was a raging torrent. The boys ran along the pavement, clapping their hands. The boat dipped and turned in the waves. The tin soldier trembled and quaked inside himself; but outside he stood as steadfast as ever, shouldering his gun and looking straight ahead.
"Now the gutter was covered by a board. It was as dark as it had been inside the box, but there he head four and twenty comrades. "I wonder how it will end," thought the soldier. "I am sure it's all the troll's doing. If only the ballerina were here, then I wouldn't care if it were twice as dark as pitch."
"A big water rat that lived in the gutter came up behind the boat and shouted, "Have you got a passport? Give me your passport!"
"The tin soldier didn't answer but held on more firmly to his rifle. The current became stronger, and the boat gathered speed. The rat swam after him; it was so angry that it gnashed its teeth. "Stop him! Stop him!" the rat shouted to two pieces of straw and a little twig. "Stop him! He hasn't got a passport and he won't pay duty!"
"The current ran swifter and swifter. The tin soldier could see light ahead; he was coming out of the tunnel. But at the same moment he heard a strange roaring sound. It was frightening enough to make the bravest man cringe. At the end of the tunnel the gutter emptied into one of the canals of the harbour. If you can imagine it, it would be the same as for a human being thrown down a great waterfall into the sea.
"There was no hope of stopping the boat. The poor tin soldier stood as steady as ever, he did not flinch. The boat spun around four times and became filled to the brim with water. It was doomed, the paper began to fall apart; the tin soldier was standing in water up to his neck. He thought of the ballerina, whom he would never see again, and two lines from a poem ran through his mind.
"Fare thee well, my warrior bold, Death comes so swift and cold.
"The paper fell apart and the tin soldier would have sunk down to the mud at the bottom of the canal had not a greedy fish swallowed him just at that moment.
"Here it was even darker than it had been in the sewer; the fishes stomach was terribly narrow, but the soldier lay there as steadfast as he had stood in the boat, without letting go of his rifle.
"The fish darted and dashed in the wildest manner; then suddenly it was still. A while later, a ray of light appeared and someone said, "Why, there is a tin soldier." The fish had been caught, taken to the market, and sold. The kitchen maid had found the soldier when she opened the fish up with a big knife, in order to clean it. With her thumb and her index finger she picked up the tin soldier by the waist and carried him into the living room so that everyone could admire the strange traveller who had journeyed inside the belly of a fish. But the tin soldier was not proud of his adventures.
"How strange the world is! He was put back in the same room that he had left in the morning; and he had been put on the table among the toys he knew. There stood the cardboard castle and the little ballerina. She was still standing on one leg, the other she had lifted high into the air. She was as steadfast as he was. It touched the soldier's heart and he almost cried tin tears – and would have had it not been so undignified. He looked at her and she at him, but never a word passed between them.
"Suddenly one of the little boys grabbed the soldier, opened the stove and threw him in. The child couldn't explain why he had done it; there's no question but that the jack-in-the box had had something to do with it.
"The tin soldier stood illuminated by the flames that leaped around him. He did not know whether the great heat he felt was caused by his love or the fire. The colours of his uniform had disappeared, and who could tell whether it was from sorrow or his trip through the water? He looked at the ballerina, and she looked at him. He could feel that he was melting but he held on as steadfastly to his gun and kept his gaze on the little ballerina in front of the castle.
"The door of the room was opened, a breeze caught the little dancer and like a sylph she flew right into the stove. She flared up and was gone. The soldier melted. The next day when the maid emptied the stove, she found a little tin heart, which was all that was left of him. Among the ashes lay the metal spangle from the ballerina's dress; it had been burned as black as coal."
Then Joshua closed the book, to show that he was done.
"Not one of your happier endings, is it?"
"Not really no, but I've still always liked it."
"It's a very nice story though!"
"We'd better make a move though, if you want to get home before tomorrow that is!"
"Do I hafta? I mean I like it here," Jack said looking up Joshua from his shoulder.
"I wish you could stay too, but its maybe a bit early in the relationship for THAT!"
"You're right." Jack said, pretending to be hurt.
So the two boys made their way to Jacks house.
"You are a complete gentleman, you know that, don't you? Walking me to the house and everything."
"Well, I want to, so you just try and stop me!" Joshua said, smiling at Jack.
But as they neared the front door both boys new there must be something wrong as the door was wide open and the hall was in a state. Both smiles faded as the looked inside in complete shock.
"Oh God, burglars. I just don't need this. Not now."
"I don't think it was burglars, Jack!" Joshua pointed at a letter and a set of photos stapled to the staircase.
Jack looked at the photos they were all of Andie, wearing the clothes she'd had on that day, in her room working, making a drink in the kitchen just general stuff really but it was enough to make Jack worry, Then he read the letter. It had been written in the same red pen.
"What does it say, Jack?"
Jack couldn't say a word, couldn't do a thing. So Joshua took the letter from Jack's hands and, after reading it, he held a sobbing Jack as they sank to their knees on the hallway floor amid the destruction.
'McPhee. What will you do when the people you care about stop coming home?'
To Be Continued...
As soon as they arrived at Joshua's, Jack was led up to the bedroom. Jack sat on the edge of the bed as Joshua went to turn on some music. Jack looked round and saw a book on the bedside table. That's good, he thought, he likes to read too. He picked up the book, it was a hardback and the sleeve had been removed so the title could only be read on the spine of the dark green cover. 'Hans Andersen: His Classic Fairy Tales'. Jack couldn't help but smile as he flicked through the well thumbed pages.
"What?" Joshua said as he turned round to see Jack's beaming face.
"Nothing," Jack said, "I was just looking at your book."
"That's got my favourite story in it, 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier', I've loved it since as long as I can remember."
"I'll have to read it sometime."
"I'll read it to you, if you like." Joshua said, sitting on the bed and taking the book from Jack.
Joshua sat with is back against the wall and jack laid his head on Joshua's shoulder as he found the correct page.
" 'Once there were five and twenty tin soldiers. They were all brothers because they had all been made from the same old tin spoon. With their rifles sticking up over their shoulders, they stood at attention, looking straight ahead, in their handsome red and blue uniforms.
" "Tin soldiers!" were the first words they ever heard in this world; and they had been shouted by a little boy who was clapping his hands because he had just been given them for his birthday. He took them immediately out of the box they had come in and set them on the table. They were all exactly alike except one, who was different from the others because he was missing a leg. He had been the last one of his brothers to be cast and there had not been enough tin. But he stood as firm and as steadfast on his one leg as the others did on his two. He is the hero of our story.
"Of all the many toys on the table, you noticed the pasteboard castle first. It was a little replica of a real castle, and through its windows you could see right into its handsomely painted halls. In front of the castle was a little lake surrounded by trees; in it swans swam and looked at their own reflections because the lake was a glass mirror. It was all very lovely; but the most charming part of the castle was its mistress. She was a little paper doll and she was standing at its entrance dressed like a ballerina. She had a skirt of white muslin and a blue ribbon draped over her shoulder, which was fastened with a spangle that was almost as large as her face. The little lady had her arms stretched out as if she were going to embrace someone. She stood on one leg, and at that on her toes, for she was a ballet dancer; the other, she held up behind her, in such a way that it disappeared under her skirt; and therefore the soldier thought that she was one-legged like himself.
" "She would be a perfect wife for me," he thought. "But I am afraid she is above me. She has a castle and I only have a box that I must share with twenty-four soldiers; that wouldn't do for her. Still, I would like to make her acquaintance." And the soldier lay down full length behind a snuffbox; from there he could look at the young lady, who was able to stand on the toes of one leg only without losing her balance.
"Later in the evening, when it was the children's bedtime, all the other tin soldiers were put back in the box. When the house was quiet and everyone had gone to sleep, the toys began to play. They played house, and hide-and-seek, and held a ball. The four and twenty tin soldiers rattled inside their box; they wanted to play too, but they couldn't get the lid off. The nutcracker turned somersaults, and the slate pencil wrote on the blackboard. They made so much noise that the canary woke up and recited his opinion of them all in verse. The only ones who didn't move were the ballerina and the one-legged soldier. His eyes never left her, not even for a moment did he blink or turn away.
"The clock struck twelve. Pop! The lid of the snuffbox opened and jumped a troll. It was a jack-in-the-box.
" "Tin soldier," screamed the little black troll, "keep your eyes to yourself."
"The tin soldier acted as if he hadn't heard the remark.
" "You wait till tomorrow!" threatened the troll, and disappeared back into its box.
"The next morning when the children were up and dressed, the little boy put the one-legged soldier on the window sill. It'd hard to tell whether it was the troll or just the wind that caused the window to open suddenly and the soldier to fall out of it. He dropped down three stories to the street and his bayonet stuck in the earth between two cobblestones.
"The boy and the maid came down to look for him and, though they almost stepped on him, they didn't see him. If only the tin soldier had shouted, "Here I am!" they would have found him; but he thought it improper to shout when in uniform.
"It began to rain; first one drop fell and then another and then soon it was pouring. When the shower was over two urchins came by. "Look," said one of them, "there is a tin soldier. He will do as a sailor."
"The boys made a boat out of a newspaper, put the soldier on board, and let it sail into the gutter. Away it went, for it had rained so hard that the gutter was a raging torrent. The boys ran along the pavement, clapping their hands. The boat dipped and turned in the waves. The tin soldier trembled and quaked inside himself; but outside he stood as steadfast as ever, shouldering his gun and looking straight ahead.
"Now the gutter was covered by a board. It was as dark as it had been inside the box, but there he head four and twenty comrades. "I wonder how it will end," thought the soldier. "I am sure it's all the troll's doing. If only the ballerina were here, then I wouldn't care if it were twice as dark as pitch."
"A big water rat that lived in the gutter came up behind the boat and shouted, "Have you got a passport? Give me your passport!"
"The tin soldier didn't answer but held on more firmly to his rifle. The current became stronger, and the boat gathered speed. The rat swam after him; it was so angry that it gnashed its teeth. "Stop him! Stop him!" the rat shouted to two pieces of straw and a little twig. "Stop him! He hasn't got a passport and he won't pay duty!"
"The current ran swifter and swifter. The tin soldier could see light ahead; he was coming out of the tunnel. But at the same moment he heard a strange roaring sound. It was frightening enough to make the bravest man cringe. At the end of the tunnel the gutter emptied into one of the canals of the harbour. If you can imagine it, it would be the same as for a human being thrown down a great waterfall into the sea.
"There was no hope of stopping the boat. The poor tin soldier stood as steady as ever, he did not flinch. The boat spun around four times and became filled to the brim with water. It was doomed, the paper began to fall apart; the tin soldier was standing in water up to his neck. He thought of the ballerina, whom he would never see again, and two lines from a poem ran through his mind.
"Fare thee well, my warrior bold, Death comes so swift and cold.
"The paper fell apart and the tin soldier would have sunk down to the mud at the bottom of the canal had not a greedy fish swallowed him just at that moment.
"Here it was even darker than it had been in the sewer; the fishes stomach was terribly narrow, but the soldier lay there as steadfast as he had stood in the boat, without letting go of his rifle.
"The fish darted and dashed in the wildest manner; then suddenly it was still. A while later, a ray of light appeared and someone said, "Why, there is a tin soldier." The fish had been caught, taken to the market, and sold. The kitchen maid had found the soldier when she opened the fish up with a big knife, in order to clean it. With her thumb and her index finger she picked up the tin soldier by the waist and carried him into the living room so that everyone could admire the strange traveller who had journeyed inside the belly of a fish. But the tin soldier was not proud of his adventures.
"How strange the world is! He was put back in the same room that he had left in the morning; and he had been put on the table among the toys he knew. There stood the cardboard castle and the little ballerina. She was still standing on one leg, the other she had lifted high into the air. She was as steadfast as he was. It touched the soldier's heart and he almost cried tin tears – and would have had it not been so undignified. He looked at her and she at him, but never a word passed between them.
"Suddenly one of the little boys grabbed the soldier, opened the stove and threw him in. The child couldn't explain why he had done it; there's no question but that the jack-in-the box had had something to do with it.
"The tin soldier stood illuminated by the flames that leaped around him. He did not know whether the great heat he felt was caused by his love or the fire. The colours of his uniform had disappeared, and who could tell whether it was from sorrow or his trip through the water? He looked at the ballerina, and she looked at him. He could feel that he was melting but he held on as steadfastly to his gun and kept his gaze on the little ballerina in front of the castle.
"The door of the room was opened, a breeze caught the little dancer and like a sylph she flew right into the stove. She flared up and was gone. The soldier melted. The next day when the maid emptied the stove, she found a little tin heart, which was all that was left of him. Among the ashes lay the metal spangle from the ballerina's dress; it had been burned as black as coal."
Then Joshua closed the book, to show that he was done.
"Not one of your happier endings, is it?"
"Not really no, but I've still always liked it."
"It's a very nice story though!"
"We'd better make a move though, if you want to get home before tomorrow that is!"
"Do I hafta? I mean I like it here," Jack said looking up Joshua from his shoulder.
"I wish you could stay too, but its maybe a bit early in the relationship for THAT!"
"You're right." Jack said, pretending to be hurt.
So the two boys made their way to Jacks house.
"You are a complete gentleman, you know that, don't you? Walking me to the house and everything."
"Well, I want to, so you just try and stop me!" Joshua said, smiling at Jack.
But as they neared the front door both boys new there must be something wrong as the door was wide open and the hall was in a state. Both smiles faded as the looked inside in complete shock.
"Oh God, burglars. I just don't need this. Not now."
"I don't think it was burglars, Jack!" Joshua pointed at a letter and a set of photos stapled to the staircase.
Jack looked at the photos they were all of Andie, wearing the clothes she'd had on that day, in her room working, making a drink in the kitchen just general stuff really but it was enough to make Jack worry, Then he read the letter. It had been written in the same red pen.
"What does it say, Jack?"
Jack couldn't say a word, couldn't do a thing. So Joshua took the letter from Jack's hands and, after reading it, he held a sobbing Jack as they sank to their knees on the hallway floor amid the destruction.
'McPhee. What will you do when the people you care about stop coming home?'
To Be Continued...