“The Exploration of the Other World”    
                                     For Uncle Mike, Christmas 2011
                                                 with love from Hanneke

  Christy glanced around the dingy, dusty, dank, dirty store and wondered what on earth had ever compelled her to enter such a store with so many dismal adjectives. Right. Christy loved second hand stores, even if they were so dark from the outside that they looked closed with the I, S, H and the R falling of “Tim’s Secondhand Store” making it look like “T m’s  econd and Sto e” as this one had. Christy had just about had enough of this place when her eye was caught by a large book with gold lettering down the side that read “The exploration of the other world”. Christy liked astronomy and this could be a book on that subject especially as it was the color of the night sky. Christy pulled the book out then took it behind the book shelf because she couldn’t stand to have “Tim’s” beady black eyes watching her every move. Leaning against the shelf and settling the heavy book on her stomach and forearm, she opened it and closed her eyes as an incredibly sweet smell wafted upwards. When she looked back down at the book she saw that the pages were edged with gold and the yellowed paper contained hundreds of tiny letters and words. Then she blinked trying to clear her eyes. Fear griped her in it’s iron grasp. The letters appeared to be dancing and slipping off the page to be caught up in a breeze created by the sweet aroma that was swirling around Christy! Then the pages started flipping in her hands, back and forth, as more and more letters flew off and were snatched up by the breeze which had by now increased into a strong wind. Christy wanted to shake her head, to shut the book, to run, but she seemed paralyzed to the spot, and unable to make a move. As thousands of letters joined the spinning wind, it rose to a gale, although nothing else in the store was touched. The book slipped from Christy’s hands and fell to the floor but it made no sound. A tinkling, ringing sound seemed to come from the letters, each one making a different note. This too rose to a roar until it filled Christy’s mind, blocking out all thought. Christy closed her eyes, so confused it hurt. Then, suddenly, without any warning, everything stopped. Silence filled Christy’s brain instead, an impeccable, consuming, silence. She was exhausted and a feeling so heavy, settled over her like she was being submerged into a pool of liquid and yet it was so unbearably black and suffocating, it was like a wet, thick, blanket being dropped on her. Christy fought against it; not knowing what would happen if she gave herself over to the murky depth of an unthinkably deep sleep. Then, as if to release her from the bonds of the darkness, a laugh echoed through her thoughtless brain. All at once movement flooded back to her limbs, thought back to her head and fear abandoned her. As she sat up she realized that she was lying on the ground on her side. Her eyes flew open and she almost fainted in surprise. There, in front of her, was a cowboy complete with, brown leather cowboy boots, a jean jacket, a red bandana, and a brown cowboy hat. 
“Howdy, pardner!” said this odd character “Nice of you to drop in!”
“H-Hello?” Christy said this tentatively, like a question. “Who….What….Why….How?”
“Your wondering who I am, what you’re doing here, why are you’re here and how you got here, aintcha?” Christy nodded vigorously
“Right. I’m Sam Delchner, you’re here because you opened that book, and you got here by that book.” Said the cowboy
“Where is here?” asked Christy 
“Look up.” said Sam. Christy obediently looked up….and up, and up. A huge bookshelf soared up towards a vast expanse of gray with a light so big and bright it hurt to look at, so high she couldn’t see the top of the bookshelf. 
“Whoa!” breathed Christy “Is this “Tim’s Secondhand Store”?” 
“That it is.” 
“But how…how can it seem so big?” wondered Christy 
“Because you shrunk.” said Sam, like it happened every day.
“I shrunk!?” exclaimed Christy incredulously
“Yep. Look over there.” Sam pointed to a gap under the shelf that look like it was twenty feet high. Christy looked and gasped. There, under the shelf, was an entire thriving town! To one side there was a castle made out of toothpicks and little squares of cardboard used as bricks, and a little garden that was contained in the lid of a yogurt container because the floor was concrete, and in the middle of a square of grass in the garden was two tiny people practicing swordplay with tiny scraps of tin! Some of the houses were made also of cardboard and some were made of bits of fabric used like tents and in the middle of the town there was a plastic thimble with a contraption made of toothpicks and bits of Styrofoam with a thread hanging off the end and a bent piece of metal was attached to the thread. There were more people walking around the town and people talking and even a group of children walking towards a large flat building made out of a matchbox. And there was yet one more surprise for Christy. Coming out of a pipe in the floor and running off through the town to a dip in the floor then running towards a drain was a trickle of water forming a kind of river and lake in which a few people were bathing!
“I don’t get it. How did this town get here?” Christy asked Sam
“Well it was slowly and surely built up until it became the thriving town of Iddledom!” said Sam with a flourish. “Come. I’ll show you around.” And Sam did just that. Christy was astounded at how advanced this tiny town was and how they used anything that happened to come their way. There were tiny farms contained in shallow lids with little trees and bushes and rows and rows of vegetables. Sam told Christy that when people came into the store they usually had dirt on their shoes so when they left some of the Iddleites would go and collect it to plant their crops. Christy asked how they managed to get tiny plants and Sam said that a long time ago on of the Iddleites had figured out how to make seeds that produced tiny plants. Christy spent a very enjoyable hour meeting lots of the friendly people, eating some of the delicious tiny fruit and even swimming in a borrowed swim suit. But then Christy started to worry about getting back to her normal size. Her parents expected her at three (they had separated so that Christy could shop in some of the thrift stores while they got some tea) and it was already two-thirty! Christy asked Sam about it but he said that this had only happened once before and no one remembered how they got back. Christy thought about it but she could come up with nothing. Then Sam said that maybe they should ask Eldna, the oldest person in the town. They went to her house and her daughter opened the door. She was wearing a long blue dress with matching sandals and a matching hat. She told them that her mother was in and brought them into the living room, where a wizened old woman wearing a purple dress and no shoes at all. 
“Hello Mis. Eldna.” said Sam. “This young woman would like to know how to get back to her normal size. She got here through that book, you know, ‘The Exploration of the Other World.’ “
“Oh yes, well the only thing I know about getting back is that you have to use the very same book.” said Eldna in a high croaky voice. After a few more pleasantries, Sam and Christy left. They both ran back out from under the shelf to the book that was still on the floor from when Christy dropped it. Christy gasped at its size. It seemed to be about fifteen feet high! 
“Now what?” asked Christy in bewilderment 
“I vote we get on top.” said Sam
“How?”
“Well, if we can squiggle up this cover…” Sam demonstrated how to climb up the edge of the spine. Once they go going it wasn’t hard. They squiggled and squirmed up the spine until they reached the top. Once there, Christy gasped again. All the letters of the title were scattered around the cover except for four which spelled Open. 
“Oh, oh, oh! I have to open it!” squeaked Christy 
“Wait.” said Sam “I can’t help you ‘cause if I do I might become big and I don’t want that.”
“Oh.” said Christy “Well I’ll just have to do it on my own.” Christy held out her hand “Thanks for all your help and for showing me around. Please say goodbye to the rest of the people. I never forget this.” Sam shook her hand “One more thing. Don’t tell people about this unless you know they can keep it secret. We don’t want big people swarming our town with clumsy fingers.”
“Okay.” said Christy. Sam winked and tipped his hat then climbed back down the spine. He walked back to the edge of the bookshelf. Christy waved then turned back to the book. She walked to the open side and swung down while holding the edge of the cover. Her feet found the pages and slowly started to push the cover up. She slid her hands along the inside of the cover while she walked forward along the first page. It was hard work but at last the cover fell back and suddenly the letters started swirling and dancing. Christy smiled and waved at Sam through the spinning letters then closed her eyes. Everything happened just like before except Christy wasn’t frightened this time and there was no dark feeling at the end. The letters stopped swirling and Christy opened her eyes. The book was back in her hands and the title letters were back in place. Christy smiled and put the book back where it belonged. Everything was back to normal. She looked down. She couldn’t see Sam but she knew Sam could see her. Christy waved at the bottom of the bookshelf and blew a kiss, then left the store.