Bright Color Houses (children story)

The girl couldn't understand what was wrong. It seemed as if all the clouds in the universe had converged above her house and she was terribly frightened that her father might go out and be angry about it.

He was always angry about something, these days and the girl knew it was all just a matter of time. So, she decided she'd better pack up and leave, before her father came out of the house, because then, there'd be hell to pay and she didn't even know what for.

She scrambled to put all the books in her one single bag and slung it over her shoulder. Well, in a manner of speaking...she didn't so much as sling it, but rather drag it after her. Her bag of books was very heavy and it made her walk slow.
She feared that soon, her father would catch up to her. Her father wasn't a particularly bad man, but he had a fearsome temper and she longed for peace. Just this once.
The girl's name was Annie and she was about to escape into a world of dreams and magic.

She hadn't been walking long when she was stopped in her tracks by a most unfamiliar image. The houses around her had turned from muddy white to bright colors, like blue and orange and purple. But her favorite ones were pink. Annie wasn't a particularly girly-girl, she didn't like princesses and dolls, but these houses seemed just perfect to her, with their mix of pink and white.
She turned around, sighing at the weight of her bag, and looked for her own house, in the distance, but there was nothing to be seen there. Her house, complete with her father and the storm of clouds, was gone from view and would soon be gone from her mind.
She looked at all the bright-color houses and wondered who lived in those big, strange houses.
'Well, it's Terry who lives in the blue one over there, and the pale yellow to the side is Maragaret and mine is this pink one, right here.'
Annie turned around, startled by the voice. She hadn't realized she'd wondered out loud, much less that there was someone there to answer her.

He stood in front of her, dressed in an overgrown checkered nightgown that hung down to his knees and she realized, with mock shock, that he wasn't wearing any pants!
She covered her eyes and giggled.
'Oh, don't worry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I was just...we don't get many strangers out here. You can uncover your eyes, now.'

She did and saw he'd put on pyjama bottoms. Somehow.
'Well, what exactly is here?' Annie asked, looking the man up and down. He was a small man with a pointy beard and he kind of reminded her of an apprentice wizard in one of the many books she was carrying.

'Oh, here, my dear. It's the palace of dreams. It's where you go to become better, to grow into whoever you're supposed to be. Now tell me, my dear,' he said, taking a step closer, 'don't you want to become whoever you're supposed to be?'

Annie nodded and felt a small rush of excitement course through her tummy. This was most exciting, she'd never been to such an unusual place. It was the sort of spot she'd always dreamed of traveling to, and this man seemed exactly like the sort of knowledgeable companion her books always spoke about.
She thought of her favorite teller of stories and how proud he'd be to see her here, about to embark on her very own adventure.

'Well, good,' the little man said. 'Let us go, then. Would you like to come up to my house for a cup of tea, while we plan our grand adventure?'

There was a most strange twinkle in his eye. This man was most exciting, it was as if he was reading her mind. Annie stared at him in awe and decided, in the quiet of her mind, that he was the most interesting man she'd ever met.
All the boys at school seemed so silly and caught up in their own little dramas. None of them had time for dreams.

She followed the man into his perfect pink house and was amazed to find that the inside was just as she had imagined. It was all so picturesque and interesting, with small hand-drawn mugs and strange land maps, hanging on the walls.

'Oh, leave that there,' he said, pointing to her bag of books. 'You won't be needing that anymore.'

And Annie figured she would not. After all, she was going on a real adventure now, what use could she possibly have for stories written by others? She could probably write her own. Or she could ask him to write it for her. He seemed to know so many exciting stories.
She put down her bag of books and sat down in one of the deep chairs. She sipped her tea and listened to the small man talk about how they were going to go up against a great sorceress and fight and be valiant and about how they'd be heroes for the ages.
'Oh, little one, excitement is the order of the day 'round here. They'll be singing songs about us down the ages,' he said and winked at her.

Annie looked down, embarrassed. Surely, she did not deserve all this attention and friendliness from this interesting person. After all, what had she ever done that was note-worthy?

Once they'd had their tea, they went out the door and into the wild. Annie walked slightly behind the man and couldn't help but wonder why he had not changed his clothes. He was still wearing his strange, over-sized pyjamas. Perhaps, she reasoned, it was a disguised armor, one that would allow him to fight this grand sorceress better.
Again, Annie wondered if she was worthy of joining him on his great quest.

Whenever they stopped, which was quite often, he'd tell her of all the brave things he'd done and achieved over the years. He even told her how he came to be living in the place with all the bright houses.
'I was once a small boy, just like you are now. Well, you're a girl, obviously,' he smiled, 'but you know what I mean. But one day, I decided I'd had enough of my life and set out for adventure. Eventually, my weary feet carried me there, just like they did you. And once I'd been on my journey, my quest, I was offered my own house there. See, we take people in, youngsters like you. And we take them on quests, with us. And if they prove worthy, we allow them to stay, in this place of heroes.'

Annie felt a burning desire within herself to do good on this journey, to be allowed to stay among the bright color houses. She wanted to be a hero, too. She wanted people to write books about her. This made her anxious about all their stopping, because she wanted to get to the sorceress sooner. She wanted to win her name and prove her worth.
But the man kept insisting they stop, beside the road, and surely he knew what he was doing. He was, after all, a hero. And you can't argue with heroes.

But in the end, they did arrive at the house of the sorceress and Annie tried to get in, but the man caught her arm.
'Wait, maybe we should talk it over again.'

She was about to agree, eager to hear what he had to say about their plan, when the great sorceress stepped out of the house, laughing.
'What, little man, you've come to bother me again?'

Annie was shocked. How could this indignant person talk like that to the great hero? Did she not know who he was? How great and valiant... Surely, she would be punished for her impudence any second. And she looked over at her great hero, and saw him cowering behind her.
'Well, no, ma'am. I'm sorry, I just brought this young lady to see you. You know, bask in your...wonderfulness.'
The sorceress grinned.
'Oh you pathetic little man, I've told you not to bother me anymore with your silly ideas. Now go away, before I turn you into smoke.'
And she went back inside her house.

Annie, aghast, turned to the little man, who was now dusting his pyjama top and beaming at her. 'Well, wasn't that great? Come on, let's head back. Now you can stay with us!'
'But,' Annie protested, 'I haven't done anything. We didn't beat her.'
'Why, of course we didn't, little one. But we bravely withstood her. We faced the grand sorceress and lived to tell the tale. That's a very brave deed, you know.'
Annie was so...disappointed.
'But we didn't face her,' she yelled after the little man, who was already going back. 'You just sat there and did nothing. That wasn't facing her, that was crawling past.'
He stopped, dead-pale, in his tracks. 'Little one, you don't understand. She would've eaten us alive if we'd tried to do anything. We did enough.'

Annie decided it was pointless arguing with the little man, She just turned back and followed him to the bright houses. Standing in his hallway, he told her they' d just have some more tea and then he'd show her her own hero-house.
'It can be pink, like mine, if you like. Or purple or even blue...' he trailed off, seeing that Annie had picked up her bag of books.
'I'm sorry,' she said, not quite looking at the little man. 'But I don't want to stay here. I'd better get back to my own house. Sorry.'
He tried to stop her, but she walked out the door and kept going in the direction she'd come from.

Annie realized she'd imagined things, that craving adventure, she'd invested this little man with powers way above his station. And perhaps that had been a mistake. She understood that sometimes, things aren't what they seem.
And even worse, she understood things sometimes aren't what we'd like them to be.

THE END

Thank you for reading,

Images - Pixabay