It turns to see what is racing in its direction but finds itself tracking something overhead ducking at once under its massive shell as the thud splashes sand grains all around.
“Hey, what’s the hurry? You almost smashed my head”
The stranger seems to freeze. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do anything like that.”
“That’s okay.”
“I’ve got to go. They are going to catch up with me. They want to kill me.”
Just then, some noise, shuffling through the woods, and then voices.
“It went that way.”
“No, it was this way.”
“I’ve got to go. I’ve got to go,” the stranger whispers.
“No. You’ll be fine. Over here; lie down flat”
The voices start to fade. But then, someone steps on the tortoise.
“Ouch!!”
“What on earth was that?”
“You just stepped on me mister”
The boy looks back.
“There you are,” a broad smile brightening his hitherto frightened face.
“It’s Tom.” The lamb is clearly just as excited. “Hey Tom, I’m sorry I had to leave.”
“That’s okay Dizzy. I’m glad I found you.”
The tortoise smiles seemingly delighted.
“Tom, meet eh…”
“Zip. Sebastian Zip. Hi Tom”
“Hi Mr Zip.”
“You could call me Seb.”
A loud noise interrupts the exchange of pleasantries, preceded moments earlier, by a blinding lightning.
“It’s going to rain.” Dizzy still looks apprehensive. “What’s going to happen now?”
Tom looks blank for a second, and then scratches the back of his right ear, clearly pensive.
“We’ll deal with that later. Let’s get out of here,” Seb, a little more neck out of its shell counsels. “I’ll lead the way.”
The threesome heads towards a nearby valley. Along the way, the tortoise reassures its friends of their safety. “This is my home. I’ve lived here for over a hundred years.” Tom and Dizzy still cannot seem to hide their consternation. “I hear footsteps,” Dizzy mutters.
“It’s raindrops,” responds Seb. “They get heavy around here.” The rain becomes torrential and they take cover, in a cave.
“Let’s go back. We lost it,” an angry voice roars above them. Flapping sounds and echoing squeaks in the cave interrupt the absolute silence that ensues. Dizzy looks at Tom searchingly. He is clearly afraid. Dizzy knows that he does not like darkness.
A bat lands on Seb’s shell, and then flies away, across Tom’s face. He is now shaking and Dizzy makes clear its concern for him. The rain has now stopped and it is getting clearer. Seb tells them it is okay to resume their trip.
“Where are we going?”
“Back home,” Seb replies.
“Home where?” Dizzy appears baffled initially, then sad. Tom comforts it. “We are not going back there, Dizzy. I’m not going to let anyone harm you.” He tells Seb how is family is broke. He says his father lost his job moths prior, and his mother is now no longer able to work due to intractable back pain. He says his elder brother has been craving mutton lately, the family having been coping well on vegan diet.
“Please don’t let us go back there. That would put Dizzy in great peril,” he pleads with Seb. For a moment, it seems Seb is uncertain what to say as it mumbles inaudibly and then stops, nodding slowly, staring straight ahead.
“No harm will come to either of you,” it later says, after apparently much contemplation.
It says it is going to make Tom’s parents change their minds about Dizzy. It reminds them that they probably are worried about Tom’s whereabouts now, and would likely be looking for him already.
“I just want to be with Dizzy. I don’t want anything bad happening to it.” Tom is emphatic, looking straight into Seb’s rather tiny eyes. “Dizzy is going to be just fine,” Seb reassures him again.
Seb takes them to a part of the woods that does not appear to be part of the woods. It borders the lake Seb told them earlier is the most beautiful place in its world. The pristine shore of the lake blends with a land patch via a narrow passage paved on either side by overarching trees that makes it seem more like a celestial boulevard. The reflections of the surrounding fauna on the sky blue lake and the white fine sand grains on which they tread probably elicits a feeling of levitation to an ethereal motion along a transcendental continuum as they approach what Seb calls its garden.
“I know you may be hungry now. There is plenty to eat here,” it says. Tom and Dizzy immediately get to work as Seb seems to inspect the garden albeit in its distinctive laidback manner.
They soon set out again, heading for Tom’s home. It seems Seb has been able to secure its credibility. Nonetheless, that his friends are still uncomfortable about its decision is palpable. It has not told Tom and Dizzy, how it plans to ensure the latter’s safety. Halfway home, Tom reminds Seb that his family are going through difficult times and appears desperate for food. Dizzy says nothing.
The house is on the edge of the woods, not far from where Seb met its friends. Located in the middle of a large farm, it appears desolate from afar. There is nothing on the farm. The crops seem to have failed. The barns are empty. A dog that lazes around is the only animal in sight. It starts to bark apparently on noticing the trio. Someone soon emerges from the house, a young man who Tom says is his elder brother. He goes right back inside and re-emerges with who appear to be his parents.
“Tom,” his mother screams, struggling it seems to reach him as quickly as she can. She looks thin and frail. Tom runs to meet her, Dizzy seemingly trying to hide behind Seb. “Don’t worry Dizzy. You’ll be fine. Remember what I said. This is my home. You are safe here.”
Tom is soon in his mother’s embrace, his father and brother looking on apparently bemused, peering behind Seb ostensibly to catch a glimpse of Dizzy, Seb adjusting its position, obviously trying to block their view, creating a slow sideways gyration in opposite direction on both sides.
Just as Tom’s brother steps forward, as if coming for Dizzy, Seb’s gentle voice intervenes.
“Follow me, young man.” And as if in a trance, he does, as do the others. Not long after, they are in the woods.
“It’s the garden,” Tom says flashing a wide grin, adding “We are going into the garden.” Momentarily, they all look at each other in patent wonder, and then ahead at the garden.
“Thank you so much, Seb,” Tom says. But Seb is no longer there. It is as if it just vanished, into its world, just as mysteriously as it appeared into theirs.
