This side of Heaven

A quirky tale of the beauty of the earth and wonder around us which goes mostly unseen due to our hectic lifestyles. However a small incident can change a lot. An inspirational tale for all.

                                              This side of heaven

 

In the green, lush dales of the Yorkshire countryside in England stands the small village of Shady Grove it’s surrounded by huge oak trees, lakes and fragrant flowers. In the village there is a delightful little cottage house that belongs to the Anderson family. Now, many houses are made to hold music, love, wonder and a delicious warm feeling of home.

The Anderson home didn’t hold any of these things. Everyone was so busy in their hectic lives they didn’t have time for the simple things in life. In fact all the residence of Shady Grove were always very busy. So busy in fact that they missed a lot of the goings on in the neighbourhood, most of the residents didn’t even know who their neighbours were.

It was the beginning of spring, and early morning in Shady Grove had the familiar woody scent of the old oak trees. Coco and Smoky were two lovely cats that lived with the Anderson family. One morning they went for a walk under the clear blue sky and they talked amongst themselves as cats do.

 Coco spoke first, she was always quite elegant in her speech.

“My dear Smoky, if I were a human, I would most certainly wonder and be amazed at the beauty of everything around me” she said in a voice filled with awe, “Especially the moon and stars, and I wouldn’t look at the sky and call it space,  space how dull there is so much life up there in the heavens.”

“What about the painted rainbows after the rain?” chimed in Smoky?

 “Oh yes, those too. I would ignore the flashing lights of the computers and cell phones that seem to take everyone away from the soft spoken words of their families.

 Don’t they see the rivers gushing on to rocks thousands of years old? Going down great big waterfalls?”

“I even love the glistening pavements on a wet grey day.” Continued Coco, with a sad tone to her voice.

 “The Andersons don’t really seem to be interested in anything around them, they talk a lot about their misery but very little of gratitude and joy.”

“I disagree” said Smoky, who was younger of the two cats, he had a mischievous grin and shiny polished whiskers.

“I disagree because I have heard Mr Anderson talk a great deal about so many things.

He always says I wonder who broke the computer, and I wonder why the gas bills are so

 high.”

 Smoky tried to mimic Mr Anderson’s voice and passion, it made Coco smile a little inside.

“And Mrs Anderson stares at her phone with so much amazement, and is so absorbed by it that she has burned the supper on many occasions” continued Smoky.

 “That’s part of the trouble” said Coco, “they haven’t the slightest interest in all the really important things.”

“And the children they seem in awe of the computer in their rooms, they spend so much time on it.”

“So you see they do wonder at things around them. Oh time! They always wonder where the time goes, I’ve heard Mrs Anderson say that every morning as she gets the children ready for school.”

Smoky finished speaking, quite satisfied feeling he had made his point quite successfully.

  “Hmm” sighed Coco, unconvinced. As they walked on, they saw a beautiful pink blossom tree with its first buds of spring and Coco’s gaze settled on it.

 

 

As Coco and Smoky talked, they suddenly remembered it was time for their food and milk which Mrs Anderson leaves for them every day. They sprinted off through the park past the lake.

 In their hurry they missed two mice that lived in the shed in the back garden of the café run by Mr Steven where they spent their days devouring the leftover food from the café. Today, the smell of cinnamon roast peaches and vanilla ice cream had bought them out from their holes at the bottom of the garden. They could hear the chatter and laughter of the customers in the café. The kitchen in the café was warm and busy. Hot teas, breads and meat sizzled away.

“Did you see that?” asked Gipsy “Yes I did” said Susie.  “Why are those cats always in a hurry?” “They always run home at this time every day and they don’t even notice anything around them.  I have never missed those beautiful swans in the lake drifting like soft white clouds.  When you run that fast you probably can’t hear the whistling of the soft breeze on the luscious grass” said Gipsy.

 “Cats don’t care about things like that.” said Susie, matter of factly. “They are much more selfish creatures than us anyway, they have more interesting things to think about… like US!”  He said with a wink and a cheeky grin. “They spend their time dreaming about mice like you and me covered in cream, served on a plate” laughed Susie, that’s probably where they are running to, maybe it’s one of your cousins down near the stream” “Oh stop it! Do stop!” said Gipsy, horrified at the thought.

“Well everybody needs to start appreciating the Earth” said Gipsy.  “Did you hear what Mr Steven was saying yesterday in the café about environment damage?

 What’s that?” asked Susie.

“I don’t really know but it’s got something to do with the Earth being upset. One day, what if the Earth gets really upset? And the Sun and Moon refuse to come out!” said Gipsy, passionately losing her breath. “Imagine if there was no sun! Where would the humans gather the cheerful sun rays and use them to cheer each other up in winter’s dull sorrow days? And if there were no rainbows, where would we get all the colours from for the flowers and all around us.  And……”

The two mice talked late into the evening arguing back and forth, until it was time for their supper.

 

That evening there was silence in the neighbourhood.

The neighbourhood children were watching TV. The grownups were on the computer. Some were on their phones.  Suddenly everything in the Anderson house went dark. There was complete silence. The noise of the machines had stopped. Shady Grove had almost been plunged into darkness, had it not been for the light of the full moon.

 Smoky and Coco who were sat outside on the doorstep they could hear inside the Anderson house there was a sudden bustle of noise. Mr Anderson was making his way to the fuse box, while Mrs Anderson searched for some candles or a torch. “Oh no” came the sound from Mr Anderson, “It’s not a blown fuse it’s a power cut!” 

“Oh dear” said Mrs Anderson. “Yay!” said the children and ran for the fridge, “we better eat all the ice cream before it melts! We don’t want it to go to waste”. The Anderson children plunged themselves into the box of raspberry ice cream

An hour had passed and there was no sign of the power coming back.

 

There was a knock at the door. Who could it be at this time thought Mr Anderson?

“It’s the neighbours” said Mrs Anderson, as she opened the door. “Hello, I am Mrs Greenwood from next door.”  “Hello nice to finally meet you, I’m Mrs Anderson. So sorry we haven’t introduced ourselves before.”  “I know I feel the same.” Said Mrs Greenwood “Come in please” said Mrs Anderson. “Well the power has been out now for a good hour” said Mrs Greenwood “I was wondering if I could borrow some candles.” “Of course” said Mrs Anderson “but first you must stay and have some tea.”  “That sounds lovely.” replied Mrs Greenwood with a warm smile.

As Mrs Anderson went to put the kettle on she realised she couldn’t make tea due to the power cut.

Mrs Anderson smiled at Mrs Greenwood knowingly and they both understood.

 Mr Anderson spent the rest of the evening finishing little tasks that he usually never gets round to. He wrote a letter to his Mother in Australia she wasn’t a computer person, he hadn’t written a letter for such a long time and to his surprise he quite enjoyed it.

That evening passed with much chatter and laughter as new friends were made. The children spent the evening playing with Coco and Smoky. They didn’t seem to miss their computer. Mrs Anderson did very well without the TV.

 Mr Anderson was very relaxed without his computer, he slouched himself in a big cosy sofa next to Mrs Anderson and They talked of childhood dreams and the delights of youth.

Before bed Mrs Anderson managed to find her toothbrush and bed clothes thanks to the light of the moon shining through the curtains. She looked at the moon basking in the experience. And her gaze settled on a little star that seemed to delight in his sparkle.

The Anderson children also went to bed counting the stars. And pondering at the mystery of the night sky.

The next morning was a sunny Sunday and the power had come back. That morning Mrs Anderson made a huge breakfast of pancakes, jammy Toast and a huge pot of tea. They all sat in the garden together talking. Mrs Anderson found out that the children love swimming and hate skating. Mr Anderson found out that Mrs Anderson loves horse riding, and he made a note to take her next weekend. Once breakfast was over, they all went for a walk in Shady Grove, with Smoky and Coco following.  All the residents of the grove seemed chirpy and happy. Mr Steven had closed the café and was taking his wife for a drive. Gipsy and Susie roamed freely in Mr Steven’s garden rolling among the long green grass.

The Anderson’s picked flowers off the blossom trees and the children gave bread to the swans in the lake. It was a lovely day.  Something seemed to change Shady grove that weekend.  It was wonderful. Time seemed to pass much slower that day. It was a day that the residents of Shady Grove, would remember with fondness for many years to come.

 

Author's Note

I would like to know overall feel of the story, voice. Grammer Everything.

Reviews

[Aaron]

I would say the overall feel is a bit like a classic fairy tale.

It reminded me of a Douglas Adams. He wrote something to the effect of:
Dolphins are the smartest creature in the world.
Humans thought they were the smartest
because they spent their time building stuff, designing stuff, and working
The dolphins thought they were smarter
because the humans spent their time building stuff, designing stuff, and working and the dolphins just enjoyed frolicking in the water.

The grammar was consistently good. I didn't notice any mistakes.

Thanks for sharing!

[Sami Khalil]

A beautiful story on appreciating the beauty of Mother nature and its wonders written with real down to earth people and style.
I like the most:
many houses are made to hold music,love, wonder and a delicious warm feeling of home.
Also:
She looked at the moon basking in the experience.
A nice write.