Copyright 1999
All rights reserved. May not be used without permission.
Up ahead the man could see that it was raining. He saw the banker clothed in fine clothes leave the bank on his way to lunch. He wore no raincoat whatsoever. �Why doesn�t he wear a mac in the pouring rain?� the man wondered.
�You shall soon find out,� Jude replied.
As they stepped into the rain, the man was exceedingly surprised to find that though the rain poured all around him and above his head, it did not touch him. He remained perfectly dry.
There were several young children playing in the streets. The girl�s wore full, bright-colored dresses to their knees and had big bows tied in their neatly curled hair. The boy�s trousers and shirts were spotless and had no wrinkles and their clean hair was combed neatly. They seemed to be enjoying themselves greatly.
A ways out of the town, they stopped at a picnic table under a huge strawberry vine for lunch. Already prepared and waiting were all kind of sausages and cheese made from tofu and wonderful whole wheat breads. Two glasses of sparkling strawberry wine awaited them as well. The man thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the dainty foods, and marveled at the fact that the place was already prepared for them. As they finished eating, the man noticed several blackbirds flying overhead. �I wish I could fly,� he said. �Did you say I could fly someday?�
Jude said. �Certainly. You can fly like the blackbirds. You can sour like an eagle.� Suddenly wings sprouted out of Jude's back and he flew into the sky. It was such a glorious, magical sight that the man almost forgot to fly himself. Then, he suddenly realized he had sprouted wings also and he too, soared into the sky.. It was breathtaking. He was doing the thing he never dreamed he would do.
The two flew for a good long distance before landing in a beautiful little town. In this town there were mirrors on the sides of all the buildings. After the flight, the man assumed his hair would be quite a mess, so he glanced at his reflection in the mirror and gave a gasp of surprise. He no longer looked to be the old man he once was. Why his wrinkles were fading away and he looked no more than 35 year old. �Is this really me I�m seeing?� he asked himself.
Jude overhearing the question, replied, �Indeed it is. In LaLaLand people never grow old and all that are old when they come, grow younger.�
�This is a wonderful place indeed,� said the man, shaking his head in awe. They went into a fine restaurant for dinner where they had purple lentils and green rice.
By the time they came out of the restaurant, the sky had grown dark with night. However, the most stunning sight awaited the man�s eyes when he gazed upward. The sky was full of swirling colorful patterns. Pink and Cyan, Magenta and Goldenrod, Emerald and Violet, Amber and Turquoise. They swirled on and on in dizzy circles seeming to come closer and then pull away.. The man could not take his eyes off of it. It seemed they were glued to the stunning scean. He watched it almost as if he were in a trance for several minutes. The minutes turned to hours and as the sun began to some up, he found himself still sitting there on the sidewalk, gazing at the sky.
