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Creative Writing / Re: Cloud cuckoo Land
« Last post by Palustris on October 11, 2022, 10:08:40 AM »Chapter Six.
On to the Pool of Ideas.
Eventually, the Rolling Hills gave way to flat land.
"We still have a fair distance to go to the middle of Cloud Cuckoo Land," said the Cuckoo. "But there is a station just up ahead, and we might be able to catch a train for the next bit of the journey."
"A train?" questioned Lemmy.
"Yes," said the Cuckoo.
"With a real engine and carriages?" went on Lemmy.
"Yes," the Cuckoo agreed.
"Running on railway lines?" Lemmy continued.
"Of course," said the Cuckoo.
"Steam or diesel?" Lenny wanted to know.
"Neither," said the Cuckoo.
"Electric then," guessed Lemmy.
"Hmmm, sort of," said the Cuckoo. "And here we are at the station."
The building was rather small and looked as if it needed a good coat of paint.
They went inside. It was just a single room with a set of benches on one side. There was a door opposite the one they had just come through. Set in one wall opposite the benches was a shuttered window. Over it, a sign read, "Tickets."
The place looked deserted, as if no one had been inside for a very long time.
Puzzled, Lemmy turned to the Cuckoo. However, before he could speak, the Cuckoo put its wing to its beak and whispered. "Shh."
Lemmy held his peace.
The Cuckoo turned to Lemmy and said, "Now I want you to think of the last time you went on a train journey. Really think hard about it. See the train and the railway lines in your head."
Lemmy did as he was told.
"Great," said the Cuckoo. "Now we can go on to the platform."
He led the way. Outside, alongside the platform, was a train. Lemmy looked along the platform. There was a single line of silver rails stretching off into the distance. However, the gap between the rails looked rather small and the train itself was not that big.
Alongside the platform was a train.
"Oh," said Lemmy. "This is a narrow-gauge railway. We went on one when we went on holiday last year."
He walked over to one of the carriages. On the side were some gold painted letters, L.T.O.T Railway.
He turned to the Cuckoo. "London Transport something?" he suggested.
The Cuckoo shook its head. "It stands for Lemmy's' Train of Thought Railway."
"My train of thought?" Lemmy asked, feeling extremely puzzled.
The Cuckoo nodded. "The train and the track did not exist until you thought of them. Then, in an instant, they appeared, exactly as you had pictured them. I am a little surprised that you thought of this particular type of train, though."
"I could try thinking of a different one," said Lemmy.
"No," said the Cuckoo. "Once you have started on a train of thought, it takes on a life of its own and cannot be changed. The L.T.O.T.Railway exists now and it will always look like this."
Lemmy was still very confused. "So, until I thought of it, there was no railway here?"
"No," replied the Cuckoo.
"Then how come there was a station built here already?" Lemmy asked.
"That is because the people here really wanted a railway, so they built the station to be ready for it," the Cuckoo explained. "They were just waiting for someone to have the train of thought."
"So why didn't you or one of them start a train of thought and bring a railway into existence?" Lemmy said.
"Myself and the people here knew that there was no railway here. No matter what we thought, we could not start one as we all knew that there never had been and never would be a railway here. You, on the other hand, did not know that, so you could think that it existed and so it did." The Cuckoo gave a great big grin.
And now I think we ought to get on board and carry on with our journey."
Lemmy looked around. The platform was now full of people. A man in a bright red uniform, carrying a large green flag, came up. He bowed and presented Lemmy with a large golden ticket. Then he walked to the front of the train and blew his whistle. "All aboard for the first trip on the Lemmy Train," he shouted.
The crowd of people all crowded into the carriages except the first one.
"This is ours," said the Cuckoo. "Time we were going."
Even as he spoke, the Great Grandfather clock chimed "Gnob" five times.
The Station Master tapped his watch, looked at Lemmy, and made shooing moves with his hands.
Lemmy got into the carriage and sat down. The Cuckoo sat next to him.
The Station Master waved his flag and the rain gave a jerk and set off down the track.
"I ought to have thought of an airport," said Lemmy. "Then we could have got there even quicker."
"Wouldn't have worked," disagreed the Cuckoo. "The train only works because the people here wanted it to appear. Anyway flying is banned here."
"Sorry," said Lemmy "I forgot you don't like heights." He laughed. "My mother says that flying is wrong anyway. If people were meant to fly, they would have been given wings."
The Cuckoo spread his wings. "Just because something has wings does not mean it is going to fly. This is my land, so my rules, so nothing flies here, except time."
"I wonder where all those people came from at the station? Before the train appeared, the place was empty," mused Lemmy
"Whenever something happens, a crowd almost always seems to turn up," answered the Cuckoo. "And no-one seems to know where they come from, but come they do."
"And where are they all going?" Lemmy wanted to know.
"They are probably just going for the ride and to look at the scenery, and so that they can boast that they were on the first trip made by the Lemmy railway," said the Cuckoo.
Lemmy looked out of the window. The train was going along at a reasonable speed. "It is a pity that there is no scenery worth looking at," he commented. "It is just the same whitish grey stuff and blue sky."
"That is what you see," the Cuckoo told him. "But remember what I said. People see what they want to see. If this was the real train what would you expect to see?"
"Distant mountains, green hills, fields, trees, farms, houses, cows, sheep, horses, that sort of thing," said Lemmy.
"Well, that is what the passengers on here can see. Or think they can see," said the Cuckoo. "I may be able to prove it. Back in a moment."
The Cuckoo left the carriage and went off down the train. He returned a few minutes later with a pair of spectacles. "Try these on," he said, handing them to Lemmy.
Lemmy took them and looked at the lens. "The glass in these is pink," he said.
"That's right," said the Cuckoo. "They are rose-tinted spectacles."
A pair of rose-tinted spectacles.
Lemmy put them on and looked out of the window. Instead of the usual scenery, he could now see mountains, hills, fields, farms, houses, and animals. He took them off, and the scenery went back to blue and whitish grey.
"It is very useful to be able to look at the world through someone else's eyes," said the Cuckoo.
"I still don't understand why people see what they want to see and not what is really there," said Lemmy.
The Cuckoo thought for a moment before answering. "The brain is the problem. It alters reality to fit in with what we think reality ought to be like. In many ways reality itself is an illusion. It may not exist at all. For example you could be lying in bid with a mild concussion dreaming all this. All we can do is learnt to live in the reality that our brain creates for us. Even more confusing is that we change the way we see things as we get older so what you will see as an adult will be very different from what you see now."
Lemmy shook his head. "It is very hard to understand."
"Try and look at things like an adult does," urged the Cuckoo.
Lemmy closed his eyes and tried very hard to be a grown up. He opened his eyes, had a quick look around, then closed them again. When he opened them, the world looked the same as it had before.
"Well?" the Cuckoo asked.
"The world looked much smaller and less colourful," said Lemmy. "And it felt a lot more dangerous too."
"Exactly," smiled the Cuckoo.
The engine gave a long blast on its whistle, making them both jump.
The train stopped and a red-coated man opened the carriage door. "Welcome to the station at the Pool of Ideas." He said. We hope you enjoyed the first ever journey on the L.T.O.T Railway. Refreshments are available in the Station Waiting room. The train will return to the Rolling hills terminus in half an hours time."