It is a magnificent feeling, being on top of a mountain, knowing you have a place for you and you alone. It is the kind of feeling Edward experienced every day as he explored the forests, animals and fields of the little hill whose base housed the town he lived in. Just like a dragon knows every piece of treasure he owns, Edward knew every stone, path or tree that lived on the beautiful land of his.
That is, until one late October day, when, as he was observing the strange habitat of a rabbit and its family, he spotted a house not far away from the woods. The house certainly didn’t belong there, he never saw it there before. So then how did it get there? It was old, and surrounded by flowers Edward had never seen before. Not so far away, there was a little garden full of vegetables.
He headed towards the nearest window of the house to take a glimpse at what was inside. The view startled him, it was a magnificent room. Objects of all shapes and sizes filled it with their uniqueness, on a table there was an ancient Egyptian goblet sitting next to a radio and on the other side an old banjo was resting on a constellation map that covered the entire wall; but the books were the ones that caught Edward’s attention the most, they were on every table, chair or piece of furniture you could find.
“Hey you, what are you doing there?”. Came a deep voice from the far corner of the room, it belonged to a man that seemed to be older than the house itself and everything inside of it. The man got up and started walking towards the door, he was very tall and skinny, his clothes were of no recognizable fashion, and his face was hidden behind a white beard and a pair of large, round glasses. It reminded Edward of some sort of wizard he used to read about in fairy tales, not the bad kind of wizard, but the good kind. The man opened the door and looked at the scared boy with his big blue eyes for a while.“What do you want?” Asked the man, this time in a nicer voice.
“I’m sorry sir, but I saw your house in this place where it doesn’t belong, so I was curious how it got here. ” The poor boy was so scared that he talked too fast and his voice was trembling.
“Alright, alright, I didn’t mean to scare you. Come inside, I’ll make you a hot tea to warm you up, it is very windy out here.”
Edward was happy the man invited him inside, maybe he would answer some of the questions he had. “Sir, if you don’t mind, I was wondering…” Explained Edward nervously as he was making himself comfortable on a couch.
“About how my house got here and about all the strange things inside of it? Everyone wonders about the same thing. It is a complicated story, but after all, you are more likely to believe me than those close minded grown ups. But first, what is your name little boy?”
“Of course, silly me, my name is Edward and I am 9 years old.”
“Nice to meet you Edward, my name is Arthur. You see Edward, I travel a lot, not like normal people do from one place to another, that too, but mostly I travel through time. I actually traveled so much I don’t even know how old I am anymore, and I don’t know where home is either.”
“But sir” interrupted Edward, “how can you travel through time?”
“It is magic my friend. Rare magic, that only very few people can control. I’m not one of them, but my brother was and he always liked to experiment his magic on me, so one day he told me about a new project he wanted to do. He’d try to make me go from country to country, from an era to another and learn as much of their history and culture as I could, until one day, after a lot of studying, I’d be able to find the meaning of life.”
“And did you find what you wanted?”
“You’d be surprised to know how many different things I found, but yes in the end I managed to find what I wanted.” Arthur sighed as he let down his head. “But what is the point of knowing it, if you can’t live it?” The old man whispered to himself.
“Well, maybe if you share it with me, we could both live it.” Said Edward excitedly.
“I guess I can…”
“Edward!” screamed the teacher with an angry look on her face. “Have you been listening to anything I said so far?”
“No Mrs. Jacobs.” Murmured Edward shamefully.
“Well than what were you doing?” There was a short moment of silence in the class, as everyone was waiting for Edward’s reply. Then, he looked back up into the teachers eyes and said with a confident voice.
“I was about to find out the meaning of life, but you interrupted me.”
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