CHAPTER ONEJerry's parents rarely had to tell him to go to bed more than once. He loved to sleep. When he was sleeping, deep in his dream time, he could fly. Jerry started to fly when he was a very little boy. At, first, his family enjoyed hearing about his flying dreams. Later, when he learned how to gain altitude, his family loved to hear how he would fly over the treetops. He began to fly to places he had never been before; he could fly almost anywhere!
Sometimes he wanted to try to fly to heaven, but most of the time he was happy to fly over the top of the houses, down the hill, and over the town below. In his dreams he would hold his arms out and float on the wind while he looked down at the familiar buildings of the town. Jerry could feel a soft warm breeze surrounding his body as he flew.
Often in his dreams Jerry would patrol his town. In the dark early morning hours when the town was quiet, he could sense stillness and a feeling of peace. He could imagine all the people nestled in their beds, dreaming their special dreams. He wondered if others were flying in their dreams.
While flying, Jerry could catch the warm and cool wind currents, which gave him the speed to zip through the air until he could reach the clouds. Sometimes he would roll and spin and play in the clouds. It was fun to sit on a cloud and then dive back into the night sky as if it were an ocean.
Jerry's grandparents’ house was perched high up in the mountains, where he stayed every summer; this was his favorite place to fly.
Their house was nestled among countless numbers of trees. After he circled the town, Jerry would fly back up the hill and out over the forest that covered the mountains behind the house. Flying over his grandparents’ forest always gave Jerry a good feeling for life. Love shone all around him.
If he listened carefully, he could hear the trees make sounds as if they were talking. It seemed to him that the tall, straight trunks of the trees were reaching out, perhaps trying to touch the boy flying above, just out of their reach.
While Jerry sailed out, he would look down and try to name all the different types of trees that lived in the forest. He could see Blue Spruce, Aspen, White Pine and Long leaf Pine. Sometimes he had trouble telling them apart, but he came to know them all. As he flew close to the ground, he could see the forest floor's carpet of pine needles, leaves, and rich organic soil.
These layers of soil had been laid down over centuries and smelled musty and piny. Jerry had learned from a book that the layer of forest soil supported an amazing variety of invisible life: there were beetles and bacteria, fungi and many other forms of life.
One night as Jerry was flying he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned for a better look. A beautiful white owl silently glided to his side and began to fly with him. Jerry wondered how the owl could move so quietly until he remembered that owls have special feathers on their wings that help them fly silently through the air.
As Jerry kept pace, the owl dipped one moonlit wing, made a wide arc, and flew deeper into the forest. With a giggle, Jerry dipped one outstretched arm and followed the white owl into the trees.
It was great fun playing “Follow the Leader” with the beautiful white owl in the peaceful night. The trees were singing softly in the gentle mist. A full silvery moon gave light to the forest, helping Jerry follow the white owl as it turned and dipped through the trees.
Suddenly, right before his eyes, the owl disappeared. Jerry looked all around. He even rolled onto his back to look up into the sky, but the white owl was not to be seen. Jerry was about to give up and fly back home when he saw a bright glow ahead. It seemed to call his heart with an inviting, warm welcome.
Jerry flew toward the glow deep into the moonlit forest. The deeper he flew, the more radiant it became, stronger and stronger, until it started to flash and pulse. Around him now, it seemed that the trees were much older than the trees he knew back home; Jerry felt a sense of timelessness coming from these ancient trees.
Jerry approached the source of the strange light. He was staring at a tree that glowed like fire. The light was not coming from a lantern or campfire, but from this tree. It was the tallest, broadest, most ancient tree in the forest; it had tremendous limbs that reached out in all directions, creating an endless canopy of leaves.
The burning waves of warmth wrapped around Jerry like a comforting blanket but at the same time he had feelings of danger and despair. Without hesitation he flew closer until his face was becoming red from the pulsing heat.
Jerry flew lower and lower until he saw that the tree had a hollowed center. The intense light was shinning from the tree’s hollow, from the limbs, and through the pattern of roots just beneath the forest floor. The ground under the tree looked breathtaking, as pulsing light rushed through its vein-like roots, creating a mirror image of the branches above. The sight was awesome!
He flew closer to the tree’s massive trunk until he could look directly in the hollow of the tree. From deep within came even a brighter yellow light.
Jerry heard a voice coming from beyond the roots of the tree. It cried, "H-E-E-L-L-L-P! Help me!"
Startled, Jerry sat up in bed, wide-awake and sweating. “Gee, that was really scary,” he thought, shaking just a little.
He looked out his window at the beautiful early morning blue sky with puffy white clouds. He looked around his room at his books and pictures and toys. Everything seemed to be normal, but Jerry could not shake the feeling that the dream this past night meant that something was life-altering. It hinted that something important was about to happen.
He could still hear the deep forest voice crying in his ears, “Help me!”
Jerry jumped out of bed and ran down the hallway in search of his two sisters, Sam and Sofia. He wasn’t sure how he was going to tell them about his bizarre flight.
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