Emily - The Beginning

Emily – The Beginning

© Copyright 2000 by P. June Diehl


After the dust cleared, Emily quickly realized she could not move her legs. Looking down, her long, dark hair falling across her shoulder, she saw that several of the beams from the tunnels wooden ceiling had collapsed.

“Ozmos! Where are you!” Emily yelled, panic setting in. “Ozmos! Answer me!”

Behind her she heard the sound of wooden beams and stone being moved. “Ozmos find Emily. Ozmos here.”

Coming into sight, Emily sighed with relief that the dreaded prehistoric winded monster dog, Ozmos, appeared to have come through the landslide with only a couple of scratches.

“See if you can help me lift this beam off my legs.” Sweat rolled down Emily’s forehead into her eyes. Using the back of her left hand, she wiped the stinging from her eyes. The air was heavy with dust and Emily coughed, waiving her hand in front of her, trying to remove the dirt from the air.

Ozmos tried with all his might, but he could not budge the beam. “Ozmos no can move. Ozmos find help.”

“No, stay here with me. The others will notice we are missing and began searching for us.”

Ozmos, wings folded near his body, sat on a bolder near the wall. A single tear formed in his right eye and slid down his cheek, disappearing into his brown, silky fur. Another took shape in his other eye, and as Emily watched, the floodgates opened.

“Ozmos, listen to me. I’m ok. We have to wait for help.”

Ozmos used the tips of his wings to wipe away his tears. “Ozmos afraid. Ozmos don’t want Emily to die.”

“Ozmos, you silly dog! I’m not going to die! I don’t feel much pain. Look, I’ll tell you a story. Would you like that?”

Ozmos sniffed and nodded his agreement. “Tell Ozmos the beginning story.”

“Ozmos, you’ve heard that one a hundred times. Don’t you want to hear a new story?”

“No. Ozmos wants the beginning story. Please!”

“Ok! Ok!”


Once upon a time there was a girl.


“An orphaned girl…”

“Ozmos! Who is telling this story, you or me? Fine! Once upon a time there was an orphaned girl…”


Jake found her wondering through his pasturelands, lost, tired, and hungry. When the little one saw Jake, a giant among men, and slender, she collapsed into the soft, tall grass. Jake scooped her up and laid her across his shoulder. Taking her back to his cottage, he called to his wife from the porch, “Anna, wife of mine, come! See what has wondered our way!”

Anna, short as Jake was tall, her back crooked with time and hard work, appeared in the doorway. She gasped as she spied the small child asleep on her husband’s shoulder. “My lands! Where ever did you find this child?”

“Down by the creek, in the bottom pastureland,” Jack answered, handing the small one over to his wife.

Turning the sleeping child around, Anna commented, “She can’t be more than 2 cycles old. Where could she have come from?”

Jake shook his head, his long, white beard flowed with the movement. “Don’t rightly know. I’ll send out word and see if anyone knows anything about a missing child.”

“Well, she can stay here a day or two. We’ll not be keeping her. I am through raising young’ins.”

Anna placed the child against her ample body and turned back into the cottage. The great room, with it’s wooden furniture and open fireplace still smelled of the morning’s breakfast, gone these several hours. Anna pointed to the storage area, separated from the great room by an old blanket, “Get me the cot.”

Jake retrieved the cot from it’s place along the wall and sat it near the fireplace. Anna gently laid the child on the straw mattress. Moving to the cupboard, she opened the bottom drawer, found an old tablecloth, and wrapped the small child.

“I’d better heat up some broth. She’ll be hungry when she wakes.”

Jake nodded, kissed his wife on the cheek, and returned to his farm chores. He knew he had better find the whereabouts of the child’s parents or there would be trouble at home.

Many cycles later, 11 to be exact, Jake thought of Emily as his own, one of the many children who were raised on the farm, grew up, and left to lead lives of their own. Anna, however, was cold and remote towards Emily. Never mean, Anna treated Emily well enough, but kept her distance.

This was a special day for Emily, the day they celebrated her birth, the day Jake had found her wondering in his field. Emily worked hard all morning, getting her chores completed early so she could have the rest of the day to do what she wanted. She knew that Anna was baking a welcoming cake, in honor of her starting her 13th cycle. The smell of cinnamon and raisins radiated from inside the house.

“Emily! Get that cow milked before she splits!” Anna yelled from within the cottage.

This one last chore and she was free until dinnertime. Emily was used to Anna’s cold nature and today chose to ignore any remarks directed her way. Grabbing the milk pail she scurried into the barn, her long, black hair flying behind her. The smell of hay dust filled the air in the small, dark barn. The building had seen better days and daylight could be seen coming though many of the old, gray boards.

Slender, and growing taller every day, she was already taller than Anna and reached the middle of Jake’s chest. Taking the three-legged stool from its place on the barn wall, she called to Betsy. “Come, Betsy! Let’s get moving here!”

Betsy recognized Emily’s voice and moved into her favorite stall in the barn where she stood, waiting to be relieved of her milk. She was dark brown in color and as patient as any cow could be expected.

Emily moved the stool beside the animal, positioned the milk pail, and began her last chore. Day dreaming of all the things she could do with her free time, Emily felt a sudden movement from Betsy, and to her surprise, found herself sitting on the floor of the barn. As the milk pail seemed to be falling in slow motion, Emily tried to catch it before it spilled its contents onto the barn floor.

“Emily! What have you done now! Just look at this mess and don’t spill another drop of that milk.” Anna was standing in the doorway from the open section of the barn, hands on her hips, a frown upon her face.

“Sorry, Anna. I don’t know what happenend…”

“Don’t know! Daydreaming again, would be my bet!” Anna bit back.

Looking down, Emily saw that she had saved most of the milk from spilling, but some had slopped out of the pail, onto her naked feet. Emily stared in disbelief as her feet disappeared from view. Her body began to feel strange. She felt her muscles wanting to jerk, wanting to twist her into two parts. Giving in to the strange feeling, Emily twisted with the next jerk of her body. Shutting her eyes, she could feel herself being moved.

“Emily! What are you doing….” were the last words she heard Anna speak.

Surrounded by cold, Emily was too scared to open her eyes, afraid of what she might see. The cold was like the damp of winter, the kind that penetrates your body and soul. Her feet began to tingle and her body wanted to twist again, so Emily twisted with the jerk that followed.

Landing in the soft sand, Emily lifted herself with her arms and opened her eyes. She was in a place with no trees, and only sand as far as she could see. Confused, Emily wondered where the farm had gone. How would she find her way back? She knew that Anna would be extremely mad about the spilled milked. She must get back to finish milking Betsy.

Turning around to look behind her, she saw several tents in the distance. Lifting herself up and shaking off the sand, she started out in the direction of the tents, thinking to find people and answers there.

And thus begins the adventures of Emily, once an orphaned girl, now in search of her future.


“The End!” shouted Ozmos. He paused and cocked his head. “Ozmos hears help! Hello! Help us! Please!”

On the other side of the landslide, the sound of muted voices and the moving of stones could be heard. “Help is coming!” shouted a voice.

“Ozmos hears! Please save Emily!”

“Of course we’ll be saved,” replied Emily. “How could we have more adventures if we’re not saved you silly dreaded prehistoric winged monster dog!”

Ozmos looked down from where he stood, unfolded his wings to protect Emily from the dust, a huge smile engulfing his face.