DARKLIGHT

Ernest woke and peered around the room. It was that predawn time, the darklight as he thought of it. The time when things are barely visible though seem. Or barely seen though visible. Through the crack in the curtains he could see a hint of dark gray light. The darklight was still deep and he could make out no features in the room. Even the doorway was blackness and that was wrong. The laundry was down the hallway to the left of the bedroom, it had a large glass slidingdoor leading to the pack porch. The security lights in the garden shone through this and the faint light rebounded into the bedroom, just faintly perceptible so he knew the blackness was wrong.



He rolled out of the creaking bed and stumbled toward the corner of the room,to where he knew the door to be. It was shut...wrong! It was never shut and he was alone so how did it come to be shut? He turmed the knob and pulled, nothing happened. He pushed. The door remained closed,silently mocking. He moved quickly to the window and looked through the gap. He could see very little so tried to tugg the curtains open but they were imovable. He peered through the gap again, all he could see was the darklight sky. Walking back to the door he tried again to open it but it rested his every effort. He threw his considerable weight against it. He shook the doorknob, he pounded on the silent door. I am trapped! What is happening here ?





“There is no mustard jelly left daddy!” Ernest's daughter wailed.



“ His name is going to be Mufti, whether you like it or not!” His brother?



“It is a tandem bike Ernest,” his wife said, “can we ride around the island on it?”



A gruff voice on the other side of the door said “We can't just smach it down!”



“Why not?” a younger, lighter voice asked.



“ HEY, LET ME OUT!” Ernest roared.



“Because,” voice one rejoined, “ the boffins think it might be a portal to a paralel universe, is why not!”



“CAN YOU HEAR ME! Ernest screamed out.



“Shit! What they gonna do?”



“Our's is not ta reason why,we just guard it son shine, but I reckon it's time for a cuppa tea.”



Ernest heard receding footsteps. “HEY” he yelled, banging on the door. It swung open.



His very first car, the 1961 Holden was parked there in front of his parents house, a house that was on the other side of the country.

His three year old daughter poked her head out of the car window.



“Hurry up daddy or the mustard jelly will all be gone!”



“But your 28 years! old” Ernest gasped



“Don't be silly daddy! We must hurry or there will be no mustard jelly left!”



The young soldier, sipped his tea, Do ya think this portal thing is real Sarge?”



“Buggared if I know, but fact is stranger than fiction,” Ernest replied.





C Gainsford © Copyright 2012