The Hammock

I’m playing with my mum’s smartphone in the park nearby home. I hear a voice: ‘You don’t need a smartphone to experience something nice. Your mind can do amazing things just on its own... just on its own,’ and the voice fades away. ‘Oh, yes!’ says another voice.

I look around and.... I see where the voices come from.

Two old oak trees!

Their voice is so calming, warm and engaging. I close my eyes to concentrate on listening to them and suddenly I feel transported in the air. How enjoyable is the wind refreshing my head and my whole body... I open my eyes and... wow! I’m lying on a hammock hanging between the two trees; I’m swinging in the air between the oak trees!

And guess what... the trees have light and luminous wings, made of rainbow leaves.

Going upwards... and more upwards... ‘Look down now,’ says one of the trees. I can see the Wales coastlines, the ocean washing the sand and the rocks, and white wild horses running on the shores. How beautiful! And what I can see now it’s amazing too: it’s a long river flowing within forests and sweet hills. Oh yes, it must be the river Wye which forms part of the border between England and Wales.

Now, I see buildings of strange forms and towers, surrounded by fosses and palisades, connected by wooden bridges. They’re the Scottish castles! I feel like a time traveller bird, flying back in time, many centuries ago...

I have reached Scotland and it’s about to rain here. It rains so often in Scotland!

The oak trees bring me over a road where I look downward and I can see so many cars. They look like the toys I play with in my bedroom... There’s one that runs so fast and overtakes all the others, moving on the right and then on the left and then faster and faster. Hey, it can overtake on the right side, not on the left side! ‘Go, go!’ I say from the sky.

I think of my mum now.... She is so sweet... and she may be looking for me. She had told me that after she would wash my school uniform (we wear school uniform in England, you know), she would be ready to come and pick me up in the park where I was playing with her phone. I have to come back!

I ask the trees to kindly bring me back. On the way back I see so many children in streets, in parks and in their outdoor home space using tablets and smartphones, and none of them is looking at the sky.

Oh, poor them! They cannot imagine how terribly cool it is to be in a hammock swinging between two old, strong oaks!

If they continue to keep their eyes and mind on the screen, they’ll never know.

Slowly, I land on the park and I give a kiss to the trunks of the two old, sage, beautiful oaks.

They tell me: “We’ll be here anytime you’ll want to fly... Where shall we go next?”