14. Mollie and the rat-hoppers

Note: this story was written to try to help a very intelligent 5 year old girl called Mollie who had very bad eczema. She was under specialist care and was using strong creams and ointments for her skin. Mollie thoroughly enjoyed the stories and her skin improved significantly, though it was impossible to say whether it was the stories which made the difference. The stories definitely altered Mollie’s attitude to her skin problem, becoming far less agitated and upset about it (prior to the stories she used to cry a lot and ask why God had given her this problem).  Henry and Ho-Ho also helped when she woke at night and the feelings from the magic well made her feel better anyway.

 

Mollie and the rat-hoppers

Henry and Ho-Ho were sitting under the damson tree drinking their orange juice. It was a happy morning, very sunny with a beautiful day stretching out before them.

“I wonder what will happen today?” said Henry looking up at the sky, “One thing is for sure; it is definitely not going to rain!” Ho-Ho nodded; the most certain thing of all is that it would definitely not rain. “Another thing for certain is that I won’t have any play friends today!” added Henry. Although Henry was very, very happy with his friend Ho-Ho, he sometimes missed having friends of his own age nearby. Ho-Ho did understand the problem. They sat a while in silence.

“Henry! Henry!” The voice of Henry’s mother came ringing from the house. “Quick,” whispered Henry, “Back up into your tree, Ho-Ho”. In a flash the huge elephant had disappeared and Henry’s mother came from the house with a small girl.

“This” she announced, “is Mollie. She is a….. well actually a sort of cousin of yours Henry. I want you two to have a nice day together and I want you to be on your very best behaviour, Henry. Mollie has come here on a special diet to help her skin get better and she needs some nice, quiet company.” She glared at Henry for a moment to be sure that he understood his task. Then she smiled at both the children,

“…and here is your picnic basket for the day. I don’t expect to hear another sound from you until you come in for supper!”

The two children looked at each other in silence. Henry had heard about Mollie. In general, Henry was very well-mannered, but he did slip up occasionally, and when he did, his mother always said something like:

“Now Mollie wouldn’t make a mess like that; Mollie is a very tidy and thoughtful child!”

As you may imagine, Henry was not keen to meet this wonderful girl who sounded no fun at all, and certainly not the kind of person who would come on adventures with him and Ho-Ho.

Mollie, too, had heard some rather strange tales about Henry – that he spent hours under the damson tree on his own talking to himself, that he had some very odd friends, would disappear for hours on end and had some very strange adventures for a small boy.

As Henry looked at Mollie, he noticed some redness of her skin:

“What is that redness on your skin?” asked Henry” does it hurt?”

“It’s called eczema” said Mollie, “It is because of allergies and that is why I have to have a special diet with no milk and stuff.”

Henry was becoming curious now.

“Yes,” continued Mollie, “and I have to put lots of funny creams on it. It’s very nice of you to ask.”

Henry was becoming even more curious.

“Would you be interested in seeing the other places I have it?” asked Mollie.

“Please” whispered Henry timidly.

Mollie showed Henry the backs of her knees and the front of her elbows where the eczema looked especially bad…

“Do you cry a lot with it?” Henry asked.

“No!” said Mollie with a smile, “It burns sometimes, but I am very brave!”

Henry stared with admiration at Mollie and these unexpected revelations; it would have been wonderful to have an adventure with this brave girl, but….

“What shall we do today?” asked Mollie.

Henry looked sadly at the floor. “I suppose we will just sit here and have a picnic” he said reluctantly.

“Oh!” sighed Mollie, “I was so hoping that we’d do something exciting…. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

The two cousins stared at each other and slowly began to smile, and then began to laugh together for no very good reason at all.

“Can you keep a very, very special secret?” Henry finally asked, looking questioningly at Mollie, but Henry knew in his heart that here was someone he could trust with his big secret.

When he had explained about Ho-Ho and a few of their adventures, Mollie began to understand the odd things she had heard about Henry and the truth was far more interesting than anything she could ever have dreamed.

“You can come down, now, Ho-Ho” Henry whispered up into the tree.

Soon there was a tiny plop, and later still, a huge smiling elephant was sitting on the grass.

Although the three friends were getting along famously, there was obviously something bothering Ho-Ho.

“What is that redness on your skin?” he finally blurted out. Mollie explained patiently that it was something called “eczema” and that she needed a special diet and creams for it.

“Yes and she is very, very brave indeed!” said Henry.

“I think I have got eczema” said Ho-Ho, but I’ve never seen it. I think I have some ‘eggsymar’ on my back!” he added, indicating with his trunk the exact spot. “Yes, look at this, Mollie” said Henry, “Ho-Ho has a patch just like yours and he’s never seen it!”

Henry had an idea; he told his friends to wait and he disappeared into the house, returning a few minutes later with some old mirrors he’d retrieved from Uncle Samson’s chest. By positioning the mirrors in the right way, he could show Ho-Ho his patch of eczema. Ho-Ho was delighted, not so much at seeing his back for the first time, but seeing his own face in the mirror for the very first time also. He thought it was hilarious and for a while the three friends were helpless with laughter.

‘Yes’ thought Henry, ‘ Mollie is a wonderful companion for an adventure….. we’ll see where Uncle Dennis’ balloon wants to take us.

 

*******

 

Soon they were floating high above the clouds in a most wonderful happy mood. Ho-Ho kept on looking in the mirror, making strange faces and laughing and Mollie hadn’t felt so excited for ages.  It was such a beautiful day and the sun became hotter and hotter. They opened the picnic basket and fortunately there were three large bottles of juice – one for each of the friends. How wonderful to be drifting and dreaming above the clouds…. happy, excited and curious…..

Henry learned a lot more about his new friend and that he should call her “Moll” for short now that they knew each other better. She had a goldfish called Mr Greedie and she could sing and dance – even do a dance called a ‘tap dance’, which impressed Henry enormously as he would surely fall off if he tried to dance on a tap!

 

*******

Finally the balloon began to descend and as they came down beneath the clouds they could see the land below – it was pure sand – a hot baking desert. As the balloon went lower, the heat became very strong. Soon the balloon was nestling into the soft sand.

“What do we do now?” asked Mollie.

Henry thought for a minute: “We can’t stay here or we’ll frizzle!” he said, “we must find some shade and some more drinks!”

“You can leave me here” said Ho-Ho, “I’m still enjoying this mirror – I’ll find you later.”

So the two friends set off across the burning sand, each carrying just a bottle of juice.

After an hour or so, they were both feeling very uncomfortable and Henry was becoming rather grumpy. He stopped and looked all round:

“I think we should go that way” he said with a big gesture. Unfortunately he gestured with the arm which was carrying the juice, and it flew out of his hand and emptied itself on the desert sand.

“Oh dear” wailed Henry, “I’ve nothing to drink now, and I’m so very thirsty!”

“Don’t worry,” replied Mollie, calm and re-assuring, “we can share mine!”

Henry was most impressed with his friends’ calmness and kindness in this serious situation.

 

*******

 

After what seemed like hours, the friends finally spied something rather different on the horizon; it looked like an outcrop of rock which would certainly give them some shelter from the sun. They quickly made haste towards it. As they approached it, two children, a girl and a boy came out to meet them.

“You must be thirsty” said the girl, “have some of this!” She handed a flask to Henry who guzzled down some of the drink without saying a word. It was the most beautiful drink he had ever had in his entire life, made from strange desert fruits as he later discovered. Mollie too took a long swig.

“Thank you!” said Henry, “You saved our lives” added Mollie.

They followed the two children into the oasis, which stretched like a huge green field behind the rocky outcrop. Soon there were more children, all keen to talk and ask questions.

“How did you get here?” asked the girl. Henry had learned to be very cautious about telling strangers the complete truth.

“We just walked!” he said. All the children began to laugh. Henry could not understand why. “You are not telling the truth!” cried the girl, and all the children knew straight away.

Mollie and Henry quickly discovered the first Big Secret of the Oasis – that it was quite impossible to tell lies in that place! They knew that fear makes ones’ face go white, and embarrassment makes you blush, but here in this place, all the changes were greatly magnified, so if you tried to hide the truth, it immediately showed on your face! No choice at all, then but to tell the children the whole truth.

The children were amazed to hear Henry’s story. They sat around Henry and Mollie, transfixed with wonder. It was a beautiful, wondrous place and drinking the fruit juice made the children feel wonderful, when suddenly there was a shriek:

“They’re back, they’re back!” came a terrified voice. The children all ran off shouting and banging things. The girl turned and looked back at the two boys:

“All our parents are away at the Majesty Meeting, and we have to protect the oasis against the rathoppers!”

Henry followed the shouting children until they saw them – huge rat-like creatures leaping over the walls, eating everything in sight. The noise from the children did not seem to be helping… the rathoppers were over-running this oasis paradise. The poor children! Their homes were in real peril.

Suddenly there was a deafening sound from the skies. Everyone looked up, terrified, to see a balloon above the oasis, with an elephants’ trunk sticking out of it making a deafening trumpeting sound. There were flashing lights too coming from the balloon as Ho-Ho had been playing with the mirror and had learned how to reflect the sunlight making dazzling flashes. The rathoppers were even more terrified than the children and in a trice had sped off back into the desert.

As the balloon descended, the children all gathered round and applauded as the very hot elephant climbed out.

“How did you know to make the trumpeting sound?” asked Henry.

Ho-Ho looked rather hurt: “I was singing,” He said, “I always sing when I am lonely or worried and I was very, very, thirsty” he added.

There were peals of laughter as the children took turns in giving drinks to the very thirsty elephant! In return, Ho-Ho showed everyone all the tricks he had learned with the mirrors, showing them how they could reflect the sunshine and produce dazzling lights and bright spots on faraway objects.

 

*******

 

The friends soon fell into a deep and exhausted sleep, a wonderful refreshing sleep that seemed to last for hours. Henry was finally awakened by the girl giving him a nudge. “We think the rathoppers will be coming back soon” she said rather nervously, “Can you get your elephant ready to make his noise to scare them off?”

Henry nodded. He looked at Mollie. They would soon have to leave and take Ho-Ho with them; how would the children manage on their own against the rathoppers. They sank into deep thought.

“It might help” said Mollie, “If we let the children have Ho-Ho’s mirrors; at least then they will be able to make the flashes when the rathoppers come again!”

They told the girl of their plan and the mirrors were set up ready. But how to make those loud noises if Ho-Ho wasn’t with them?

The Mollie noticed that the children were all wearing wooden shoes which the children called “clogs”. “Could I try a pair of your wooden shoes on?” she asked. Then she noticed that all the huts had iron roofs to keep off the sun and the rain. Mollie was not very shy at all:

“Gather round all you children she cried!” and climbed onto one of the roofs. Then she began to tap-dance. The children were intrigued with the rhythm and the noise of the wooden shoes on the iron roof. Soon they were all trying it and how quickly they learned this new dance; the noise was deafening!

Finally they all collapsed exhausted and thirsty, had a long drink of the beautiful oasis fruit drink and fell into a deep sleep once again.

 

 

“Lookout everybody, the rathoppers are coming back, quick everyone!”

Mollie’s plan was to be put to the test:

“On the roofs everyone” she yelled and started her tap dance. Ho-Ho began to flash his mirrors and the children began to dance and dance and dance. The noise of the clogs on the tin roofs was like thunder and even louder than the trumpeting of a thirsty elephant. The rathoppers were terrified, the leaders turning and running into the ones behind them. Each rathopper on seeing the mirrors’ reflection and hearing these strange noises turned tail and ran headlong in terror back into the desert. In no time at all peace was restored.

“You can keep our mirrors” said Henry, “you need them more than we do!”

*******

 

One of the girls came over to Mollie “Your idea of the roof dance and the mirrors saved us all; you are a heroine. Come with me!”

She took her deep into the middle of the oasis, where there was a tiny spring and the light filtered strangely through the trees.

“Here is called ‘All-is-Well’ and the children come here when they are ill. Here the light is very special and helps your feelings to cure the skin. You have hot skin, like all the desert children. Just let yourself feel the feelings of calm and healing and you can know that your skin will heal better and better. After being here, your skin can stay cool and comfortable the whole time.  Mollie felt quite strange…. the light and the girl’s voice and the excitement of the day…..and the feelings of her skin… healing and getting better… and after a while she knew that these feelings would carry on even after she arrived home… she understood why the children could not lie… they had too much peace in their skin..   dreaming…. getting stronger and healthier.

 

*******

 

…and in the balloon on the way home with the sun going down… and the feeling of peace and calmness…  Mollie felt so good and proud of herself….. her skin stayed cool and comfortable… She knew she was a brave, wonderful and clever girl and she had learned some amazing secrets that would always be hers …for ever and ever and ever!