Train to Kalambaka

(A sequel to Alone Together.)

Nimbin opened the yellow door and stepped into the familiar Blue Space.

The Abstractionist looked up. “And?”

“They can’t see it,” said Nimbin.

“Ah, good! I wanted to show you this.” The old man pulled away a white cloth. “The Toy Maker’s Model.”

Underneath lay a tiny world with train tracks winding through valleys and rocky terrain.

“Someone asked me to work on this,” said the Abstractionist.

As Nimbin leaned closer, the miniature world began to grow around him. Before he realized it, he stood on a train platform.

A magical figure waved at him. He wore Opera Glasses with one red lens and one blue lens. The frame shimmered with light.

“All aboard!” he called.

“I’m the Puppet King,” the figure said as they got on the train.

Through the windows, Nimbin saw the countryside roll by. Stone towers moved across the landscape, each with its little house swaying on top.

“What are those?” Nimbin asked.

“Puppets who live here,” said the Puppet King.

The train stopped at Kalambaka station. A forest fairy with bark skin and leafy hair waited for them.

“I’m Thira,” she said. “Follow me.”

They walked closer. One puppet’s house was shaking. Nimbin could hear weeping coming from it.

The Puppet King handed Nimbin the Opera Glasses. “I used to be like them,” he said, nodding toward the towers. “But when I got these, I became what I am.”

Nimbin put the glasses on. The model changed.

The stone towers turned bright blue: the Blue Space he knew so well, flowing together as one. The houses on top turned brilliant red.

“Now you can tell meaning from happening,” said the Puppet King. “But when you live in a red house, everything outside looks red. The stone bodies look red. And the other houses? It’s like they’re not there.”

Through the glasses, Nimbin’s chest tightened. When one red house tried to reach another, it found nothing. No way to tell where one ended and another began.

“They can’t reach each other,” he whispered.

“Each puppet only knows their own house,” the Puppet King added. “And from inside it, it feels like the whole world.”

Thira touched his shoulders. Butterfly wings grew on his back.

“Show it what you can see,” she said.

Nimbin flew up to the shaking red house. He gently placed the Opera Glasses over it. The red walls became transparent.

“Oh!” said the voice within.

The weeping puppet saw through Nimbin’s eyes. Its red house remained, but now it could also sense the blue flowing beneath.

Thira’s magic swirled around the tower. The house and stone began to shine together through every color.

Nimbin flew back down.

The world around them shrank to table size.

“So I can help people at home this way?” Nimbin asked.

The Abstractionist shook his head. “You can’t show someone the Blue Space. They have to find it themselves.”

Of course. The door could only be opened from the inside.

“Then what can I do?”

“You can be there when they’re ready.”

The End.