No Place Like…

Dorothy awakened from her fitful sleep, exhausted. Once again, she’d dreamed of Oz.

‘Would call it a nightmare, except that it’s so tedious.’

Having grown up, far from crowded cities, on the vast, flat prairies of Kansas, Dorothy lived simply. She had no wish to return to that bustling chaos, now a legend in her town. After her mishap in the tornado, Dorothy had wearied of the attention drawn by her tornado concussion story. She craved ordinary days strung together into an ordinary life.

 ‘Feet on the ground…’

Her physician Dr. Jensen assured her, real as it seemed at the time, her trip to Oz had been nothing more than a fantasy, resulting from her injury. Dorothy wished it were truly just a bad dream,

Of this she had no doubt… ‘Oz was so garish. How could anyone live that way? Who needs all those colors screaming for attention all the time? So exhausting.’

Ever since her concussion, Dorothy found color, any color, agitating. She loved the calm, soothing shades of grey surrounding her. She was content to settle into her muted, monochrome world.

‘Who needs colors, at all? Useless. Always in your face with their incessant frantic neediness’. They annoyed her. ‘I can see an apple, thank you. Don’t need it to look red, green or purple. It tastes the same regardless. A rose smells just as sweet, right Will?’

Dorothy had always suspected colors were mere inventions by poets. Just words to describe their dreams and attendant emotions. Allusions to leafy green, a robin’s red breast, or skybluepink carried no weight. Disconnected from reality, colors had no impact on her life. Not seeing colors, she didn’t miss them.

Her Oz experience intensified Dorothy’s distaste for colors. There’d been so many and so vibrant, they overwhelmed her, and shut her down emotionally.

Dorothy stood on the front porch of the farm house she shared with Aunt Em and her little dog, Toto. She enjoyed the stable reality of muted grey fields, stretching to the horizon. A field of sunflowers swayed in a gentle breeze. They turned their black faces and ragged, grey halos in unison toward the morning sky.

She gasped. A stain of yellow poked from the lush, charcoal grey grass like a splinter. Fear welled up. She averted her eyes.  

Barking, Toto ran to it. He sniffed and licked the dandelion. Wasting no time, a determined Dorothy strode over to it, stomped on the flower and ground it with her heel.

“Ugh! Yellow. Hope I never see that detestable color again…” The mere thought of that unsettling, brick road to Oz gave her chills.

She shook it off and returned to the house.

Lionel, the farm hand, stepped onto the porch. With a thump, he set down a bushel overflowing with ears of corn.

“Gonna help me shuck? Em’s boiling ‘em up for dinner tonight.”

Dorothy had always enjoyed this chore. She laid a cloth on the table, and got an empty basket for the husks. They sat with the bushel between them and set to work.

Dorothy picked up an ear. She liked the rough texture and the soft grey of the husk. Peeling it back, she didn’t expect the bright yellow kernels. They’d always been pale grey. Startled, she threw it down.

“Ugh! Yellow!” She escaped into the house.

Lionel looked at the ear in his hand and shrugged. “Looks like corn to me…”

He continued until the bushel was empty. A neat grey pyramid of freshly shucked corn lay on the table. He took the basket full of husks back to the barn.

Later, standing on the porch, Dorothy gazed across the fields, settling into twilight shades of grey. She couldn’t slough off a nagging anxiety. 

As usual, when done with the day’s work, Lionel came to watch the sunset. Leaning back against the wall, he lit his pipe and puffed contentedly. He was like a much older brother to Dorothy.

She enjoyed the smell of his tobacco. In the shadows, the glow from his pipe lit his face a dull red. Dorothy had never noticed that before.

Aunt Em brought a tea pot out and sat with them.

“You didn’t eat any corn tonight, Dot. Corn on the cob is your favorite. Something wrong?”

“It looked off to me. That’s all.”

“Oh, no. It was delicious. Didn’t you think so, Lionel?”

He exhaled. “Tasted good to me.”

Aunt Em served each a cup. She sipped and smiled.

Lionel said, “Either of you make it into town for the carnival? Quite a show this year.”

They shook their heads.

He said, “Some of the performers were from Oz. The munchkins were hilarious.” He looked at Dorothy. “Didn’t you go there once?”

She shifted in her chair. “Bad dream from my concussion. Not much to say. Doesn’t actually exist.”

Aunt Em couldn’t resist weighing in. “Have to watch yourself with those ‘munchies.’ Can’t trust them.”

Dorothy stared.

Her aunt continued. “And they’re not the worst. I’ve heard terrible things about that whole place.”

“Who said that, Aunt Em? Everyone treated me well. Except for that witch… Made some friends…”

Lionel asked, “You want to go?”

“Where?”

“Back to Oz.”

“No… It’s not real, silly. I dreamed it. What did you hear about it?”

“The balloon guy down at the carnival. Calls himself Red. Leaving in the morning. You can come too, if you want.”

“Naw... I don’t want to be ‘not in Kansas anymore…’ I’ll happily stay ‘not in Oz anymore.’ Get it?”

Bemused, Lionel nodded. “I get something, but I’m not sure what ‘it’ is.”

Aunt Em watched them. “It’s okay if you go, child. You have your life ahead of you. Go. Attend to any unfinished business.”

Amazed, Dorothy shook her head. “Do you not hear me?”

“I’m saying I’ll be alright… Won’t feel abandoned.”

“What unfinished business is there?”

“Oh, Dot… That’s not for me to say, dear. Only you can know for sure…”

Lionel sat up and rested his pipe against his tea cup.

“I know no one asked, but here goes… Dorothy, you need to get out more. Before coming here, I stayed home all the time. Got depressed. Saw spots in front of my eyes. Thought I was dying. Then a friend said my place was infested with gnats!”

Aunt Em said, “Awful! Hate them…”

“So, I moved out here. But I miss something.”

Dorothy scowled. “What’s lacking? The country’s everything.”

“How about color?”

“Oh, really? Color?”

“Look around. Color would make things… less dull.”

Dorothy shook her head. “Overrated... I like the shading. The way it blends… rich blacks and whites like in classic photographs.”

Aunt Em interjected. “Everything isn’t black and white, Dot.”

Lionel said, “Wait… You’ve never seen colors?”

“Well… Only in Oz. Doctors said it was ‘cause I hit my head.”

“Doctors say lots of things. I’ve wanted to go ever since I heard about it.”

“You’re kidding. Oz?”

Lionel nodded.

“I dreamed it, Lionel. How would you get there?”

“With this…”

He held out his pocket watch. It gleamed in the porch light.

Dorothy peered at it. She said, “Is that gold?”

“It is.”

Dorothy had heard of the heavy metal but never knew it was also a color.

“Red, the balloon guy said he’d get me there, I give him this. But he can’t make change. Want to come along? Can make up the difference…”

Dorothy hesitated. 

“Ride, half price. ‘Cause you’re a kid.”

He grinned at her reaction.

She fumed. “I’m not a kid.”

He chuckled. “Short enough to pass...”

Her look made him laugh. She laughed too, but sobered.

“Don’t think so. Been once. No need to again.”

“Whatever… Think about it. Leave at dawn.”

Dorothy looked away. She tried suppressing her nostalgia for what she believed never happened.

~

Aunt Em came to Dorothy as she prepared for bed. She pressed some folded money into her hand.

Dorothy said, “What’s this?”

“In case you need it in your travels.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Aunt Em…”

“Like I said, ‘in case.’” She kissed her cheek. “If you’re gone when I awaken, I wanted to say ‘good-bye.’ Be careful, love.”

Dorothy scoffed. “Well, thanks. Love you too. See you tomorrow.”

Aunt Em touched her cheek. “Good night…” She turned away and left Dorothy standing by her bedroom door.

~

After a sleepless night, Dorothy dressed in the dark. Bringing a change of clothes and a snack in her backpack, she met Lionel at the gate at the end of the driveway. Toto tagged along.

They walked to town with dawn glimmering in their faces. When they got to the carnival, gangs of workers were breaking camp and preparing for travel to their next performance date.

Dorothy and Lionel approached the balloon concession and saw Red, a lanky guy wearing a hat, pointing and talking to a worker.

As they approached, Red waved them over. Giving Dorothy a look, he laughed, “See you brought extra baggage.”

Toto barked.

Lionel scoffed, “This is Dorothy, Red. Underestimate her at your peril. She’s got more brains than most people can put together.”

Red offered her his hand. “Glad to meet you, Miss Dorothy. Apologies for any jocularity at your expense.”

Dorothy took his hand and curtsied at his mock formality. “Accepted.”

“You going to Oz with us?”

“Looks that way… Why do they call you ‘Red’?”

“Not sure, exactly. I always figured it’s since my last name is Reid. After people know me a bit, start calling me Red. For short, I guess.”

Tipping his broad brimmed hat, he released a cascade of carrot colored hair. Dorothy turned to Lionel who smiled and nodded.

Red helped them board the wicker gondola while he attended to last minute details. The worker helped with essentials. He hoisted himself up and his helper pulled the ladder away.

“All ready? Hang on!”

Dorothy and Lionel nodded. Toto barked. Red fired up the burner and the balloon billowed up from the fiery exhaust.

Fraught with last minute doubts, Dorothy gripped the gondola’s wicker rim.

‘What am I doing?’

She gazed out at her safe, colorless world. When would she return to its predictable, stable comfort?

Red yelled, “Up, up and away!”

The burner continued roaring like a dragon. The balloon strained against the gondola’s weight. It left the ground and swayed gently. Red signaled to the roughneck to release the tether anchoring it. Once aloft, the balloon rapidly gained altitude.

Red pulled the tether rope up and Lionel coiled and stowed it. The gondola held the three of them and Toto, but with little extra room.

Dorothy caught her breath at the sight of the town shrinking away beneath them. Despite her misgivings, it was exciting.

Though the sun had not yet appeared, the clouds sang of its pending arrival. Once it peeked above the horizon, they cheered.

The balloon drifted over the fields and trees. An occasional bird soared beneath them. To maintain altitude Red fired up the burner every few minutes. When the flames cut off, the silence was exquisite. Passing over a forest, they heard a chorus of bird calls.

For hours, the balloon moved steadily with the wind. Red regaled them with stories of his ballooning adventures and trips to Oz.

Lionel said, “Dorothy went there once.”

Red was impressed. “Really?” She nodded. He said, “You saw the rainbow over Oz?”

Dorothy said, “That rainbow is really something.”

“Yeah, they came out with a new model this spring. The first in years. Colors never seen before. Long overdue… Old one got faded.”

Dorothy pulled snacks from her backpack and shared them with Lionel and Red. She gave Toto a treat.

Red said, “Almost there. Look…”

Dorothy pointed at the magnificent rainbow shimmering over Oz, the Emerald City.

“Blueskypink!” she cried. Laughing and crying, she leaned into Lionel. “Can’t believe I’m back…”

The yellow brick road led to the city through flower covered hills like a lazy, meandering river. Dabbing her eyes, Dorothy felt many emotions surging. Initially unsettling, she realized fear wasn’t among them. Instead, she felt something completely new. Joy. Her tears were joyful. Dorothy was happy.

Red began their descent.

Dorothy said, “Never expected it. Colors are beautiful… How did I live without them for so long?”

Red warned, “Hang on. May get bumpy.”

They settled onto a meadow. Their momentum dragged them to a rise and they came to rest. The limp balloon lay down across the field. Lionel helped Dorothy dismount and handed Toto to her. He vaulted himself down.

Barking, Toto frolicked among the flowers. Red attended to securing his balloon.

Lionel said, “What now?”

Dorothy laughed. “I need a place to live. Can’t go back now.”