"Thank you for helping with the dishes, Mandy. You may go outside and play now. But I do wish that you would try more ladylike activities. Maybe grow that beautiful blonde hair long, and I can teach you how to style it just like they do in Paris."
"Thank you, Mother. May I please take Trixie with me?" she asked, ignoring the suggestion of spending more time indoors.
Mother looked at the basket in the corner of the small but spotless kitchen. "We've talked about this. Trixie is a miniature poodle. She's too small and delicate to be running through the fields and woods. Too much could happen to her."
Mandy nodded. "I'm sorry, Mother. I just wish I had someone to play with."
Mother wiped her hands on her sunshine yellow apron. "Perhaps someone with children will settle nearby. Until then, you will have to make do with the birds and other small creatures you're so fond of. Or you could play gently with Trixie, in the house."
Mandy turned, and went out the back door. "Goodbye, Mother. I'll be back in time to help you set the dinner table," she called out before closing it.
Her first stop was a little stream. She took off her sensible leather shoes and thigh high stockings, then waded in.
"It's such a hot day. I wish we had a swimming hole," she thought as she carried her shoes and stockings to the other side.
She set them on a boulder, then sat on a nearby log. With her bare feet submerged in the cool water, the girl chewed on a blade of grass.
"Mother told me to make do with the wild creatures. Maybe Dad would let me make a pet of one, and keep it in the barn. I just wish he had gotten a normal dog, instead of sending for Trixie, all the way from France."
Mandy got up, and reluctantly dried her feet. She put her stockings and shoes back on. "Just because Mother has something called culture, she wants everything and everyone around her to be too delicate to enjoy. Except for Dad, of course. He's big and strong, and she likes him."
The girl walked through a golden field, the sun blindingly bright. A slight breeze momentarily lifted the skirt of her short sundress, then the air was still. The shady branches of the nearby forest seemed to beckon, promising lasting relief from the heat.
Mandy slowly made her way across the field, towards the thick woods. "What's that? It looks like some sort of frame," she thought, as she saw a strange white object just where the trees began.
She sped up. Soon she was running. "I know that wasn't there a few minutes ago. I would have noticed."
When she reached it, she was panting. After she caught her breath, she realized just how enormous it was. "It's like a great big window frame. But it's made of stone."
Mandy walked all the way around it. She tried to shove it. "I wonder how it got here? It's too heavy for a truck, or even a tractor to pull. I've been here my whole life, and I've never seen anything like it."
She sat on the smooth white stone. "Maybe I just never noticed it. But how is that possible? I've walked by this spot so many times. And this is impossible to miss. I saw it all the way from the middle of the field."
The girl stood, and leaned on the inside of the frame. Suddenly the air in front of her began to shimmer. Then the scene changed. Instead of warm greens and browns, she saw the cool greys of a rocky landscape.
She experimentally stuck her foot through. It didn't seem to be any different, so she tried a hand next.
The air was a little cooler, but otherwise she felt normal. Mandy hopped down onto the flat grey base, made of rock.
"Oh, it feels good here! Nice and cool," she whispered.
She turned around to look at the way she had just come from. The sun from her side shone through brightly, and she had a good view of the field. But all around, there was another world.
On each side, the rocky landscape. Above the frame which had brought her loomed a moon that was not of her planet. It was massive, and close. More importantly, it appeared to have either roads or waterways. Perhaps both.
Mandy jumped back up, into the frame. "Where am I?" she whispered.
Undecided, she turned her head towards her world, then the strange one.
"Please don't leave," pleaded a small female voice. Then a girl came out from behind a large rock. They were about the same size, but that was where the similarities ended.
This girl had a long snout, similar to Trixie's muzzle. Her skin was the same grey as the landscape. Her long, glossy hair was jet black. Instead of a dress, she wore soft leather trousers, and a leather jacket.
To be continued!
Describe what you see:
I see a girl standing in between two worlds. One is very familiar. It has a field, forests, and yellow sunshine. The other world is rocky, rugged, and has either a large moon or a small planet nearby.
Describe what you feel:
I feel like the girl wants to explore. She's probably concerned about the way home possibly closing, stranding her in a strange world.
