Foster's World

Madame Foster was angry. The aged mistress of the Foster’s Home was indignant that her scatter-brained granddaughter never showed up with the bus at the airport to pick her up. “Didn’t even have the decency to call me! She knew when my flight was due in…”

Anger was a good emotion. It hid the fear. Almost.

The taxi ride seemed endless. She closed her eyes, ignoring the incessant chatter of the driver who insisted in pointing out sights of interest… “As if I haven’t lived here my entire life!” she thought. “I probably knew your great-great-grandmother.”

She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the driver… and the smoke in the distance.

A young woman slept fitfully, restlessly on the beach.

Scrambled images.

The door that would not open.

A red figure using his impossibly long arm to beat at flaming drapes.

A bull horned monster crying as his beloved toys burned.

Panic everywhere, lights failing..

A child’s voice, so familiar, calling to her from the landing of a long staircase.

And a tidal wave of flame.

She had fallen. Fallen from the sky. A voice spoke words she could not remember… but the words were burned into her heart. She would recall them when needed. There was a world below her. Falling. “I hope I don’t die” was her last conscious thought.

She awoke, memories of her nightmare fading quickly in the bright morning light. She stretched, momentarily wondering where she was. It didn’t seem important.

Frankie felt… fine. Really fine. There was no schedule to keep, no responsibilities. The world was quiet, no nagging voices. No unreasonable, unappreciative rabbits demanding her attention. (“Rabbits?” she wondered.)

No chores. No pain. No burns.

No burns?

She rubbed at her wrist, the one where she wore a gold watch. It was important to her, a graduation gift from her grandmother. It was the most valuable thing she owned. “That’s strange,” she thought. She almost never wore it around the house, it was too likely to be damaged. A rash had formed under the band. “Never did that before!” The watch felt impossibly heavy and uncomfortable.

She tried to make out the time, but couldn’t see the numbers clearly. “One? Two? Another number? So many numbers! They made her dizzy!” Well, it wasn’t important. It was early morning she knew. The sky was bright, though she couldn’t see the sun. For a moment that bothered her, but it was too nice a day for that to worry her. And she had the entire day to herself.

She carefully removed the watch and put it in the pocket of her fleece jacket. “Better be careful. I don’t want to lose it!” The rash faded almost immediately.

She forgot about the watch.

She walked along the beach and although the morning was clear and cool, her feet became heavy. Each step was harder and harder to take. She finally stopped, almost unable to move. Looking down she decided to remove her blue sneakers and orange socks to soak her feet in the clear surf. Almost at once she felt better, lighter. She wiggled her toes in the sea damp sand and laughed... She waded into the surf, loving how every grain of sand seemed to tickle her toes. The pink nail polish flaked off. “Good” she thought. It felt… ‘unnatural’.

She would carry the sneakers, she decided… then walked away, almost danced. The sneakers and socks sat where she had left them. Minutes later she looked back, wondering if there was something she had forgotten. She saw the line of her footprints stretching back up the beach. Nothing else.

There was a grove of trees in the distance. Her stomach rumbled. “Maybe I’ll find some fruit,” she hoped.

The Goddess wanted a Creation of her own. She knew she was too small a ‘god’ to create anything as grand as the Universe. She didn’t want one, anyway. This one held so many wonders, but was too big to properly oversee and love.

A single world could contain all the wonders ever needed. Oh, there would be enough stars to fill the night sky with an endless, changing panorama. But just one world would be plenty. The right world!

She could fill the world with all kinds of wonderous plants and lesser creatures. But there was a problem…