chapter 17: The great Pow Wow, part one.

Chapter 17: The great Pow Pow, part one.

That evening, after playing with his sisters, listening to a story of mom about how they at university were trying to make the Kirlian photo’s that down here, in the bubble ware so normal, Billy asked: “would you like to go back to dry land? Or as you say, to the surface again?”

Mom did ask: “Why do you want to know?” and she did shake her head in wonderment.
“Would you, if you had the chance? And why do you ask?”

“Well….” Than a moment silence followed, “I do not know.
But since I have been in the house of knowledge, I do know there is so much more upside the land, I keep wondering.
And than again, you tell about the university, and how you tried to make those nice color-bubble photo’s Nemo just has to put on a machine for.
Than I do think: the Atlantians, I do know.
They are my friends, and maybe they do know more than the people on dry land.
I really think, I have to learn more about both. Is that silly?”

Mom did shake her head, and dad, who had just listened in, said: “may be the people did learn a lot more in the 10 years we now do live here.
I do not know either. But I am satisfied, mom and me did not drown.
We can do work we like to do, ánd we have you three kids.

In one of the other bubbles do live more nice dry-land people.
May be there is a time, we slowly can go back together, when all kids have grown and things like Purple said lately about pollution, are not solved.

Lets talk about that another time, when you have been sleeping, for that time is already past, and mom and me also have to discuss this with the others.
Promise, we will let you know!”

Billy looked satisfied, although he did know what his father did not: tonight he went to Homeland.
And if the story’s Petra told, were true, this one night for his father, could take more time for him…
So he kissed them al goodnight and happily went to his room.

He and Petra had laid ready the last things to take with them in the bags, also the last drawings, and their new mirror with the books, Lea and Cindy did make for them. They were ready, but they tried to rest till lights should go out.
So when those lights finally went out, their great mirror hop did start a real adventure.

They ended on the place, besides the tent of the Lady, stepping immediately out of the lines, so someone else could use it.
Waiting for them was a line of people, so for the first moment Billy looked a bit shy. So many humans he never had seen together.

In his mind he did miss the trusted form of the longer faces of his daily friends, the Atlantians.
But this was what he had been longing for, even had worked so hard for, so he swallowed his pride and fears, and with his head up high, he asked Petra: “And what now?”

Petra looked for Lea and Cindy, knowing that the most they had done with Nemo, also was investigated by them, and their group of people.
Out of the line came a little boy, very proudly carrying a flag with a book and some crystals.

“Hi, Petra, and you must be Billy.
I will bring you to the circle, that is for those, that have books or drawings ánd crystals. In there are also waiting Cindy, Lea and some elder people, but also a shy little girl, that just as you only once was in Homeland.
Will you help her a bit? Here it is,” he pointed, before he went back to the line to fetch some more people, that should belong to this group.

Lea and Cindy were talking with two very young girls, who hardly looked old enough that they could read.
But both had necklaces of crystals around their neck and arms.

Cindy told: “these are Moy and Dory.
Moy belongs in Homeland and Dory in the mountains of Montana, on high ánd dry land, one could say.”
“And I am Billy from the bubble under the sea, and my friend is Petra from here. What a lovely necklaces you do have!”

Dory said, “I did look for the crystals, that Moy did show me.
My grandfather is a miner, he does know a lot about stones and always tells about them.
Most people do think it is boring, of why do you not sell them for money, but granddad said, there comes a time we are going to need them.
So he stored them in a place, only me and Moy are knowing about.”

Petra, Cindy and Lea were interested, while Billy pondered about the question, so he asked directly: “how does your granddad know?”

The circle round them all became a bit bigger, some more people with books, drawings and crystals joined in and listened.
They did behave mostly, if they knew each other from other times, what was correct.

“Grandpa’s father had a Homelander friend too, and he told this stories, and what adventures they had to my dad, and he to me, so I was not so very surprised when Moy came through my new mirror.
We played a lot with the stones, made necklaces and other nice things with them, and only once before I came here to meet the Lady, who told about the Pow Wow.
Will you help me? I do not know how that works?”
Billy confessed: “I also was here only once before, and while I do live under the sea, all is strange to me.
I never have seen so many humans in the same place! But we have nice friends, and those around us look very friendly, so let’s stick together.”

Lea said: “That is just, what this circle is for.
Cindy, being the lady’s great niece, is the one in charge.
All the others know about what we are doing, and looking for in this circle.
Most have met in between the time the Lady said we will have this Pow Wow and now.

But before we start talking, there will be the big opening ceremony.
We all are going behind the boy with our flag.
The oldest and wisest in front, the ones that are from Indian heritage, who look so nice in their costumes” she added for Billy and Dory,” will dance on the sound of the drums.
When we all are in the secret circle, Wise Feather and the Lady will welcome us, ask the great spirits in the sky, that other people do call God, or Allah, or even other names, for guidance to find, what we do seek.
After that we all dance to our own circle, and go and do the things we came for.”

And so it happened.
It was a lovely, colorful view, some were in nice dresses, Billy later certainly would ask questions about.
But now he had to keep his attention on how he had to dance on the tones of the drums. And even more, to understand all, Wise Feather and the lady told about the why of this Pow Wow.

Luckily Lea and Cindy could explain a lot about all later.
That was very nice, for Petra only had met Wise Feather once, and Nemo had nothing in his books about Indians or other native tribes.

Before they start comparing, what they did bring with them, they did choose a table for food, and did put there a bucket with water and some towels.
Nobody did like their books or drawing fatty with grease of the food.

And on one table, the stones came, everybody did collect, and had no need for to get them back home the next day,
Stones Billy and Petra had not, but Nemo’s drawings and the lists they made, were as good as gold.

And little Dory did already know, she had to leave her shiny toys behind, like her grandpa had told her, as did Moy.

All people in the group wondered, how come, they did not know, there still were Atlantians in few secret hiding places. But when the Lady said so in the secret circle, it hád to be true.
And Billy, living with them, had brought knowledge, most people did know a tiny bit of, like the force of the stones, or the sequence of the colors.
But not much people did know, you could combine most, or that the earth had the same colors hidden in itself.

Carefully they did lay down the drawing of the axel.
Cindy suggested: “Is there some of the elder people, that can make this big copy’s now, mirror-hopping home? And of that list of crystals and names. And when done, come back immediately?”
Two ladies nodded and volunteered, one saying: “When I do the Axel on my color copy machine, nobody will ask, even if one by accident is fallen on the ground, while I am an artist, who is discovering all there is about colors.
Can you do the other ones? In that case, we are back in a whimsy!”

So they decided, and the ones who stayed behind, looked at all the books, now laying on the other tables.

Each table had a motive, so Dory did ask: “I cannot read well, but I do see, that the pictures are almost the same.
Is that while one book is about what Billy calls chakra’s, and another about mountains?”

Billy admired the little girl, for his reading was also not very well yet, but she was right.

Than the Lady and the Elder came in their circle, just when the others mirror hopped back with the copy’s.
Together they talked, how they should divide the tasks.

Than the Lady did ask Billy and Petra, Moy and Dory to come with her outside their book-crystal circle.
There she told them, that a Pow Wow for children also was, to learn about what others do.
To have fun in discovering.
And to see, what more there was in the world.

So she did tell them: “Do not worry about time, as your friends have told before. When this Pow Wow is over, there only will be gone one night in the real world.
So you can go with your friends everywhere, you want to know something about.

Everybody will show you, what they are doing or talking about in a way, you understand. Have fun kids!”

Than she waved and went on, busy like always.

But first Billy and Petra had to tell Nemo’s story about the axel of the world, with the same colors as the axel in everybody’s body, the backbone.
And that Nemo said, they should search as much as possible sets of combinations of this axel in crystals.
And if that was done, they were allowed to go back to the bubble, to fetch some information, Nemo still was working on.

Than the others, seeing the eagerness in the kids eyes, did send them looking in the other circles, while they were looking, what was the same, and what was different in the books of the humans and Nemo’s Atlantian drawings.

Billy and Petra and all the other kids had the time of their life.
In almost all circles was something, they were interested in, or good to taste, or just a nice soft place to take a nap, before going on dancing, talking, asking or just back to their own circle.

Life was busy, but good in Homeland during the Pow Wow.
Billy almost wished, it never came to an end.

But he also knew, there were serious things to do, and he would miss his mom and dad and sisters to much, even Nemo and his Atlantian friends.
So he did the most logical: he enjoyed as much he could, while also asking all questions he could think of.
He even asked some people to write down what they said, while he did not understand what they were talking about.
So slowly but surely the bags, Petra had laid ready, were filled with the answers Nemo was looking for. And in the mean time, they made a lot of fun too!

© Nan van Daalen, all rights reserved.