A Difficult Road

Thad hurried along at good pace while Anne lagged behind. "Come on, Anne! Don't drag your feet" called Thad from ahead. Anne just walked and stared out at him with steely eyes. Suddenly they came across a fork in the road. Both paths led in a westerly direction. The one to the left had a sign saying "Aldersgate" while the path to the right had a sign that said "Canterbury." Thad paused. This fork made him uncomfortable. He muttered under his breath "Now where am I supposed to go?" He knew the angel had clearly said Aldersgate, but he had some strange feeling that he should take the path to Canterbury.

Anne crept up behind him and whispered "I don't want to go to Aldersgate."
"But you know what the angel said." replied Thad, "Besides, would you rather go to Canterbury?"
"I don't want to go to any of these places." whispered Anne, as she kissed his neck.

When Thad woke up he felt very sick and although he couldn't see his own face he'd bet he was pale. "I must go to Aldersgate." thought Thad and he pulled himself up with great effort and started walking slowly down the left path.

"Come Anne. We're going to Aldersgate."
"The moon is crying." remarked Anne.
"What do you mean?" said Thad as he looked up.

Luna did look upset. She also looked, to Thad, as if she was trying to say something but Thad could not hear her words.

Thad walked down the Aldersgate path as if a great weight was tied around his neck. Luna, his one time guide and mentor hid behind a cloud, and Anne lost her fun spirit and simply repeated that she did not want to go to Aldersgate.

Thad, convinced of the Angel's words, continued forward albeit at a slow pace. Ahead of them on the road was a man. The mad hailed them. "Hello! Where are you going?"
Thad replied "We are going to Aldersgate."
"Oh ho ho!" cried the man, "Not so fast! You must stop and stay for a while at the shining city on a hill! The hub of the universe!"
"Really, we can't stay. Thanks all the same for the invitation though." answered Thad.
"It is no invitation. It is a command and a necessity for those headed to Aldersgate." stated the man.
"Who are you, that you think you know so much." inquired Thad.
Anne interrupted "Thad. . . I don't want to go this way. I don't want to go to this city on a hill, this hub of the universe."
The man answered Thad "I am Duke Sprout! I am the gate keeper of Aldersgate! Any who wish to pass to Aldersgate must stay a spell at the shining city. For preparation. Come I will take you."

Thad and Anne followed the Duke into a vast banquet hall where they were treated to many fine foods and drink. At the end of the night the Duke bid the farewell and started to disappear into the crowd. "Where shall we stay while we are in the city?" called out Thad.
"Wherever you can afford." answered the Duke.

After an extensive search Thad and Anne ended up camping outside the city walls as there was no place in the city they could afford. Each day Thad would enter the city and learn more about Aldersgate, and each day he would come home to Anne complaining that she didn't want to be there.
"Let us go back east." she suggested.
"No Anne, my destiny is to the west."
"I hate it here and I hate it to the west of here!" complained Anne.
Once again she crept up to Thad and kissed his neck and Thad remembered no more.

One morning as Thad was feeling very weak and pale, Anne came to him, pointed at the sky and said "I have given you another star. Her name is Alexandra."
"She is SO beautiful!" gasped Thad, "but look, she is drifting across the sky."
Thad jumped up and ran to follow his new star. The star was drifting east, but Thad didn't care. He would go east for his star.

The star settled over a little cottage. Finding the cottage empty, Thad and Anne moved in.
"Isn't this better than camping outside that nasty city?" asked Anne.
Thad looking up would only say "I'd do anything for my star."
Anne kissed his neck again and Thad fell asleep.

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© 2003 - Jonathan Gardner