Chapter 11
The amazing “Time Zone”
Esmeralda in the meantime was listening with her arms folded, and her head to one side in a fixed smile, as Mr. Keeper explained all to the curious Tommy.
“Now then, Tommy, where shall I start?” he began.
“Well you see, Tommy, the time where we are in the forest is not the same time as the outside world,” he explained:
“When you reached the point in the forest where Saber would have changed into her real self, then you would have commenced to be in the ‘Forest Time Zone’ ,which is about 20 times slower than normal every day time.”
“You noticed that the big clock in the dining room had only moved 5 minutes, yet we had been gone quite a time whilst we were rescuing the reindeer,” said Mr. Keeper.
“That’s because the clock shows the normal time outside the Zone and if I might say so, Tommy, you have a keen eye to have noticed that, so you deserve an explanation,” he replied with a smile.
“Isn’t that so, Esmeralda?” he asked turning to her as she listened intently to what he had been saying.
“Oh yes, I couldn’t agree more, Mr. Keeper sir, as for Tommy having a keen eye, well I couldn’t have put it a better myself, he does notice everything quite quickly,” she agreed.
Mr. Keeper looked pleased with himself for explaining correctly and for Esmeralda having called him sir, which he always likes to hear. It re-enforces his position as ‘Keeper of the Forest’ to which there is no one higher.
Mr. Keeper then carried on explaining the ‘Time Zone’ to Tommy who by now was engrossed in what they were both saying.
“You see, Tommy, without the ‘Time Zone’ in the forest, I would never be able to cope alone with everything that I have to do on a daily basis,” he stressed.
“And life in the forest would cease to exist as it is at the moment, that is to say run as well as it is,” He said proudly.
Mr. Keeper explained to Tommy that they had been gone about one and a half hours to rescue the reindeer, but with the ‘Time Zone’ being what it was, they had only been gone 5 minutes of real time. Tommy listened with amazement at what he heard, trying to make sense of it all.
“Does that mean that when we leave the forest we will have only been gone for a short time?” Tommy asked eagerly.
Mr. Keeper replied with a definite - “Yes!” In a high pitched tone which bought on laughter from all three. They decided to have another biscuit and a cup of tea before going into more detail.
Their laughter woke up Saber who had been asleep and she started to pace up and down the large dining room stretching her legs.
She looked quite stunning in the elegant surroundings of the huge room with its very fine furniture and paintings. She blended in very well as if she was part of the place. In fact she looked very majestic with her large strong body showing up every muscle as she slowly walked along taking everything in as she did so.
Mr. Keeper continued with his explanation; “Now then Tommy, as we are on the subject of explaining a few things to you, I would like you to think back to when we were in the statue room when you first arrived,” he said confidently.
Tommy listened intently as to what Mr. Keeper had to say, whilst Esmeralda leaned forward so as not to miss anything that he was saying.
“You remember the statue of Sabers mother?” he asked.
Tommy nodded as he chewed on a biscuit listening carefully to what Mr. Keeper had to say.
“And I told you that to be in the statue room was a great honour, and that to be there the animal would have done something very special in its lifetime,” he continued.
Mr. Keeper went on to explain to Tommy that many years ago there was a traveling circus that set up camp on the edge of the forest, people would pay money to see performing animals and clowns etc.
It was considered to be a good night out for the town’s people and quite a lot of families went to see it. The animals had their own quarters in tents around the main circus and were well looked after, fed regularly, exercised and cleaned out daily by the staff.
“One night after the circus had closed and all the visitors had left, there was a terrible storm above the forest that bought down many trees,” said Mr. Keeper.
“There was thunder and lightning all over the place and it was the worst I’ve ever seen,” he stressed.
He then explained that about midnight he received a ‘High Priority’ emergency call.
Lightening had struck the circus big top and set it ablaze, threatening the lives of all the animals in the circus compound, not forgetting the attendants who were trying there hardest to put out the flames, but with very little effect. There was also of course the danger of the fire spreading to the forest which would be unthinkable.
Mr. Keeper explained how he had to catch the ‘Shuttle Train’ and get to ‘Section Zero position 2’ which was on the edge of the forest where the circus fire was. He also explained that this would be outside the ‘Time Zone’ and he would therefore age far quicker than normal and find it very tiring to say the least.
Tommy listened intensely as Mr. Keeper explained his arrival at ‘Section Zero position 2’, and how he nearly dropped his silver cane in haste, when exiting a hidden door to the outside edge of the forest.
“There was thick smoke everywhere, and although it was night time, the fire in the distance lit up the trees where I stood,” said Mr. Keeper.
“It was more like daytime than night,” he explained waving his arms in the air to prove a point.
He then explained how he made his way towards the main glow of the fire which was about a hundred yards away; he could already feel the heat from the flames. As he got nearer he could also hear the animals in the circus which were very distressed by what was going on. The voices of people could be heard, shouting instructions to one another as they attempted to battle with the flames.
“I knew that this night was going to be a long one and I was already feeling the worse for being outside of my Time Zone”, said Mr. Keeper in a slow voice and showing in his face the concerns he had at the time. Mr. Keeper carried on explaining how he joined in with the workers ferrying buckets of water, filled from a nearby pond which were then thrown onto the flames.
“In all the pandemonium no-one asked or even considered who I was, the only thing that was important was to save the animals that were trapped in the fire from being burned to death.” He pointed out.
“There were many tears shed that night as we fought to extinguish the flames I can tell you,“ said Mr. Keeper in a sad low voice.
Tommy and Esmeralda listened intently as Mr. Keeper carried on with his account of the happenings on that dreadful night; they were both clearly saddened by what they were hearing.
Mr. Keeper carried on.
“We were getting the better of the fire after some time and most of the animals had been rescued, when I came across one of the trainers with a large tiger.”
“It looked like she was due to have cubs very soon,” he continued.
Mr. Keeper explained how the trainer was very concerned that there were still three horses trapped in a tent. No-one could get near because the flames were so fierce. The horses couldn’t get free themselves because they were tied up for the night.
“The tiger was beginning to get restless when all of a sudden she raced towards the burning tent where the horses were making pitiful cries. We were both utterly shocked by her decision to go through the flames and into the tent, most animals have a great fear of fire and it was in our minds that she couldn’t survive the heat.”
“Anyway,” he said wiping away a tear, “to our amazement the three horses suddenly raced out of the tent and through the flames towards us with their rope harnesses on fire. These were quickly put out by the workers, who also cooled the horses down with cloths soaked in water,” he explained.
“All hope of the tiger surviving was pretty well gone by this time, and the trainer was distraught and crying, blaming himself for the whole affair, “ Mr. Keeper said, blowing his nose with his handkerchief to hide his own tears.
“It was then that a great cheer went up from the workers who were utterly tired out by this time, but lifted by the sight of the female tiger making her escape out of the flames to safety once more,” he said.
Mr. Keeper then explained how the cheers turned to sorrow as the great tiger limped slowly towards its trainer, everyone could see that she was badly burned and in a terrible state.
“The trainer, an extremely small gentleman, held the huge tiger in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably,” said Mr. Keeper. “I knew then that we had to get the tiger back to my place if we had any chance of saving the unborn cubs at all, I could see that we had little chance of saving the mother tiger. She was badly hurt, but still just able to walk”.
Mr. Keeper explained how the trainer never questioned his intentions or who he was. His only concern was for the tiger’s welfare and being deeply distressed at the time, had no other thoughts other than for his love for the animal.
“As you can imagine, I was feeling quite tired by now for being out of the ‘Time Zone’ which I am accustomed to, “said Mr. Keeper.
“We eventually made it back to the ‘Shuttle’ at ‘Section Zero position 2’ and quickly back here,” he said proudly.
Esmeralda although listening intently to what Mr. Keeper was saying, seemed to give the impression that she had heard of this before, but Tommy was very upset, tears were rolling down his cheeks as he listened to Mr. Keeper describing the events of that dreadful night.
The amazing “Time Zone”
Esmeralda in the meantime was listening with her arms folded, and her head to one side in a fixed smile, as Mr. Keeper explained all to the curious Tommy.
“Now then, Tommy, where shall I start?” he began.
“Well you see, Tommy, the time where we are in the forest is not the same time as the outside world,” he explained:
“When you reached the point in the forest where Saber would have changed into her real self, then you would have commenced to be in the ‘Forest Time Zone’ ,which is about 20 times slower than normal every day time.”
“You noticed that the big clock in the dining room had only moved 5 minutes, yet we had been gone quite a time whilst we were rescuing the reindeer,” said Mr. Keeper.
“That’s because the clock shows the normal time outside the Zone and if I might say so, Tommy, you have a keen eye to have noticed that, so you deserve an explanation,” he replied with a smile.
“Isn’t that so, Esmeralda?” he asked turning to her as she listened intently to what he had been saying.
“Oh yes, I couldn’t agree more, Mr. Keeper sir, as for Tommy having a keen eye, well I couldn’t have put it a better myself, he does notice everything quite quickly,” she agreed.
Mr. Keeper looked pleased with himself for explaining correctly and for Esmeralda having called him sir, which he always likes to hear. It re-enforces his position as ‘Keeper of the Forest’ to which there is no one higher.
Mr. Keeper then carried on explaining the ‘Time Zone’ to Tommy who by now was engrossed in what they were both saying.
“You see, Tommy, without the ‘Time Zone’ in the forest, I would never be able to cope alone with everything that I have to do on a daily basis,” he stressed.
“And life in the forest would cease to exist as it is at the moment, that is to say run as well as it is,” He said proudly.
Mr. Keeper explained to Tommy that they had been gone about one and a half hours to rescue the reindeer, but with the ‘Time Zone’ being what it was, they had only been gone 5 minutes of real time. Tommy listened with amazement at what he heard, trying to make sense of it all.
“Does that mean that when we leave the forest we will have only been gone for a short time?” Tommy asked eagerly.
Mr. Keeper replied with a definite - “Yes!” In a high pitched tone which bought on laughter from all three. They decided to have another biscuit and a cup of tea before going into more detail.
Their laughter woke up Saber who had been asleep and she started to pace up and down the large dining room stretching her legs.
She looked quite stunning in the elegant surroundings of the huge room with its very fine furniture and paintings. She blended in very well as if she was part of the place. In fact she looked very majestic with her large strong body showing up every muscle as she slowly walked along taking everything in as she did so.
Mr. Keeper continued with his explanation; “Now then Tommy, as we are on the subject of explaining a few things to you, I would like you to think back to when we were in the statue room when you first arrived,” he said confidently.
Tommy listened intently as to what Mr. Keeper had to say, whilst Esmeralda leaned forward so as not to miss anything that he was saying.
“You remember the statue of Sabers mother?” he asked.
Tommy nodded as he chewed on a biscuit listening carefully to what Mr. Keeper had to say.
“And I told you that to be in the statue room was a great honour, and that to be there the animal would have done something very special in its lifetime,” he continued.
Mr. Keeper went on to explain to Tommy that many years ago there was a traveling circus that set up camp on the edge of the forest, people would pay money to see performing animals and clowns etc.
It was considered to be a good night out for the town’s people and quite a lot of families went to see it. The animals had their own quarters in tents around the main circus and were well looked after, fed regularly, exercised and cleaned out daily by the staff.
“One night after the circus had closed and all the visitors had left, there was a terrible storm above the forest that bought down many trees,” said Mr. Keeper.
“There was thunder and lightning all over the place and it was the worst I’ve ever seen,” he stressed.
He then explained that about midnight he received a ‘High Priority’ emergency call.
Lightening had struck the circus big top and set it ablaze, threatening the lives of all the animals in the circus compound, not forgetting the attendants who were trying there hardest to put out the flames, but with very little effect. There was also of course the danger of the fire spreading to the forest which would be unthinkable.
Mr. Keeper explained how he had to catch the ‘Shuttle Train’ and get to ‘Section Zero position 2’ which was on the edge of the forest where the circus fire was. He also explained that this would be outside the ‘Time Zone’ and he would therefore age far quicker than normal and find it very tiring to say the least.
Tommy listened intensely as Mr. Keeper explained his arrival at ‘Section Zero position 2’, and how he nearly dropped his silver cane in haste, when exiting a hidden door to the outside edge of the forest.
“There was thick smoke everywhere, and although it was night time, the fire in the distance lit up the trees where I stood,” said Mr. Keeper.
“It was more like daytime than night,” he explained waving his arms in the air to prove a point.
He then explained how he made his way towards the main glow of the fire which was about a hundred yards away; he could already feel the heat from the flames. As he got nearer he could also hear the animals in the circus which were very distressed by what was going on. The voices of people could be heard, shouting instructions to one another as they attempted to battle with the flames.
“I knew that this night was going to be a long one and I was already feeling the worse for being outside of my Time Zone”, said Mr. Keeper in a slow voice and showing in his face the concerns he had at the time. Mr. Keeper carried on explaining how he joined in with the workers ferrying buckets of water, filled from a nearby pond which were then thrown onto the flames.
“In all the pandemonium no-one asked or even considered who I was, the only thing that was important was to save the animals that were trapped in the fire from being burned to death.” He pointed out.
“There were many tears shed that night as we fought to extinguish the flames I can tell you,“ said Mr. Keeper in a sad low voice.
Tommy and Esmeralda listened intently as Mr. Keeper carried on with his account of the happenings on that dreadful night; they were both clearly saddened by what they were hearing.
Mr. Keeper carried on.
“We were getting the better of the fire after some time and most of the animals had been rescued, when I came across one of the trainers with a large tiger.”
“It looked like she was due to have cubs very soon,” he continued.
Mr. Keeper explained how the trainer was very concerned that there were still three horses trapped in a tent. No-one could get near because the flames were so fierce. The horses couldn’t get free themselves because they were tied up for the night.
“The tiger was beginning to get restless when all of a sudden she raced towards the burning tent where the horses were making pitiful cries. We were both utterly shocked by her decision to go through the flames and into the tent, most animals have a great fear of fire and it was in our minds that she couldn’t survive the heat.”
“Anyway,” he said wiping away a tear, “to our amazement the three horses suddenly raced out of the tent and through the flames towards us with their rope harnesses on fire. These were quickly put out by the workers, who also cooled the horses down with cloths soaked in water,” he explained.
“All hope of the tiger surviving was pretty well gone by this time, and the trainer was distraught and crying, blaming himself for the whole affair, “ Mr. Keeper said, blowing his nose with his handkerchief to hide his own tears.
“It was then that a great cheer went up from the workers who were utterly tired out by this time, but lifted by the sight of the female tiger making her escape out of the flames to safety once more,” he said.
Mr. Keeper then explained how the cheers turned to sorrow as the great tiger limped slowly towards its trainer, everyone could see that she was badly burned and in a terrible state.
“The trainer, an extremely small gentleman, held the huge tiger in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably,” said Mr. Keeper. “I knew then that we had to get the tiger back to my place if we had any chance of saving the unborn cubs at all, I could see that we had little chance of saving the mother tiger. She was badly hurt, but still just able to walk”.
Mr. Keeper explained how the trainer never questioned his intentions or who he was. His only concern was for the tiger’s welfare and being deeply distressed at the time, had no other thoughts other than for his love for the animal.
“As you can imagine, I was feeling quite tired by now for being out of the ‘Time Zone’ which I am accustomed to, “said Mr. Keeper.
“We eventually made it back to the ‘Shuttle’ at ‘Section Zero position 2’ and quickly back here,” he said proudly.
Esmeralda although listening intently to what Mr. Keeper was saying, seemed to give the impression that she had heard of this before, but Tommy was very upset, tears were rolling down his cheeks as he listened to Mr. Keeper describing the events of that dreadful night.