The Legendary Island

“Mr. G, how many laps are we doing today?” the three girls and myself asked, wearing our stretchy navy blue bathing suits.

            “As many as it takes for you to get to the Legendary Island,” he replied with a misty glare in his eye. Too excited for words, we put our goggles over our eyes and stepped onto a white platform, ready to get in. With a nod of the head, we dove into the clear blue water that soon turned a hot magenta pink.

            I was swimming by myself in a lane blocked by blue and yellow floating circles thinking, “stroke, stroke, stroke,” when all of a sudden my head rammed into the soft marshmallow butt of a slow, sinking swimmer. Now I’ll never get to the island.

            “Oh, sorry,” I said lifting my head up see who I just bumped into. It was Jeff himself. Jeff was a boy about my age who was apparently a slow swimmer with a very squishy butt.

“Shit.” I knew he would want his jellybeans back. Luckily I had a secret pocket in my straw hat and had already stored them there. While contemplating whether or not to give Jeff his beans back, a bird as big as a dragon -- or at least as hungry as one -- swooped down and stole my hat. Now Jeff was really mad. You see, the hat was also his.

I made a dash for it. I was running so fast I didn’t even bother to see where I was going and ended up sprinting right off of a blue three-meter diving board and into cold glistening water.

I grasped the cold metal stair railing to get out of the lake and stepped onto the sizzling cement. I hopped toward the diving board which turned into an inflatable water slide when five of my friends popped up. We looked at each other and with one glance we knew we had the same idea. One by one we all started swooshing down the slide, making big splashes as we hit water. The water kept getting colder and colder each time I slid into it. At first I was very angry with the drastic temperature change but then the coldness gave me a bright idea: maybe I could find the ring I’d lost here last week.

I took a deep breath and dove down, deeper and deeper until I ran into a mermaid. To be more specific, it was Ariel, Ariel the mermaid. With her wavy red hair, and her scaly turquoise tail, I just couldn’t help but think she knew where my ring was.

I needed to sweet talk her by saying something very wise and intelligent so she’d tell me where it was. I thought long and hard then took a deep breath.

“Don’t go to the land,” I told her, remembering my own experience with it, “Your sister will turn into foam if you do.” She glanced at me, but didn’t seem to be very appreciative of my advice. I rolled my eyes at her and when I finished, I was dry, out of the lake and being led by my friend into a three-story brick house.

Inside, there were a lot of people and what seemed to be a party going on. The music was loud and rattled the windows and simultaneously caused the people to bang their heads to the beat. I watched the people rapidly nod their heads forwards and backwards, their hair – long, short, medium lengths – flew through the air. Sweat dripped down their faces and onto the floor, making it slippery. I mingled and nodded my head for a bit but grew tired and bored. I grabbed the textured sleeve of my friend and we began exploring the house for treasure… or hot guys… whichever we would see first.

We began our long and possibly dangerous journey in the kitchen filling our tummies with delicious snacks from the fridge. The floor tiles seemed to have green arrows carved in them. We ran in the direction of their triangular points anxious to see where we would end up. There we stood, at the top of a wooden staircase that spiraled downward. Step by step we headed down, curious as to where it lead, only to find the basement.

My heart sank a little. Only a basement, what fun can I have down here? I turned to my friend to see her reaction but she had disappeared and in her place stood a funny human shaped machine. It had jagged edges, an old wrinkled face, and an imitation of a purple bandana around its forehead, just above its eyes which were closed. There I stood right in front of “her”, reading the directions, or at least trying to, but it was in another language. The only part that was in English was the twenty dollar payment, of course. I reached in my pocket for money but all I had was a golden coin. This looks like it could be worth twenty dollars, so I put it in the coin slot. A static robotic voice began talking.

            “My child, I can tell you your future. I know you are the one who seeks to find the Island.”

            “Oh my God! Uh, yeah, I am. Do you know how to get there?”

            “Only those who have the anger and power can make it there.”

            “So… Can you just kind of point me in the direction…?”

            “Listen closely, my dear, your id is repressed and you need to share it with the person who is repressing it. But heed my warning, do not bore them with talk, instead go buy yourself some eggs, a lot of eggs, cookie dough, and twenty buckets filled with pink and blue paint. Oh, one more thing, you really should find that ring of yours, your mom will kill you if she finds out you lost it.”

            “What am I supposed to do with these?” I asked.

            “How am I supposed to know, you picked them out,” replied the cashier at Safeway.

            I stared into the fuzzy gray trunk of my car which was filled with paint, eggs, and delicious cookie dough, trying to put two and two together. I slipped my hand into my pocket, expecting to find my phone but instead I felt something thick and folded. I pulled it out. The papers crinkled as I carefully opened them. One paper was the blue print to Jeff’s house, the other was a hand written plan of execution.

            A group of voices came from inside my car, “Alright, Chels, let’s roll. And bring the cookie dough supply and the undercover clothes.” I followed the command, and headed into the drivers seat only to see all my friends.

            We were tip-toeing around Jeff’s three-story mansion -- bellies happily filled with cookie dough -- in our black leotards, matching black tights, and black masks, trying to sort out positions, ninja style.

            “Twix, Milky Way, Snickers, M & M, ready?” A hushed voice came through my walkie-talkie.

            “Yep, Go!” I whispered excitedly.

            Cracked egg shells fell onto Jeff’s recently mowed grass, while a bright yellow slime yolk decorated the off-white walls, and covered the streak-free windows. I reached down to grab a pink paint bucket but something in the light of my flashlight caught my eye; a bright blue jelly bean, and not just any jelly bean; this one belonged to Jeff. I looked farther down the lit pathway only to see a trail of the brightest colored, most scrumptious looking jelly beans. The bird-dragon must have dropped a few on his flight. It’d be a shame to waste such good jelly beans. So of course I followed the jelly bean trail, eating each and everyone with a huge grin on my face. The trail didn’t seem to have an ending, but that didn’t stop me.

            As I followed the jelly bean trail, the flavors keep changing. In fact each jelly bean got weirder and weirder; a blue cheese flavored one, a flour one, a hot chocolate one, you get the idea. Some were delicious and some weren’t, but I ate them anyways, who wouldn’t have?

As I got near the end of the trail of beans I noticed the ground began to shake a bit as if there was an earthquake. The brown, crusty dirt turned to a smooth, powdery sand. A wet, blue splash tickled the tips of my toes. I saw that I was in front of the very same body of water where Ariel, the mermaid lived. I really need to find my ring. I felt something hard hit my head and fall into the water; it looked like a small rock. I took a huge breath and followed the sinking object down to the depths. Half way down I grasped my hand around the colored rock only to see it was a jelly bean.

As soon as I started chewing it, fiery red strands of hair flew past my face and I realized it was Ariel. Once I tell her how many jelly beans I ate she’ll be so impressed she’ll have to tell me where my ring is. My fool-proof plans were interrupted by the thundering sound of a deep, watery voice, “My boy!” Apparently I was a boy. This was news to me. This merman who made me a man or boy in this case, swam towards me with trays and trays of fluffy white cream puffs, rich chocolate croissants, and of course, Jeff’s jelly beans. I immediately began to stuff my face until the pastel moon lit the water, creating a glowing effect.

When I started to get full I decided to ask this merman why he gave me such great food and changed my gender, he replied with a simple answer, “We’re in the Legendary Island, why not?” and he opened his hand to reveal my golden ring.

“Oh, I’ve been looking all over for that.”