When I was little, the highest place in the world was my Dad’s shoulders. Everything always looked better higher up, and oh that elation of having your feet in the air, arms like an airplane and head above the clouds.
Dad and I always had a special place, no matter where we were. In Hoppers Crossing, where we used to live, we had many of these.
     One of them was the middle of the driveway.
If there was a single clap of thunder, Dad would come and wake me up as fast as lightning.
We’d tiptoe down the dark hallway, quiet as mice, mice on an adventure. We had to be silent or instant death would fall upon us, if the Mum-monster woke up.
The only problem with living in suburbia is the amount of security required on your front door.
Clink-jingle-jingle-jingle. The noise of the first lock and chain echoed through the front hallway. Click. The second lock. We braced ourselves for noise as we opened the thick wooden door.
Alas! No sound, we relaxed a little and flicked the catch on the wire door.
     EEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I think we would have made a good advertisement for quick dry cement right then. Nothing, or no one, froze faster than Dad and I when the squeal of a Banshee emitted from the hinges of our front wire door.
After what felt like a year, another clap of thunder broke us out of our trance, we’d almost forgotten what we were here to do, our mission.
We prowled across the front lawn, careful to dodge the dangerous dragon-eaters, which would swallow us up in seconds, or prickles that could pierce our feet and deem us unable to complete the journey.
Our goal was just out of reach, there was now only one thing standing in our way.
       Mum’s Rose Bush.
The Giant Spiky Guardian of the Front Lawn.
We tried to squeeze past it, and it launched straight for us, grabbing Dad’s shirt and pulling at my hair. We wrestled with it for a few moments, but then, right when it thought it had us conquered, we emerged out the other side, with only a few scratches between us.
I looked up; the stars twinkled with pride as their princess had made her journey unscathed.
Dad reached down and I allowed myself to be lifted up, over his head and onto his shoulders, my rightful throne.
Dad turned to face the city centre, and a bolt of lightning played connect-the-dots down to earth with a loud CRACK!
The sky lit up and everything looked like daytime for a split second. The night air was fresh with the smell of rain and cars’ exhaust. For the first time that night, I got sprinkled with raindrops, confetti from the sky.
We stayed there a little while longer, admiring the masses of lightning, gracefully dancing across the glittering moonlit sky. The world was silent, like it had gone to sleep, and not even the streetlight dared to flicker once. Not a single car went past; my kingdom truly had found peace in this thunder-filled dome. It was like there was no one else alive.
Just me and my Dad.
Dad allowed me to scramble down from my throne, and placed me back on the ground.
We faced the house and looked back at the voyage we were required to take before we made it back to bed.