The Land of Nigh

When I was a young girl around the age of seven, I would go to my grandparent’s farm in Missouri. The farm was fun when the golden retriever dog, Rafiki, was around. Rafiki was a new dog for my grandmother and granddad. He had just shown up a week before my family arrived for a visit. The years came and went with family visits to my grandparent’s farm. Rafiki and I spent a lot of time together having fun.

The summer of my fourteenth birthday, my family came for our annual visit. It was then, that I noticed that there was something different about Rafiki. He was not hanging around the house as much as he had in the past when I came to visit the farm. My grandparent’s had noticed Rafiki was not around as much either, and they were becoming concerned about him, too. One day while I was playing out in the field gathering some flowers, Rafiki showed up and came over to me. He said, “Hello.”
I could not believe my ears, Rafiki was talking to me. “Come with me,” Rafiki said. “I want to show you something. It’s called the Land of Nigh, I have been going there a lot. That is why you haven’t seen me around a lot lately.”

All of a sudden I looked around me and saw a fine, glistening dust floating around me. It was everywhere. I looked even up high in the sky. “Once we go to the Land of Nigh I will explain to you why I am a talking dog, but first you will need to repeat after me. Magic, Magic, in the sky, take me to the Land of Nigh.” We started to rise up, and the glistening dust was swarming all around us. In just a blink of an eye we were in the Land of Nigh. The Land of Nigh was majestic and unbelievable. Three-fourths of the land was a dark opaque in color, cool and damp.














































The other fourth of the land was colorful and full of sunshine. It also had fairies, flowers, butterflies, a spectacular rainbow and a waterfall with a river flowing from into and throughout the land. Rafiki and the animals that lived there slowly began to change in humans before my eyes. Rafiki said to me, “My real name is Edward. The other animals living here and I were put under a spell and changed from humans to animals, by the evil James.”
“Currently, I can only stay human in the Land of Nigh along with everyone else that is here,” Edward said. While Edward was in his human form he was a very nice- looking young man; he had a clean cut and angelic face. When he was out of the Land of Nigh, he was a golden retriever with a beautiful shiny coat of fur. It was explained to me by Edward and the other animals that I was the chosen one to defeat the evil James and free everyone from his evil spell.
At first I wanted no part of it, but with gentle coaxing and persuading from Edward and the other animals; I finally agreed to defeat the evil James. Edward helped me train for the event. I was to stab the evil James in the leg with a poison dagger. During our hours of preparation and training, Edward and I fell in love.
The night of the big event arrived. The night grew darker and stiller. Edward and I crept over to the gloomy side of the Land Nigh. Edward stopped and wished me good luck, and with that he leaned down and kissed me. When his lips touched mine, my heart stood still. It was a magical moment in my life. Soon we crept over the wall of James’s castle. The other animals that had followed us became human again, and held the guard’s while Edward and I looked for James’ sleeping chamber. We found it, and I crept






















in and removed the poison dagger from my pouch. As I plunged the dagger into James’s leg, I looked at Edward. He changed into a human along with all the other animals in the Land of Nigh. “You did it,” Edward cried. “You saved the people from the spell of the evil James and you have freed the people from the Land of Nigh.” “We can all be humans again”.
The next day the whole land and its people had a celebration in my honor. The Land of Nigh was all colorful, beautiful and warm again. Everyone was thrilled. Edward declared his love for me and told the people that he was going to go back to my world to live with me. In the blink of an eye we were back in the field and all the glittery dust was gone.
We walked back to my grandparents’ house, and we noticed that everything looked still the same as when I had left that afternoon to go and pick flowers in the field. I introduced Edward to my family and asked my mother, “How long was I gone?” “Oh, about an hour, dear” my grandmother said. I was amazed; it felt like I had been gone for years not an hour.”
My granddad asked me, “Did you see Rafiki while you were picking flowers?” “No,” I said “and I don’t think we’ll be seeing him anytime soon.” Edward and I looked at each other and laughed.
Five years came and went quickly, and Edward and I were married. A few years later we had our first child, a girl named Alice, who would eventually have an adventure of her own. Whenever we would visit the farm, we would take Alice to visit Edwards’s old and dear friends in the Land of Nigh.
Sixty-five years have come and gone now and my grandparents, parents, and Edward are gone. I still have my happy memories of my grandparents and family visits to their farm. But most of all I have happy memories of Edward and the Land of Nigh.