Charlie's Dream by Jamie Rowboat Read Free Book Online Page A

chimney came nowhere near the uppermost branches of the tree and the small walled garden in front of the house seemed tiny in context with the huge fig. Marie reckoned that the tree must have been five hundred-years-old, but before she could ask about it, Gemma hopped out the car and skipped over to the tree, hugging it as if it was a long lost relative.
    "This is Capantash, which in the elfin language means 'clear one'. Don't you think she's gorgeous?" enthused Gemma, as Marie wandered around the car to take a closer look.
    "Yes, she's beautiful," said Marie, patting her trunk lightly.
    "My tiredness disappears when I'm near a tree that's as special as this one. Do you know, you're the first person I've ever brought here in all the years I've owned this property, I've normally come here to get away from everyone," she said, leaning into the back of the car to retrieve their belongings."
    "Am I really the first? Well I feel honoured, this is a special weekend," said Marie.
    "Yes it is, but I don't think we'll be sleeping out tonight, judging by those dark clouds that are heading this way," said Gemma, handing Marie one of their bags. Marie looked up and, sure enough, a huge bank of threatening clouds were drawing closer.
    "Ouch, they've crept up pretty quickly, it was sunny a minute ago," said Marie.
    "Well, let's collect some kindling to make a fire, then we'll be nice and snug while it passes. I love a good storm," said Gemma.
    They scurried around like two squirrels trying to beat the approach of winter and, within fifteen minutes, they were in the cottage with all of their stuff and a large bundle of twigs. As it turned out, they were only just in time. Two huge claps of thunder heralded the beginning of a downpour that started so violently that they were deafened by the noise of it on the tin roof.
    In the rush, Marie hadn't glanced around the cabin at all, and as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, another part of Gemma's history was coming into view. There was a large fireplace in the middle of one wall, with a soft-leather sofa sitting in front of it. A great big rug covered most of the floor and an old wooden desk covered with letters was pushed up underneath the window that looked out over the garden. Apart from that, there was very little else in the room, except for a small sink and work bench, an old copper-looking stove and a tiny dining table that was wedged in one corner and had obviously not been used for quite a while. As Marie looked around, a collage of photographs caught her eye and she was instantly drawn to the images, like a fly to sticky paper. Even from across the room, she could make out Gemma standing with her arm around the Dalai Lama in one of the pictures.
    "You don't miss a thing, do you," said Gemma, observing the direction of Marie's stare.
    "Nope," said Marie, marching over to the photos. "How can this be?" she asked eventually, turning towards Gemma, who was standing right behind her.
    "Is this some type of a trick? It must be a present you've made for someone's birthday. It can't possibly be real, can it?"
    "Yes it can."
    "But how can that be? There are people here who were only just alive to see the camera invented over a hundred years ago and you're in photos with them. Look, there's you and Matisse in his garden at Giverny and there's Marie Curie, the physicist. I just did a dissertation about her for my Physics A level. She died at least fifty years ago. And look, there's Albert Einstein, I can't believe it, how can it be real?"
    "You're very observant," said Gemma quietly. "The answer to your question is simple. I've lived a lot longer than people think is possible for a human. A lot longer."
    "Oh," was all Marie could squeeze out.
    "You see, I'm a wizard and I was born four hundred and eleven years ago."
    "No way," breathed Marie.
    "It's true," laughed Gemma. "I am a wizard, but I'm a female one as you can see. I have been here a long time and, along with others, I have served the