The mall was packed wall to wall with people. The Muzak fought against the steady eb and flow of laughter and conversation that arose from the crowds. Simon held onto his mom’s hand tight as they pushed through the tight crowds up and up the escalator to the food court. His eyes wandered all around, from the neon signs to the rustic colorful facades that each of the stores presented. As they approached the food court, his mom stopped suddenly and waved towards someone in surprise. Simon looked, oh great, his mom’s friends. His mom was always running into someone and that delayed what ever they were doing by forever. They approached and the conversations begun. Simon sighed and gave a frown. Then something caught his eye. Between the pizza and sandwich shop was a dark hallway and above it was a neon red apple. He and his mom had been to this food court many times and he had never seen the apple before. Even when entering the food court he didn’t see it the first time he glanced over. His mom was preoccupied and she let go of his hand for a second. His feet moved quickly, as if being guided by some unknown force into the darkness until his hands pressed against something.
It was a door.
The door was much larger than any he had seen before, made out of wood and in the middle of it was a curved glass window that looked like a leaf with no features. He could not see on the other side, but as soon as he stepped through he could see back into the mall. He turned to see the room was long with floor to ceiling windows out looking the mall parking lot and park. It was admonished with brown accents like chocolate and the beams and walls seemed to melt and wrap around to create the rooms structure.Above him was a second level terrace that spanned the length of the room as well. The air was filled with kids laughter and excitement. The floor was a dark chocolate with waves of orange and cream in abstract shapes. Even the lights that hung or sconces that held onto the walls were a strange abstract shape of orange, yellow,brown and a cafe color. While the windows flushed the space with light, it seemed dark, cozy and inviting. In some places the floor sunk into tiny jungle gyms or what seemed to be lab demonstrations. A model rocket ship took off there and over there a helium balloon lifted a small milk carton off the ground. Simon stepped forward and a tall man in a white lab coat took note of him.
“Well well, Simon! I thought you would never join us. Welcome” The man stood tall, thin rectangle glasses sat on a face of sharp but warm features. His hair was a mix of black with white strands that were swept to the side. He knelt in front of Simon to be eye level and stuck out his hand.
Simon recoiled for a moment and gave the man a look “How did you know my name, Mr?”
“Ah, no need for any Mr. Here, call me Newton. Just like Isaac Newton, but clearing not me, just spelled the same. Your name? I am a good guesser of names, i was spot on this time” Newton held fast with his hand out, eyes formed in a smile.
Simon grasped what he could of Newtons hand .It seemed larger and longer than any he had ever seen. “Nice to meet you Newton”
“Welcome indeed, shall I show you around?” Newton returned to his towering stature.
“No, I should really be getting back to my mom, she will wonder where I am, next time” Yeah right Simon thought, this guy was mega stranger danger.
“Why not? You have all the time in the world. Look” Newton extended his arm and pointed through the glass. He could see where he had left his mom’s side. Her and the surrounding people seemed to be frozen in place. Simon approached the door and pressed his face against the glass to lookout the window. Not frozen, but moving incredible slow. So slow that he had to strain his eyes and force himself not the blink just to see the tiny movement.
“How” Simon whispered to himself.
Newton stepped upon next to him and pressed his face against the glass “Well, time can move at different paces depending on the entropy. This place is in extremely low entropy, time moves very slowly. But it is relative to the outside entropy. If - “
Simon stared up at Newton with a side eye.
“Right, one day. Come come, let’s show you around.” Simon followed Newton into the large room. “I want you to know, that no matter what happens to this mall, in the future or past, this place is always present. You can come and go as you please until a certain time, then , well you will be ready and won’t need this place anymore”
“You talk strange and a lot”
“I am a scientist my dear Boy, it is written in the rules, somewhere, regardless, here is the imagination station” Newton moved them to the left and to a large strange looking door made out of Greek columns of colors “once inside, use your imagination to create things and experience things you could never in reality. Test your ideas, build the tallest and most expansive cites, inventions, run them through the physics of science and nature of this world. See what you can come up with.”
They moved past to a Large open book that was fastened into the wall. It was turned to the middle of the pages and a door that was covered in text with a circle window was carved out on the right side. Above it said “Library of Infinity”
“Ah, here, you know how to read?”
Simon rolled his eyes “Of course, I know how to read”
Newton put up his hands “of course of course, this is the library, books, physical books, everywhere, there is an oracle that can find any subject on any matter from the greatest thinking minds, Next” They moved a little more down the wall to a glass door which was framed by two beakers “The chemistry room. Mix and match, play and explore the elements, we have supervision in there to help and teach, so you wont accidentally combust your self” he gave Simon a wink and turned around to the large windows “Over there is a interactive physics exhibit, there well , can’t remember what that was, but you can do what you wish with it. Explore, be curious, have fun and learn. Enjoy Simon, if you need assistance, find a tall person or me” Newton gave Simon a thumbs up and started to walk away before spinning quickly on his heels “Oh and make some friends, science and discovery is always funner with friends”
Simon watched Newton melt away in front of his eyes, like mist he dissipated in thin air. Great, he thought and looked around. In school he was not doing well in the science portion, math made his eyes glaze over and he gravitated towards drawing and writing. He moved towards the physics exhibit. As he stepped down into the sunken platform he noticed that it morphed and transformed in front of him,the book that sat in front of a ball hanging from a string turned into a pictograph of movements and arrows. A note book and pencil sat next to it and under it stamped into bronze it said “Pick me!” Simon pulled the note book off the table, immediately another one popped up in it’s place for the next kid to approach.
He looked towards the metal ball on the string and before his eyes holographic details filled his vision. Each one by it said draw me, which he did. As his pencil started drawing the shapes it asked, the note book became animated, connecting the concepts and showing how things worked, how the metal ball would swing at certain forces, he could draw lines and points that ball could drop from , put obstacles that it could hit to show the force that it had. Gravity, tension and then when it started adding other metal balls, showed him momentum. He smiled as he became curious and, his drawings reacted to his ideas, gave him insight, showed him what could and what couldn’t. He stepped from the exhibit with his note book.It was like he was in a trance, his senses were on fire and he felt as if he unbound energy. He looked around at the other kids, some engrossed in their actives and others running around to other places. He shook himself awake. How long had he been here? A small panic set it. His mom would be furious. Simon clutched his notebook. His curiosity was burning and a desire for exploration was building, but he had to leave. He moved towards the door dodging other kids, as he pressed his hand to the door hand he heard a voice behind him.
“We will see you next time, don’t worry about bringing the note book back, you can always grab another one” Newton smiled down at him
Simon felt a sadness overcome him as he looked back at the area. “What if I can’t get back here? How do I find my way here?”
“You will see the entrance where ever you are, but” Newton glided over to him and pressed a finger to his forehead “This place is always with you,here”
“What if I lose my head?” Simon asked in all seriousness.
Newton chuckled “Let’s hope not, what an odd inquiry, if you lose your head it will be here” and moved his finger down to Simons heart”
“And if I die?”
Newtons eyes brows shot up “Hopefully that isn’t for a long time Simon, but, let’s just say, when you die, you will find out. You will be revealed to a whole new reality. Exciting, really, but don’t rush to it. Life is very much worth living and experiencing. Till next time, Simon”
“Till next time Newton” Simon smiled and pushed through the door.
The mall’s noise filled his ears and he could see his mom standing there talking with her friends. He approached her and she glared down at him and looked around.
“Where were you? I was about to panic, I look away for a second and you’re gone and the next your back” she grabbed his empty hand. Simon looked back to the hallway. It no longer held the neon red apple above it. He clutched the notebook in his hands.
“Sorry, momma” she gave him a stern look, but smiled.
“Come on, let’s get something to eat. What’s that ?” She looked down at the notebook.
Simon smiled “Some homework”
His mom’s face lit up “Really?”
Simon nodded heavily
“Okay, Mr.Graduate, come on”
When I was student of the academic sorts, I never really enjoyed it. Nothing ever clicked for me and I struggled in a lot of subjects. One time I remember we as a class went to a science museum and my mind really lit up. Everything seemed interesting to me, the experiments, the lights and sounds, even the guy that was running the place seemed like he was a master scientist (Newton is based on him. I also asked him how much the whole place costed. As I wanted to build place like that. I was an ambitious kid). We all learn in different ways, explore and grow.
Where do kids disappear for when the second you look away? I would hope it would be something like this. Let their imagination build them up into what they wish, their dreams endless and boundless. Help them with the right tools and methods.
To the future! Cheers ~