A Deepessay by
Andreas Thelander
Berteksen (12 yrs) & Per Jespersen
A chilly morning outside the school. The bus is filled with a whole class. Lots
of voices, laughter and joy - everybody is sitting in the right side of the bus
in order to wave to their parents. They are going on a camp for a week far away
from school, parents, computers, videogames, sports, luxury - they are going
together into the middle of nowhere.
They have only got tents, torches, some food, not many clothes -and forbiddenly
also cartoons and game boys. But no watches - no civility. Only primitivity.
Engine starts.
Hands waving in the bus.
Parental tears.
Off they go.
Three hours later the forest is there - right in front of their eyes. They are
going to stay for the week, some looking forward, some already being homesick.
And the girls giggle all the time not to show their fear of the primitive or to
make the boys pay attention to them.
The bus drives away and they are left alone. Huge trees, birds' songs, the
clouds drifting in the wind like ships sailing toward an unknown destination.
The work with setting up the tents begins, supervised by the teachers. All the
tents seem too small for all their things.
Luke says, "Let's finish this boring work and take a look at the
forest."
"Yeah," Marcus says. "Let's go build a cottage."
"Hey," John shouts, "my tent is flying in the wind. Come and
give me a hand."
"Okay, you're still a little boy. When do you grow up?"
"Shifra refused to help me," John says. "She's lazy - as all
girls are."
"Yeah," Luke says." I think laziness was invented by
girls."
"So what did boys invent," Marcus says.
"That's easy," Luke answers. "The boys invented the wheel at
that time, and the girls were cooking in the kitchen. And they still are."
John laughs. "Otherwise we would
starve. But what about helping me with this tent!"
They all help John finishing setting up the tent. Then they rush into the
forest.
But Shifra shouts, "You are so damned clever, but who bears the children?
Women. Who makes the food? Women. Who takes away your popcorn after your
TV-watching? Women. You can't do without us."
But the boys can't hear her, so they miss Shifra's wisdom.
In the forest the boys are busy, building in the trees as they used to do when
they were little. It is a wonderful feeling being a small boy again - doing
something forbidden. Making oneself dirty, teasing each other. They invite the
girls to take part, but they prefer to stay on the ground, giggling and telling
dirty stories about boys.
Wisdom of childhood.
The heartbeat of growing up.
The feeling of being away from home.
Liberty a hundred percent.
The trees are listening and smiling and whispering to each other: See, how
human beings are? It's much easier for us, because we grow from seeds, and our
only goal is to grow and grow. Our wisdom is simpler.
"No," Luke says. "Wisdom grows from problems. Our pubic problems
make the wisdom grow."
The trees cannot help laughing. Wisdom for trees and wisdom for human beings?
Can they be compared?
"They should," John says. "But we don't speak the same
language."
"It depends on your ears," the trees smile.
Darkness is there, and all the children have to make a trip in the forest only
equipped with their torches, hopes, and fears. For the darkness is so tight and
the tranquillity so frightening. Every single student have to find his or her
own way to the goal.
Hammering heartbeat.
Fight against fear.
Fight for not showing exactly that fear.
Spread all over the forest a class of children, not knowing where the others
are and therefore feeling very alone. Luke thinks about the discussion they had
in class about loneliness: that everybody is very lonely deep down. Now he
feels it and longs for his cottage.
And then.
The sky is suddenly lit up by a glimmering light for a second showing all the
trees. A tenth of a second they can see everything except each other. The light
is there, so sharp that they all cover their eyes, waiting for the bang, which
must come.
But not a sound.
Not at all.
And darkness falls like a blanket over the forest, and simultaneously they all
shout in chorus: "Are you there?"
"Yes." Chorus again.
"What was it?"
Silence.
Deep silence.
Then Luke breaks the ice: "It's unexplainable. Did you all see it?"
Chorus: "Sure, we did!"
"So what was it, ------"
Magic, the trees whisper.
John ponders for a while. "Did you all see, what happened?"
The boys say, "Sure we did!"
Now Shifra comes rushing out of the darkness. "What happened?"
"Did you see it, too, Shifra," Marcus says.
John listens. "Oh no, here we have the giggle-team - girls, this is not
for you. You belong to the kitchen. Go cook something!"
Here Shifra interrupts. "I saw it, too. What was it?"
Magic, the trees whisper.
"I don't know. An illusion," Luke says.
"How can we all have the same illusion," Shifra asks.
"You got me," Luke answers.
A high squeaking sound spreads over the forest. Here, there, everywhere.
Hundreds of flapping wings are anywhere around them. And Shifra says,
"Listen to those sounds - listen to all these wings - do we all hear?"
Chorus again: "Sure, it's here. But what is it?"
Magic, the trees whisper.
Marcus comes in, "It's only bats."
"But why so many, why now, where are they going?"
Magic, the trees whisper.
And Shifra has a question: "Illusion or Nature?"
John smiles. "Is illusion part of Nature or is Nature part of some
illusion?"
"Or are we part of illusion," Luke wonders.
"Whose illusion," Marcus asks.
Everything is enigmatic, the trees whisper.
Suddenly a frustrated teacher shouts from somewhere in the deep darkness;
"Where have you been? You were supposed to be home an hour ago. Where have
you been?"
"Here, all the time," Marcus says convictively.
"And in another world," Luke says. "In fact we are still
there."
"Nonsense," the teachers say angrily. "Hurry up now - it's
bedtime. They are all asleep, safe and sound. And besides - there is only one
world - a world in which you go to bed when it's time."
Is there a shivering in the leaves of the trees?
Yes, there is.
They all leave the forest and return to the camp - both the girls and the boys
wondering.
A line of students on their way to the camp.
No talking.
No giggling.
No laughing.
Only wondering.
The boys talk about the experience they have had in the forest, while Shifra is
sneaking towards the boys' tents.
Hammering heart.
Fear of darkness.
Pondering.
"Hey, are you awake," she whispers nervously.
"Very awake. Come in. We can't sleep."
"The light, the bats, the words, the atmosphere, the magic," Luke
says.
Shifra sits down in the tent. "Illusion or Nature? What happened?"
Luke answers, "Not everything is explainable, but we always look for
explanations. That kills the joy of Life. We are all animals - but we are more
than that."
"There you have the illusion," Shifra says. "We build our lives
on this illusion and don't see our own subjectivity in its magic light."
John interferes. "Are you saying, that our subjectivity cannot be shared
with other people?"
Shifra answers immediately, "As long as we build our lives on explainable
things, we'll loose the spirit of Life. This is THE unhappiness of the modern
world. When we comprehend, that we cannot share our inner I with other people,
we can at least share the magical spirit of Life. That you and I are here -
alive and talking and with our beating hearts - is totally unexplainable. But
its magic. The nuclear of Life is the spiritual magic."
"And how do we catch this spirit," Luke says.
Deep silence.
Profound tranquillity.
Innocent spirituality.
????????????
END OF LANGUAGE.
And the trees smile happily.