She had told me many times about her room, but it seemed so unreal. She said that when she was in her room the best things would happen to her: wisdom would just flow through her head like no other place in the world. No matter how she tried to bring me into her room I would resist because I did not want to be made a fool of. How could this room be so different from any othe rplace I had been? I thought that it would be great to go into her room—but of course it couldn't be real; it was just to make me look stupid that she had said these things.
One day, however, while I was asleep I finally gave in to her. "Today I will be a fool"—that is what I kept saying to myself. Despite the years that she had been talking about her room, I still had no idea where it was. The way we got there was very strange. She took me by the hand and we jumped into the pool. After knocking on the drain, we walked in through a fine oak door. We were in a magnificent void that filled me with a strange feeling. I was glad to be there, but I knew that without her I would not and probably could not have got there. After we had arrived, she said she would see me later and she left.
I knew that I must ready myself for a test: it would be very important, but I didn't know what it would be. I moved through the void into what I knew was a room, and there were two figures pulling on a rope. As I came closer they began to pull really hard. I felt myself cheering for the figure on the right. I knew that she would want me on the side of the figure on the left, but I did not feel that way. My attitude did, however, change as the contest progressed. The harder the figures pulled the more the figure on the right would sweat. I wanted to cheer a little for the figure on the left, but I controlled myself. The figures pulled harder and harder until the figure on the right was soaking wet. Then at that moment I felt that it would be all right to let myself do what I really wanted to, so I cheered wildly for the figure on the left. Then she walked up to me smiling with approval. As we walked out of the drain, I knew that I could return any time I wanted to.
© Copyright 2002 by Robert J. R. Rockwood. All rights reserved.