I was told that morning "It will be the last day of our suffering." The idea was great. At the end of our class, this was proved wrong. I had received tons of homework for my winter holidays. There are lots of bad types of home works such as doing projects and writing multiple chapters but the one I received in Geography was awfully awful. It was a documentary. A documentary on any place you feel is diversely rich in resources and has all forms of landforms - mountains, plains, rivers, glaciers, plateaus, beaches, forests, caves, waterfalls, etc. While in class, I remembered saying this type of a place heaven but I remembered that a heaven doesn''t have schools. I had 7 days of holiday.
DAY 0
I reached home that day and instead of going straight to my bed (that''s what I usually do on the day before my vacations start), I went and picked up my Atlas. Considering it a privilege to have one, I turned the pages carefully to the country I live in. I searched the whole of my country and found not a single place close to having all the resources and all the landforms.
I later searched the dictionary and realised that for a place to have all the resources, it must have three things - Water, electricity and human resources. I searched my country and realised that a town next to my city about five miles away had these things (literally every place has these things, what this place had were various landforms). The place was called Beverton (I realised how the townsmen modified Beaverton for the name). This place was astonishingly beautiful as described in my Atlas. I will write a short note for you (short??) -
Beverton is located beside the bay named after it.
The bay has a small island in the middle of it named Small Paw. North of Beverton is the bay; east of the town is a plateau which slopes further into east and emerges with a forest plain; west of the town is another plateau, larger than the east one and rises higher in the further west to join with some tall mountains; the south of the town is the intersection of the two plateaus called Atherfall. The intersection of the two plateaus has been cut through from below to pave the way for a road joining the town with the rest of the world. The road passes below the Atherfall. Atherfall is called so as the intersection has a large cave in it. A river originating in the high mountains flows eastwards and enters the large cave in the Atherfall. There, the river takes a sharp left and forms a waterfall falling down the Atherfall. The river flows towards the bay. The road runs beside the river. There is no beach near the bay but cliffs and arcs carved out by the waves. The plateaus bear dense grasslands.
Upon the west plateau is a coal mine which is the source of income of the 250 residentials in Beverton. The coal mine has discovered a system of caves running through the whole town. However, only the coal mines are mapped. Beverton is usually cold which stands against the fact it is close to water. The river and the bay are frozen during the winter for a short period of time but other than that, the water is usually icy cold. During summer, one would see a lark or two but owls are prominent. Wild Irish dogs are common and the environment, though supposed to be green, is red most of the time. During autumn, the grass is not to be seen but it is usually red and brown with the leaves which go away with the summer. Being so close to water and surrounded by high plateaus, Beverton experiences monsoons.
During monsoon, you would still not see the ground green for the water erodes the rocks and all you see is a brown-barren land of weathered rocks and stones.
Now for the poetic part of the atlas- During winter, you would see the time slow and slowly freeze into the cold waters. The caves are usually dark and not a single soul visits them. The road to the civilised is all snowy during winters. The only way to the west plateau is to pass through the eastern forests and the plateau and then over Atherfall to the western side. The grasslands up hide the caves with fields of wheat and grass.
These caves are home to snakes that one would imagine in the dark. The grasslands in the winter are the same as fields filled with needle-like stalks of the crops which later get harvested. The cliffs near the shore are a maze for the crabs and the humans walk over these in the various seasons for small strolls they call time-spent-well.
Ruby-like gems are the people who visit the village during their vacation-times. Rare are these people for the town as it is not sought after a lot. The town is the same as a bill straight out of a restaurant''s payment machine - something which is looked at by a man''s thoughtful eyes - he continues to act as if he is ignoring it, yet he thinks a ton on why the cost is so high. Yet it is not about the value of a place but about the people of the place. One might have seen people change places; not places change people - as that is how one survives......
(I definitely didn''t copy the whole description here from my Atlas or did I?)
The thing was that a documentary is usually a video and to make one, I would have to go there. I wonder how the students would make a documentary on places they can''t go to. I had only 7 days of holiday and I would have to travel to Beverton and come back in that time. The good thing is that the town was right beside my city, just a little far. The only thing I needed was a permission from my mother. I wouldn''t need to ask my father as he is in France at this time. That evening, I walked down to my mother who was making some potato curry at that time.
"You remember I told you about a documentary I had to make. Well, I found a place named Beverton......"
"Beverton!"
"Yeah......" I looked down nervously.
"Your father''s friend lives there!"
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Oh really, that''s good but I will have to stay there for like a week..."
The next thing I knew, my mother was on the phone talking to my father''s friend. His name was Endry Derving. His son was Jake Derving and daughter Lilly Derving. Mr. Derving understood the case but he was unassured by the fact that I could stay there without my mother. At one point, my mother had made her mind that she will not be sending me there but after some push and pulls, she ended on deciding that I will go to Beverton on one case - I shall not do anything wrong there. This was a simple thing to do. I was told that I would be leaving my home in a day.
DAY 1
I completed all my writing work the first day though it was wasted in my perspective of going to Beverton.
DAY 2
When I woke up that day, I was surprised as I encountered weird things. It started with me waking up due to the movement of something on my body. As I opened my eyes, the thing had moved into my blanket. I was so scared that I shouted really loud. As I moved back out of my blanket, my mother came running up with a spoon in her hand. That spoon was dripping with caramel. I was drenched with caramel as she made sure to whip the air with her drenching spoon.
My mother shouted "What happened?"
"Waaaaaaaaaaagh!!" I was quick with this.
Suddenly, the thing in my blanket jumped over my face. That thing was still under the blanket. I felt it was wet. It licked my face or to be precise - the caramel that my mother had flung at me. I opened my eyes clearly and saw what you would call a German Shepard. That thing was small, probably new born.
"What''s this?" I blabbered. My mother examined the scene and said "Oh! It must have got into our house."
To this, I had no reaction.... how can a dog get into our house and then into my room and then into my blanket without anyone noticing? I was as confused as I was angry.
My mother abruptly laughed and told me that she had bought it so that I can take it with me to Beverton. This was as she thought that a small dog the size of a toy truck could protect me from all the evils in the world. I looked at the dog. He looked like an innocent piece of cake that I concluded to be passive. I also realized that I was supposed to take care of it and not him keeping an eye on me. I was dumbfounded.
I got the time to pack my bag. A typical person on a trip (even though I am not going on a trip) would take the following things - Oil, Money, books, clothes, shoes, food and some more equipment for survival. I took the most unusual things you could think of - A camera, a flashlight, a book, money, a bag (that contains only the items I am taking with me), two ropes, a hook, a knife and some crackers. The reason I took a book was to write in some ideas for my documentary. I realised I would need a rope to take videos through various high points which would be accessible only through a rope and a hook (I know nothing about climbing). I took a knife not on my wish but because my mother thought it would be a good idea. And some crackers to sprinkle on that piece of cake (I named the dog ''a piece of cake'' as I believed that shouting "Help me a piece of cake!" would definitely sound funny and my opponent would lose focus).
After packing, I was told that Mr. Derving would himself come to pick me up from my house. I got ready and waited outside my house. It was about to start raining. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Mr. Derving pulled up on our driveway. I waved farewell to my mother (it should''ve been her doing this) and sat in the Dodge Challanger he was driving.
I said "Morning sir......"
"Mornin'' lad," he replied, "is it going to rain?"
"I don''t know. It might."
"I think it will rain." He replied.
I was not sure what he was trying to do here.
Mr. Derving accelerated fast. We hit 60 miles per hour in under ten seconds. I looked out and it started raining. ''A piece of cake'' was enjoying himself. He looked happy. I thought that Mr. Derving might mind him but he instead took out a cracker from his pocket and gave it to ''A piece of cake'' while driving. I didn''t realize it when I fell asleep but the next time I woke up, we were driving through some meadows and small rounded hills. Mr. Derving looked at his back mirror and saw that I was awake.
"You don''t eat?" he questioned fast. "I do!"
''A piece of cake'' had apparently not slept and was as energetic as before. He jumped at the name of food.
Our Dodge Challanger pulled up onto some newly built pathway beside a restaurant. We went inside and the waiter came and asked what we wanted.
"I would like some beef with eggs!" said Mr. Derving.
I was surprised as I never sat with someone who ate non-vegetarian food. Mr. Derving realised this and said "You are not finding any vegetarian in Beverton, though I can arrange some potatoes and peas for you." He then told the waiter to cancel his order and ordered veg salad and curry for both of us. This felt nice. The food was good too.
''A piece of cake'' however ate lamb meat which I found disgusting. We were now back in our car. Mr. Derving told me that we were half-way there and that I had slept for about an hour or so. He also told me that Beverton, even though 5 miles close, always is a long way due to the terrain. What is the benefit of a Dodge Challenger on curvy roads? ''A piece of cake'' was now actually sleeping. I took out my book thinking that it will take time. I started scribbling notes about how I should film some of the best shots. I also wrote introductory speeches for my documentary. I later resorted to calling ''a piece of cake'' ''apex'' as I was tired of saying his whole name.
We reached Beverton after about another hour. The place was really astonishing just like it had been described in the Atlas. As we went below the Atherfall, I could here the sound of the gushing water above my head in the caves. The temperature dropped rapidly. We came out of under the caves and I saw that the Dodge Challanger was struggling a lot on the road. I realized that the town was more like a village with advanced houses as I was able to see the whole town from West to East in one sight. It was a valley between the two plateaus. The two plateaus themselves weren''t that tall - about 150 ft - I estimated. I looked and saw a really rough sea. I saw that the land was rocky and had no grass; there were trees but none had leaves. The river was rapid and separated the town in two parts.
The sky was grey with clouds. There were no streets (literally) in the whole town but rocky cliffs everywhere. There were trails to be seen but not a single person walked on them. I saw a shop or two but most were closed. A specific shop was open and crowded. On the trees sat owls and it was weird seeing them in the open at one in the afternoon. If you looked at the beach, you really did see cliffs that were sharp as needles. Wild dogs were roaming here and there but they too, were few.
Mr. Derving pointed at a house in the distance. It was on a cliff that was not too high. The house had dark blue-black roof and a chimney, the colour red, emerged up the roof. There was smoke coming out of it. The house was a double storey one and had a sloping roof. The windows in it shined as the surroundings were dark. The house was painted peach and had black fences around the cliff. Inside the fences was a small patch of irregularly shaped land that had green grass on it. I saw that there was also a kennel beside the house. I feared what would happen if the two dogs met (even though I don''t know what breed the other dog is; why am I being specific?) Mr. Derving stopped the car beside the house. Upon a closer look, I realised just how tall the cliff was.