Short story: Imagi-nation

(Imagi-nation, copyright of Kris Rodgers)

It must have been quite disturbing for any passer-byers to see us attacking invisible monsters with a fierce fanaticism. We would freak out if the ‘gamesmaster’ placed a hoard of orcs in front of us as we walked. It was insane. We would be swinging our weapons and screaming whilst worried shoppers quickly made their way to the door. It didn’t matter where we played, we would play in shops, town, libraries, swimming pools, whatever, wherever. The thing that makes me laugh most is that we really didn’t care what people thought about us. We were so indulged in the fantasy world that we had created for ourselves that nothing else mattered. It normally worked like this:

One of us would be the Games master. He had the job of creating a story as we walked. He would also create the world that we lived in, and also the monsters that we would fight. This was normally Tom, or my cousin Phil (because they were the oldest). The group would go along with the story, and be totally evolved within the world that the games master was creating for us. We weren’t interested in the typical role-playing games that had already been written. We weren’t interested in throwing dice either. We just made it all up as we went along. It was common for us to spend whole weekends doing this. Walking, and using our imaginations all the time as we did so. Stupidly, we would often set each other dares to decide who became the games master next.

On this particular occasion, I was dared to swing on ‘old faithful’. Old faithful was one of those rope swings that makes you think ‘How the hell did they get up there?’ These swings seemed to appear everywhere in our local woods, but we never met the guy or girl that ever had the guts to climb these dizzy heights to attach it. We just presumed it was one of the ‘older boys’ again. So, Old faithful awaited my challenge. The rules stated (The rules were actually decided by Tom as he went along.) that I had to swing from half way up the tree, just holding on with my hands. This was difficult, because when you hit the highest point of the swing, the pressure was so harsh that it was hard to hold on. Sitting down is fine. But no. In this instance, Tom wanted me to just use my arms alone.

The git.

So I Swung.

‘WHOOSH!’

Lush blue skies awaited me when I eventually awoke. These skies where outlined by the leaves and branches of trees. It was beautiful. After a while, four mysterious figures stood over me.

‘Are you Angels?’ I asked dizzily.

Angels my arse. The four figures looked at me. Looked at each other, and then burst out in uproarious laughter.

It turns out that I didn’t make the highest point of the swing, because I passed out before I got there. I tumbled into the trees below, and eventually hit the floor. Because of this, I hadn’t actually completed the task, and didn’t get to be games master.

Harsh.

Even though potentially hazardous to our health, I believe that this was a healthy way for us to act as children. Too many kids nowadays do not use their imaginations like they should. They watch films and cartoons that do all their imaginative thinking for them. T.V and movies lead children to think that life will be much more than what it is, and I think that this is dangerous. The hardest years in my life were in the period of transition between a child and adult. I’m not talking about puberty and the awkward teenage years here either. I’m talking about the mid-twenties, where you still are young, but are expected to conform to the boring world that awaits us in our adult lives. The realisation that we may have been lied to by Disney and other ‘fake dream’ companies is a harsh and uncomfortable one. This is also why (in my opinion) so many young people drink and do drugs. They want to escape, have fun again, and be like children again. They want to forget about the reality that awaits us all. But if we still use our imaginations, and creativity, we can still be like children. Art and music are a great form of escapism, and if you are lucky, you might even make a living from it.

Wouldn’t that be nice? Being like a child, but still conforming to the restricting world that takes all the wonder and magic out of life…

I’m trying. I hope you are too.