Chapter 1 : The End
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"You're not there at all ! We didn't just follow Grandpa Matheo to Bel Beach, we saw all those people he says he sees on his way to work. We were in Wonderland. Mom, you have to believe me!" I remember screaming that phrase at the top of my lungs that day, hoping that adults like me would believe the 8-year-old I was at the time. I didn't know what to expect. It was the only real excuse for our long delay, and more importantly, the reason we found ourselves at Bel Beach with our feets sunk in the sand .
"That's enough, Jonathan! Nki mu Zaba ko? What you're saying doesn't make sense, everyone we passed along the way said they saw you walking as you headed here! You walked all the way here following your grandfather! David!!! That's miles an hour and what if something happened to them? Na Zali na motema pasi!" My mother always had this strange expression to express a situation that was beyond her or to say that she was fed up with us. I could understand why people refused to believe me, but my sister Loana was also there, along with her best friend Doli. Still, I was shocked to hear her excuse: "Sorry Mom, we don't know what got into us, Jonathan was obsessed with the idea of following Grandpa, and Doli and I had just come back from our tennis lesson, that's when we spotted him, i tried to catch up with him, and we didn't see the time passby , before realizing we were already here!" She had denied everything, at the end it was Grandpa and I who were the fools in the story.
It was traumatic for me when, the day after that unforgettable journey , people from the medical staff came to take my grandfather away, saying they wanted to help him, and neither my father nor anyone else lifted a finger to stop them. "Jonathan! Your grandfather is not well, you see, that's why he always thinks he has a job, but he always goes to Bel Beach! These people are taking him to a place where he can get help, Grandpa Mathéo is already very old, his walks are beginning to affect him,he needs help. “
No ! I never understood that rash decision!
"Mom ! No, that's not true! Grandpa Mathéo is fine,Loana tell them! Why are you so quiet ? He really goes to work every day, he goes to his park! You don't understand, you don't have the right to deprive him of the only thing that still makes him happy". I had burst into tears as I tried to explain the truth to them, but my urging was in vain. They led him away from us and he had no strength to resist! Neither did I had strength to save him !
"Listen Jonathan , you know what I think about all this, it's simple, I think Grandpa told you a lot about his adventures in Wonderland, just like he did with me when I was your age. I imagine he told you about Jack the Magician in the Red Tent and Bonny Bright, the tallest stilt- walker in the circus, and many other memorable people from Wonderland Park. I knew them all, you see, they really did exist in the past! But today they're gone, neither they nor Wonderland exist anymore !" Dad was wrong, Grandpa didn't just tell me about them, I saw them all: Mariama, the juggler from the pink castle, Deva, the beautiful acrobat from the blue tent! They were all there, I wasn't dreaming.
But no one believed me, and later I lost the only person who really understood me: my Grandpa . His departure affected me deeply. It was during a heavy rainstorm and I had finally persuaded Dad to take me to visit him at the center. I had planned to comfort him by bringing his work bag, always full of surprises, and his favorite wide- brimmed hat. But the rain ruined everything, and a simple phone call ruined my whole day. Grandpa Mathéo died of boredom, and all he wanted was for us to let him go to work and stop calling him crazy. Today I realize that I would have preferred him to die on Bel Beach. At least he would have gone to work one last time, one last adventure.
I, Jonathan Cruz, claim to be " The fool " if that's the case, because on April 17, 2017, I was at Wonderland Park and loved the wonders as well as the great people there. But most of all, I loved ending this adventure on Bel Beach, my feet sunk in the sand, holding the hand of my favorite human being !
Grandpa ,
Thank you again for giving me the experience of a lifetime.
The End
