Mookie and His Other World - A Book for Jack

By Hazel Kahan

For Jack

i . Once upon a time.

Lots of books start this way but when Mooky said once upon a time he did not mean once upon a time a long time ago. He meant ONCE, this can only happen ONCE. That was the kind of once upon a time Mooky meant.

But if don't really know what he meant, let me tell you.

Some things can only happen once because they're not really supposed to happen at all. When Mooky says once upon a time, what he means is once in all time, now and ever.

Sometimes, if you are one of the lucky people, you will get to see a thing happen once and only once. It can only happen once because if it happened more than once, everything in the world would change and we wouldn't want that to happen. Would you? Don't you like the world the way it is? That doesn't mean that sometimes you wouldn't like to see just one thing be different, the way it might be if there was another world sort of kind of like ours but not exactly the same. If you can imagine such a thing. Another world that is not our world.

Mooky had a job and his job was to be in charge of letting people into this other world, but as you already know, they could only come in and out once.

So, once a year, in one of the boring months like February, where nothing much happens except for cold and snow and other not yet Spring things like slushy mud and windy wind and still Winter things, like colds and coughs. Well, Mooky timed it so that every February he would come into our world and choose three people who he knew really really wanted just one thing to happen differently.

ii. two boys and a dog
If only…these three people said, if only…

I wish…these three people who were actually two boys and one dog would say, I wish….

"It's impossible," their parents said. "You're crazy," their friends said. "Those things can't happen. The world doesn't work that way, children," their teacher said. "You're silly," other dogs said.

"OH-wooo, " they said. "Why not?" they whined.

Of course nobody knew that the dog was saying anything because people think dogs can only bark and whine, not talk. But the dog did talk and he did think, only nobody could hear him. Except other dogs, of course.

And Mooky. Mooky could hear him.

iii. Eli
One particularly cold, grey, dreary, boring, wet, slushy, windy day in February, Mooky knocked on the door of Eli's apartment. His mother was sleeping and his father was cooking, but Eli heard the knock. He opened the door.

He didn't know that he was the only one who could hear the knock and that he was the only one who could see this strange, small old man standing there, whistling. He had long, scruffy grey hair, a tall black hat, a patch over his right eye, very hairy pointy ears and no shoes. He was strange looking but not scary. He stopped whistling and spoke in a whisper. "Eli," he said, "you called?"

"No," said Eli, "I didn't. What's your name? You're weird-looking but I like you."

"You'll like me even more when you know what I'm here to do. You said you didn't call but you did, only you didn't know you were calling. I heard your wish and I know that you said: 'I wish the clouds would fall onto the ground and I could walk and jump on them.' Is that right?"

"Yes," said Eli, "but now I don't wish that so much anymore. I mean I would like to walk on the clouds but I also want to know how big infinity is."

"Where can we talk in private?" whispered Mooky into Eli's ear.

"Oooh, that tickles," giggled Eli. "You can come into my room," he said pointing down the hallway.

"Hmmm," said Mooky, standing in Eli's room, "those wishes of yours both of them are very difficult. I am not even sure if anyone has asked for them before. Let me think about it for a moment." And he put his fingers into his ears because that's how Mooky thought about difficult things.

"It would be so cool to know how big infinity is," shouted Eli, really loud.

"I can hear you. Eli, no need to shout," said Mooky. "Do you know the symbol for infinity?" he asked, removing his fingers from his ears and adjusting his eyepatch.

Yes, of course," said Eli and he drew it with yellow chalk on the blackboard on his wall.

"Make it bigger," said Mooky, "as big as you can."

So Eli erased the small infinity with the sleeve of his sweatshirt and drew a huge infinity that covered the entire blackboard.

"Good. Now let's get in", said Mooky, holding Eli's hand and pulling him up onto the blackboard. "Breathe deep, close your eyes, and let's go into infinity," he continued.

And the two of them, Eli and Mooky, got into the infinity loop and started to go faster and faster. There was a warm breeze on their faces and their hair stood up straight and they heard very beautiful singing. Eli felt very happy and hoped he could be in infinity forever. It felt a little like jello and a little like a swimming pool and a little like his bed.

"Hey Mooky, this is really cool. Infinity is forever and it's the biggest and the hugest, right? This IS forever that we're in, right? So cool, I can't wait to tell my Mom and Dad and Roxy and Jack."

"You won't be able to tell them," Mooky said, because this can only happen once upon a time and telling it would make it twice. So just be here forever and then we'll go back. You will always know what forever feels like but you'll be the only one who knows that."

Eli wanted to argue a little and to see if he could change Mooky's mind but then he went back into forever and forgot about it.

Next thing he knew he was sitting on the floor in his room looking at the blackboard. On it was a small yellow infinity sign. Eli thought about it for a moment and then realized that the big sign had gone with them into infinity and so it couldn't be on the blackboard any more.

"Thanks, Mooky," he whispered, knowing he could never see him again. "I wish they could hear me talk," said Frank. But people could never hear Frank talk because he was a dog. Other dogs could hear him talk but he didn't often see other dogs and besides it was Them that he wanted to hear him talk. He had been living with them for thirteen years and they had never had a conversation. "Frank, you want a biscuit? They would say but they couldn't hear him say "Not that kind", I like the others." "Walk?" they would say, and he would get up and pretend to be excited but really he had wanted to go out an hour ago but nobody heard him say: "Let's go out, guys."

And then one February day, there was Mooky.

"You want them to hear you talk, "Frank?" and Frank said: "Who are you?"

"I am Mooky and I can take you to a place where they will hear you talk. Do you know what you want to say?"

"I want them to hear what my voice sounds like, that I don't jut bark and whine. I have a real voice, just like the one I am talking to you in now. You can hear me, right?"

Of course," said Mooky, " and I think you have a very pleasant voice. I like it very much. It suits you. Come with me."

And Mooky sat on Frank's back and held onto him by the orange bandana around his neck. Mooky had become smaller so his legs didn't touch the ground.

"Let's go through here," said Mooky, showing Frank a small hole between the windowseat and the bookcase. "We'll go to the other world through here."

"This is just like my home," said Frank, in an English accent.

"Yes, that's because it is your home but your home in another world. You can be here just once but you are here."

And there on the brown sofa sat his family. "Hi Frank," said the one he always thought of as the Big One. "Come here, Frank," said the other one he always thought of as the Soft One. "Frankie, Frank, look at this", said the one he always thought of as the New One.

"Big, Soft and New. I want you to know what I sound like," said Frank, speaking in an English accent.

"Wow, Frank", all three of them said together, "you are English. We never knew. We thought you were from New Jersey.

"Well, that is why I want you to hear me speak. Then you will know who I really am."

"And you have such a beautiful voice, Frank," said the Soft One. "It reminds me of Brian. "

"Frank, you can be my real brother now" said New. "You can come to school with me and we can talk at night and have midnight feasts."

"I like it the way it is, New, but thank you so much anyway. I find it very agreeable to sleep a lot, eat my biscuits, share in your dinner and listen to you all talk. I am too old to go to school, I am over ninety years old, but I do like the idea of midnight feasts. I like tea and chocolates as Soft knows, but they've hidden the last box of chocolates so It's been a long time since I had any.

"Time to go, Frank, "said Mooky. But of course Frank was the only one who could hear him.

"I must take my leave of you now, "said Frank, "but I am happy that you have heard my voice. Now you know who I really am."

"Doesn't he remind you a bit of Eeyore?" said the Big One, just as Frank felt his bandana being tugged.

Frank walked around his apartment home, listening to the sound his toenails made on the floor. He went into Jack's room, the bathroom with the big white drinking dish, the room with his bed, the room with his bowl and biscuits but nobody was at home. Perhaps they were still in Mooky's world and they would come through that up and down door. He smiled, glad that they finally heard him speak.

"Thank you very much indeed, Mooky," he whispered, knowing he could never see him again.

It could have saved Mooky some time to meet with Jack right after he met with Frank. He was in the neighborhood and it would have been more convenient not to have to tramp through a day full of February snow and sleet and rain and puddles and slush and mud and cold and dreariness. But being Mooky, he didn't really mind and besides he had an appointment with another person. We don't know who it was or whether it was a he or a she because Mooky never talks about these things. We do know though that he didn't come to meet with Jack until two days after he had met with Frank.

It was 3.25 on a Sunday afternoon and Jack was taking a nap. Actually he was supposed to be taking a nap but really he was just lounging around on his bed playing with his toes, pretending they were bugs. "I'm going to make you into bug juice for dinner tonight," he said to his toes when Mooky sat down at the edge of his bed.

"Jack," he said, "you called?"

"No, I didn't. What's your name? You're weird-looking but I like you," said Jack, scrunching up his shoulders and giggling a little but not wanting to be rude.

"You'll like me even more when you know what I'm here to do. You said you didn't call but you did, only you didn't know you were calling. I heard you wish and say and I know that you said 'I wish my Dad could be five so I could play with him when he was five.' Is that right?"

"How did you know THAT?", said Jack. "I never even said it, I just thought about it in my dream one night."

"Well, it doesn't matter how I know. What matters is that you get to play with your Dad when he was five."

"That would be so cool, Moomi, is that your name?"

"No, not Moomi, Mooky."

"Where is my Dad?" asked Jack.

"Have a little patience. Let me explain. Some things can only happen once because they are not really supposed to happen at all. So, you will see your Dad when he was five but you will only get to see him once like that. We will go into another world but you can only go in and out of that world once. If we could just go back and forth all the time everything in this world would change and we wouldn't want that to happen. We like our world the way it is but sometimes we would like to see just one thing happen differently, the way it might if there was another world sort of kind of like ours but not exactly the same. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, yes, but hurry up. I want to go to that world", said jack jumping up and down on his bed.

"Come with me", said Mooky and took Jack's hand and led him to the little hole at the back of the closet where his Dad shirts are. "Get in there'" he said "I'll be right behind you."

It was a sunny day in London, and Danny's was blowing out the five candles on his birthday cake. "Do you want a piece with the ball on it or the snake?" Danny asked Jack.

"I want to play with the Lego," said Jack.

"Are you American then?" asked Danny.

"I don't know," said Jack, "let's make a really huge building where helicopters can land on the roof."

And Danny and Jack made a really huge building, so tall that they had to move it out of the house because it wouldn't fit there any longer. It was so tall that small clouds formed at the top and the helicopter couldn't land because it didn't have radar.

And then Danny and Jack ate more cake and drank Ribena and then they ate crumpets and smeared the melted butter on each other's hair and then they had a bath together and made rivers of spit on their chests to see whose spit would reach the water first. Danny won once and then Jack won twice.

"Let's make a monsterishamungus Tinkertoy monster ," said Danny when Jack suddenly turned away. Mooky was standing at the door.

"Time to go, Jack, "said Mooky. But of course Jack was the only one who could hear him.

"Hey Mooky, this is so cool playing with Danny. I don't want to go. Please can't I stay just a teeny weeny tiny little bit longer? I wish my Dad and me would be five forever. I can't wait to tell my Dad and Mum and Eli and Frank."

"You won't be able to tell them, Jack," Mooky said, because this can only happen once upon a time and telling it would make it twice. You will always know what it's like to play with your Dad when he was five but you'll be the only one who knows that."

Jack wanted to argue a little and to see if he could change Mooky's mind but then he forgot about it because he was sitting on his bed again and his toes were cold.

"Thanks, Mooky," he whispered, knowing he could never see him again.

And that's how the story ends.

Eli, Frank and Jack were lucky. Mooky heard them when nobody else did and they got to see their secret wishes happen once and only once. And Mooky had the magical power of letting people into the other world where these things happen.

Some things can only happen once, Mooky told them, because they are not really supposed to happen at all. When Mooky says once upon a time, what he means is once in all time, now and ever. If it could happen again then everything in the world would change and we wouldn't want that to happen. We like the world the way it is. We wouldn't want to have Eli hanging out in infinity, would we? We wouldn't want Frank to be talking in an English accent all the time, would we? And we wouldn't want Jack's Dad to be five years old, now would we?

Just one more thing.

Mooky liked Eli and Frank and Jack so much that he took all three of them into the other world one more time. "Remember you wanted the clouds, Eli?", he said. Well, I still have a few minutes before my next appointment, and I can take you to the cloud world."

Mooky arranged to meet them one Saturday morning by the slide in the playground in the park and when nobody was looking, Mooky showed them the hole in the sand near where the slide ends. Mooky held Jack's hand who held Eli's hand who held Frank's paw and together they saw the place where the clouds were on the ground. They jumped on them and lay in them and tore off bits and threw them at each other. Frank started eating pieces of them and Jack stuffed bits of them down Eli's shirt who made balls of them and stuffed them down Jack's jeans. At first, the clouds tasted like the smell of french fries and the steam that comes from hot chocolate. Soon Jack and Eli realized the clouds could b e anything you wanted them to. Frank wanted them to taste like chocolate ice cream, Eli wanted them to be like a trampoline and Jack wanted them to smell like his Batman cape and feel like his orange Crayola.

"Mooky, we all love you and we want to go with you to the other world every day," said Jack. "Me too," said Frank in his Envlish accent. "We'll be very sad if you don't come back", said Eli. But Mooky was nowhere to be seen and Sandra was telling them it was time to go home.

Perhaps one other February where nothing much happens except for cold and snow and not yet Spring and still Winter things, Mooky will come into our world again and choose three people who he knew really really wanted just one thing to be different than it was.