The Writers' Circle

"Dad, dad, come quick! It's here!  It's here!  Grandpa's chair is here!" Jacey yelled at the top of her voice.

This was her grandfather's reading chair.  He had spent countless hours reading in this old chair.  The chair is covered with a fabric that with a has a recurring pattern of a dog, a cat, a rabbit and a squirrel done in squares with each character framed as a portrait.  Jacey's grandfather gave it to her father to be passed down in the family.  

It had been only two weeks since the funeral, yet already it seemed like forever.  Her best friend had passed away one night, never waking up after falling asleep in his favorite chair; the very same chair that Jacey was excitedly calling her father to come see.  

"Ok! Ok! I'll be right there.  Just hold your horses!  It's not going anywhere." Her father answered patiently from up the stairs.  Jacey didn't hear him as she was already out the front door and running up the ramp into the back of the moving van.  

"Please be careful with my grandfather's chair," she asked the men as they took hold of the huge chair.  The chair was old and heavy.  It was covered with a thick tarp to protect it during the trip.

"You bet we will!" the man said, "I can see this chair means a great deal to you".  He had been a moving man for a long time and knew how to carry the large chair without hurting it.

"It sure does.  It was my grandfather's reading chair and it has Imagicnation in it!"  Jacey beamed the reply as she helped the men into the house.  The man gave her a smile, wrinkling his forehead in a quizzical look thinking she meant to say imagination, but had just said it wrong.  

Just then, Jacey's father came down the stairs.  He started laughing when he saw the chair being brought into the house.  

"Couldn't wait, eh?" he asked as he gave his daughter a big hug.  "Just put it over by the big window next to the fireplace" he told the men.  "That seems to be a perfect spot.  What do you think about that?" he asked Jacey.

"I think so too!"  It was almost a whisper she said it so softly.  She closed her eyes. She could see her grandfather sitting there in the huge chair.  Oh my, she thought, I miss him so much.  I miss his stories and his smile and his love.  The chair held so many wonderful memories for Jacey.  As soon as she was big enough to sit on her grandfather's lap, he had taken her on great adventures while they sat reading story after story in the great chair.  

"Will you read me a story tonight?" Jacey asked her father still looking at the chair.

"Sure Jacey.  I think Grandpa would like that."  Her father answered knowing how much his daughter loved her grandfather.  They had been inseparable pals.

He thinks back to the time when he was Jacey's age and his father would read him stories while they sat in the chair. He remembers being 10 years old and sitting in the big chair listening to his father read wonderful stories to him.  He remembers vividly how his father told him that the chair was enchanted and of the four friends in the fabric of the chair; that the chair would take anyone who sat in it to read on any adventure written in the book.  He remembers imagining that the characters in the fabric of the chair would come to life and that they all would become part of the book his father was reading to him. 

He remembers the excitement of the adventures they would take each time he climbed up onto the overstuffed chair arms.  He wondered if it was his father's stories or if it was really the "magic" of the chair as his father had told him.  "This chair will take you on any adventure you want" his father had told him. "just believe in Imagicnation: the magic of your imagination".  

Jacey's father shakes the memories from his head.   He misses his father, too.
The old chair has been handed down from generation to generation in Jacey's family.  The chair was first given to Jacey's great-great-great-great-great grandfather by an old woodworker's wife.  She had told him that the chair was enchanted, but that the chair would only come to life if someone would sit in the chair and read, believing truly in the magic of the words of the story, the "iMAGICnation", she called it.

"Can I pick out the story? I know just where I want to go!"  Jacey asks her father as she dances around excitedly on her tiptoes.  Jacey knew that the chair was truly enchanted for she had had many adventures with her grandfather.

"And just where do you want to go?" he asked with a note of skepticism since he had long ago stopped believing in Imagicnation, thinking that he had probably just fallen asleep and dreamed everything; that the dog, the cat, the rabbit and the squirrel weren't actually real and that the chair is not really enchanted.

Jacey's grandfather could tell the best stories; tales of places far away and close to home; wonderful sights, sounds, adventures long ago and places not yet discovered.  Jacey remembered that whenever she went to visit, just how well she fit in his lap; how her mind would race so fast as he told his wonderful tales; and how much she so wanted to meet the four friends in the fabric of the chair:  Gracie, Tulee, Winston and Squire Pakan!  She felt as if she knew them already.  

Jacey decides she can't wait to have her father read her a story.  She decides right then and there that she will be the storyteller in the family from now on.  She knows her father doesn't really believe in Imagicnation anymore, but she does!  So, the decision was made.  Now all she had to do was decide which book and which adventure.

As she sat trying to decide which book to read, she remembered her school class had been given the reading assignment of The Travels of Marco Polo.  Remembering what her grandfather had told her about the Chair and its magic, Jacey takes her book into her father's study and sits down in the engulfing seat.  She remembers that she must believe in the magic of the chair, of the characters in the fabric. She remembers her grandfather telling her of the great adventures he had had with his four best friends whenever he sat in the great chair to read.  She had always believed in the stories and now wanted to find out for herself.

Believing with all her heart in the magic of the chair, she begins her reading adventure.  She reads and reads, slowly losing herself in the words.  As she reads, the fabric of the chair begins to shimmer and the chair comes to life.  Jacey is swept away into the very fabric of the chair, meeting for the first time the dog, the cat, the rabbit and the squirrel - Gracie, Tulee, Winston and Squire Pakan - the four friends that her grandfather had told her about so many times.  They rush to greet her, to give her hugs and kisses, for they already know her, as her grandfather had told them about Jacey the very day she was born.

The four friends joyfully remember Jacey's grandfather and all the fantastic adventures they had together.  How much fun they had had in each other's company.  They also remember Jacey's father when he was Jacey's age, and how he had "grown up" and forgotten about iMAGICnation.  But, Jacey's grandfather had never forgotten nor disbelieved in the magic of the chair, so his adventures had never stopped.

The four friends tell Jacey that they have been friends ever since meeting each other in the forest by the meadow so long ago; and how they had become part of the chair.   How their lives ever since have been a fabric, woven of fantastic adventures.  Then Gracie, Tulee, Winston and Squire Pakan tell Jacey the story of how the Enchanter's Chair came to be so many, many years ago.

 

"Whoosh! " Jack said with a loud voice moving his hands through the air like gigantic wings.  Gracie sat in front of him on a tall, flat table built especially for her so she could be at eye level with him.  Her tail was wagging quickly back and forth, her eyes bright with love for this wonderful man with whom she enjoyed so many hours of adventure.

"The huge bird came so close to her face that she could actually see the color of its eyes!" Jack continued his story, working on a plank of wood at the same time, bits and pieces of wood flying off just as fast as he was telling his story. 

"Then off it went higher and higher, further and further away, never to be seen again!"  

"Wow! That was great!"  Gracie exclaimed.  

Jack was the village woodworker. And a fine woodworker he was.  All the people in his village and other villages nearby came to buy his furniture.  He and Gracie, his friend and companion, lived in a one room cottage and workshop that Jack had built.  The living quarters were neat and tidy, with a small room that served as living room, kitchen and bedroom.  But the workshop, which was attached to the back of the small cottage, was not so clean.  The floor was covered with wood shavings, logs, boards, tools, and many, many pieces of furniture that hadn't turned out very well.  It seems that sometimes Jack got distracted whenever he began telling his stories to Gracie. There were tables, chairs, dressers, chests, that hadn't quite turned out right.  And since Jack couldn't sell the furniture because it looked a bit odd, they were poor.  But he made enough good furniture to sell so they could buy food and live the way they wanted and be happy.  And that made them both rich.

The workshop was shaped like a square, with two large windows on each side that had wooden shutters for doors.  When Jack was working he would open the windows so the sunlight would come in.  Since their cottage and workshop was located almost in the center of the village, all the townspeople passed by the workshop.  

Now, Jack was not only a fine woodworker, he was a storyteller of great talent. He could imagine wondrous stories of adventure; adventures so great that when he would tell his stories, the people of his town gathered at the windows to his workshop.  All who listened became captivated by Jack's stories.  The people would become so mesmerized that some said his stories were enchantments and that Jack was an enchanter.  Yet, as he would work all day in his shop, telling his stories to Gracie with the townspeople listening at the large windows, his imagination grew and grew and he would take them all greater adventures.  Running wild, his imagination would take them to places no one had ever heard of, much less dreamed of, seeing sights no one had ever imagined before, meeting all different peoples and animals.

Now, at that time, people believed an enchanter was someone to be feared.  Some of the townspeople said that the stories were dangerous, filling people's minds with crazy thoughts, causing them to forget their work and responsibilities - only to dream things they could never hope to see or do.  For this reason, the townsfolk began to ridicule and taunt the woodworker, to say that he should not be allowed to tell his stories, that he shouldn't be allowed to live in the village anymore, that he should be banished from the town.

"He's an enchanter! He shouldn't be allowed to stay here!" one man shouted.

"He's got to be banished! His stories have made my children not want to do their chores."  Someone else yelled at the mayor, who was standing at the door to the workshop.

"All right, all right!  Everyone calm down", he told the rather large crowd of people, since it seemed as if everyone in the village was gathered around the workshop.  People were leaning into the window openings, pushing and shoving each other to get a view of Jack.  Some of those yelling loudly were the very same people who just yesterday had oohed and aahhed as they listened to Jack stories.  These were the very same people who had cried for more and more.  Now they wanted him to leave.

"Now, Jack, you can see what your stories have done to these people.  Because of your stories, they don't want to work; the children don't want to go to school.  Because of your stories people are frightened.  Because of your stories people think that their lives can be different when we know that they can't.  They believe everything you say is real."  the mayor said as he stood in front of Jack.  He motioned at the windows and the door, "Everyone believes you are an enchanter because of the power your stories have on them.  They are afraid you are a magician and we all know what a magician can do to us."

"You all know me.  I have lived here all my life and you know I am only a woodworker and not an enchanter or magician.  My stories only come from my imagination.  They make everyone happy and want to be better.  They don't hurt anyone." Jack said as he turned around looking at all his neighbors.

"That is what scares everyone, Jack", said the mayor.  "Your imagination."

When Jack heard the mayor's words, he knew he and Gracie couldn't live where he couldn't' use his imagination to tell his stories.  They would have to leave and find a place where they could be happy together.

And so, Jack and his dog Gracie were forced to leave their home in order to find a place where the he could use his imagination and tell his stories of adventure without fear of ridicule or taunts. But there was one person that lived in the village that could not live without the woodworker's stories, and that was Lisa, a weaver of fine cloth.  She had listened to every word of the stories and had closed her eyes and let her imagination take her to all the places in Jack's tales.  She would go home at night and tell her best friend, Tulee, her calico cat, of all the adventures she had heard about that day.  When Jack and Gracie were leaving, Lisa and Tulee ran to join them.

"We are going with you," she explained.

"But we don't know where we are going." Jack said.  "And we don't know what will happen to us.  You better go back where you will be safe."

"No, we are going with you.  Jack, I fell in love with you the first time I listened to your stories and will go where you go and never leave your side.  It doesn't matter where we go as long as we are all together because I know we will happy and safe."

"I love you, too, Lisa.  I have for a long time, I just didn't know how to tell you.  I am so poor that I couldn't provide for you; all I could offer you were my stories."  

"We are rich beyond our wildest dreams.  Or maybe beyond YOUR wildest dreams", she said and they all laughed and hugged. 

So, the four of them set off through the countryside in search of a place where they could make a life together and be happy.   Where the woodworker could make his furniture and use his imagination to tell his stories and Lisa could weave her fine cloth and share the adventures of the woodworker's imagination and Gracie and Tulee would be happy with them.
 

They traveled for a very long time and finally found a small meadow surrounded by a beautiful forest with a clear stream running down the middle.  The forest was close to a small village where no one had ever heard of the woodworker or his stories.  There was plenty of water and room to grow a garden.  

"This looks like a perfect spot!"  Jack said. "I can build us a house over there by the stream.  There is a forest close by for wood."

"Oh, Jack, this is just wonderful.  I can plant a garden over here and plant flowers over there."  Lisa pointed excitedly as she danced all around.  Gracie and Tulee were also excited since they were tired of traveling and wanted to be in their own beds again.  Camping out was fun, but not doing it all the time.  They wanted a roof over their heads at night.

"Then it is settled.  This will be our new home."  Jack said.  Everyone agreed.

 

The next morning Jack and Gracie set off for the forest to select the trees that would make the lumber for the house.  Lisa and Tulee set about measuring off the dimensions for the new home.  There would be a living room, a kitchen, some bedrooms, maybe a small pantry.  Lisa thought she would explode she was filled with so much happiness.

As Jack went from tree to tree, only picking out the straightest for good lumber, Gracie decided this wasn't much fun and went to explore her new surroundings.  She found a narrow path that led directly into the heart of the forest.  She hadn't gone very far on the path, when she heard two voices.  One voice was very loud and angry, and the other voice was very calm.

"Now, Winston," the calm voice said, "he didn't mean to ruin your rabbit hole.  It was only an accident."

"You call digging right through my home an accident?"  Came the reply from the loud and angry voice.

"But, Winston, he couldn't see where he was going.  He is a mole".

"That is no excuse, Squire Pakan.  He should be more careful when he is digging.  There are other people that live out here besides him, you know."

"Hello."  Gracie said quietly.  

Both voices stopped.  Squire Pakan, a very proper squirrel with a conservative nature, and Winston, a brave and adventurous rabbit with a quick wit and a quicker smile, turned to see where the voice had come from.  Their eyes opened wide.  They had never seen a dog before, much less heard one.  And Gracie was not just your average dog. 

"Hello yourself", said Squire Pakan in his best official voice, since he was after all the unofficial mayor of the forest.  There had never been a formal election, but all the animals in the forest looked to Squire Pakan for his wisdom and leadership.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Where did you come from?  Are you alone?  What's your name?"  Winston just couldn't help himself.  He thought of himself as the protector of the forest and as such it was his job to ask the important questions.

But Squire Pakan could tell by looking at Gracie that she was friendly and went over to welcome her to their forest.

"Welcome to our forest.  My name is Squire Pakan and that is Winston.  We were just having a conversation."  Squire Pakan said being very mannerly.

"I know" Gracie giggled, "I could hear you from way over there.  My name is Gracie.  We just arrived yesterday and are going to build a house in the meadow."

"Who is "we"? Asked Winston suspiciously, not yet over being protective and certainly not calmed down from the mole digging right through his rabbit hole.

"My mom, Lisa, and my dad, Jack, and my friend Tulee, the calico cat."

"A cat?"  Cried Squire Pakan his eyes opening very, very wide.  "Cats eat squirrels, you know.," he declared.

"Rabbits too!"  Winston added very worriedly.

"Oh no, not Tulee.  She would never eat a squirrel or rabbit.  She much prefers fish." Gracie assured them smiling.  "Tulee is a very nice cat."

"Where did you move from?"  Winston asked.

"We moved from a village far, far away from here.  We have been traveling for a long time looking for the right place to live."  Gracie explained eagerly.

"Why did you leave your village?"  Asked Squire Pakan not trying to be nosy, but he was certainly curious.  It was every day that they had new neighbors.  It was important to have good neighbors and you could never be too careful whom you let move into the forest.

"My dad is a woodworker, but when he works he tells the greatest stories.  His stories are so wonderful you actually believe that you are a part of them.  His imagination would take us to places never before seen; see things you couldn't even imagine until you listen to him.  Sometimes it scares humans to hear of things they have never heard of before or to dream things that they think are impossible to exist.  For that reason, we were forced to leave our home."  Gracie explained.

"Humans." harrumphed Squire Pakan.  "If they can't see it or feel it or touch it, then it doesn't exist or they are afraid of it.  They even try to destroy it.  Such foolishness!  Animals are never like that!" he declared.

"Yes, but now we are here and maybe we can all be friends.  Then you could visit us when we get our new house built and my dad will tell one of his stories.  Wouldn't that be just grand?" Gracie exclaimed.  Winston and Squire Pakan agreed it would be fun to be friends with Gracie.  

And with that, she said goodbye to her two new friends and went off to find Jack and help with the woodcutting.
 

 "That should do it" Jack said as he finished putting the front door on its hinges.  After almost four months, the house was completed.  It was a grand house with a living room that had a large rock fireplace at one end of the main large room; a separate kitchen with water coming directly into a slate sink that Jack had made; two bedrooms - one for Jack and Lisa and the other for Gracie and Tulee.  It was certainly helpful that Jack was such a superb woodworker.  And his imagination showed in every design of the house.  Who would have thought of a slate sink with running water instead of carrying buckets to the house?  Or hardwood floors instead of stone or dirt?  Or separate bedrooms instead of everyone sleeping together?  Or a kitchen with a wood stove instead of cooking in the fireplace?  

And how fantastic to have a weaver of fine cloth.  Lisa made beautiful curtains for the large windows and soft rugs for the hardwood floors.  Gracie and Tulee had also helped, leading Lisa to all sorts of colorful flowers that she planted in front of the house.  Jack had made window boxes so Lisa could plant more flowers and herbs next to the house.  Together, the four of them had made their dreams of a home come true.  

"I think we should celebrate our new house" Lisa said as she looked at everyone.  
"Terrific idea", Jack said. "How about tonight?" he asked.

 

"Come on Gracie, hurry up!" Tulee called back as she hurried along the path they took into the forest.  "We have to tell Winston and Squire Pakan about the party tonight".

Since that first day when Gracie met Squire Pakan and Winston, she and Tulee had gone into the forest almost every day.  Gracie had raced back home to tell Tulee about the rabbit and the squirrel and how they had become friends almost instantly.

"Come on, Tulee.  Don't be such a 'fraidy cat", Gracie said as they headed down the path to the forest.  Today was the day Tulee was going to meet Winston and Squire Pakan.  But Tulee had never known any other animal, except Gracie and a few other cats back in the old village.

"What if they don't like me?" she worried.

"What's not to like?" replied Gracie.  "You are a very smart cat with a wonderful sense of humor; you like to play and know a lot of games".

"But they are so different than we are," Tulee said.

"Not really.  They have four legs, two eyes, two ears, like to play games and laugh.  How are they different?"  Gracie asked, not understanding Tulee's concerns.

Hmm, Tulee thought to herself.  "Well, they live in a forest, probably eat things we have never heard of, speak differently, and don't like strangers."

Hmm, Gracie thought.  "Ok, they live in a forest and we do too, now.  They probably eat things we have never heard of but that doesn't mean their food tastes bad or that we won't like it, only that it is different.  They do speak differently, but then to them we speak differently.  But we can learn to talk and understand each other.  After all, we are new here.  And they do like strangers because they like me and I was a stranger the first time I met them."

Now that really had Tulee thinking.  But she couldn't think of any other reason not to go meet Winston and Squire Pakan.  So, she decided that making new friends was more important than being afraid of them, since really she didn't know what there was to be afraid of.  If they liked Gracie then they would like her, since she and Gracie were best friends.

"You're right Gracie!  Let's go see our new friends."  Tulee declared happily.  Together they ran along the path leading to the forest and their new friends that lived there.

 

"A party?"  Winston exclaimed.  "I have never been to a party.  By the way, what's a party?"

"It's a time when friends gather together to laugh and play games and have fun.   There is lots of music and singing; there is lots of good food to eat and good things to drink." Squire Pakan patiently explained to his friend.

"Then I definitely want to go" Winston declared emphatically.

"And tonight there will be a special treat," Gracie told them.  "My dad is going to tell one of his fabulous stories."

"And mom is making a special cake for us all."  Tulee added.  "This is going to be a fun party!"

Squire Pakan and Winston looked at each other their eyes opening wide.  They were thinking the same thing.  They had never been out of the forest.  They had seen humans before, but had never been close to any.  They had heard terrible stories of what humans did to rabbits and squirrels.  If they left the forest would they ever return?  

Gracie could tell they were both very nervous, and yet at the same time, they wanted very badly to go to the party.

"Remember when I told you about Tulee?" she asked them.  "You were both afraid of meeting a cat, remember?"

"Yes, I remember quite clearly."  Squire Pakan answered emphatically.  Winston just nodded his head in agreement.

"Do you remember I told you how nice she was and that she would never hurt you and that she would be a great friend?"

Now both heads nodded at the same time.

"Well, if you trusted me then, you should trust me now because that is what friends do: they trust each other." Gracie said lifting her chin just a bit.

Winston and Squire Pakan looked at each other, then at Tulee and then at Gracie.

"You are right Gracie.  You and Tulee have become our best friends and we do trust you both."  Answered Winston.

"Then what are we waiting for?" cried Tulee starting to dance around them all.  "Let's go to the party!"

And off they went with Winston darting out in front and Tulee right on his heels.  Gracie and Squire Pakan decided to take a more leisurely pace with Squire Pakan riding on Gracie's back.  It was going to be a fantastic party!
 

"Lisa, come here quickly!" Jack called, not believing what he was seeing as he looked out the front window.  Gracie, with Squire Pakan on her back, Tulee with Winston walking by her side were coming up the front walk.  Lisa ran from the kitchen where she had been preparing a cake for the party and stopped instantly when she saw the foursome.  Now they understood why Gracie and Tulee went into the forest everyday.
Then they both started smiling enormous smiles.  

"What a marvelous parade!"  Lisa said, opening the front door inviting in her children and their friends.

"Gracie, please introduce us to your friends."  Jack said, kneeling down so he could be at eye level with their guests.  

"Father, this is Squire Pakan and Winston: our best friends.  We invited them to our party tonight."

"That's all right, isn't it?" asked Tulee smiling her most innocent smile.

"Yes, yes, of course it is, your friends are always welcome here. " Lisa said, kneeling down to meet the two forest animals.  "We are happy to meet you and are honored that you would attend our party to celebrate our new home," she said.

"Thank you for inviting us.  We have never been to a party before."  Winston said almost falling over from excitement his nose twitching faster and faster.

"Then you are in for something special," Jack said.  "Tonight will be a night to remember forever!"

 

"The boat went sailing through the sky, around and around the clouds, darting in and out, until finally it stopped on top of the largest cloud."  Jack was standing in front of the fireplace.  Lisa, Tulee, Squire Pakan and Winston were seated on the floor looking up at him and being very, very quiet.   He was walking back and forth in front of them, waving his arms, his voice rising and falling with every word.  This was the storyteller at his very best.  They had finished a wonderful feast and had all gathered at the fireplace to hear Jack tell his story.

"Now they could see all around the world.  Their journey was at an end."  Jack finished his story and took a bow.  

Everyone sat spellbound.  No one spoke.  The story had been mesmerizing.  Then they all began to applaud.  

"It was even better that you said it would be," Winston said breathlessly.  "Will there be another party soon so we can hear another story?" he asked Tulee.

"There doesn't have to be a party to have Father tell us a story.  He does it every night, doesn't he Gracie?"  Tulee asked proudly.

"Every night.  Some stories are long, some are short, but he always tells us a story before we go to sleep."  Gracie confirmed.

"Do you think we could come listen some night?"  Squire Pakan asked hopefully.

"Sure.  I think you could come every night if you wanted to."  Tulee told them.  "Besides, you are our best friends and that means you are family to us."

So, every night, they all would gather in front of the fireplace to hear Jack tell his stories of adventure. As the years went by, the storyteller grew older and couldn't stand very long anymore when he told his stories.  

Lisa told him, "I think it is time you made yourself a chair.  A chair large enough so that all the children can sit in it with you while you tell them a story."  Since Jack and Lisa didn't have children, she thought of Gracie, Tulee, Squire Pakan and Winston as her very own children.  

So, he used his woodworking skills to make a great chair with a high, wide back and long sturdy arms.  A chair so large that Gracie could sit next to him, with room for Tulee on the high back to peer over his shoulder, where Winston and Squire Pakan could sit on the long arms of the chair.  Lisa wove a special fabric to cover the chair using the images of the dog, the cat, the rabbit and the squirrel as the pattern for the fabric.  The colors were rich and vibrant; the threads were from the finest silk and the chair seemed to come alive when it was covered with the exquisite fabric.  When the chair was completed, it was the most beautiful piece of furniture the woodworker and his wife had ever seen.

"Oh Jack, it is just the most magnificent chair I have ever seen!"  Lisa said, tears welling up.  Jack was also awed by the beauty of the chair they had made together.  "Now, I can continue to tell my stories even though I can't stand anymore to tell them.  Thank you, my love, for the wonderful gift of your cloth.  Our children will always be a part of this great chair."  He said.

 

So, the old storyteller continued to tell the enchanting stories of his imagination to his wife and children every night.  Night after night, month after month, year after year, they would sit and listen as the storyteller became the enchanter of their lives and would take them on journeys of wonder and marvels and peril and learning.  All of them were bound together by the stories.  There wasn't a happier family anywhere.  

As time passed, the Chair began to absorb the magic of the woodworker's stories.  His words became entwined with the very threads of the fabric.  Its vibrancy seemed to increase with every story.  With each succeeding year, the chair became more and more the centerpiece of their lives.  

And so it happened one day that the Enchanter passed on. Yet, every night his wife and children would gather together in the Enchanter's Chair to remember him and his stories and to happily recount those adventures to each other.  Their own imaginations began to come alive every time they sat in the chair. It was as if the Chair itself was taking them on new adventures, as if the spirit of the old Enchanter was in the Chair.

One day, the four friends decided to sit in the chair by themselves, as the Enchanter's wife was in her garden. 

"I think I like the story of the flying fish of Madagascar the best," said Tulee.

"Of course, you do," retorted Winston.  "All you ever think about is food."  They all laughed as Tulee just shrugged her shoulders.

"Can you think of anything better than a fish dinner?" Tulee asked Squire Pakan licking her lips and lazily laying back with her eyes closed.

"A barrel full of pecans and acorns would suit me just fine."  He answered matter of factly remembering the story of the forest full of giant trees with acorns that were bigger than him.  

"Give me a soft bed of goose down from the Northern Isles and a warm fire with plenty of stew to eat.  Now that is my favorite story."  Gracie chimed in.

"I personally prefer the story of the magic garden that is always growing where you can eat vegetables all the time. "  Winston added dreamily.

"I miss him so much".  Gracie said softly, laying her head between her paws.  They all grew sad for a moment.  As they sat together, remembering their beloved Enchanter, something amazing happened.  They began to feel themselves being drawn into the fabric of the Chair.  The Chair was magical after all.  Further and further into the chair they went.  Deeper and deeper into the fabric they went.  Soon the four friends had become part of the fabric of the Chair.

When the Enchanter's wife came in from the garden, the four friends were gone.  

"Gracie!  Tulee!  Winston!  Squire Pakan!"  She called each of their names.  But they didn't answer.  Lisa looked in the bedroom; she looked outside the back door.  She opened the front door, walked to the gate and called their names again.

"Well, they must be off playing in the forest" she said to herself and went back inside.  She went to the great chair and sat down, as she was also older now and grew tired more often.  As she sat in the Chair, her eyes opened wide.  She instantly knew where the four friends had gone.  They had gone to be with the old woodworker, the storyteller, the Enchanter of their imaginations.

As the years went by, The Enchanter's wife knew that the Chair must be given to someone that would believe in it's unique magic.  Someone that would never allow the Chair to be lost or destroyed. Someone who would believe in iMAGICnation.  Someone like her husband the old woodworker.  

There was one such young man.  He was a cobbler in the nearby village who it was said, could see things in his mind no one else in the village could see.  The Enchanter's wife knew that he was the one to have the Enchanter's Chair. So, the Enchanter's wife loaded the chair into their wagon and set off to find this young man, this young dreamer, this young enchanter, to give him the chair that would change the lives of so many people.  That young man was Jacey's great-great-great-great-great grandfather.

"Excuse sir, do you know where I can find the village cobbler?" Lisa asked the man in the market square selling apples.

"His shop is right down this street next to the bakery." was the reply.

Lisa thanked the man and continued up the street.  Soon, she saw the sign for the bakery.  Next door was a small cobbler's shop.  She could hear someone humming inside.  Through the front window she saw a young man working merrily on an old pair of boots.  

"Yes, this is the young man I seek" she said to herself knowing instantly from the sound of the humming that this young man had the gift of iMAGICnation.

She softly knocked on the door and stepped inside the small cobble shop.

"Good day to you ma'am" came a cherry voice. "How can I help you?"

"I am looking for the young man that some people say has a more than vivid imagination.  Would that young man be you?"  Lisa asked as she looked closely into his eyes.
 
"Yes, ma'am that would be me."  The young man replied with a delightful twinkle in his eyes.  "Some people say I have a gift for telling stories, others say I am just a little off in the head."  He laughed cheerfully.

Lisa smiled knowing exactly what he meant.  Her beloved Jack had also been accused of being a "little" off in the head at times.  

"I have a gift for you," she said to the young cobbler.

"A gift?  But you don't even know me!" he said very surprised.

"No, I don't know you, but I know what you are." Lisa answered smiling at him, which confused the young cobbler even more.  

"Sit down young man, I have a story to tell you."  Lisa told him.

Then she told him the story of the old woodworker and of the chair.  She told him of their lives and the four friends, and how the four friends were now a part of the fabric of the chair.  When she had finished, the young cobbler sat on his stool amazed at what he had just heard.  I am just like the old woodworker, full of imagination and wonderful stories he thought to himself.

"So, you see young man, the chair must be given to you.  Only you can keep the magic alive through your stories. " Lisa told him lovingly.

The young cobbler nodded in agreement, promising never to give the chair to anyone else.  This chair of enchantment and iMAGICnation would never leave his family.

 

"And that is how The Enchanter's Chair came to be" Gracie said.  "Now.  Tell me, exactly where are we?" she asked very slowly, carefully turning her head in all directions. "Everything looks so strange."

"We must be in Venice, Italy!"  Jacey said, her excitement brimming over. "My reading assignment is The Travels of Marco Polo," she says, showing her new friends the book, "and this is where his travels began."