The summer of the year eighteen ninety-nine, the last of the century and last summer of my freedom, decided to end with a storm that people would remember for a very long time.
It had been warm and dry for months and now the wind that had started to blow a few days ago, was getting stronger by the minute instead of finally diminishing. I rushed through the sunflower field, away from our house, the hem of my long white dress gathering dust and shriveled flower leaves and petals prematurely fallen off the blooms towering around me on all sides. But I didn't care, I didn't mind neither the dark brown soil lifting in smoke-like puffs around my feet, nor the leaden grey clouds gathering fast above my head.
"Alison! Alison Leah Baum, come... back here... this instant! We must talk... about your behaviour, young lady!" I heard my mother yell from the porch of our white house, which looked like a mound of snow from this distance, set against the backdrop of the churning dark clouds-- a harbinger of the fast approaching storm.
Her voice reached me with difficulty, barely audible above the whistling of the wind rushing through the sunflowers, shaking them and bending their yellow heads. I saw her dark-clad figure standing on the porch, struggling to keep her hat on her head as I turned around briefly to wave at her, my own hat flying away on the wind.
Soft, mournful barking made me look among the sunflowers, and I spotted my little dog running after me.
I spread my arms and he jumped into my embrace, even as a flash of lightning illuminated the sky, and the world around us shook with the first thunder.
"Toto! You should have stayed inside!" I scolded my furry friend but really, I was happy that he was there with me.
The flowers encompassing us on all sides looked suddenly hostile, flagged by the incessant wind and the first raindrops turning quickly into a downpour. They moved as if they were living creatures trying to protect themselves from the forces of nature. Or as if there was something alive and moving among the sunflowers, like...
I shook my head to disperse my scary thoughts and turned around, until I spotted the old barn, my chosen destination, through the sheets of rain.
"Let us hurry," I whispered to Toto, wrapping my arms around him to shelter him from the storm.
The air was becoming stifling with humidity, electric charge, and all sorts of unusual smells-- damp soil, ozone, the old wood of the barn we finally reached.
As I walked through the barn's open door I stopped mesmerised, watching the world fighting the storm. The sky was brimming with whirling clouds, swirls of greys and blues moving restlessly, dancing in the wind, while the rain and hailstones fell to the ground, destroying the poor flowers that could do nothing but turn their heads away.
Another clap of thunder shook the red building, making me jump, sending water dripping through the holes in the roof, the sound ricocheting off the walls. I sighed and pushed the door closed, shutting the world outside, plunging myself into a near perfect darkness. Settling on the ground in the nearest corner, I let Toto curl on my lap as I removed my wet shoes, then caressed his ears...
I didn't know I had fallen asleep but when I woke up I saw the tip of Toto's tail disappearing through a crack in the door. Sighing, I pulled myself to my feet and stretched. Well, I thought, he would find his way home easily alone. But he could have left my shoes here, I frowned, looking around.
Barefooted, I walked to the door and pulled it open, blinking into the unexpected sunshine. Where was I? I didn't know this place...
"Toto!" I called, panic creeping through my body.
The sunflowers I knew so well were replaced by infinite poppies, swaying in the summer breeze like a red sea, the bright blue sky stretching above full of... flying monkeys?! Where our house should be, an emerald town glimmered on a hilltop, and the lane that had led me here before the storm was now a yellow brick road... And even as I looked, several figures appeared in the distance, approaching me fast.
I stood in the doorway, petrified, observing a huge lion, a ragged scarecrow, a knight in a shining armour made of tin and a tall man, until they stopped in front of the barn, smiling at me.
"Welcome, Alison," the man, dressed entirely in black, said, touching the rim of his top hat and bowing to me, the others following his example.
I curtsied before I asked, "Where am I? Why?"
"Welcome to Oz," the tall man said. "But it's you who should tell us why you are here. You are all here for a reason." he added, looking in turn at each of his companions and me.
As his eyes paused at my bare feet he took a wand from his pocket and a pair of beautiful red shoes appeared in his hands.
"Who... are you, are you a prince?" I whispered as he knelt in front of me to put them on my feet. He was... rather charming...
I blushed as his eyes met mine.
"I am the Wonderful Wizard of Oz," he smiled at me, offering me his arm and leading me towards the road which shone like gold in the sunshine. "Will you tell us why are you here? See, the lion is seeking courage, the scarecrow a brain..."
"Well, I lost my dog, Toto... And I don't want to marry the man my parents chose for me... See, we have only met twice and I don't like him, and I'm only seventeen! But his family is rich, something like a royalty in our town, so my parents..."
"Then you are in the right place," the Wizard said, winking at me, making my blush deepen. "Let's see what we can do for you... Follow the Yellow Brick Road, everyone!"
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