Dan Dan and the Noodles of Despair

The Walled Garden

Passing through the large doors, they behold a sight most incredible, the remains of the vast, spreading gardens. The natural reclamation by life undisturbed of the complex and ordered ideas of beauty.

Sprawling lawns and box hedges have become meadows, geometrical flowerbeds transformed into overflowing pools of weeds and the decrepit remains of fallen topiary.

The Blue-grey flagstones continuing their line, straight and true towards the centre of this once magnificent creation. Interrupted only by the stained and crumbling stonework of dried algae-filled fountains, and the corpses of the arboretum. The fruits of Autumn concealing the secret avenues to the left and the right as the successive seasons sought to erase the works of man.

'It would appear that the journey to the centre will not be as straightforward as originally designed.' says Anaximander. 'We have at least two days journey to the centre on foot, and that would be my reckoning if it were an unobstructed route. This will not be an easy trek.'

And so they advance as best they can through the garden, that is on a journey of its own, returning slowly to the wilderness.

There is little talk between the four as they clamber and crouch. All filled with the same cautious wonder, the same questions and the same sadness that something once so beautiful could be reduced to something so dilapidated.

Daniel cannot help but struggled to comprehend the scale of the garden, the sheer size of it. Standing at the gate, he saw the walls recede into the distance and now inside it will take them two days to reach the centre. How big can it be? How many people did it take to construct it? How many people worked here and for how long? How can it lie in ruins? It's just beyond comprehension... Where did everyone go?

Dark clouds begin drawing across the sky, and the temperature is starting to drop. The end of the first day in this abandoned paradise has seen them climb through countless fallen trees, walk around several empty fountains the size of a football pitch and look up at the weathered expressions on innumerable statues, gazing into the distance as if longing for something long past.

Stopping at the entrance to a secluded sunken grove they pause. Anaximander brushes the leaves away from a stone bench and rests his weary legs. Suddenly his age is apparent in the stiffness with which he lowers himself onto the cold stone.

'Let's make camp here for the night.' says Tiddlepuss. 'We haven't seen a single animal since we entered this place save the birds. There are no predators, we will be safe here'.

No shortage of fallen wood makes for a swift fire, and shortly after a meal is bubbling in the pot. Only the owls and the crickets join them as they rest by the first fire in this place for many many years. The flickering frowning expressions of several mythical gods look down on them as they sip their tea and finish their stew.

Daniel tries several times to say something but stops himself as the first syllable leaves his lips. Eventually, he turns to the protrusion into this dimension of his pet cat. He says, 'You know, I've been thinking a lot about what you said, and I want to embrace the uncertainty of the future. But the thought of change scares me... I feel trapped because I want things to change, but I'm afraid of change.'

'Change is just about the only thing in life you can be certain of,' says Tiddlepuss, 'A Sunrise doesn't last all morning, a cloudburst doesn't last all day, a sunset doesn't last all evening, all things must pass, it's the way of life itself,'

'I'm not sure if that's helpful,' says Daniel hoping for an answer he can understand.

'Everything in life is constantly changing. Nothing stays the same. Even the fear you feel now will eventually pass away. Time will move on, and one day you will look back and realise you changed as well. You didn't notice it, but now you see things through different eyes.'

Daniel's face bears the expression of someone deep in thought and slowly realising something profound.

'Look around you, look at this garden, look how much it has changed. I'll bet you the Gardener never gave it a moment's thought that his wonderful creation would look like this. Yet here we are burning the dead remains of his precious collection to keep warm, change... it's unavoidable.'

'Okay, I get it, thank you.' Daniel is at last convinced and the trouble in his heart like a melting glacier, starts to trickle away into the depths of the similarly cold night.