When “The Odessa Chronicles” was being written,  it was decided to add some reality to the fantasy of the whole situation. It was decided that Carolyn and I should visit Moonbeam Farm. The following is an excerpt from “The Odessa Chronicles”.

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The man-servant, Odessa, Jaxon, and Dewey were all in the farmhouse late one evening, chatting and generally relaxing, when there was a knock on the door. They all looked at each other. Odessa turned to the man-servant. “Are you expecting a visitor?”

“No,” said the man-servant. “Are you?”

Odessa rolled her eyes. “My visitors are unlikely to be knocking at the door. Come on, Man-Servant, you do have the ability to rationalize, so please use it, and I will save you some embarrassment by assuring you that neither Dewey nor Jaxon have friends who would knock on the door either. That has to be a human on the other side of our door.”

The man-servant was smiling at Odessa, as he got up from his chair and walked over to the door. He opened it, and the other three heard him say, “Well … this is a surprise. What are you guys doing here?”

A male voice with an English accent said, “Hi, Joshua! We thought that we could come to visit you guys, and see Moonbeam Farm for ourselves.”

“Well, you had better come inside and meet the others.” said the man-servant.

When the visitors had made themselves comfortable on the sofa, the man-servant turned to the others. “Well, guys … allow me to introduce two people who know us a lot better than we know them. Meet Carolyn and Colin.”

Dewey stared at the visitors. “You’re the two who write our stories … right?”

“Yes!” said Carolyn.

Jaxon moved closer to the sofa. “So, you knew that you were coming here long before we heard the knock on the door?”

Colin looked at him. “Well yes, Jaxon, this visit was planned some time ago.”

Odessa was just looking at them both, but did not say anything.

“Don’t you have any questions, Odessa?” asked the man-servant.

Odessa stared for a brief moment, but then spoke up. “Given that you guys created Moonbeam Farm, so you know what it is like, why are you here now? And … if you guys really write our stories, and given that you are here now … who is writing THIS story?”

Dewey suddenly jumped up. “How rude of us! We have not offered them a drink.” He turned to Colin and Carolyn. “Would you guys like a drink? Do you both drink tea?” Colin and Carolyn both told Dewey that a tea would be lovely. He turned to the man-servant. “You heard them. Two cups of tea! Chop! Chop!”

While the man-servant was making a pot of tea, Odessa was waiting for some answers to her questions. It was Colin who responded. “Well, Odessa, let me try to explain this. We may have created Moonbeam Farm, but we have never visited it before. We’ve never seen it, so here we are.”

Then Carolyn added, “Yes, and as for who is writing this story? Well … we are.”

Odessa was looking a little perturbed. “How can you be writing stories about us, and yet be here?”

“That’s really not difficult,” said Carolyn, “because we quickly got used to being here and there at the same time.”

Odessa rolled her eyes. “You’re sounding just like the man-servant … generally confusing and incomprehensible.”

As Carolyn and Colin were drinking their tea, Odessa kept glancing around at Carolyn, and suddenly said, “Would you please stand up, Carolyn?”

Carolyn put her tea down and stood up facing Odessa. “Now what?” she asked.

Odessa was pacing backwards and forwards in front of her, and watching her. “Jaxon! Dewey! Come over here and look at Carolyn, and tell me if you notice anything unusual.”

Dewey looked at her. “Well, she is a little bit bigger than you, Odessa.”

Jaxon had been studying her also. “She’s smaller than other humans we have met.”

“That’s the whole thing, isn’t it!” Odessa said. “Are you fully grown, Carolyn?”

Carolyn laughed. “I can assure you, Odessa, that I am fully grown.”

Odessa was deep in thought for a moment. “I heard a saying once, that good things come in small packages. Is that true?”

Carolyn smiled. “Well I think so but then, I guess I am rather biased. Of course humans, like cats and dogs and other creatures, come in all different shapes and sizes. Wouldn’t it be really boring if we were all the same?”

“You are right.” Odessa then turned to Colin. “When did you and Carolyn meet each other?”

Colin laughed. “Not too long ago. We met in Greenwoods at a car rental place.”

Dewey was now sitting next to Odessa and staring at Colin. “When did you start writing our stories then?”

“Oh,” said Colin, “that was a long time ago now.”

Dewey and Odessa stared at each other for a moment, and then Odessa stepped closer to Colin. “There is something wrong with all this. If you have been writing our stories for a long time, and as you two only met each other earlier today, don’t you see a bit of a problem?”

Carolyn decided to try and explain the situation. “Well Odessa, you have to understand that we didn’t have to meet in order to write your stories. We both had lots of ideas and so the stories just happened. Does that help?”

Odessa was struggling to understand that. “Tell me how stories just happen for two people who do not know each other.”

“Well Odessa,” said Colin, “while Carolyn and I had never met before today, we were in regular communication regarding story ideas for you guys. Once the stories started to be written, they then took on a life of their own. I should also mention that even at the time of this story being written, we had not met each other.”

Odessa looked rather stunned at this. “Wait a minute.” she said. “Are you telling me that you meeting Carolyn at Greenwoods is only a part of this story, and you have never really met each other?”

Carolyn decided to intervene. “Listen carefully Odessa. Colin and I only met each other in this story. In our other world, which is a world in which you guys only exist in writing, we have yet to meet each other.”

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There is so much more to this story, and it is all in “The Odessa Chronicles” which is available from the usual on-line book retailers in eBook, paperback and hard cover formats. Click/select the book cover in the right column for direct link to the Friesen Press Bookstore. Reviews are on Amazon.com.