Photo by Johannes Plenio
The Wishing Map is a full-length fantasy that is being posted episodically at this site. To read the previous episode, click here. To read the entire novel, begin here.
Prologue
“There’s magic in the world. And it’s waiting to be found!” That was what Zack and Gina Dore’s Aunt Aloysia always said just before she left. She never told them what she meant. She never explained anything, ever. Never told them when she was coming, either. Just arrived, then left, a week later, an hour later, and never a word about when she’d be back. She was like one of those ultraviolet lights that let you see things you didn’t know were there.
When Aloysia was present you suddenly realized the world wasn’t the way you thought it was, and the things you thought you had control over, you didn’t. For example:
When Zack was seven-years-old, he noticed that the Centerburg Northern freight train always took precisely eight minutes to pass Middleton. Always. So he’d come to think of Middleton as exactly eight minutes long. He’d taken comfort in this, secure in the fact that he lived in an eight-minute-long town. But then one day, right after one of Aunt Aloysia’s visits, the train hurtled past in four minutes.
Impossible.
How did Middleton suddenly get to be four-minutes-long? It bugged him, really bugged him. If Middleton could change, what else could? Would he wake up one day and find his dad turned into a hippopotamus? His house into a lake? His sister into a bowl of ice cream? (Well, some change can be good.) Of course, he was older now, and understood about things like rate and motion. Still, he’d never felt quite as certain about anything since then. After all, if time and distance weren’t fixed, then what was?
Nothing.
Because, like ants in the pantry, the uncontrollable, the unknown, will always find a way in. Always. And for the Dore family…
The way in was Aunt Aloysia.
φ
Thoughts: Is our concept of reality, like Zack’s, based on our lack of awareness of a larger Reality? And if there really is “magic in the world,” what needs to change before we can find it? Will it be wonderful? Or terrifying? Or both?
To read the next episode, click here.
Mitch Teemley 
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I believe in magic, Mitch—God’s kingdom magic, which is no illusion. Just like the 8 minute train that changed to 4 minutes, with God’s arithmetic 5 + 2 = enough fish and chips for everyone!
I’m enjoying the wishing map! I plan to read one installment at a time. See you next week!
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Hear hear, David. Fish and chips all ’round!
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“Is our concept of reality … based on our lack of awareness of a larger Reality?”
Indeed. And is our concept of other people based on our lack of awareness of their personal history? I realized the truth of this at my son’s wedding last Sunday, surrounded by people I thought I knew, people who believe they know me — but do we really know each other?
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Ah, one of those unexpected ah-hah moments. Congrats to the newlyweds, btw!
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Mitch,
A child’s imagination is the most wonderful and powerful magic there is.
Thanks,
Gary
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I’ve always enjoyed these episodes. Are you any closer to making them available in a book? Blessings! Anne
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Hi Anne, great to hear from you. No, my focus right now is on getting out the novel version of Healing River and a comic book series based on Notzilla. At some point down the road, I’ll revisit publishing The Wishing Map. Hope you’re well and thriving in the Lord, my friend!
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Yeah!
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The map looks like it could be universal enough for a shared world, if you found enough authors who wanted to collaborate with you in some world building. You did a good job here, Mitch.
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Thank you, Rosliw.
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Reblogged this on OPENED HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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This text is quintessential Mitch Magic. You shine here!
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Thank you, Nancy!
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as for the post on deuteronomy 55:44 that i posted on the world trade center article
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