“Hands off my guppies!” said the smoking kipper as he slapped the boy’s hand away from the kettle on the table, and flicked the ash from his long cigarette with his fin, before inhaling another deep breathe of black smoke. Elijah was an unexpected visitor to these parts and clearly did not know the correct etiquette for sitting amongst creatures at the Belvedere Tea House.
The scolded boy looked up sheepishly, whilst an ornately crowned ram bleated at him in disapproval after watching the uncouth act from his table. Elijah didn’t know where to look, so he turned away, his cheeks now a beetroot red, and couldn’t help but quickly glance for a moment too long at the group of fiendish looking cats at the next table, whom seemed to be taunting each other as they entertained a game of cards. One of them, a very elegantly defined feline with grey shadowed tiger stripes on her flesh and bright amber eyes, gave him a side smirk, a look of warmth but also amusement. She knew of creatures like him but they never ventured into her world very often.
The kipper, still smoking, cleared his throat, prompting Elijah to look back at him. It was hard to avoid his bulbous eyes staring at him from just across the small table. After another long drag on his cigarette, the kipper, about to speak, was suddenly interrupted by the gaggle of guppies in the kettle on the table between them, squealing in excitement at something one of the young fish had done to impress his siblings. The kipper rolled his round eyes and peered into the kettle.
“Quiet now! Or I’ll boil you alive!” he snapped as he placed the lid on top of the kettle. He looked back up at Elijah and had to smoke once more, before asking him slyly, “So….where did you come from?”
Elijah thought for a moment. “Where did he come from?” This certainly wasn’t his natural habitat, but he had no recollection of how he ended up at the tea house.
“I don’t remember” Elijah replied as the thought sunk in. The kipper took another drag of his cigarette and looked at the boy with blank eyes, before raising his fleshy eyebrows quite uninterested.
“Well boy…maybe the caribou will tell you. You came in with him after all.”
“The caribou…” Elijah trailed off as the familiar thought appeared. “I did come in with him didn’t I..” he looked over at the bar, lined with large, brass, jewelled samovars of tea, many crowned with different animals to symbolise which region the contained tea came from. There was a badger at the bar with a tea towel over his shoulder, in deep conversation with what looked like a caribou character. The caribou then let out a deep and jaunty laugh that warmed Elijah’s bones. He knew this laugh and he felt quite at home when he heard it. “Yes, the caribou knows me” Elijah said to himself reassuringly, as he kept his eyes on the creature, hoping he would turn around soon. That he did, and he smiled a moosey smile at Elijah as he carried over two cups of tea in the finest china teacups and placed them down on the table.
“My boy! Drink up! My apologies for the wait, I do like to catch up on the goings on of everybody here when I make a flying visit” the caribou laughed to himself as he delighted in a little scandalous tale that just came to mind, something the badger had told him in confidence.
“A flying visit….” Elijah trailed off again as his memory sparked but then abandoned him.
The caribou took a sip and gave Elijah a patient few seconds before smiling knowingly. “Let’s sit outside my boy, let’s clear the air shall we” he waved a hand at the black swirls of smoke that bellowed up from the smoking kipper, and shot him a distasteful look before leading Elijah to the doors on the other side of the room. He gave a polite tip of his head and said “please” allowing Elijah to step out onto the small veranda.
Elijah gasped in awe at the view that lay before him. Masses of light pink clouds surrounded them beyond the balcony as they sat at a small round table, and slithers of golden sky started to tease through the slowly drifting clouds, making Elijah aware that just beyond these clouds was a sunset so dazzling, it was simply unimaginable.
The caribou took a sip of tea and allowed Elijah to do the same, and as the hot sweet nectar warmed Elijah from the inside, he remembered. “Flying visit!” his eyes lit up as he looked over at the smiling caribou.
“We flew here, on your ship, your tea merchant ship! That’s why we’re here..for tea. You brought tea, you brought me, you brought me here for a reason.” the caribou tilted his head encouragingly and nodded but Elijah sighed as his memory drifted off again into the clouds.
“Caribou, why can’t I remember?” he asked defeated.
“My boy, it’s perfectly natural to forget one’s purpose or indeed everything you once knew about yourself, whilst travelling through time.”
“Can’t you tell me what I’m doing here? Or at least where I’m supposed to be going?” Elijah asked with wide eyes and high hopes.
“You’re on your way somewhere, that’s all you need to know. I can’t tell you anymore my boy, only you can do that” the caribou smiled with his eyes.
“But you know, don’t you..”
The caribou couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh but so do you! I know that you know, that’s all I know..”
Elijah looked out the sky and felt like he was moving at the same pace of the steadily drifting clouds. He felt as warm and alive as the sun that warmed the air, and then as his mind cleared, he felt at peace. He picked up his tea cup and took a sip that woke up his mouth, and then grinned at the caribou whom was rejoicing at his happiness.
The caribou then took another satisfied sip of tea and said “What I can tell you my boy, is that we’re in for quite the journey!” he chuckled to himself as Elijah joined in, drinking up their joy in teacups.
Fin.