1) BIRDSONG...

Once upon a time there lived a little bird who lived in a dense, tropical, enchanted rainforest. She lived in the uppermost canopy of the trees, in the very heart of the oldest part of the forest.

Every morning she would fly up to the tallest branch of the tallest trees and sing.

Her voice was so beautiful that all of the other birds and animals would stop whatever they were doing, pause...and just...listen and enjoy!

They were utterly captivated by the warmth and richness of her melodies. She added a presence to the forest which made living there a very warm, loving place indeed.

And after a while she would stop, and the forest would go back to normal.

But all of the animals and birds looked forward to when see would sing again.

One day, some men walked into the forest. The little bird became curious to hear a song like her own coming from somewhere on the forest floor.

At first she thought it was her father's voice, but as she flew down to investigate, she heard the warm melodic tones getting louder. It was a younger, more strident voice than her father's, so just who could it be?

When she got to the forest floor she finally saw the owner of the voice. It could only a magnificent young male bird of paradise!

When their eyes met, she felt that he had touched her soul. They fluttered and skipped over and under and through the low hanging branches of the forest, playing chase, and singing and laughing with each other.

As they finally settled on a broad leafy branch together, he said: " You are the most beautiful bird I have ever seen, and your reputation precedes you. Word has spread to my kingdom that you are the singer of the wonderful morning song that enraptures the whole forest. I have flown many miles to hear that voice, would you sing it to me now?"

"Of course," the little bird said. And so feeling her heart pounding, with a strange new fluttering feeling in her tummy she did not quite understand, she opened her beak to sing...

***

2) NOW I'M HERE...THINK I'LL STAY AROUND

The being known as Zee simply blinked into awareness. "I Am Here." He thought.

"Hang on, Where is Here? Where exactly on earth am I?"

There had been a blinding flash of light, and he understood himself to be within what appeared to be a large organic chamber. He could hear distant rumbling and pulsating drumming sounds that vibrated deep within his consciousness in a steady, compulsive rhythm.

He felt the walls of the chamber ripple and constrict, and then suddenly squeeze tightly around him. He felt suffocated. He could sense liquid moving around him, and recognised a spasm of pain as the walls recoiled. The drumming intensified. It was like an alarm had gone off in his body.

Neurons fired in his brain and he felt a searing blast of unrelenting pain, much like cramp coursing through his whole body. This was extreme pain! - This Hurt!

The walls tightened around him again. This time the pain had been more intense. As he opened and closed his eyes he could see swirling coloured hues, greens and blues, abstract shapes dancing across his inner vision. The agony gradually died down to become a persistent, throbbing ache.

A strange thought occurred to him. "What if I'm just a piece of waste that's about to be rejected?"

Now there was a tumultuous avalanche of sound, a cresendo of white noise in his ears and an overwhelming feeling of compression in his body... Everything became DARK.

***

3) HIGH ANXIETY!

A good friend of mine is terrified of heights. Once he went to America and had a chance to visit the World Trade Centre. It was a couple of years before 9/11.

His boss, Andrew had already relayed the story of being in the express elevator.

"You grab hold of a rudimentary handrail to steady yourself and watch the red digital numbers of the floor readout skipping and blurring from single to double and then to triple figures as the lift shoots suddenly blasts you upwards at what seems like light speed! You tend to keep everything clenched tightly (knuckles, buttocks and the like) as it rockets up towards the very top of the tower in a matter of seconds. Only your tummy seems to be left on the floor."

It reminded him of Doctor Zarkov in the Flash Gordon Movie...

"For God's Sake, Strap Yourselves Down!!"

There had been a fault with the lift. When they stopped at the sixty fifth floor, round about half way up, a staff member explained that they had to get out of the main lift and head for the service elevator to take them to the one hundred and thirty fifth floor, the observation deck.

"Oh great." He thought to himself.

The lift doors opened, and as he left the elevator and walked into the corridor, he felt the building floor beneath his feet stir and sway and tremble slightly, and had a strange sensation of walking on something like jelly. He couldn't tell whether it was the floor or his legs that were the jelly!

He turned to look through the massive glass panes, and could see only blue. Only sky. And this was only halfway up! As he looked through the windows into the heavens themselves, he realised there an then, unequivocably, that he was literally scared witless.

So how exactly did he get into this state? His work colleague Helen had said to him, in her delightful lilting scottish accent, as he surveyed the magnificent metal and glass structure from the relative safety of the sidewalk below... in a state of hesitation (or was it just plain fear?)

"You really ought to go up there, Neil, You never know when you may get another chance."

That did it.

Right! He thought to himself. "I'm going in!"

He swallowed down his fear and stepped boldly forward. He went on inside the gargantuan structure with this work colleagues, Mike and Henry, to queue up for a ticket to the observation deck. The floor below the roof, the 135th floor of the building. It was very high!

As they were standing in the queue, he noticed that you could have your picture taken as a group in the foyer next to a picture of the two towers. Mike paid for the tickets, "My treat," he said and they stood and had their picture taken together.

Then his heart sank as he saw the service elevator. They stepped inside. The journey to the top was exactly as Andrew had described, He clenched everything, grabbed the handrail, and watched with a grim sense of wonder and fascination as the red digital numbers whizzed upwards...(like a random number generator before it stops).

20th floor...

30th floor...

40th floor...

50th floor... (Gulp!)

60th floor...

65th floor and then.... it stopped.

"Will all visitors now walk around to the service elevator please. This will take you the rest of the way to the Observation Deck on the 135th floor."

When they reached the 135th floor, he stepped out of the lift, and kept his back firmly against the wall and he sidled cautiously into the observation area, trying to keep his composure, his fight or flight mechanism well and truely in operation, feeling pale, cold but also apprehensive and he had to admit, a little excited, keeping himself as far away from the windows of the building as humanly possible, as the rest to the group walked off without him went about their business, completely unfazed.

"How on earth can people work in here every day, it's just too high". He thought to himself.

***

4) THE COACHMAN

The coachman was nearly home now. He had had a long arduous journey on foot, and he was now several miles from the scene of the incident with the Highwayman.

He had come to the aptly named bridge on Thieve's Bridge Road. The light was fading now, but he could just make out there was a broken section in the middle. As he went closer to inspect the damage, there was rubble and shattered timbers around the gap, which he could no longer make out with the naked eye, but he could feel them crunching and scraping under his boots as he walked cautiously towards the edge.

It was at that moment that he heard the sound of the horse's hooves behind him, and realised that the highwayman was close on his tail.

A fear and anxiety keenly gripped his gut. And yet, if he could just get over the bridge, he was home.

He had everything he needed back home, at Hall Farm, to deal effectively with the situation.
But for now, he had to make do with what he had on him right now.
So close to home, so close, and yet waves of helplessness and frustration still gripped him.

The sound of the hooves was nearer now, and appreciably louder. He could clearly see in his mind's eye, all over again, the musket shots being fired, the smell of the smoke, the shrill sound of alarm from the horses as they reared up in terror, and the coach wheel being shattered. Once again, He was replaying the ugly sounds of splintering timber and wood both smashing into and scraping along gravel that were now etched firmly into his conciousness.

He felt that pain in his head all over again, as the coach had struck the carefully placed rock, skewed to the right at that fateful bend in the road and toppled helplessly down the embankment into the river.

He had indeed been fortunate to jump clear at the last possible moment. And he realised now that he had to take full advantage of the silence and darkness that now surrounded him.

He took a deep breath, centred himself, and waited for the horseman to approach.
He did not have to wait for long...

***

5) RELEASE

"Push!", the midwife shouted, "Push!"

It had been so tough. Val was so tired. She had lost a lot of blood, and the pain seemed to be relentless. She began to feel exhaustion creeping over her, and the pain was replaced by a numbness and a curious floating sensation.

Now she suddenly found herself floating on a blanket of air, and filled with a sense of love so strong and all encompassing it was simply beyond words. It was as if she was being cradled in the hand of God Herself.

How quickly the intense cold had left her body, and a brand new invigorating warmth flowed through every outer extremity and began to gather at her very centre, her very essence.

And she could now hear sweet child like whispers all around her, loving whispers and little giggles from the entities that seemed to be all around her, gently gathering momentum and power as they soothed her with reassurances...

"Come with us," they enchanted her. "We will look after you, there's no need to be afraid."

Bright blinding lights shone all around her, and she had the sense of beautiful beings gently fluttering beside her, brushing her gently with butterfly wings. They took her hands firmly and led her upwards, towards the brightest light of all.

Now she was floating free, and she turned to see herself in a hospital bed below. Doctors, nurses midwives and other staff moved around her rapidly and attended to her.

"Quickly now," chattered the entities, as they whispered in unison. "We must show you the light, we must take you there, Don't be afraid." they giggled, "Come with us, come."

The brightest light of all was warm on her face now, and she felt a compelling, irresistable urge to just surrender to it, with every urge, every instinct, to simply float away with them on these gentle waves of love and peace and pleasure, and to stay in this wonderful, dreamlike, other world, forever.

***

5) RELEASE (The Conclusion)

"Val, can you hear me?" she heard. The sound broke roughly into her dreamworld, and she began to stir into awareness. "Val, can you hear me, it's me, Eric. Wake Up!!!"

But it was so warm, and so safe, she didn't want to answer.

Eric was insistent. "Wake up, We need you!"

The last phrase jarred her free, the warm comfortable bonds were shattered, and she found herself to be suddenly awake.

Eric was there, holding her hand, squeezing it gently, and looking at her with some concern and no small measure of relief.

Then he smiled and said "Welcome back."

***

4) THE COACHMAN (Conclusion)


The coachman had an idea.

He ran down to the edge of the bridge and crouched still in a wet tussock of long field grass.

He heard the hooves of the highwayman's horse approaching. He could have literally only been a few feet away.

"Driver?" cried out the Highwayman. "I know you're there."

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!!!" The highwayman chuckled to himself, as his horse started at the coachman's presence. The coachman could sense the animal's cold breath rising in the night air as vapour as it snorted loudly.

"We have unfinished business to attend to, Driver!!!"

Then something changed inside the coachman. Something deep in his gut was telling him, "That's it, I not going to stand for this any longer!" His rising anger and frustration was now replaced with a new kind of certainty, a compulsion to take action. The paralysing fear had gone. He had a plan.

As the highwayman inched closer in the darkness to his hiding place, the coachman knew that the time to act is now. In one fluid motion, he stood up boldly in spite of his fear and grasped his opportunity. He grabbed the reigns from his startled assailant and shouted "Yes!" with all his might, making the horse rear and throwing the highwayman to the ground.

Then he straddled the animal, giving it an encouraging dig in the ribs. He now knew exactly what he needed to do.

The highwayman had recovered his footing, but his muskets had fallen from their holsters in the fall and he was scrambling to find them in the dark.

The coachman steadied the distrought animal to jump the gap in the bridge. As he took the final run up to the gap, the highwayman stood laughing in front of him, clutching both pistols.

"You'll pay for that, driver!" He declared, taking aim as the horse galloped towards him.
"Now you'll deliver!" he cried as he squeezed both the triggers...
The coachman pulled back on the horses reigns and encouraged him to jump.

"Now is the moment." He said to himself, with total certainty.
It was like everything else, all he had ever experienced, had led up to this one moment of choice.
It was a leap of faith. Would he make it to the other side?

Would he?

The horse struck the highwayman, knocking him backwards, where he tripped on broken piece of timber, sending him plunging into the gap and the cold, turbulent waters below. The coachman heard the anguished cry of the highwayman as he disappeared into the blackness... "Noooooooooooooooooooooooo."

The sound was interrupted by a loud splash. Then he was gone.

The coachman could smell the gunpower and feel the heat of it on his face and he and the horse were suspended in space, in virtual pitch blackness, over the river, over the gap. They were airborne.

He held his breath.
There was a tremendous rush of air, a moment of pure stillness of the most divine kind, and finally, the clattering sound of the horse's hooves as they landed perfectly on the other side of the broken bridge. He could see a streetlamp burning in the distance, and more importantly, he could see the approaching lights flickering and burning ever brighter as he got nearer home.

And finally there was a rush of peace, of the achievement he had anticipated in advance and had prayed for. The exhilaration of grasping the opportunity, and making a difference, and it felt so good. He took a moment to fully bask in that feeling, It was such a great moment!

"Thank you." He thought to himself. "Happiness is Victory. It was worth it."
Then he smiled to himself and said, "It's always worth it".

***

Zee felt the intense pressure on his temples and gagged a little to breathe. But he was determined to hold out. Then He realised that in order to relieve the pressure from the outside, he needed to release the pressure on the inside. He needed to stop fighting and just ... let go. At that moment, as he did so, there was a rupture in the membrane, a release, and a whooshing sensation and he felt himself being carried downwards through a narrow channel, surrounded by fluid. It was like going down a water slide!

He felt...weightless. He felt powerful. He felt a moment of exhilaration. There he was, outside the chamber, surrounded by bright light. And suddenly he could breathe properly again. A huge weight had lifted, replaced with a tidal wave of relief and relaxation. The old tensions had melted away from his body and he felt completely at peace. He felt... reborn!

"Here we go again!" he thought to himself.

***

1) BIRDSONG (Conclusion)

As the little bird was about to burst into song, she heard a loud blast of noise.

Then she felt something smother her and she fell into blackness.

When she awoke she found herself in a cramped space. There was a small hole at one end which let in a small glimmer of morning sunlight and a modest breeze. And she could sense from the incoming air that it was approaching dawn, and it was time to sing, but she was afraid, afraid to sing!

And what's more she didn't even feel like singing, After all, she would normally sing from the very top of the tallest tree in the forest, and here she was in confined space where she could barely open her wings. So she decided to stay quiet.

Then the light coming through gradually faded and turned to darkness, and she realised it was night time once again. She could hear very little, apart from a constant rumbling of a motor, an odd splash, and the occasional barking of some fierce forest beast which played on her nerves.
This continued for several days. After the seventh day, a man's voice thundered outside. He made some loud gruff noises and the little bird experienced a sudden jarring movement. She started to slide around as the container she was in was picked up roughly and moved a short distance.

When it was put down again, a shutter was lifted up, and sunlight burst in. A man's leering face peered in, smelling of tobacco. He managed a grim, toothy smile, and then disappeared.

When her eyes finally adjusted to the light, the little bird could see clearly out of the container now, through the open shutter.

She could make out that she was on a riverboat, which was floating downstream towards the local market.

One morning, the boat had come to a stop, and she found herself looking out throught the bars of a glass cage, in a restaurant. The owner came every day for a week, and told her to sing, but she was so sad, that she wouldn't.

One the seventh day, the owner was angry. "If you don't sing today, little bird, I will put you in one of my meat pies and feed you to my customers!"

The owner shuffled away to deal with some new customers, and the little bird

cried out in despair, a shrill, melancholy call, "How had it all come to this?"

She settled on the floor of the glass cage, put her head under her wing, and closed her eyes.

She felt the strength draining from her little body, and became still.

A couple of customers came over to the cage and peered in.

"What a scrawny little bird", one said.

"Yeah, it does'nt look very well," said the other.

"It won't make much of a meal." Laughed the first one.

They went off mumbling, and sat at a table to eat.

The little bird sobbed quietly to herself. "Freedom." she whispered faintly to herself. "What a joke!" she thought.

Then she heard something very surprising. A fluty, warbling sound floated over to her that she recognised immediately. She tucked her head out from under her wing, and hopped onto her central perch in the glass cage. She looked around, but couldn't see where it was coming from.

Then she heard it again. It was closer now. And as she looked across the front of the restaurant, she saw a stout pair of yellow legs resting on the restaurant sign. As she looked further upwards, she could she a magnificent multi coloured coat, all colours and hues, and splendid red, yellow and green feathers.

It was the male Bird of Paradise she had met in the forest. She could hardly believe her eyes!

"I have found you at last." He said. "So many animals and birds are taken from the forest every day, and brought to the market to be sold to the restaurants and souvenir shops for tourists, it has taken a whole week for me to work out where you were. In fact, it was only your piercing cry earlier that led me here."

"We haven't much time." He said, and added: "Now listen to me carefully, if you want to be free then you must sing, Trust me!"

"But I can't!" She said disconsolately. "If I sing now, the restaurant owner will keep me in this glass cage forever, to sing to his customers. And if I don't sing, he will put me in a pie to be eaten."

"Trust yourself." said the handsome bird of paradise.

And to encourage her, the male bird sang a beautiful, inspiring song to her.

And she started to open her mouth to sing. But no sound would come out.

The bird of Paradise said to her: "Don't think about where you are right now, Think about where you want to be...Imagine you are high in the canopy. It is nearly dawn. The morning mist is rising through the trees in the forest, and the first of the sun's rays are shining bright through the branches. In the distance you can see the mountainside, covered with leafy trees and tall grasses. It's your moment, it's what you were born to do, now share your gift with us. It's far too good to keep it to yourself."

She sipped some water, and centred herself. She closed her eyes and imagined the full glory of sitting in the very tallest tree, in the heart of the rainforest. She made the colours vivid and bright, and the images bold and so real to her, that she could feel the morning sunlight on her face.

And at that moment, she opened her beak and the most transfixing, hypnotic melody of beauty and grace that anyone could ever hear went out through the bars of the cage, up and down the market, and floated back to the very rainforest itself.

All the other birds and animals stopped to just... listen.

Everybody in the marketplace and the restaurant stopped what they were doing and were mesmerised by this beautiful song.

And she grew louder and louder, growing in confidence:

Knowing that this is why she was born, for this moment now, to sing this wonderful song, that no one else in the world could sing.

And as she carried on, the melody steadily picking up momentum, the notes were floating out effortlessly now, highs and lows and warbles and trills, little clicks and churrs and phrases and such dazzling speed and complexity that it was incredible.

With her eyes still closed, she could feel her claws digging firmly into the tallest branch on the tallest tree in the rainforest, she could feel the morning sun, and see the distant mountains. It was so real, that she felt she was home. It was extraordinary.

She felt a joy she had not experienced for a long time. And she wanted to make it real.

"This is my purpose, This is my time, This is my Joy, This is My Life!" she cried out stridently.

And something wonderful, something magical was happening.

As she sung higher and higher, there was a tiny cracking sound, from the foot of the cage, followed by another and another and still another.

And as she sang louder still, the cracking sounds began to grow louder too.

As she opened her eyes, she saw the restaurant owner peering into her glass cage in amazement.

And she looked across at the restaurant sign where the bird of paradise still stood smiling, and he winked at her.

So she sang the shrillest, loudest, highest note she had ever sung, and at that moment, the bars holding the cage together shattered into tiny shards, scattering in all directions, covering the restaurant owner in tiny pointed needles.

He jumped in the air and swore and squealed with pain as they penetrated his skin, not knowing which part to rub first!

And with that, the little bird spread her wings, and flew higher and higher into the clouds, where she was joined by the splendid bird of paradise.

And they sang together as they flew together back to the rainforest: