Susan sat reading her magazine on a pillow-laden couch lost deep in thought as her eyes moved slowly across the pages. Her eyes were moving, yet the information wasn't making it into her mind. She was more focused on her shopping list and what needed to be done around the house. The day was gloomy and grey as a severe thunderstorm made its way into Narnia. The warnings had started the day before. Although, generally they are ignored as the predicted storms typically don't appear and usually never amount to more than a thought. This one seemed to have made the grade.

Bang!

Woah. That was a big one, she thought as she shifted her gaze upward. Geez, it's really coming down out there. She noticed while peering out of the window.

There was a knock on the door and it opened. A voice yelled up the stairs, "Susan! It's me, Lucy. Are you here?"

"I'm upstairs," she yelled back toward the voice in the hallway. "Come on up!"

Lucy made her way up the stairs and collapsed on the loveseat facing her dry friend.

"Man, I'm glad I got out of the car and indoors when I did! It's crazy outside. The wind is blowing, the trees are swaying, and my hair is an absolute mess. I just had it done too," Lucy pouted as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm not that thrilled with the weather either. I need to mow the grass, go grocery shopping, get stuff done ... and with this rain, the grass is only going to keep on growing and nothing will get done."

Lucy started digging around aimlessly in her knapsack. She was pulling out random items one by one, books, folders, pens, a frazzled tampon at one point, and finally she found her item of interest.

"Hey, I brought over a package I received in the mail. I'm not sure who it is from. I think it's coffee.... maybe we could try it?" Lucy asked as she gleamed at her friend.

"Umm... do you think this is a wise choice? I mean you received an unknown package in the mail... or better stated from an unknown person... and you are not exactly certain of what the item ... actually is. Doesn't sound like THE safest plan to me," Susan put forward to her wet friend as gently as she could. "Don't get me wrong, I do love coffee. I never drank it ... ever ... until after I started taking a medication for headaches. After that, my taste for it completely changed and coffee turned into being a necessity in my life. However..." Seeing the disappointment on her friend's face. "Well, what kind is it?"

... "Ummm... let's see?? Ko... pi Luuwak. Kopi Luwak. Do you know it?" asked Lucy. "It looks fancy."

"Do you hear giggling?" questioned Susan as she glanced around the room. "Hmmm???"

"No."

"I could have sworn I heard something. It sounded like laughing."

"Oh, the rain is probably playing tricks on your ears."

"Who knows? Probably," admitted Susan as she stood up from the couch. "Alright, you talked me into it. I will try it but only once and only because it is you."

Lucy beamed from ear to ear. "Alright! Thank you. Let's make it! Fancy coffee ... here we come. Do you have fancy cups for our fancy coffee?"

"Let's not get too carried away. I guess we can use my Fiestaware ... will that do your Highness?"

"Perfect. I will make the coffee and set up the table for our coffee. Do you have anything to eat for our high tea?"

"Uh... well, I need to go shopping. There may not be a lot to choose from. Let me think."

Both women walked down a hallway toward the kitchen. Susan opened a cupboard door and looked blankly at bare shelves.

"This won't help us. Look in the fridge."

Lucy opened the refrigerator while Susan found another cupboard to peer into. They both found some items and regrouped.

"I found some bread, butter, and cucumbers."

Susan replied, "I found some Turkish Delight way in the back of the cupboard under some elbow macaroni. It is rose and lemon flavored."

"Turkish Delight? I have never heard of that. What is it? It sounds like meat... turkey or something."

Susan looked at her friend and smiled. "Are you serious? You have never heard of Turkish Delight?"

"Uh, no."

"Yes, it's turkey... rose and lemon, flavored turkey," snickered Susan. "I think we have enough for cucumber sandwiches along with our "Turkey" Delight."

The women started preparing their high tea while the rain continued on relentlessly outside. They prepared cucumber sandwiches, the coffee with special cups, as well as the "Turkey Delight". Lucy started to set the table while Susan placed the sandwiches on a serving platter.

Susan looked up, "Did you hear that?"

"No, what?"

"The noise sounded like a cough." She said as she turned her head to listen intently. "There it is again!"

"Maybe, I heard it? It is still raining pretty fiercely outside. I dunno," shrugged Lucy.

Both women walked over and looked out of the kitchen window while scanning the yard.

"I don't see anything ... and I am not seeing anyone."

Susan had a puzzled look on her face, "Hmm, I could have sworn I heard something. Anyway, let's have our coffee and sandwiches."

The two women sat down to a beautifully set table with the fancy dishware complete with fancy coffee, cucumber sandwiches and rose and lemon flavored "Turkey Delight".

"Enjoy your meal."

"Lucy you had better appreciate this." Glared Susan as she helped herself to the feast as well as poured herself a cup of the fancy coffee.

"Oh, I do. Thank you." Lucy smiled as she did the same.

"Here goes." Susan tentatively took a small sip of the "special" coffee. Her face immediately twisted and contorted into a puckered-up circle. "Um... have you tried the coffee?"

"No, these cucumber sandwiches are delicious, and the Turkey Delight is like a jelly... not meat. Hmm? It is a candy. Who would have ever known? ... I will try the coffee now. Is it good?"

Lucy grabbed her cup and swallowed a rather large sip. Her face contorted and her body shivered as she swallowed.

"Ughhh... this tastes like shit!"

Susan rolled her eyes.

Lucy appeared as though she was going to cry. Her eyes welled up with tears. Her lips were pursed and trembling.

"Maybe we just got bad "sips" the first go 'round." Susan quickly retorted as she sensed her friend's inner turmoil knowing an, "I told you so," was heading her way.

"I will try another sip," Susan cringed as the words fell from her mouth.

"Me too... a big one."

"Me... uh...too."

They clunked cups as both women took rather large "swigs" of the fancy coffee. They again contorted their faces, squinted their eyes, as well as tucked their chins to swallow the foul-tasting coffee.

"I agree with your first assessment, Lucy, it still tastes like shit." laughed Susan.

"Yup. It does. It stinks too and reminds me of cat barf ... like a cat barfed a million times all over the place." Lucy smiled.

"Bahahaha... or what I would imagine a rotting dead whale would smell like,' giggled Susan joining in on the fun. "Good grief, gross stuff. Yuck." Susan stood and stumbled slightly, "Wow! I feel a little dizzy, do you?"

"Yes, now that you ask. I do. Uh... did you just see that?"

"No, what?"

"I thought I saw movement in the kitchen. Oh, I am really dizzy." Lucy said as she staggered into the living room and over to the couch and sat down.

"No. I think we are losing our minds today." Susan remarked as she followed Lucy over to the couch and plopped down rather awkwardly next to her.

All of a sudden -the lights went black, just as lightning lit up the room with a loud crack.

"Ok... this is fun," remarked Susan. "I think the candles are in the drawer of the coffee table in front of you. I have matches right here. What a strange day."

"Found them."

Lucy lit the candles and placed them on the coffee table. The two women sat in silence listening to the rain bounce off the windows sounding like a drum -- tap, tap, tap, tapping with the flickering candles barely keeping the room lit. Soon, the two women drifted into a deep sleep mesmerized by the flickering candle and the rapping sounds of the rain.

While the women lie sleeping, a tall figure peaked around the corner assessing whether or not it was safe to move in closer. Seeing the women unconscious, he was finally able to step into the room and approach the two sleeping on the couches.

"Alas, I found you," he admired as the two lay silently sleeping. "My Lucy... and ... Susan." He had a tear in his eye as he watched the girls.

Lucy stirred in her sleep, this snapped him out of his trance. He leaned over and lightly touched her cheek to rouse her from her slumber.

"Lucy... you must wake up ... Lucy. We need your help."

Lucy started stirring in her sleep, "hmm?"

"Oh, dear me, Lucy... you must simply wake up. Aslan is waiting for you. Oh, the drink was too heavy, I fear." He looked over toward Susan who also was sleeping soundly.

He leaned over again, this time, shaking her body briskly.

"Wake up, Lucy."

Lucy opened her eyes, groggily she looked around the darkened room and seeing a tall mannish shape. She immediately panicked with her eyes as big as saucers, yelling, "Who are you?"

The man sighed, "Lucy? Do you not remember me?"

"Susan, wake up!" she screamed as she sat up, moving backward, away from the tall man while keeping her eyes directly on him.

"Lucy, the drink has worked too well. Tis' I, Mr. Tumnus, do you not remember?" he said, lightly pleading with her. "We have met before in Narnia."

"This is Narnia." she abruptly stated.

"No, dear..." He sighed heavily. "Your brothers are waiting for you two. They require your assistance."

"Susan! ... I don't have any brothers!", shouted Lucy.

"Yes, we need to rouse your sister as well. We need to leave post haste."

"Susan... Susan?"

Susan started to stir with the commotion in the room. She opened her eyes to see a half man half goat standing above Lucy across from her. Her eyes became as big as saucers and she froze.

"Hello, Susan. Do you remember me? I am Mr. Tumnus. I am a Faun and have arrived from Narnia."

She squinted her eyes at the tall mannish creature. She vaguely recalled a dream... no.... a place. Narnia. Yes, Mr. Tumnus. Her face softened and her body relaxed.

"Mr. Tumnus?"

"Yes, my dear, 'tis I. It is wonderful to see you both again after all this time."

"What in the world? Who? Where? Why? What is going on?" Susan looked at the Faun puzzled.

"My dears, I wish there was time enough to explain, however, we must leave for Narnia. Your brothers require your assistance as I stated before. We must leave and soon." Mr. Tumnus said as he moved toward the door.

Lucy looked quizzingly at Susan, "What is he speaking about?"

Susan looked over at Lucy with a serious gaze, "We must go. Aslan needs us... our brothers need us."

"What?"

Mr. Tumnus moved toward the girls, "Quickly, we must leave. Put your coats on, it is cold where we are going. The winter has come again, I am afraid."

Susan gazed at Lucy and nodded. They both rose and walked toward a coat rack, each taking their coats and gear for their journey. They found the staircase and followed it to the top of the old house, locating a small room in the attic. At the end of the narrow room, an old friend who had not been seen in an exceptionally long time; the wardrobe.

"Come along girls." Mr. Tumnus gestured as he opened the wardrobe stepping inside. The girls followed behind, moving into a world of dark, dusty, and dank smelling coats. As they moved further back, it was still dark but the temperature had changed. You could sense a cool breeze on your face. The smell of the air was damp and fresh. It hurt your lungs if you inhaled too deeply. A vague light appeared up ahead, the three travelers saw this light, and they followed it. The light became brighter and brighter the further they walked into the wardrobe until finally they were blinded by this light it was so bright. One by one, they each fell out of the wardrobe onto the wet snow laden ground.

"Welcome back to Narnia." smiled Mr. Tumnus.

Lucy and Susan slowly regained their vision and stood up in the snow. Mr. Tumnus gestured for the girls to follow him along a path through a heavily wooded area. They walked single file down the worn path. They trudged in silence. The girls not quite certain of the circumstances of why they were even there and what they were doing. Finally, Susan asked, "Mr. Tumnus, my memory is rather fuzzy why are we here again?" Lucy nodded her head eagerly awaiting an answer.

"Girls, winter has fallen upon Narnia yet again. The White Witch has returned. I fear your brothers Peter and Edmund have been taken hostage by unfortunate circumstances of her return," sighed the Faun while staring at the ground forging forward along the path. "Aslan has sent me to find you both, as you are the only ones who can help them as well as Narnia. I have been asked to return with you to the palace where he is in hiding. We must hurry."

The girls looked at each other with sad faces. Susan's memories were deeply hidden in her mind and were sketchy at best. However, Lucy was unable to recall any of these memories and was following Susan's lead, hoping her memories would fall into place in order to guide them both.

They carried on walking along the narrow path in silence. Lucy noticed an opening in the tree line up ahead. It was a clearing -- a campsite. As the trio moved in closer, they observed young boys, ranging in ages from eight up to roughly eighteen, running around and throwing what seemed to be food at each other. They appeared to be playing a game of "hide and seek".

The Faun rolled his eyes as soon as it became clear of the frivolities in this camp.

"Oh dear."

"What is happening? Who are they?" asked Lucy.

"These boys are lost. They have been for quite some time now, I am afraid. They live out here in the wood in this campground. They have no family."

"How sad," replied Susan.

"Well, yes, my dear. I am afraid ... I am afraid it is even sadder as Peter is one the lost boys. He fell off of his horse while hunting and hit his head. He hasn't been the same since. His behavior has been notably outrageous, throwing items and swearing."

"BANG-A-RANG!" screeched out from the camp.

"Exactly my point, at least they have moved up to throwing food such as rotting tomatoes and onions. We have had some trying times with these lost souls."

Susan looked confused, "What do you mean? Moved "up" to throwing food?"

"Well," the Faun thought about his word choice for a moment then replied... "Let's just say you humans know of an animal in the primate category? I believe the term is Monkey. Ummm ... they thought it was good fun to throw... Oh, it doesn't matter. Done and dusted now."

"They look happy and they are having fun," noted Lucy. "Oh look, that one has a funny costume on."

"Yes, I believe they call him 'Hook' and that one over there is... Oh... something silly...Tootsie... No...Tootles. That's it! They have all lost their marbles, I am afraid." sighed the Faun.

So sad, Lucy thought to herself and Peter is one of the lost boys. We must fix this. We must rescue our brother.

"Duck!" yelled the Faun, as a huge tomato came flying toward the trio. They managed to escape the sloppy tomato kiss, whizzing past their heads, and landing square on a tree behind them.

"Aslan awaits our arrival. We must carry onward my darlings. We must carry on." warned Mr. Tumnus.

The trio regained their footing along the path to meet Aslan and moved onward. They walked seemingly for hours. Never speaking a word to one another. It was as though they all knew what a heavy burden was about to be placed upon their heads. Lost in thoughts, becoming more and more sad with each step taken as they got closer to Aslan.

Eventually, a table appeared off in the distance with chairs and a setting ... a tea setting. As the trio moved closer, they viewed activity at this table. A girl in a white and blue pinafore dress, a hatter, a dormouse, and a March Hare all were sitting at this table. They appeared to be having a tea party.

Mr. Tumnus paused.

"Girls, I am so sorry. I was hoping we wouldn't come across this." He said, shaking his head.

"Why? What is the problem? asked Lucy.

"Edmund."

"And?" implored Susan.

"Well, the "word" in the Wood is Edmund is having a torrid love affair with the White Witch. However, she doesn't go by the White Witch moniker anymore... she now goes by The Queen of Hearts. There is a rumor, she is one of two persons. I don't know how true this is girls but what I can tell you, The White Witch has no heart. She is evil and thinks only of herself. She lured your brother with Turkish Delight, his weakness. That child, I swear, he will never learn!" The Faun emphatically stated.

"Oh My!" cringed Lucy.

"Edmund is held hostage beyond the hill, over the ridge toward the east, in a fortress with The White Witch. I have watched this area quite frequently. He serves her during the day, does her bidding, and then comes down here in the evenings to meet with these creatures."

"How very curious," said, Susan, as she listened intently to the story.

"Why would he come down here?" asked Lucy.

"Well, I am not certain, but my theory is that he escapes the abuse of his incarceration. He comes down here ... these creatures appear to be misfits of society. They seem to drink tea and know things. They appear to have odd behaviors, for example, after a sip of tea they will get up and switch chairs repeatedly. There is a white rabbit obsessing about being late to "something". The girl is always mentioning falling down a rabbit hole somewhere. If I didn't know better, I would say they partake in medicinal practices."

The girls looked at Mr. Tumnus in a puzzled manner.

"Well, in the evenings there is usually an "odd" smell as well as a heavy layer of smoke around their table. This could indicate their use of a medicinal herb for relaxation purposes, let's just say."

"Is that a cat?" Lucy said as she pointed up to a tree... "Yes, it is."

"Oh, that is where he is hiding today. Hmmm... I believe he is their supplier of this ... "medicinal herb."

Susan stared up at the cat as he watched and smiled down at them, "He's smiling at me."

"Yes, he is a Cheshire Cat. They are known for their smiling. I think it is because he partakes ... Well, yes, it is a cat. A smelly cat," Mr. Tumnus said as he wrinkled his nose.

"He is a weird looking cat, I must say," noted Lucy.

"My dears... We must continue our journey onto see Aslan. I am afraid Edmund is deeply entrenched within his misery and will not be escaping anytime soon. Therefore, we must carry on. Aslan awaits our arrival. We must arrive before nightfall."

The girls each moved toward the Faun, glancing back at the table of misfits before continuing on with their journey. Each traveler desperately hoping Aslan will have the knowledge of how to help their brother Edmund. The trio picked up their footing once again along the path as they plodded on. Hearts heavy and sad.

They stopped for brief periods of time or if they needed to rest their tired feet. They traveled for many hours over difficult terrain. The snow became deeper as they neared the palace where Aslan was in hiding from the White Witch. Soon, the outline of the grey structure could be seen in the distance. They walked and walked. They could see the palace and yet it seemed to be moving further away. It was as though they would never reach Aslan. Their minds seemed to be playing tricks on them due to exhaustion. The steps of the palace finally drew near and they were able to climb the stairs one by one to reach Aslan.

They climbed upward until, they viewed the last set of stairs with a tall, wooden engraved oak door, being placed at the top of a narrow staircase. It was the last stair climb the trio needed to complete before reaching Aslan.

The Faun stopped.

"Girls, I must part ways with you at this point."

"What?" they both said in unison.

"My role was to find you and lead you to Aslan. I am no longer needed. You will find Aslan at the top of the staircase behind this oak door. I have completed my duty. It has been a pleasure seeing you both again. Now, I must bid you farewell."

Mr. Tumnus slightly bowed his head, turned, and followed the staircase downward, leaving the girls by themselves.

They glanced at each other and nodded. Aslan was waiting. They needed to continue upward along the staircase to find salvation for their brothers as well as Narnia. They initiated the last piece of their journey one step at a time. Lucy went first. As they climbed higher, a light could be seen in the cracks around the oak door, the closer the girls moved toward the door, the brighter the light became. Until finally, as they reached the top step, the light was so bright. The girls could hardly keep their eyes open. It was a white blinding light forcing them to squint and turn away.

Lucy turned the lever of the door and forced it open. As she completed this motion, a strong white light was forced out of the room and completely enveloped and surrounded the girl's bodies blinding them instantly. They fell to the floor in a stupor. They couldn't see anything but they could hear sounds. At first, there was a deafening silence. However, after a moment, they could hear an annoying high pitched sound coming from what seemed to be a box from across the room.

"Hey Ladies! Let's sweat! Come on over here... Oh Yeah! One more time! OH YEAH!! YESSSSS!!!"

Susan looked over at the television from her laptop, "Wow that's a blast from the past! What nineteen eighty-something?? Geez, he could rock the shorty shorts. Richard Simmons... Pffft." She laughed out loud.

Lucy stirred in her sleep.

"Ugh, I can't stand this!" as she shut the TV off and went back to surfing online now that the storm was over and the power was back.

Lucy started stirring more and then sat up on the couch appearing to be rather confused.

"Well, sleeping beauty lives! Good evening your royal highness! Anything I can get for you since you decided to take a six-hour nap?"

"Wow, I had a weird dream," Lucy said looking dazed. "I think the coffee was poisoned."

"Yeah, let me tell you about that coffee. While you were sleeping away, I did some research."

"And?"

Susan glared at her friend.

"Your "special" coffee ... comes from ... monkey poop... well, more specifically a civet's ass."

"Oh gosh..."

"Do you remember me sort of warning you that it may NOT be a good idea to drink coffee delivered not only from an unknown sender ... but also an unknown source?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, told you so!"