What Was Beautiful - Judy Albietz

Isis led her small son Bakari into the new world. They were in the first group of Blue Monkeys to go through the Time Portal into the future. Still holding tightly to Bakari’s little hand, Isis breathed a sigh of relief. They had made it. They had escaped the volcano.

Looking around, Isis gasped at the beauty around them. They were standing on a hill, under a canopy of large graceful green and lavender trees. In addition to branches and leaves, the trees had gauzy fronds which waved in the warm breezy air, sending off tiny sparkles in the sunlight. Familiar salty ocean scents mixed with new ones of delicate flowers. Down below, a vast basin of blue water stretched out to the ocean. The water was so clear Isis could see to the sandy bottom. There was music in the air, a soothing melody of chiming notes which appeared to come from the strange trees.

Isis looked down at Bakari and smiled. He saw it too. This was exactly as he had described it—the world in the future. Everyone knew that Bakari had visions. Ever since he had learned to walk he had talked about pictures in his head. Recently the visions had become more specific and clear. Alarmed, his mother took him to the Elder Blue Monkeys. Bakari told them about his visions of seismic disturbances which would be warnings about the island’s volcano waking up and killing all life on the island. He told them about a future, five thousand years away, when it would be safe for the Blue Monkeys families to live. Then, when small earthquakes began to shake the ground and gases seeped up through cracks in the earth, the Elder Blue Monkeys listened more carefully to the seven-year-old boy. They knew it was time to use the Time Portal to leave Borealis before it was too late.