Where I've Traveled

By Kerry Schafer

"There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry – 
This Traverse may the poorest take       
Without oppress of Toll – 
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul." ~Emily Dickinson

Why yes, I have been to Narnia. In fact, I traveled on the Dawntreader with Prince Caspian and the Pevensies, and saw all the strange lands they discovered. I met the White Witch and Aslan, saw the lamppost and the wardrobe, and tasted enchanted Turkish Delight. Dinesen showed me lions and giraffes in their natural habitat, and human beings out of theirs. Kipling took me into the jungles and villages of India. I climbed the Swiss Alps with Rudi in Banner In The Sky, and then hung out with Heidi and her grandfather, watching Spring come to the Swiss mountains. I've not only traveled the world, I've traveled in time. Dickens took me to Victorian London, and then to Paris during the revolution. I've experienced both world wars, lived in a concentration camp, and helped to build the bridge over the River Kwai. I traveled west with Lewis and Clark, met the last of the Mohicans, floated down a river with Huck Finn, and spent a lot of time with Laura and Mary Ingalls. It's highly probable that I know the streets and businesses of Avonlea better than the town where I grew up, so much time did I spend there with Anne, spelled with an E. As if this were not enough, I have wrinkled time with Meg and Charles Wallace, seen the giant worms on the planet Dune, and hung out with Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect in their weird and wonderful travels. As you probably already know, it doesn't cost much to be so well traveled. All you need to do is open a book.