The Door in the Dressing Gown
I’ve been writing a piece of fiction for, and sort of with, my son Ari for a few months now. Some evenings at bedtime I’ll come up with a short chapter. I have no overriding structure or big goal, but I’m feeling my way towards a few ideas I hope he finds fun.
As I think of it and have time, I’ll add the posts to the blog, backdated when necessary. Jekyll, the CMS tech I’m using allows me to make pages like the below where all the posts are collated in order. I hope you enjoy it! Any feedback, please reach out and let me know.
The Door in the Dressing Gown: Collected Writing
Getting Home
May 29, 2025
Ari could see the portal home through the blades of grass, but it was far too high for him to get to at his current size. He was only a few centimetres tall, after all. Climbing over the moss (which now instead of being soft and springy was like a big tangly bouncy mess) as quickly as he could he tried to get closer to the portal, not sure what he’d do when he got there.
Coming out of the grass, he was just starting to panic when he caught a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye and realised that the balloon was right above him, caught in a spiderweb! He couldn’t quite reach him, but if he climbed one of the blades of grass he might be able to make it.
The sky was dark enough that there were a few stars, and he could see through the doorway into his own room that the sun was up - his dad would be coming into his room soon to wake him. Putting his hands on the nearest blade of grass - which was taller than a house - he realised that rather than being smooth, it had a rough texture that was very easy to grip.
Hand over hand he pulled himself up along the blade of grass, the tip of which was just below the balloon. He was going to make it! Even though he had no difficulty holding onto the grass itself, it was a long way to go and he just focused on what was right in front of him as he pulled himself higher and higher. Right as he got to the top he risked looking up and his heart sank - his weight on the grass blade had bent it down and now there was no way he’d be able to reach up to the balloon. He heard a distant rumble and held on as hard as he could as wind blew through the grass and trees, rocking his blade from side to side and tugging the balloon, which was tantalisingly out of reach, even farther, pulling it out of the cobweb.
With an audible snapping sound, the cobweb broke and the balloon, his only way to save himself from being stuck here and tiny, started to float away. But what was this? There was a long strand of spidersilk trailing behind the balloon! With every muscle in his body, Ari swung the blade of grass back and then as it swung itself forwards again he leaped at the strand, hands outstretched. He didn’t manage to close his fingers on it and thought he was going to drop, but it was so sticky! It stuck fast to his hand and as his weight pulled it down, it stuck to his clothes as well. It was a little icky, but it was keeping him safe as the balloon sailed through the air, with him hanging underneath.
He found that if he sort of wriggled his hand away from it he could unstick it, and so this is how he moved up towards the balloon. It wasn’t until he was almost at the clip that he realised that the balloon was drifting into the portal to his room! Right as he got his hands on the clip, he heard the brushbrushbrush sound of the edge of the balloon touching against his dressing gown. With all his might be pulled the clip open and as the air rushed into his face he breathed in as much as he could, with his eyes closed.
When it stopped, he opened his eyes. He was halfway through the door! Legs in the strange world, head and shoulders in the normal one! The balloon was empty now, lying on the ground in his room. He rolled backwards into his room and slid into his bed, pulling the covers up to his neck over his dirty sticky clothes right as his dad opened the door. “Morning, kiddo!”, he said. “Want some porridge for breakfast? Need to do a wee first?”. Ari nodded his head, pretending to be sleepy. “Yes please Dad, em I’ll be down in a minute”. Ari’s dad gave him a kiss on his head and headed for the door. Right before he left, he paused and looked at Ari in his bed under the covers. “Woah kiddo, I think you had a serious growth spurt, I’m pretty sure you’re a lot taller now than you were last night!”.
On Foot
May 26, 2025
Ari walked down the dusty road towards the city, knowing even as the sun dipped towards the horizon that back in his own world the night sky would be lightening and that he was running out of time to be home before anyone noticed. He’d been walking for over an hour, and while the city was noticeably closer, he realised there was no way to get there before night fell. What was he going to do?
He felt a tug of hope when he crested a hill and spotted a seller with a wagon and stall by the side of the road, selling bric-a-brac. She was about his own age, but while he felt lost and out of place here, she seemed right at home, and confidently asked as he approached, “Evening traveller! You looking to make it to Bucklesplit before nightfall? Roads are pitch black this time of year, no fireflies yet.”
Ari considered this. Bucklesplit. Fireflies. Right. OK. “Yes, well, no, I’m actually looking to get back down the other end of this road before it gets dark, but I’m worried it’s too late.”
“You’re from Boxton?”, she asked with surprise. “You don’t look like a boxdweller.” She looked him up and down. “In fact, you don’t look like you’re from here at all.” Her gaze settled on his shoes. “Tell you what, I think I can help, but I’m guessing you don’t have any gold.” Ari shook his head, realising he wouldn’t be able to buy anything he needed in this world. “I’ll do you a deal - give me those fancy shoes you’ve got on, and if they fit me, I’ll get you back to Boxton in the time it takes to walk five steps.” This sounded like a pretty good deal! He kicked off his shoes, she picked them up, inspected them closely. Her own feet were bare. She slipped them on, tried them out and grinned at him. “Perfect fit!” She reached behind her to a stand of different coloured and shaped balloons, searched for one in particular, and took down an inflated blue balloon, handing it to him carefully. “Here - see that little clip on the bottom?” she showed him the clip, it could be opened and clicked closed again. “When you’re ready, open the clip and inhale the air inside. You’ll find you can pretty quickly get where you need to go. But there are two important rules. One – hold the air in as long as you need it, and two – when you’re finished, blow all the air back into the balloon and seal it closed. Oh, and I’d recommend closing your eyes whenever you’re sucking air in or blowing it back out.”
Ari held the balloon feeling excited and maybe a little silly. What if he’d just given this person his shoes in exchange for a balloon? “Wait!”, she said, grabbing his arm and walking him a dozen paces from her stall. “OK, now you can do it”, as she ran back towards her stall and he put the balloon up to his mouth. He opened the clip, closed his eyes and breathed in while the balloon deflated. He felt…funny, sort of dizzy for a moment. A brief rush of wind from above and then nothing. He opened his eyes and almost shouted, but managed to hold the air in as he fumbled with the clip and closed the balloon back up. He was in the sky! Looking around, he was just above the clouds, and yet he wasn’t flying. Looking down he sputtered a little and felt himself drop in height a tiny bit. He was still standing on the ground, because he was the height of ten houses! Still holding his breath, he looked around and got his bearings. To one side, the city he now knew was called Bucklesplit. To the other, the woods that he’d left by paper airplane. Glancing down at the stall, the seller was waving. Ari gave a silent thumbs up and, still holding onto the air in his lungs, he strode towards the woods.
Just like she’d said, it was only a matter of four or five strides and he was standing in the field where the portal to his bedroom was. As he lifted the balloon to his lips and fiddled with the clip, he heard a curious sound that he realised too late was a small, terrified scream, just as a paper airplane with two tiny people in it crashed into his eye. “Owwwwwww pppphh!!!!” Ari said, feeling himself drop through the clouds towards the ground as he breathed out hard, the closed balloon with its little bit of air inside, still held in his hand and closed his eyes as he dropped, the combination of falling while standing making him feel dizzy. He realised he was breathing out the entire time he plummetted, and that he was breathing out much longer than made sense…like he was breathing out more than the air he’d breathed in. As he kept dropping he felt the air resistence get stronger, whipping the balloon out of his hand. He shut his mouth and clapped his hand over his nose and suddenly the dropping stopped. Afraid of what he’d see, he slowly opened his eyes.
In front of him was was the toilet roll bridge he’d crossed through over and over…except now it towered over him like a skyscraper. He realised with some panic, that even though he could see the door to his dressing gown in the distance, he’d shrunk not down to his normal size, but to something much, much smaller.
The sky grew darker and he could see the dawn light shining through the portal to his room.
What a day! And: what now?