- Harry AnderS -
Dutch psychotherapist and alternative writer

'Born to be a King'
- by Harry AnderS -

An inspirational fantasy

http://www.harryanders.com
harry@harryanders.com

    A retired psychotherapist meets a severely burnt little Gypsy boy, and takes him into his house.
The boy turns out to be the Heir to the Throne.
This emotional rollercoaster hints at past lives, spirit helpers, karma, the Power of Love, and contains several practical psychological concepts.
The story is written by a retired Dutch psychotherapist, living in The Netherlands, and specialized in supporting troubled children.

Chapter 15 ended with:

    Finally, our visitors had to go home.
We said our farewells, and again we promised to visit Rumania as soon as little Harry had got his new face.
Until that time, we would keep in touch by email or by fax.
Everyone embraced everybody, even our lawyer who acted a little bit shy.
The big van arrived exactly on time; and, a minute later, our visitors were gone...

    Suddenly, our house was dead silent.
Still under the spell of the events, we cleaned up the leftovers and washed the cutlery.
The boys put the folding chairs back into the hallway closet.
I stored our precious legal papers safely away.
We rearranged the furniture, and put the dinner table back into its place.
Finally, we slumped down onto our couch, feeling very tired but happy.

Chapter 16. About our memories; and a zoo where little Harry disappeared.

    We started to talk about all those strange things that had been happening this afternoon.
The Wise Woman seemed to look directly into your soul, and to know who you had been in your past lives...
Why couldn't we remember all those things by ourselves, without her help?
All of us seemed to be related to each other; but why didn't we recognize each other before, except for some vague feeling?
Did our spirit guides bring us together on purpose, had it been our own choice to meet each other again, or had it been just good luck?

    Little Harry looked a bit pensive, and started to think aloud:

    "I have been thinking a lot about memories... A while ago, I was wondering why I couldn't remember the first years of my life. Now and then, I could feel certain things from my past, and I even reacted to them, but I couldn't remember them. I wanted to know why that was...
    "Finally, I came up with the idea that everybody has at least two different kinds of memories...
    "First, there are the memories used by your brain. They can easily fade away; and, of course, they are gone after your death. In your next life on earth, you are getting a new and empty brain that is without any memories about your past. That's why you can't remember your past lives with your brain, and why you will have to learn everything over again...
    "There has to be another memory, which is interconnected with your feelings. I think that is the memory you are using when you are not living in a body, like Jack and our other spirit friends.
    "When you are living in a body, it's very difficult to reach that second memory; unless you are a medium, or somebody else is helping you by using for example 'reincarnation therapy'.
    "However, your soul is remembering everything, and reacting to it. It's trying to talk to you via your 'inner voice' or your 'conscience'; but, most of the time, your brain voices are drowning that inner voice in their many 'buts' and 'I-thinks'...
    "What do you think, Dad, could I be right?"

    Both John and Davey gawked at little Harry, as if they were seeing burning water...
I was very amazed, and stared at him in awe and with pride. Could that boy think!
I had never thought about those two different memories myself, but everything little Harry put forward sounded so logical!
Of course, your brain dies with you when it's your time to 'go home'... There HAS to be another memory, where all your important experiences are stored...
Every time when I remembered one of my own past lives, I wasn't thinking but FEELING. Afterwards, my brain translated my feelings into believable pictures, and that's how I formed a 'past-life-memory'...

    People who are trying to remember their past lives by using their brains, will tend to conclude that 'past lives' are nonsense or merely sort of a stupid belief...
Today, around six billion people are living on earth; and five billion of them are aware of 'Karma', being responsible for your own actions and having to make up for them in your next lives...
Only one billion of them are feeling 'enlightened' or 'reformed' or maybe 'civilized', and they 'do not believe in reincarnation'...

    "I think you are absolutely right, son. You are one very deep thinker!"

    Little Harry beamed, and went to the kitchen to drink some water.
John was deep in thought; and Davey looked at his brother from a past life with pure admiration in his eyes...

    At nine o'clock, Davey had to go home, and we decided to accompany him.
The boys put their arms around each other's shoulders, and together we went to Davey's house.
Mary invited us in; and offered us coffee for her and for me, and colas for the boys.
Enthusiastically, Davey started to tell her about all our adventures of the day, now and then filled in by John or little Harry.
Gradually, Mary understood that little Harry was a real Gypsy Prince, and that his Grandma had invited all of us to visit their camp in the Rumanian mountains...

    "Well, I'm not sure... That country is rather far away, isn't it? Is it really safe to visit that camp in the mountains, where those Gypsies are living? Davey has never been that far from home before... What will happen if he gets homesick again, and he wants me to pick him up in the middle of the night?"

    "Aw, Mom... That was years ago, in a stupid school camp. The others were nagging me, and it rained all the time! Now I'm a lot older, and of course now I'm with my new Dad and he will protect me."

    "Well... I will give it some thought, but I don't promise anything. Let us see..."

    We thanked Davey for his valuable help with the catering, and Mary for her coffee and the colas.
Davey threw his arms around my neck, and offered me a big kiss:

    "Goodnight, Dad. May I come back tomorrow, after my beauty sleep?"

    "Of course, you may! You will always be welcome in our house! Do you really think you will need a BEAUTY sleep? Isn't that waisted on you?"

    Davey chuckled, and playfully punched my arm.

    "You are under estimating my inner beauty! Thank you for everything, Dad, and I will see you back tomorrow."

    He accompanied us to the door, and waved until we disappeared around a corner.
We were dead tired from all the emotions of the day, and we all decided to go to bed early.

    We slept peacefully and uneventfully; until the next morning, when the bright sun peeked through the curtains and woke us up.
John yawned and tried to disappear below the blankets; but little Harry was bright and shining as always:

    "Dad? I've never visited a zoo, with all those strange animals... Maybe today would be a good day to have a look at our ancestors, the apes?"

    "You better look out... What if the zoo is making a mistake, and keeping YOU in a cage instead of an ape?"

    "You had better look out for yourself, with your monkey beard! But, can we? I mean, may we go to the zoo today?"

    "What do YOU think about those ape cages, John? Shall we take the risk?"

    John yawned again, and grumbled something that sounded like 'okay'.
Little Harry mercilessly threw the blankets back and pulled him out of the bed, and that helped.
Both of them disappeared into the shower, followed by me at a slightly slower pace.

    We dressed; and had a tasty and healthy breakfast, of course prepared by our little cookie with a bit of help from John.
After our meal, both boys went to Davey's house, to pull him out of his bed and ask him to join us...
They threw their arms around each other's shoulders, and left our house without even thinking about little Harry's mask.
Soon, they returned with a delighted Davey, smiling from ear to ear.
    He threw his arms around my neck, and nearly suffocated me:

    "Thank you, Dad, for asking me to join you to the zoo. You are the best Dad in the world!"

    "Yeah... Well, I hope they will not keep YOU in a cage, thinking you are a monkey..."

    I tickled his ribs to free myself, and he squealed with joy and tried to tickle me back.
That triggered my other monkeys; and, working together, they floored me, trying to tickle me wherever they could.
    Soon, this was too much for my poor old body, and I groaned:

    "Stop, boys, because I'm almost wetting my pants!"

    "We will buy you a packet of diapers..."

    "Stop now; or we aren't going anywhere today!"

    Immediately, they pulled me upright, and promised to be good boys for the rest of the day.

    Little Harry and John prepared a wagon load of sandwiches, to munch at the zoo.
Davey and I robbed our refrigerator, and put a pile of lemonade cans into a duffel bag.
I helped little Harry with his mask, and we rushed to our car to enjoy the day off...

   John took the front seat, and little Harry and Davey buckled up in the rear.
I scanned our stereo for a cheerful song, and found it at some regional radio station.
Soon, we were singing along with the music, clapping our hands and stamping our feet, now and then raising the roof.
After a while, the boys got bored, until Davey started to tell a joke.
We filled the rest of the driving time with all sorts of silly jokes and lots of laughter.

    Finally, we saw the zoo, and I parked our car in its enormous parking lot.
I bought four tickets, while little Harry pulled at my arm and John and Davey impatiently waited for us at the entrance...
Little Harry dragged me towards the gate, and John snatched the tickets out of my hand and handed them to the gatekeeper.
The man smiled at the fidgeting boys, and teased them by tearing the corners off our tickets very slowly...
At last, we were in. The boys bolted inside, trying to look everywhere at the same time.

    I visited this particular zoo for the first time; and, to my delight, it turned out to be HUGE.
Everywhere we looked, we saw animals; in buildings, walking around free, behind fences, in water pools, or in cages.
Obviously, we weren't the only ones who thought this would be a nice day to visit a zoo!
The walkways were already crowded with children and grumbling grown-ups trying to tame their little monkeys...

    A smiling man with a camera approached us:

    "Do you want a picture of you and your sons? Say 'cheese', please..."

    He took a couple of pictures; and told us that, in a few hours, they would be pinned onto a board at the entrance, where we could buy them.
The boys impatiently dragged me to the first building; which, to their delight, turned out to be the ape house.
Soon, all of us were entranced by seeing a couple of huge gorillas, patiently sitting on the floor of their cage.
They scratched their behinds, and stared at us with bored faces...

    "Are we looking at them, or are they looking at us?" Davey asked, making stupid faces at the apes.

    "Of course they are looking at you, wondering what sort of a monkey you will be!" John answered, poking Davey in the ribs.

    "I think they are recognizing you. The resemblance is striking!" little Harry teased Davey, poking him in the ribs from the other side.

    Davey tried to catch little Harry; but our own little monkey was too fast and ran away, with Davey on his heels.

    "Dad, help me, Davey is picking on me!" he shouted, jumping into my arms at full speed.

    I ruffled Davey's hair, while trying to hold onto a writhing little Harry with my other hand:

    "Be careful with our youngster, because he is still such a little monkey himself..."

    "You are no fun!" little Harry shouted and wrestled free, again chased by a grinning Davey.

    "Look here!" John suddenly shouted, and we hurried to the next cage.

    A mother ape was cuddling her child in her arms, and both of them were UGLY; at least to our human standards...

    "Now, dear folks; come and have a look at Big Harry and little Harry, peacefully sitting together..." John teased us.

    I went after John, immediately helped by little Harry; but, of course, he was too fast and escaped.

    "Next time, we will get you for that!"

    Suddenly, Davey roared with laughter, and pointed to another cage:

    "Look at that! Did you ever see such beautiful buttocks?"

    All the female apes were showing off their bright violet and pink colored behinds, protruded and wrinkled.
John and Davey roared with laughter and slapped their knees, trying to show the apes their own behinds...
    Only little Harry was silent, plucked at my arm, and asked me with concern in his eyes:

    "How come their butts are looking like that, Dad? Are they ill?"

    I tried to explain that, in this way, nature tries to make the female apes more attractive to the males...
Little Harry made a long face, and chuckled:

    "If MY girl ever tries to make herself more attractive like this, I will force her to wear a mask around her butt!"

    Both John and Davey fell down onto the floor, bellowing with laughter...

    We went through a double door, and entered the reptile house.

    "Look, there's the Harry Potter snake!" Davey pointed at a big anaconda.

    The boys tried to wake the snake by pounding the glass, but the animal didn't react and just stared at us.

    "You will have to talk to her in snake language!" Davey grinned.
    "Unfortunately, I forgot my magic wand and my broomstick."

    They stared at the snake for another second; and went to the next cage, containing a bunch of wriggling smaller snakes.
Little Harry went to the next door, and opened it:

    "Look here! They have REAL alligators!"

    All of us went through the door; and saw a huge crocodile, lazily outstretched on the grass under a bright lamp.
A second crocodile swam around in a water pool with its mouth slightly opened, showing rows of sharp teeth.

    "Wow, what dangerous teeth! Look at those mean eyes! Did you know they can eat small elephants?"

    Rather impressed, we went through the next door.
Suddenly, we were outside, and squinted at the bright sunlight...

    We strolled through the huge zoological garden for hours and hours.
We stared at the animals in their cages, and visited small buildings containing all kinds of fishes, bats, rodents, and insects.
We looked at the seals, the sea lions, the bears, the elephants, the zebra's, the tigers, and fed the peacocks.
At last, my old feet started to feel tired, and we decided to look for a nice place to sit down.
Suddenly, the boys found the playground; and, a microsecond later, I was alone.

    I sat down at a small table on a crowded terrace, and ordered a cup of coffee.
Now and then, I saw one of the boys, running from swing to slide, to climbing rope, to conning tower, to labyrinth, to waterfall...
    After ten minutes, John appeared, rubbing his belly and looking hungry:

    "Do you have something to eat, Dad? I'm starved."

    I opened our duffel bag; and, at the very moment, all three of them surrounded me like magic...
I distributed the sandwiches and the cans of lemonade, and told them to sit down.
They sat down for a mere thirty seconds, chewing and drinking.
Then, they offered me a quick kiss and disappeared again, still chewing.
I grinned, sipped my coffee, and nibbled at the remaining sandwich that turned out to be filled with tasty tomato slices and cheese.

    Now and then, one of the boys reappeared and took a fast sip of lemonade before disappearing again.
One time, Davey hugged me, showing beaming eyes:

"Thank you, Dad, it's marvelous here! I'm so happy you asked me to join you!"

    He disappeared again, rushing towards the labyrinth, where little Harry and John impatiently waited...

    I didn't see them back for a long time.
Slowly, I dozed off in the warming sunlight and the joyful sounds of playing children...

    "Dad, do you know where Harry is?"

    "Huh?" I opened my eyes; and stared at the worried faces of John and Davey, anxiously looking around:

    "We were playing hide and seek, but suddenly Harry disappeared and we can't find him any more... Did you see him?"

    "No, he hasn't been here for a long time. Maybe he had to visit a toilet... Where did you see him for the last time?"

    They pointed to the labyrinth.
I left my table and followed them, trying to stretch my stiff muscles, and still not feeling too worried.
Of course, nothing had happened to our little friend, here in the relative safety of the zoo.
He was mature enough to be able to fend for himself, being a real trapper and used to strolling through the vast Rumanian woods all on his own...

    We went to a small children's labyrinth, and both boys dived under a low wooden bar.
I followed them, crawling on my knees, and complaining about my old joints...
They knew the way, and dragged me to the exit; on the way looking into all the blind paths and yelling little Harry's name.
We saw lots of other children, playing around and chasing each other, but not our little Gypsy boy...
Little Harry seemed to have vanished...

    Now, I started to feel a bit worried...
Where could my little soul mate be?
Had something happened to him?
Did he get lost, somewhere in this big zoo?
Ultimately, he WAS only eight years old...

    "Do you know where the toilets are?"

    The boys took me to the toilets; and I probed all the doors, hoping to find little Harry.
I called his name a couple of times, but nobody responded; except for a small boy with a bewildered look on his face and his pants down, hesitantly opening his door to have a look at all that noise...

    "When was the last time one of you saw little Harry? Where was he; and what was he doing?"

    "Both Harry and Davey were hiding somewhere at the back of the labyrinth, and I was looking for them. After a while, I tagged Davey, but didn't see Harry. Davey helped me looking for him, but Harry seemed to have vanished. We looked everywhere, until we started to feel worried and asked you for help..."

    "Do you have any idea where he could be now?"

    They looked at me as if I was the dumbest ass on the planet...

    We went back to my small table, and I tried to decide what to do now.
I told them to wait here for me; and for little Harry in case he showed up...
They promised me to stay where they were until I returned from the zoo's office.
I didn't want them to get lost as well...

    I walked away, looking for the office... and, in no time, I was lost myself.
Where was the entrance, where I supposed the zoo's office could be?
Where were all those security officers, now I needed them? Did all of them have their coffee break at the same time?
Fortunately, I detected the small tower of the ape house, showing up in a far distance.
Feeling relieved, I started to walk towards the tower, hoping the zoo's office would be there as well...

    Suddenly, I noticed several small signposts, showing up proudly on every crossing...
All of them were carrying lots of bright yellow arrows; pointing to the entrance, the restaurant, the snack bar, the playground, and the office.
Now, I felt VERY stupid...

    I followed the yellow arrows pointing to the office; and, within two minutes, I arrived at a brick building showing 'OFFICE' over its entrance.
A smiling woman politely greeted me:

    "Good afternoon, sir, how may I help you?"

    "I've lost one of my three boys. They were playing in the playground, and suddenly we missed our eight-year-old little Harry. We looked everywhere, even in the toilets; but, so far, everything we tried has been in vain. The other boys are waiting for me in the playground, hoping he will show up..."

    "Don't worry. Within two minutes, all our security guards will be looking for him. Please, could you describe your little boy?"

    I described little Harry, being a slim but firmly built little boy with brownish hair, deep blue eyes, slightly stuffed cheeks, and a cheerful pug nose; dressed in a yellow T-shirt, long denim pants, and white sneakers.
I explained he had a burnt face, and therefore wore a plastic mask around his face to hide his scars.
By now, several pictures should be on the photographer's pin board near the entrance...

    The woman took a mobile phone, and called a couple of security people.
She described the lost little boy, and told them to look out for him and report to the playground where I would be waiting.

    "That's all I can do for now, sir. Every security guard will look out for your boy. Within no time, you will have him back. Now, please, go back to the playground, and wait until one of our guards shows up."

    I thanked the nice woman, left the office, and followed the yellow arrows pointing to the playground...
Within three minutes, I was back, and slumped down at my little table.
John hugged me, looking sad and relieved at the same time.
He and Davey were taking turns, looking for little Harry around the playground while I was away.
Clever boys!
I complimented John; and told him that, from now on, every security guard would be looking out for our lost little friend...

    A minute later, Davey turned up, looking disappointed:

    "I've been looking EVERYWHERE, even in a couple of places we never went before..."

    He crawled onto my lap, oblivious to the surrounding people, and started to sob silently.
I offered him my handkerchief, and held him close while John hugged me from the other side.
    A tall man, wearing a uniform and a huge 'security' badge, showed up:

    "I suppose you are the lost boy's family? Please, could you tell me what happened? What were you and your boys doing before he disappeared?"

    John told him everything he remembered, now and then filled in by a still sobbing Davey:
They were playing hide and seek at the back of the labyrinth, and John had to look for Davey and little Harry. Within two minutes, he found Davey, hiding behind a big tree; but he didn't see little Harry. After a while, he shouted for Harry to show up, but nothing happened. Now, he and Davey started to look everywhere and yell his name, until they were too worried and went to me for help...
The security guard thanked them, took his mobile phone, and relayed the extra information.
    He ruffled Davey's hair, and told him:

    "Don't worry! Your brother will show up in no time. I think he went too far away, and couldn't find his way back. That is happening here all the time. From now on, all guards will look out for him; and they will call me as soon as they have found him. And Sir, please, don't go away without telling us where we can find you..."

    I had never thought about buying one of those small mobile phones myself.
Why should I? I was always at home, where I had my telephone; and my answering machine would answer my calls in case I was away...
Now, I cursed myself for being so shortsighted!
From now on, I was responsible for at least two growing boys, and I had to live up to that standard...
I decided to buy a couple of those things, first thing after we had little Harry back.
I would buy one for myself, and one for each of my boys, to carry with them all the time. That way they would never get lost again...

    Now, I really felt the full weight of my responsibilities for my so vulnerable boys resting on my shoulders.
It was crushing me!

    John and Davey went looking for little Harry again.
They promised me to be back and report every few minutes.
I warned them to be careful not to get lost themselves, but they looked at me as if I was suddenly demented...
I pointed them to the yellow signposts; but, of course, they had already seen them a century ago.
Never underestimate youth!
They offered me a quick hug and a kiss, and went their own ways.

    I slumped down at the table, closed my eyes, and thought about my little soul mate.
What would have happened to him? Where was he now? Would I be able to reach him in my feelings?
I tried to be little Harry, hiding myself from the tracing eyes of John...
Suddenly, I was at the back of the labyrinth, looking for a hiding place. Davey hid behind a big tree, but where should I go this time?
In my fantasy, I climbed a fence, and went to a small barn with an open door...
Being curious, I entered the barn, and suddenly the door shut with a loud click.
Everything went dark, and I was trapped!

    A wave of panic overwhelmed me, and I started to tremble all over.
I opened my eyes and squinted at the sudden sunlight, while my heart pounded in my chest.
What a strange daydream was that...
Had this happened to my little soul mate? Was little Harry trapped in a small barn?
Of course, the security guards would have looked into all barns and behind all closed doors by now!
There was no way they shouldn't have found him, in case he really had been trapped...

    I couldn't get rid of the panic, and asked a passing waiter for another cup of coffee.
All the time, I saw the worried face of little Harry wavering in front of me, looking at me with fear in his eyes...
I thought of Jack. Where was our so-called 'spirit guide', Jack, now we needed him?
I tried to call him in my mind; but, of course, he didn't answer, as usual.
He had promised us to be our guardian angel; but, where was he now?
Was he with little Harry, trying to comfort him? I hoped so!
Or, had all that 'talking with spirits' been a fake, only created by my own wishful thinking?

    Time went by; and, slowly, the sun disappeared below the horizon.
John and Davey were dead tired from searching everywhere, and the security people couldn't find a trace of our lost boy...
At last, one of them approached us, and told us they were sure our lost little boy wasn't in the zoo any more.
From now on, we had to contact the police to look out for him, as the zoo closed within half an hour.
He promised to ask night security to keep an open eye, in the unlikely case little Harry happened to show up during the night.
He wrote down our telephone number, and promised to call us in case they would have any news about the lost boy...

    We were devastated.
Slowly, we sauntered through the entrance, left the zoo, and went to our car...
    All the time, we secretly hoped to see a little devil, storming towards us, shouting:

    "Wait for me!"

    However, nobody showed up...
We looked at our car, hoping to see little Harry's face, impatiently waiting for us behind the windows...
Of course, he wasn't there.
We entered our car with a feeling of desperation, and buckled up.
Where was our little Gypsy Prince? What had happened to him?
I started our car, looked around one last time, and drove off...

    I went to the police station, which fortunately wasn't far away.
The police officers looked bored, and told us to sit down and wait for our turn.
Obviously, we weren't the only ones who had lost something...
They offered me a cup of coffee, and both boys got a glass of cola.

    After half an hour, they took us to a small room, and politely asked what they could do for us...
We told the officers we had lost our youngest boy in the zoo; and now we had to answer several annoying questions:
Was this the first time the little boy had disappeared?
Could he have any reason to run away?
Was he frightened about something?
Could he be afraid of some sort of punishment?
Could we think of any reason why he would leave us without a trace?
Could somebody else have taken him somewhere?
Did we know of any person he had contacted during the last several days, maybe through the Internet?
Had he ever talked about wanting to live elsewhere?

    The officers wrote our answers down, and promised to look out for the little boy.
We had to sign several papers; and they promised to call us as soon as they had any news about the lost child.
They advised us to go home, stop worrying, and wait for the next day.
Most lost children were showing up, voluntarily and unharmed, within twenty-four hours...
Did the boy know our telephone number by heart?
Of course he did!
They opened the door, shook hands, and we left the police station.
What now?

    We returned to our car in silence, got in, and drove off...

************************************************************************************************************

Thank you for reading the next chapter of my emotional rollercoaster 'Born to be a King'.
Enjoy the reading, and help us make our world to be a better place!

Have a look at my OTHER story, about the same little Gypsy boy growing up in a secluded place in the Rumanian mountains; this time seen from his own point of view. You may click this link.
The other story is on Nifty in 'young-friends', and is callled: 'Born as a Prince'...

All my stories are on my own homepage as well: http://www.harryanders.com

I would LOVE to receive your comments.
Please, write me an email now and then...
Harry AnderS, Dutch psychotherapist and alternative writer.

harry@harryanders.com
http://www.harryanders.com