WiSHum GRANTum

It was 6:58 a.m. and the sun hadn’t risen yet. The dark eastern horizon had been gradually turning into a streak of cherry-red band, while the wide, lush, green wheat field was still obscured by the remaining darkness of the dawn. He felt the cold winter breeze biting his cheeks and this nearly freezing temperature never spared to penetrate even his glove-encased palms!

He quickly entered the first of the six control rooms which had been individually annexed beside the six chicken sheds. He was there to check the digitally-recorded data and to adjust the computer settings to make it suitable for the current growth requirement of the flock.

He almost leapt, as his heart was pounding, to see an odd object partly covered with a white cotton cloth standing right in front of him! He was surprised because for the past fifteen months of working there, he hadn’t found this kind of thing in the middle of this narrow and dusty room, or anywhere inside the farm’s confinement.

Curious, he hastily pulled the cloth off; and a magnificent life-size mirror with an antique, wooden frame was instantly unveiled!

He moved slowly towards the classic furniture, stood in front and looked at it but he couldn’t see his own reflection! He was startled.

He took a deep breath, and his anatomical heart beat more heavily. He felt the wintery draught creeping from the horizontal gap between the door and the floor to his feet up to his legs... He was about to open the doorway so he could immediately leave the haunted room but suddenly, a diffused vibrant ray started to dazzle out from the mirror!

The light had faded slowly, and the mirror started to display some moving images... He saw himself in an oath-taking ceremony together with other men and women of different nationalities, with a ‘Blue Ensign defaced with a constellation and a Commonwealth star’ emblem as a backdrop! The representative of the immigration department handed him his new passport- with a black cover and an outline of a kangaroo and an emu on the front. There was a ‘fast forward’... he then saw himself standing in front of his students in a university classroom Down Under holding a bony pelvis of a White Leghorn on his left hand, and a bony pelvis of a Beagle on his right. Finally, the mirror reflected him inside a teaching veterinary surgery room sharing the tricks of ovariohysterectomy to five eager-to-learn surgical teams.

He had been extremely captivated by those enchanting scenes, and he completely forgot all about his task for the day! He was very excited to tell his mates about the magical mirror so he went out of the control room and rushed to the lunch room to see Farshid and Roger.

AT 7:59 A.M. THE BALL OF fire hadn’t shown itself; instead, it kept on hiding behind the low, dark and visibly moving clouds just above the township of Port Wakefield that day. Strangely, a myriad of seagulls was hovering and perching all over the place!

Meanwhile... out of nowhere, a very old man wearing long robes and purple cloak suddenly appeared inside the control room! He was tall and thin; and his long grey hair, moustache and beard were all tucked into his leather belt—which was obviously made of a rooster skin. He waved his wand and said, “wishum grantum!”

The old man and the enchanted mirror vanished right away.

Inspired by J.K. Rowling’s ‘Mirror of Erised’- a chapter in her book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The Mirror of Erised is a magic mirror, which, according to Albus Dumbledore, shows the "deepest and most desperate DESIRE of our hearts".

"Men have spent so much time looking in the mirror; they became mad, that they have forgotten to live."

-Albus Dumbledore explaining the danger of the mirror to Harry Potter