They Came From The Stars

My new middle-grade book is currently being polished, here's a preview.

Around fifteen years ago I spent many months travelling around the north-western countries of South America, namely Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. For a man in his late twenties, it was a formative, eye-opening time, filled with vibrant culture, kind people, and stunning nature. I learnt a great deal about myself. Many of those experiences will stay with me forever, from volunteering in the Cloud Forest, to hiking in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru, to gazing in awe at the magical high-altitude waters of Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca.

One of my primary reasons for going to that part of the world was to work with indigenous shamans, to learn from an unbroken source in a land where they have been working in such ways for thousands of years. In Ecuador, I spent a couple of weeks staying with the Mamallacta family of the Napo Runa tribe in the Amazon region, not far from the market-town of Tena.

I’d originally gone down there to take part in the Ayahuasca ceremonies guided by Don Lucho, a local Napo Runa shaman, facilitated by a lovely Czech guy named Jan who now runs the retreat centre Feather Crown. It was simple a set up, down-to-earth, full of heart – deeply healing for someone who only a few years prior was fighting for his life in intensive care.

I am incredibly grateful to have had such a transformative time back then, and intend to write more about it all in the follow-up to my debut memoir, currently in its early stages.

That particular experience with the Mamallactas was extremely special. On land stewarded by a family that had been working directly with the jungle for decades, in many different ways. My host Nelson came from a lineage of eight generations of shamans. Most of his family lived in and around each other on the land. Their wooden houses backed onto vast primary rainforest and the whole area buzzed with energy, an ‘aliveness’ of beings more palpable than anywhere else I’ve ever been, both physically and spiritually. Being there felt like animism in action, such was the symbiosis between the humans and the land, as well as the very real nature of the spirits, stories, and mythologies that bubbled up comfortably alongside the everyday tasks such as collecting herbal medicines, growing food, and playing with their children.

I was so touched by the kindness and generosity they showed me that several years later, inspired to convey some of what I had seen and felt there, I began to write a children’s story. The age range I wanted to write for is now called ‘middle-grade’ in the book world – that delicate time on the cusp of puberty around 9-13 years of age when ideas, scenes, and stories can really light a fire in the young imagination.

Which is all a long-winded way of telling you that I’m currently polishing up said story with the intention of putting it out as my next book. I thought it might be fun to post the first chapter in its current form for all of you lovely people who follow this Substack.

I welcome any thoughts, comments, or suggestions you might have, so feel free to let me know in the comments or email me at hello@jodywhite.co.uk. Enjoy.

They Came From The Stars

Chapter One

If you were floating around a particular part of deep space late last night, in between the billions of sparkling stars and clouds of space dust, you would’ve seen a huge chunk of rock as big as a house come hurtling past you. It was moving at such speed it could have burnt the hair right off your head! It was grey like steel, but ten times as strong. It was dimpled like a golf ball and dotted all over with dark little caves.

Now, I don’t mean to alarm you, but this meteor was heading straight for Earth. This wasn’t just any meteor, however. If you could have looked very closely at it, perhaps taken a picture and inspected the image with a giant magnifying glass, you might have noticed something rather unusual. In the thick shadow that lay across one of the dark little caves, a single pair of eyes peered out into the vastness of space. They calmly watched the passing scenery, taking it all in. They blinked twice and then gently closed.

✮

South of the great northern plains and east of the wildest ocean lived a boy called Raymi. He lived with his grandfather, Nelson, at the edge of a small village called Napa, close to the banks of the Amazon, the most powerful river in the world. A river that twisted and turned through mile after mile of dense jungle on its journey across land to the vast open sea. Their home was a modest wooden cabin set in a small clearing at the end of an uneven track. It was built on stilts like giant spider’s legs that raised it high off the ground, protecting them when the rains came. 

Raymi smiled much more often than he frowned. He loved to climb the jungle trees in the early morning, catching the first rays of sunlight while his grandfather gathered a bundle of fresh cinnamon leaves for their morning tea. A mop of thick black hair sat atop his head. It seemed to have an unruly mind of its own and had always escaped his mother’s best attempts to control it. In occasional moments of exasperation, she had threatened to chop it all off but could never bring herself to actually carry out her threat. 

Like many boys entering their teenage years, Raymi had a stubborn streak and disliked taking orders. He had very recently turned twelve years old and his hopeful hazel eyes were always on the look out for mischief and the opportunity to dive into another adventure. ‘Just like his father’ - the ladies of the village said, gossiping between themselves as they traded fruits and vegetables at the dusty market where stalls jostled for space under a great corrugated iron roof. His coffee-coloured skin was dotted with the odd purple bruise and the wrinkled scars of forest scratches, the result of his various journeys exploring the wild undergrowth that spread out for miles around them in every direction. 

Raymi loved his grandfather. He loved his long grey hair, held in a loose ponytail hung halfway down his back. He loved the smell of Nelson’s mottled brown cardigan that never left his shoulders, like freshly burnt palo santo with a musty background hint of soil and wet leaves. He loved the thick skin of his hands, the colour of fresh clay and wrinkled like an elephants. They were frequently stained with dirt and barnacled with calluses gained from many years spent working deep in the forest. Most of all though he loved Nelson’s dark eyes - eyes that hid a lifetime of secrets within their depths.

All around them the world buzzed with life. The thick green canopy that formed the jungle roof hid creatures of every kind: striped tree frogs and giant wandering spiders, enormous wise snakes and hairy caterpillars as fat as your finger. There were countless plants too, and hundreds of different trees. Some with spikes like a porcupine, some with aromatic roots that sprung from the ground. Vibrant flowers of every colour. Swirling vines hung lazily across the roughly trodden pathways. They all lived together, feeding and protecting each other, as if carefully made to the exact designs of an unseen, but extremely potent force. It made Raymi happy to think that he, too, was a small part of this vast web of life.

It was just after dusk and the sun had slipped under the horizon. The sky was still smudged with the peach-pink sunset, but a few stars had already begun to appear. Raymi stood at the sink in their bathroom clutching a small white pot in his left hand. He stared absentmindedly out of the window, watching day turn into night. His carved wooden toothbrush, in the shape of an Anaconda’s head, hung from the corner of his mouth. In the background he could hear his grandfather boiling water for tea on the stove, rattling, hissing, and shuffling around. Out here in the jungle, far away from the throbbing noise and ugly sprawl of the city, thousands upon thousands of stars spread out like tiny candles across the blanket of space. He looked for the constellation of the Great Bear and found it just above the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. Up and to the left, the Southern Cross sat majestically within the faint clouds of the Milky Way. 

Raymi finished brushing his teeth with the peppermint paste Nelson ground up freshly each week and put his brush back in its wooden pot. He was about to return to the other room and wish his grandfather goodnight, when he noticed a flash at the corner of his eye. He spun around quickly, his eyes flicking left and right, trying to find its source. Up in the dense network near Scorpio he caught it. A single spot of light appeared to be falling fast, dropping from the heavens. It was brighter than any star or planet, which he had learnt meant it must be much closer to the Earth.

‘Grandpa!’ he shouted with delight, ‘Grandpa! I just saw a shooting star!’

Nelson’s face appeared from behind the curtain. Raising his eyebrows and squinting, his eyes followed Raymi’s outstretched finger. ‘Looks like it’s vanished now, they don’t stay long. But they are beautiful, aren’t they?’

‘It’s… it’s… amazing’ Raymi said. He stared at the area of sky where the glowing trail had been. 

‘You know, it is actually very good luck to witness an event such as this,’ Nelson said. ‘You should make a wish. Ask the universe!’ he grinned, flashing his crooked front teeth. ‘You never know, it might just reply.’ 

Raymi fixed his gaze on the heavens and smiled. He shut his eyes tight, and with the moon’s pale glow still faintly visible in front of his eyelids, he made a wish.

✮

That night as Raymi slept, his mind slipped easily from one dream to the next. Mostly they were fuzzy and fused together, like when he’d tried on Nelson’s reading glasses and all the details of his world had become strange and out of focus. Somewhere during the middle of the night however, he suddenly found himself extremely aware of the dream he was having. He was soaring like a Condor, rising and falling high above the jungle, observing the green patterned carpet made by the treetops and following the bends in the river as they snaked on towards the horizon. He felt the warmth of the sun on his bare skin, a cool breeze stroked his face and a deep sense of calm surrounded him, as if he could have flown on and on forever. 

Glancing down, he noticed a clearing in the forest a little to the west, a large outcrop of rock lay to one side. He looked again. In the middle of the clearing was what appeared to be some kind of creature, a Jaguar perhaps? He had never seen a Jaguar with such blue blazing fur as this though. It seemed to be staring straight up at him. Intrigued, he tried to fly towards it but as he did so, he instantly felt like he was falling. Just as he began to panic, dark patches appeared around the edges of his vision. The clearing and the creature inside it dissolved into nothingness. Raymi’s eyes flicked open. He was back in his bed in the cabin. Apart from the rhythmical clicking of the crickets the night was still. He let out a long, deep sigh and lay back, staring up at the old wooden boards of the ceiling that lay above his head, imagining how long ago it was that they were real trees living in the forest. He was drifting slowly back to sleep when…

SNAP! 

Outside the window - a twig breaking! And were they footsteps he could hear?! Raymi didn’t dare move an inch. He sucked his breath in and held it, waiting for another sound. There it was again, a scratching sound this time! He looked towards the window and just as he did so, a round pair of eyes loomed out of the darkness, each one as big as saucers! They looked right at him, blinking. Raymi cried out:

‘GRANDPA! GRANDPA!’

As he did so, everything faded to darkness once more and he was back in his bed for a second time. It was just a dream, he thought, another stupid dream! Shuffling his body up the bed, he touched his brow. It was damp. His pillow was damp too. There was nothing outside the window apart from the pale light of the moon and tiny spots of starlight that pierced the sky. His bedroom door swung open and Nelson wandered in, rubbing his eyes and letting out a lazy yawn. A loose old blanket sat draped around his shoulders. He sat down at the end of bed and gently stroked his grandson’s forehead.

‘What’s the matter Raymi? Did you have a nightmare?’ Nelson said gently.

‘I’m not sure, Grandpa,’ Raymi said, ‘I was flying above the forest, then all of a sudden I was back in bed and these horrible staring eyes were looking in at me through my window. They were huge!’ He made a circle with his hands to show Nelson the size.

Nelson thought for a moment. ‘That big you say? That sounds like quite something.’ He walked over to the window and peered into the night. ‘Well, I can’t see anything out there now, maybe your mind was playing tricks on you. It’s a very clever thing, the mind, more than you might think.’ 

He place the palm of his hand on top of Raymi’s head. It was heavy, its warmth immediately soothing. ‘Don’t worry my boy, nothing can hurt you in here, you’re well protected. Try and get some sleep now. What do you think about taking a walk out into the forest together tomorrow, how does that sound?’

‘I’d like that, Grandpa.’ Raymi smiled. Feeling calmer, he rolled over onto his side and brought his knees up to his chest, snuggling into the folds of his blankets like a baby. Within five minutes he was fast asleep.