Chapter 8: The Lord High Mayor

While Twiffle fussed with the controls of the Magic Airmobile, a crowd of curious people began to gather about the stalled aircraft. They were men, women, children, and even dogs, and they walked on the air easily and unconcernedly, as if it were the normal thing to do. These people were all very tall and exceedingly thin. The grown-ups were well over eight feet in height, while the older children averaged about six feet tall. Perhaps the fact that they lived so high up had caused them to grow that way, too. Their clothing was what we would consider old-fashioned, but was neat and well cared for. The women wore the brightest of colors which flashed gaily in the clear sunlight.

The people chattered among themselves, pointing toward the Airmobile, and several dogs barked excitedly. A loud voice exclaimed:

"What is the meaning of this? What is going on here?"

The crowd made way for the speaker who proved to be a sour-faced, tall individual, wearing a frock coat and a high silk hat--a stovepipe hat, the Shaggy Man would have called it.

"Pardon us," began the Shaggy Man, "but I am afraid we are the cause of all the excitement. You see our airship has stalled just inside your town."

The tall man stared curiously at the occupants of the Airmobile as he said: "Of course your machine won't operate in Hightown. In fact a flying machine in Hightown is an utter absurdity--against all the town ordinances and rules. I must ask you to remove it immediately."

"Not very friendly, is he?" remarked Tom.

But Twiffle was interested. "What do you mean, sir, that our aircraft is against your laws?"

The tall man sniffed. "It should be apparent to you that the last thing in the sky we need is an airplane. Here, in this favored spot, we walk on air and are not compelled to crawl across the earth like worms."

"Yes," said the Shaggy Man, "we can see all that. But tell us, your Honor, do you think we would be able to walk on air as you do?"

The top-hatted man was distinctly flattered by the Shaggy Man's mode of address. "Ah," he replied, "I can see that you recognize me as a person of importance. I am the Lord High Mayor of Hightown and my word here represents the highest law of the land. As for your being able to walk as we do on the air, I see no reason why you shouldn't since in Hightown there is no gravity to pull you to the earth."

"What was that you said?--no gravity?" Twiffle was obviously excited.

"Exactly," replied the Lord High Mayor with great dignity. "Within the boundaries of Hightown, the earth does not exert the least bit of gravity--none whatsoever."

"Then that explains it," said Twiffle. "The Airmobile operates on the principle of gravity, and since there is no gravity here, the craft is useless."

"What are we to do?" asked the Shaggy Man. "I am not sure I want to go walking around on the air, although these folks seem to take to it naturally enough."

"Tell me," said Twiffle, addressing the Lord High Mayor, "is Hightown of very great area?"

"Oh," exclaimed the Lord High Mayor, "it is simply enormous--no less than four square acres of the most delightful air!"

"Have you any idea, your Honor," asked the Shaggy Man, "how we can get our flying machine out of Hightown?"

"Oh, that's very simple," replied the Lord High Mayor. "Since your craft has only just crossed the boundary into Hightown, I would suggest that you get out and push the machine to the edge of the boundary--then push it a few inches more and it will be in the field of gravity again where it is equipped to operate."

"Of course!" exclaimed Twiffle joyfully. "Why didn't I think of that?"

The Lord High Mayor smiled with smug satisfaction.

"I'll adjust these gravity plates now," continued Twiffle, "so the plane won't fall when it passes the boundary." After he had pressed some buttons, he and the Shaggy Man and Twink and Tom climbed out of the Airmobile. The air seemed as solid under their feet as the earth. Nevertheless, this walking on thin air was a most curious experience, and in spite of themselves they found they were treading gingerly, as though they were walking on eggs.

The Lord High Mayor and the crowd of Hightowners that had gathered watched curiously as the Shaggy Man and Tom slowly pushed the Airmobile toward the boundary of Hightown. It was no task at all, since the Airmobile had no weight. They knew the sign that had greeted them as they entered Hightown marked the spot where gravity again exerted its pull, so they pushed the Airmobile slowly over this invisible line.

Zoom! Like an arrow shot from a bow the Airmobile darted upward. Far above their heads it continued its mad climb into the sky. So fast did it move that within a few seconds it was visible only as a tiny speck far above them.

"What in the sky has happened?" gasped the Shaggy Man.

"It is all my fault," said Twiffle despondently. "I must have exposed the gravity plates too much when I adjusted them. I was so afraid the plane would fall. When the Airmobile passed into the area of gravity it shot _upward_. Now it is lost to us forever." Twiffle looked as if he were about to weep.

"Cheer up, Twiffle," said the Shaggy Man. "Maybe we can get the Airmobile back." Shaggy turned to the Lord High Mayor and asked: "Since we can walk on air as well as you, couldn't we just walk up there and climb into the Airmobile?"

"You could, if you wanted to stop breathing," said the Lord High Mayor cheerfully.

"Why do you say that?" asked the Shaggy Man.

"Because," exclaimed the Lord High Mayor, "we have discovered that the higher up you go, the thinner the air becomes. At the altitude now attained by your craft, the air would be so thin that it would be unbreathable."

"Anyway," said Twink with a sigh, "the Airmobile isn't there any more."

They all stared upward. The girl was right. The speck that had been the Airmobile had vanished completely.

"Wonder where it went?" said Twink.

The Lord High Mayor explained pompously. "Apparently your craft attained so great a speed that it shot off into space, beyond the power of gravity. From now on there's no telling where it will go."

"And astronomers will report that folks from earth are about to visit another world, I suppose," grinned the Shaggy Man.

"Too bad old Conjo isn't in it," grumbled Twiffle.

"The question is," said Tom, "what do we do now?"

"Right," agreed the Shaggy Man, as he turned to the Lord High Mayor and asked: "Sir, can you tell us how we can leave Hightown and proceed on our journey?"

"You wish to leave Hightown? Where could you possibly wish to go?" inquired the Lord High Mayor.

"Well, eventually we hope to reach the Emerald City in the Land of Oz," replied the Shaggy Man, "so we're heading for the Deadly Desert surrounding the Land of Oz. Then we'll have to figure out some way to cross the desert."

The Lord High Mayor stared at Shaggy in horror. "The Deadly Desert!" he exclaimed. "Do you mean to stand here in the sky and tell me you actually wish to go near that terrible, burning, dry waste of shifting, deadly sands, when you can stay here and enjoy the delightful perfection of the aerial climate of Hightown?"

"No," began the Shaggy Man patiently, "we don't like the Desert any more than you do, but in order to get to Oz we must cross the Desert. I assure you the Land of Oz has a climate just as delightful as that of Hightown."

"That is impossible!" declared the Lord High Mayor indignantly. "Hightown has the only perfect climate in the world, and now that you are here, you might as well stay and enjoy it."

"Wonder if he ever heard of California?" murmured Tom to Twink.

"We would like very much to stay and enjoy your climate, your Honor," replied the Shaggy Man, "but it is impossible. We must be on our way to the Land of Oz, much as we admire your high airs. So, if you will kindly tell us how we may leave your town, we will be much obliged."

The Lord High Mayor seemed to be deep in thought. "Leave our town?" he said incredulously. "I don't believe it. No one could want to leave Hightown. It is the pinnacle of civilization, the highest point in high life ever reached by man. Sir, I conclude that I must have misunderstood you. It is beyond comprehension that you should wish to depart from this exalted community and go crawling about the lowly earth like a worm. I simply must have misunderstood you."

"There's nothing wrong with your ears," replied the Shaggy Man. "I said it and I'll say it again--we want to leave Hightown! Maybe we haven't advanced to the state where we can fully appreciate your hi-falutin' ways, and if you want to know the truth we actually like to feel the earth beneath our feet."

The Lord High Mayor stared at the Shaggy Man unbelievingly. There was a suspicion of tears in his eyes. "My poor, dear fellow," he said. "How I grieve for you--to have such low tastes. The earth under one's feet--ugh! But then," he went on, brightening, "you have not been here long enough to appreciate the soaring virtues of life in Hightown. Once you have become accustomed to the lofty plane on which we live and the superiority we enjoy over earth-crawlers, I am sure that all the sod in the world will not tempt you to put foot upon earth again."

"Please," said the Shaggy Man in exasperation. "Will you stop talking like the Chamber of Commerce and tell us how we can get back to earth?"

The Lord High Mayor eyed Shaggy narrowly. "Well," he said, "if you insist on leaving Hightown, you could walk to the boundary there, where gravity begins again, step over and fall very quickly to the earth. That is the fastest way I can think of leaving Hightown, but I wouldn't recommend it."

"No, no," the Shaggy Man assured him. "We have no desire to _fall_ to the earth." Shaggy looked below him with a shudder. "We would be in no shape to continue our travels if we did that."

"Well, then, you see, it is all settled," said the Lord High Mayor with a beaming smile. "You will stay with us. Everything is settled and there is not the slightest doubt that you will find Hightown the Garden Spot of the Sky. Now, since I am the Lord High Mayor of Hightown, it is my elevated privilege and honor to welcome you and make you comfortable. You will please follow me on what is the most fortunate journey of your life--for you are on your way to savoring the high and flighty life of Hightown."

There seemed nothing else to do, so Shaggy and his friends followed the Lord High Mayor, stepping gingerly on what seemed to them to be the airiest space. As the Mayor proceeded, the crowd of curious Hightowners made way for him and the little company of adventurers.

"Might I inquire," asked Twiffle, "where you are taking us?"

"Why, to my Air Castle, of course," answered the Lord High Mayor. "Since you are guests, you must be treated with the greatest courtesy. Later we will find a permanent dwelling for you."

They had now reached the center of the small town, and here the Lord High Mayor paused before a dwelling that was little different from any other of the houses which were scarcely more than bungalows, except that they were all quite high and narrow to suit the shapes of the Hightowners.

"This is your Air Castle?" asked the Shaggy Man. "It looks no different from the other houses."

"And why should it be different?" demanded the Lord High Mayor. "Here we all live in Air Castles. You people who crawl around on the earth just dream of them. We are privileged to enjoy them." This last was said with an air of great pride.

One thing did distinguish the Lord High Mayor's dwelling from the others in the town. Directly in front of it there stood a handsome flower pot in which was blossoming a beautiful magnolia. The Lord High Mayor paused to enjoy the delightful aroma of the flower.

"Ah, magnolia! That means we shall have a south wind soon. You visitors are indeed fortunate to have arrived in Hightown at this time."

"I'm not so sure we would be fortunate to arrive here any time," grumbled Twiffle.

"You see," the Mayor went on, disregarding Twiffle's remark. "When the magnolia blossoms that means a south wind is coming. And _that_ means we shall soon have a delightful southern cloud on which to walk. I assure you there is nothing more delightful than walking on a southern cloud."

"Seems to me clouds of any sort would be sort of squiggy for walking purposes, no matter how pretty they are to look at," said the Shaggy Man.

"What happens when there's a north wind coming?" asked Twink curiously.

"Oh, then the plant blossoms with a beautiful wild thyme and we are privileged to enjoy that delightful scent. When there's an east wind on its way," the Lord High Mayor continued, "then the plant bears chrysanthemums. When the west wind is coming, we enjoy the blossoms and scent of wild roses."

"Doesn't the west wind bring rain clouds?" asked Tom, remembering that it usually did in Buffalo.

"Yes," said the Mayor, "that is right."

"Then it _rains_ here in Hightown where you have a perfect climate?" asked the boy, remembering his disgust with the rain at home.

"Not at all," replied the Mayor. "There is no gravity to pull the raindrops earthward, so it can't rain. We just go out wading in the rain cloud."

"That's quite a plant," said the Shaggy Man, staring at the flower pot with its beautiful blossoms.

"It's much more than that," said the Mayor. "Certainly since we have the most perfect weather in the world in Hightown, we would have the most perfect weather forecaster. That's just what the plant is."

While Tom was trying to puzzle out why, if Hightown always had perfect weather, it needed any weather forecaster at all, the door of the Mayor's home opened and they were welcomed by a tall, thin woman in a blue checked bungalow apron. She proved to be the Mayor's wife.

The good woman immediately served dinner, hurrying about and doing her best to make the visitors at home. She was particularly pleasant to Twink and Tom and was greatly amazed and a little awed by Twiffle.

Strangely enough, the food consisted entirely of fruits, but they were all fresh and tasty.

When the meal was over, the Lord High Mayor announced that it was time for a nap.

"A nap!" exclaimed the Shaggy Man. "Why, it is only a little past noon. We can't sleep now."

"It is the custom in Hightown," remarked the Mayor placidly, "and you will soon come to enjoy the siesta as much as we. However, if you cannot sleep, you may sit on the front porch. But don't go off the porch and wander about, as you may come to the edge of the town and fall to the earth."

With this, the Lord High Mayor and his wife retired to their room and the visitors were left to themselves. There seemed nothing else to do but to follow the Mayor's suggestion and while away the Town's hour of sleep on the front porch. Here they found several chairs and a swing and soon made themselves comfortable.

There was nothing interesting about the scenery, and little to talk about, and they were beginning to be a bit bored when a saucy brown wren flitted out of the sky and perched on the porch railing, regarding Shaggy and his friends with bright little eyes.

"Strangers here, aren't you?" asked the bird. "Fine place to live. You'll like it, I'm sure."

"We don't like it and we don't intend to stay," said the Shaggy Man, a bit ill-humoredly.

"Well, if you don't like it, then why don't you leave right away?" asked the bird.

"How?" asked Shaggy. "Walk to the edge of the town and fall to the earth? We can't fly like you, you know."

"You don't need to fly. You can walk down through the air--or rather, swim down--using your arms to push you through the air. There's no gravity, you know." And with a flirt of its saucy tail the bird was gone.

With a shout, Twiffle leaped to his feet. "What fools we've been! Of course there's no gravity, and we can push ourselves right down to earth! Come on, let's be on our way."

Twiffle ran to the edge of the porch and leaped off head first. They could see the little clown below them, moving his arms like a swimmer.

"Should we try it?" asked the Shaggy Man doubtfully.

Tom didn't wait for an answer. He jumped from the porch just as Twiffle had done. He found that by moving his arms he could force himself downward. Indeed, it was no more effort than walking on a level on the air. In a short time he discovered that, since there was no gravity, he could move at will, up or down through the air. Now Twink was at his side, thoroughly enjoying the novel experience. The Shaggy Man was following close behind. Twink glanced upward once and saw the spectacle of a whole town, suspended in the air above her. She could even make out the Mayor's house and the flower pot in front of it.

They were all swimming earthward at about the same level, when there was a flirt of small wings and the wren who had spoken to them on the porch of the Lord High Mayor's house, alighted on the Shaggy Man's shoulder.

"I see you took my advice," said the wren.

"Yes," said the Shaggy Man, "and we are grateful to you for telling us about this easy way to leave Hightown."

"Think nothing of it," replied the wren airily. "I always feel sorry for anyone who gets stuck in Hightown. There isn't a stupider place in the world. Those Hightowners have never seen anything but their own silly little town, so they just can't imagine there's anything else in the world."

"You get around quite a bit, I suppose," ventured the Shaggy Man.

"Being a bird, naturally," retorted the wren with a saucy flirt of his tail.

"Well, then," said Shaggy, "would you mind doing your own flying and getting off my shoulder?"

"That's gratitude for you," said the wren reproachfully. "I save you from a life of boredom and you refuse to let me hitchhike down to earth." But the bird didn't move from Shaggy's shoulder.

"Where are you going--anywhere in particular?" asked Twink.

"Oh yes, of course," the wren replied. "Just below Hightown there is a lovely orchard of all kinds of fruit trees. That's where the Hightowners get all their food. They live on fruit. They can boast about their silly town all they like, but when they want food you can bet they hurry down to the orchard on earth for it. That's why they don't like us birds. We enjoy eating the fruit in the orchard, too. We seldom go near Hightown, except when the people are asleep. They are so disagreeable they throw things at us and accuse us of stealing from their orchard. Their orchard, indeed!"

"Tell me," said the Shaggy Man, "was your mother a magpie?"

"Of course not," replied the wren indignantly.

"I thought she must have been," said the Shaggy Man, "because you certainly chatter like a magpie."

"That's enough," declared the wren. "If you can't appreciate intelligent conversation, I shan't waste it upon you. You are far too slow for me anyway. No hard feelings, though--good luck to all of you."

And with that the wren was off, darting swiftly earthward.

Shaggy and his friends all had a good laugh over the gossipy little bird.

Ten minutes more "swimming" brought them within sight of the orchard about which the bird had told them.

"The Hightown sign said 'altitude 15,000 feet,'" said Tom. "That's almost three miles. I can't believe we've been swimming that far."

"Probably they boosted that figure as high as their opinion of Hightown," said Twiffle, "and anyway, it did say the altitude varied. Varies very much, I'd say."

A few minutes later they were standing on the earth in a grove of apple, plum, and cherry trees. Every branch was filled with ripe, luscious fruit. Twink looked for their friend, the wren, but saw nothing of him. The Shaggy Man began looking about the ground for apples. Suddenly he laughed.

"That was really stupid of me," he called to Twink and Tom. "Of course there aren't any apples on the ground. They can't fall off the trees!"

"This must be where the Hightowners get their fruit," said Twink.

"Of course," replied Shaggy. "They thought they would keep us with them by not telling us how easy it is to reach the earth from Hightown."

"But they must have known we would see some of them coming and going to the orchard, and find out sooner or later how to escape," said Tom.

"Well, thanks to that bird, we found out sooner," said Twiffle.

Before they left the grove, Shaggy walked in the air to the upper branches of the biggest apple tree in the orchard and filled his pockets with the largest and ruddiest of the fruit. "Can't tell where we'll find our next meal," he explained.

Knowing the area that was freed from the force of gravity was of very small extent, Shaggy and his friends walked steadily in one direction, treading several feet in the air, since that was easier than walking on the earth. As there was no difference in the appearance of the countryside, where gravity exerted itself again, they had no way of telling when they would suddenly emerge from the gravity-less land.

Shaggy was in the lead when he suddenly experienced that curious sensation that comes when you step unexpectedly into a hole. The result was that Shaggy toppled forward and found himself sprawled on the grass. Following him came Twink, Tom and Twiffle. Only Tom managed to maintain his balance. What he had realized in time, was simply that the others had stepped off the air, on which they had been walking, to the earth a foot or two below them.

The Shaggy Man sighed. "Give me the earth to crawl around on any day, as our friend the Lord High Mayor would put it, even though it does mean an occasional tumble."