Ch11-Heart to Heart

CHAPTER ELEVEN Heart to Heart Jack and Annie silently followed the guard to his carriage and climbed in the back. The guard flicked the reins, and the pair of black horses took off, trotting down the dirt path. Annie looked at Jack. "I wonder where we're going," she whispered. Jack just shook his head. His worst thought was that the Great Mogul had changed his mind and

wanted to punish them. The horses passed the mud huts, the men and boys hauling hay, the women and girls cooking outdoors. They passed goats and sheep and chickens. The horses clopped down the stone road. They moved easily through the bazaar. Jack saw that the silks and carpets were hanging on the lines again. Oranges, lemons, and pineapples were back in the baskets. Tent poles were all standing, and the bearded merchants looked happy and busy. The horses trotted down the street toward the Red Fort. When they came to the drawbridge, Jack expected them to cross the moat and head back to the palace, but they didn't. The horses trotted past the fort and down a road along the river. The sun was low in the sky when the horsedrawn carriage came to a square. The horses stopped before a massive red gateway with an arched entrance. The guard turned to Jack and Annie. "You are to go inside and wait," he said. "Okay. Thanks for the ride," said Annie.

The guard stayed in the carriage while Jack and Annie climbed out. They walked up to the looming gateway. "Where are we?" Annie whispered to Jack. "And why are we here?" "If I knew, I'd tell you," whispered Jack. Jack and Annie stepped under the high, arched entrance. Leading from the entrance was a narrow canal stretching to the horizon. In the sunset, Jack thought he saw a cloud of mist hovering above the ground. Then he realized it was a shimmering, milky white dome about twenty stories high. It seemed to float between the earth and the sky. There were four tall towers at the corners of a terrace beneath the dome. Jack and Annie just stared at the dreamlike vision. Then they saw a man walking along the narrow canal toward them. As the man got closer, Jack caught his breath. It was the Great Mogul! No guards were with him. He was all alone. The Great Mogul stopped and stared at them. His gaze took in their ragged, torn coats and bare feet.

Jack panicked. They looked terrible. Would the ruler think they weren't showing proper respect for him? "Bow," Annie whispered. Together, they bowed from their waists and brushed their right hands on the ground. They straightened up, raised their right hands into the air, and placed their palms on their heads. Then they lowered their hands and stood perfectly still. Jack cast his eyes down, afraid to look directly at the Great Mogul. There was a moment of silence. Then the allpowerful ruler spoke. "I have never read such writing before. Or seen such artwork," he said. Jack looked up at the Great Mogul. But he didn't know what to do. Were they allowed to talk? "Excuse me, Your Majesty," said Annie. "Is it all right to speak?" "Yes," said the Great Mogul. "Thank you. Well, Jack wrote the words," said Annie. "And I drew the pictures." The Great Mogul nodded. "Your story and pictures tell of riding through the world in a tree

house. You tell of saving a huge octopus, a baby gorilla, and a baby kangaroo. You tell of helping brilliant men named Leonardo da Vinci and William Shakespeare. You tell of rescuing children from a giant ocean wave and from a sinking ship. You are a great storyteller," he said to Jack. "Oh, not really," said Jack. He felt embarrassed. "I just told about stuff that happened to us." The Great Mogul turned to Annie. "Your pictures are filled with life and joy. They are rich and stirring. You are a great artist," he said. "Not really," Annie said. "Lots of people draw better than me. What you probably loved was the perfect printing of Jack's story and the sparkly colors of my pens." "Yeah, we can't take credit for those things," said Jack. The Great Mogul almost smiled. "The perfect letters and the sparkles were not what I liked best," he said. "I liked the heart in the story. I liked the heart in the drawings." Jack couldn't explain why, but he thought he understood what the Great Mogul meant.

"And now I want to answer the question you asked me today," the Great Mogul said to Annie. "You asked if I loved anything. I could not speak freely in front of my guards or my foreign guests. But the answer is yes. I once did love something —someone—very much. My wife. She was my best friend and the mother of many children. I wept an ocean of tears when she died." "Oh. I'm so sorry," said Annie. "Me too," said Jack. "You have shown me your hearts," said the Great Mogul. "Now I show you mine." He turned and looked at the shimmering dome. "This is the tomb of marble I built for my wife. It is called the Taj Mahal."