Angel's Gate
...at still grows there like a fence. Another name was “Madinat an-Nakhil” (the city of Palms) because palm trees grow in its soil. This is a connection to the bush and forest which the wild children hid in. The walls of Jericho were re-built sixteen times because of earthquakes, enemies broke them down and the last remains of the city are found underwater. Kim’s Jericho is threatened by the dam because each year the dam’s water rises. Also in Kim’s Jericho many people had come in search for fortune and treasure, whereas in ancient Jericho people were buried with jewellery. "On the seventh day....it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city...and they took the city...and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city." - Joshua 3:6 G-D had made the seventh day, a day of rest, because he had finished creating the world, whilst Joshua calls the seventh day, the day of destruction. This is ironical because humans have been destroying G-D’s creation for centuries. According to “Pocket Oxford Dictionary” angel means either a messenger of G-D, representation of a messenger of G-D in human form with wings or a virtuous or obliging person. [Greek aggelos = messenger] Some people dislike religion because it tells us what to do and believe in situations. On page 39 is the first mention of the actual Angels Gate and it is emphasised as a gate to another world, unknown of better or worse. When the angles in us get caught they are stuck between the gate nowhere to go. “The Laurels” has a history of trouble. Named after two trees called laurels, one tree was threatening to knock the house down because it grew too fast (threatening to knock down the walls of ancient Jericho), the other one still survives. The word “laurel” is also a wreath worn in ancient times as a sign of victory and for national occasions in Britain a Poet Laureate was appointed to write poems on these occasions. (p.5) Used to be “military barracks” (p.3) now a semi-hospital were people come to live not train to be killed. Used to hold “claim jumpers, drunks and murderers” (p.3) were they wrote “curses and prayers” (p.4) like the Hebrews quote. Now it was used for corpses to lay and be “taken away” (p.4) the next day. The words “taken away” (p.4) are like the threatening words of Flannigan to his kids of “mister” (p.253) that would take them away. The father was a doctor that saved and healed anybody, but at the same time he performed “taxidermy” (p.4) in a cell that has no “access to the outside world” (p.4) like a hidden angel. Lunatic asylum patients had built the “sandstone wall that enclosed the property” (p.5) and that is why the heights of the wall were so different. Flannigan was a fossicker trying to find his treasure just like many men that came to Jericho to find their “El Dorado” (p.6), like the boy in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, except Flannigan did not cash in his gold for money he just gave it away even if what he was getting was a rip-off, he threw around his money. The first to find gold in Jericho was Cephas Winch when he was up there looking for “spiritual healing” (p.17) (looking for his angel) but instead his angel withers away in the darkness whilst he was in a cave and found the gold and forgot to save his angel. On page 9 & 10 there is the first mention of the so-called ‘others’ and that is why Julia thought her father disliked Bobby, because he was from ‘others.’ However, Bobby was a role-model for Kim even though he from the ‘others’ he is a stranger, an angel unaware. Flannigan came in to see the doctor one day for his arm and he saw a taxidermy eagle in reception just like the eyrie where eagles usually were. There was also a ghost bat/false vampire which had to be kept out of sight. Even though the town was full of legends, evil things like ghosts and vampires had to be out of sight in the darkness along with the good things like angels. The town is full of rumours and soon the story of the wild children will become a legend passed on and changed throughout time. On page 14 Flannigan returns with two dead parrots and Kim asks if they were a pair, whilst Julia replies “like you and me” (p.14). Brother and sister – Kimmy and Julia – Leena and Micky. The first mystery of the Flannigan kids arises when Julia and Kim notice that “there’s something in that utility” (p.14) and it turns out to be the children. The legend of a “Yarama” (p.71), a monster just because it’s unusual, not commonly seen and does unusual things does not mean it’s a monster it may be an animal. It made a noise “not like any animal they knew” (p.72) meaning it may be the missing lynx. The called it “the worst of spirits” (p.73) which may be an angel that was never caught but turned bad from unacceptance because it is different. A monster is the grotesque part of humanity. Humans are mostly afraid of things because they do not know much of it and they are unaware of it, humans automatically think it is better to get rid of something because it may look or seem dangerous. Humanity teaches us that it is better to be safe than sorry, even if we do not know what to be safe from. To be out of control and to have no restrain over something frightens a human immensely because they feel weaker and powerless. “Man is always scared of what he does not know.”- Alfred Hitchcock. On the night of the Spring Dance a mention of a storm that blew in from “Angel’s Gate” (p.83) as if something from another world, from the outside world and on that night was the first time Kim saw the mystery, the wild boy. A few weeks after the Dance you think from pages 91-94 what was Ben Cullen doing? Whilst preparing for Christmas D’Arcy asks Kim what he wants him to draw and Kim replies “I’d like to do a bat. But I’d like an eagle too” (p.102) there is always some kind of mention of flight, escape, to leave Jericho and be something else with a different life. Julia is a free spirit that does not like to be contained and does things her own way. She wants to be a boss and fights conventions she is born in because they are choking her and she struggles to be set free and be a wild child. Kim lived vicariously through Julia and would always go where she would go and do things that she does. However, the trial of “Whodunnit” was the first time Julia followed Kim and that’s when they switched positions. Page 152 is Kim’s first contact with Colleen/Leena. When Julia came she was not accepted like Kim even though she should have been accepted by her own kind. Leena does not accept her because Leena does not mind being in a civilisation and being told how to act, she gets used to it after a while. Julia does not get used to it and she does not want to. However, Leena is not like ordinary little girls who dream of being little princesses in...