Chapter Two The Great Large Shadow

Olivia finally reached the very top of the massive structure and was extremely pleased with herself. The view was incredible. She felt like the tallest person on earth. It took her a moment or two to realize… there was no Peter! He was gone. Vanished. Ka-put.

“Where did he go,” yelled Olivia in her customary louder than life voice. Everyone knew Olivia was destined for greatness because of her voice. She could give any bible-thumping evangelist a run for their money.

“Where did who go?” Mary yelled back in reply.

“Who do you think?” shouted Olivia. “Peter!” The sound of his name echoed out across the cosmos.

Olivia was baffled about his whereabouts. Mary was perplexed. Carol was confused. Kay continued to apply yet another layer of powder.

A large ominous shadow passed over Olivia as she pondered the question. If Peter wasn’t here, where was he? How did he get down?

Down… the word stuck in her head like a lead weight. Her attention rapidly changed from Peter’s whereabouts to her own. How do I get down!

“Mary, how do I get down?” she bellowed.

“That’s not the issue. The issue is what happened to Peter!” exclaimed Mary.

A look of dread crossed Olivia’s face. She envisioned having to spend the rest of her life in this roost, possibly having to settle down there, having to give tours, raise a family, grow old, and write a book about it all. What’s a girl to do!?

“But Mary!” she cried.

“Start climbing back down slowly, but whatever you do, don’t look down,” Mary instructed.

Olivia looked down!

The ground started reeling beneath her. Once again, her life flashed before her very large brown eyes. The way she was perched on the branch and the way her very large brown eyes stared downward, she greatly resembled a bush baby.

Mary tried and tried to reach the bottom branch. She tried to boost Carol up. No good. Carol tried to boost Mary up. No good. They stopped and yelled, “Gerald!”

It took some doing, a long ladder and a reassuring voice, but Gerald managed to coax Olivia out of the tree. When she reached the ground, she bent down and kissed it. “Oh, mother earth, oh, mother earth, how kindly is your face. I shall never betray you and leave your side again. I shall always honor your...”

“Oh, brother,” the others moaned cutting her off.

They gathered in a circle and discussed the Peter problem. How did he get out of the tree? Better yet, how did he get out of the tree unnoticed. After speculating on the subject for a good long while, Olivia remembered the great large shadow that passed over her as she sat at the top of the tree holding on for dear life.

A look of dread and panic crossed her face. Her eyes grew to twice their normal size and practically swallowed her face. She stumbled back a few feet, then in a low, whispered, almost imperceptible tone…“dragons.”

Suddenly Kay came to life. She jumped up amid an explosion of powder that filled the air like a cloud. Her face so pale from repeated applications of makeup, that she looked like the queen of the dead.

She did what she did best: she SCREAMED!

KEEP READING