Change of Course

How does one cook a fish in the middle of the ocean? Great question. I'm glad you asked. First Olivia creates a bubble around the fish. She concentrates deeply until an electrical current runs through the bubble. This creates a microwave effect, and before you know it you have a fully cooked fish. Ready for lunch, or dinner or late night snack. Fish isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I'm hardly one to turn down free food. "It's ready!" Olivia shouts releasing the fish from their bubble prison. The fish sizzle, and I catch a whiff of our dinner. Also not my favorite scent. I try and keep an enthusiastic demeanor. Olivia sees right through it. "I know you're not thrilled, but at least it's something." She's right. I suck it up and sit down beside her. "Here is yours." She says to me while holding a grilled salmon on a gold plate. Yes, a good plate. We also have gold silverware. Complements of Norm. What a classy guy. I take a bite of the Salmon. It has an almost rubber texture, but I smile as best as I can while I choke it down. "Not bad?" Olivia asks me. I nod. " I was thinking, winter is coming. We should probably change our course." "I couldn't agree with you more." Olivia stares at me. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you? I pick a piece of salmon out of my teeth. "I can't hide anything from you can I?" She chuckles and points to the east. "A cold front is coming from that direction. I think it would be wise to change course." I gaze into a void. "What?" She asks me. " I don't understand how you know that." " You're just gonna have to trust me on this." " I do."  Olivia pushes her plate to the side and stands up. "Good. Now let's get ready to change course."

Storm of Salmon

Ting! Ting! The raindrops continue. Except this time the tings are more like thuds. Thud! Thud! Thud! Whack! Whoomp! What the hell is going on outside? Curious, I open the cabin door and walk to the deck. There I see Olivia standing over a pile of salmon. "Where did this come from?" I ask her. "I'm guessing the ocean." I snear. "But how did it get here?" Olivia shrugs. "There was a big wave and they all washed up." Suddenly, the pile of salmon shakes. Out of the pile emerges a six foot tall, light blue fish. It stands upright on its tail. "Wait a minuet. This looks familiar." I tell Olivia. The fish looks directly at me. "Your senses are getting stronger."  It says to me in a calm monotone. "Oh yeah! This was a dream of mine from a while back." I shout out in excitement as if I had just figured out a puzzle. "That's good. That means we can ask different questions now." I nod. "Knowing that my senses are improving, what am I to do with this information?" I ask the fish. The giant fish shrugs. It then leaps over board splashing us and causing the boat to rock back and forth in the process. We stand there dumbfounded. We were given what seemed to be important information and left with a pile of fish. At least we have plenty of food. There's the silver lining.

Weather Shield

Ting! Ting! Ting! The sound of the raindrops bouncing off the yacht. It is almost rhythmic, and it's relaxing. I would be able to fall asleep to this sound if it weren't for the fact that Olivia is not in the cabin. Meaning she is on the deck during the storm. She could get sick, I should go out there. I leave the comforts of the padded cabin. The violent wind blows my hood off , exposing my head to the elements. The rain flattens my hair and nearly covers my face. Sure enough Olivia is on the deck, but not a single raindrop falls on her. They seem to bounce off an invisible force field before they come anywhere close to her. "How in the world are you doing that?" I ask. "I made a huge bubble." I turn around and head back to the cabin. "Where are you going?" I stop walking and turn back to her. "I was checking up on you, but you're fine." "Don't you wanna stay a while?" "I'm wet. I should probably head back in and dry off." I head for the cabin once more. "Wait." She stops me.  She fires a pink heart from the palm of her hand. It floats its way over to me and sinks into my chest. It's a weird sensation. Like an almost calming, warming feeling. At that very moment, the rain stops. I pier into the sky. Nothing but blue. The grey is gone. "You did it!" I exclaim. However, shortly after I shout out in jubilance, the rain and grey clouds come back. Dismayed, I shuffle back to the cabin. Olivia shouts out to me. " It's ok. Just take whatever victory you can get. That'll make it better."

Dark Clouds

Go away dark clouds. Please. Leave! Go! Be gone. Just my luck, I was on my boat in the middle of no where, enjoying the day. What should show up? Dark clouds. Big, dark clouds. I can't escape them. I can't outrun them. They always catch up to me sooner or later.  Is it time to just accept it? The visitor who shows up even though I specifically ask him not to? I stroll into the cabin and plop down on the cushions. Come on rain, give me your best shot.

Boomaranging

Things come to surface when you least suspect it. Perhaps that is how it is supposed to work.  A few months back I found myself alone, in distress, and on a long boat. I wrote myself a letter of encouragement, basically saying to keep moving forward and not stop.  I placed it in a bottle and threw it overboard. The idea was that it would one day find it's way back to me. I don't think I full -heartedly believed that it would or even could come back to me. However, the end of September rolls around and I find myself in the pristine waters of the .... Atlantic Ocean? It's hard to tell when you're in the middle of the sea. They all tend to look alike after a while.  Anyways, so I'm in this large body of water. I have my boat parked. I'm minding my own business, not thinking of anything at all. What should I see out of the corner of my eye, but a glass bottle partly submerged. Curious, I  grab the net.  I'm careful when plucking it out of the water. Especially because it appears to have some sort of weight to it. I see the glass bottle on top, but that's not all that's in there. I can't tell what the rest is because it's covered in sea weed. That's ok, I'll figure out what the rest is later. I carefully take the message out of the bottle.  By this point it is probably very fragile. To my surprise the message stayed dry and intact. The ink did not run. I glace over the message. Sure enough, it's mine. It has my atrocious hand writing and stick figures in the margins. I jump for joy at this crazy coincidence. My loud celebration wakes up Olivia. She groggily emerges from the cabin. "What's going on?" She says , rubbing her eyes. "I found a message I sent myself." "How do you know it was from you?" I show her the message. " Oh yeah, that's definitely you." She confirms. "Isn't this great?" Olivia's eyes move to the net. " Yeah, but what else did you catch?" She asks.  "Just some sea weed." " It looks like more than that."  "You can look if you want."  Olivia rummages through the net. Her  face winces as her arms graze the slimmy sea weed.  Then, suddenly, her eyes light up. "Baby, look what I found." She says jubilantly. She pulls out her plastic sugar skull mask. "I thought I had lost you forever." She says directly to the mask. " You know, I thought you looked different." I tell her. "Didn't you not notice this was missing?" "Evidently not." Olivia rolls her eyes. "What about when I put on the third eye mask? Didn't you wonder how I could fit one mask over the other?" She asks. " Now that you mention it , that did seem a little odd." Olivia shakes her head and puts on the mask. "I'm just glad it's back." "Me too. When do you think you lost it?" " Probably the UFO crash." I'm in complete amazement. I guess things do come back to you when then are supposed to.

At Sea

My cape flaps in the wind as I head into the horizon. I don't know where I'm going. I just had to get off the island. Something about being stuck on an island that felt like being in prison. I smile as I crash through a wave and the water splashes my face. Like I said, I don't know where I going, but at least with the boat I can be mobile. That makes all the difference. I stop the boat and stare out into the endless blue. This feels like a good place as any to drop anchor. I pick the anchor off the deck. It's heavy and bit rusted, but it should do the trick. I toss it over board. It seems it takes forever for the anchor to hit bottom. I feel a slight tug. I know now that Her Majesty is safely resting. Olivia is down below in the cabin catching some Z's. Right now I don't want to do anything. I just want to stare out into the nothingness of the sea, and enjoy this moment.

Her Majesty

"Meet me at the beach." Should have dawned on me when he said that. This is an island. It's 96% beach. "Meet me at the beach." Which one? "My legs are tired." Olivia says to me, wearily. "Mine too, but we are almost there." "You think so?" "Actually, I have no idea." Olivia groans. " You think he'll notice those bags were just coats?" She asks. "If he does, then we're right back where we started. And that's all that'll happen." Olivia chuckles to herself. "What's so funny?" I ask. "We were in a classroom with modern day equipment. surely, there could have been trash bags or at least something closer to a bag." I snort. " The island makes you crazy." "Tell me about it." She sighs. In the distance I see the silhouette of Norm standing on a Yacht. "There he is!" I shout. I take Olivia by the hand and we run towards him. Running in sand is never a fun task. It always seems you never make as much progress as you would like to, but we push forward. We make it to Norm. He sits behind the wheel of a behemoth of a boat. "A hoy mates!" He yells to us. We wave back. " I was worried. I didn't think you guys would show up." "That's the thing, when you say "Meet me by the beach-"" Olivia nudges me and shoots a "Don't you finish that thought" look. "We over think and over analyze things. So of course that's gonna confuse us." I continue. Norm smiles. "I figured. We can't all be leaders. But anyways, what do you guys think of the boat?" "It's beautiful." Olivia says in awe. "You didn't specify what you wanted. So I figured you should get wherever you are going in style." "That's very kind of you." Olivia says, sweetly. If raccoons could blush, that's probably what he'd be doing right now. "Think nothing of it. Just remember me when you use the cup holder." "The cup holder?" I question. "Yeah, for when your eyes are tired. You pull into an oasis and get yourself a coffee." I look down. "That's very kind, but we don't deserve it." "What do you mean?" " We tricked you, those were not bags of trash." I explain. "I know." He says, unphased. Olivia and I stare at each other in surprise. "Come on, who do you think condemned all those buildings? Which by the way you probably were breaking the law going in there." "If you knew, why did you build us a boat?" Olivia asks. Norm takes a breath. "Listen, I have no use for money. I know where all the food is. The only thing I could do was make you sweat. And I did." Norm smiles smugly. Neither Olivia nor I know what to say. "But with all that aside, you guys have a kick ass boat." Norm leaps out of the yacht. He holds a cup of coffee in one paw, the other paw is clenched. He walks over to me and hands me the keys. "Looks like you tow are ready for a new adventure." "Thank you. Does it have a name?" Norm waves his paws in the air. "Her Majesty." Olivia and I nod in agreement. "It just needs one more thing." He continues. Norm removes the lid from his coffee and splashes it on the side of the boat. "Now you two are ready for and adventure."

The Con

Sometimes twenty four hours is not enough time. Sometimes it feels as if it stretches on forever. In this instance, it was just enough time. We are currently arriving at the bonfire with the five bags. Fingers crossed, Norm will not suspect a thing. He's by himself tonight. This could be a good thing, as a second set of eyes might throw off our plan. We drop the bags at his feet. " Here are the five bags as promised." I say to him. "Not so fast. Let me look at it first." Norm grabs one of the bags. He stares at intensely. He then glances at us and looks at the bag once more. "That is so neat!" He exclaims. "What?" Olivia asks. "They make little zippy pockets on the outside of bags now. Who knew?" Olivia turns to me. "Yeah, who knew?" Norm continues his speech. "It's great. I mean it makes perfect sense. I mean once the bag is full, you can open up one of these pockets and fill 'er up." "I thought you'd like it." I say. "Alright, I didn't think you guys would do it, but you did. And I am a raccoon of my word." "Thank you , it is very good to know you have principles." Olivia tells him. "I do. So how bad do you guys want to get off the island?" "Pretty damn bad." I blurt out. "Well I can work through the night and have it ready by morning." "That would be great!" Olivia shouts out. "Then meet me at the beach tomorrow. And try not to make any racket when you leave. I gotta get my beauty rest."

Craft Project

When you're lost and have no where to go, the tried and tested methods are a good place to start. We're back in the children's village. If there is trash anywhere, it would be here. The whole place is somewhat spooky as there is not a soul in sight. We see a building we hadn't noticed before. Right away it's not like all the other buildings because it is on the ground. It is however boarded up, just like all the other buildings. We pry the boards off the door. It is a struggle at first, but it's worth it. This building is an old fashioned school house. It has the big desks and chalkboards. The floor boards squeak as we enter. There are also a few modern touches though. Such as art supplies thrown about the room, a computer in the corner and winter coats hanging on little hooks. I walk over to the winter coats. "Doesn't this look familiar?" Olivia asks. "Can't say it does." I say, transfixed by the coats. "Remember where we were right before we got abducted?" "Oh, yeah." I say as I grab five coats off the hooks. "Maybe there is some sort of connection?" "It's possible. Could you do me a favor?" "Sure, what?" " Could you hand me the scissors from the desk?" Olivia grabs the scissors off the desk and hands them to me. I take the scissors and proceed to cut the lining out of the coats. "Wait, what are you doing?" She asks, panicking. "Cutting the lining out of the coats." "I can see that, but why?" "Because after I'm done with this, I'm gonna grab some black paint that I saw earlier and paint these." "Are you trying to disguise these as garbage bags?" She asks me. "Bingo." "You think it will actually work?" "Of course it will. All we have to do is wrap them up and fill them something. Anything. Even if it's just the lining or leaves." Olivia sits down next to me. "Worth a shot."

What Do We Have?

As we walk away from the rustling bonfire, we empty our pockets to see what bits of trash we have. In my pockets I have... small change(mostly pennies and nickles) gum wrappers, and a piece of a cloud. Olivia appears puzzled as I take the cloud out of my pocket. "You never know when you might need it." I say. Olivia reaches into her pockets. She pulls out buttons, pins, flowers, sea shells, and a diamond. "That's not trash." She says about the diamond. I examine our trash. " Looks like we have some work to do." "Yep" Olivia says, half sighing. "What's wrong?" I ask. "What are we doing?" I furrow my brow. " What do you mean?" "Why are we doing this?" "Because we want to get off the island." Olivia takes a deep breath. "But is it really that bad here?" I shake my head no. "No, but it also isn't that great either." Olivia looks up at me. "What do you want?" "Adventure, excitement." Olivia nods. "We can find that here." "No, we can't. Things don't get worse here. But they don't get better either. It's just the same thing day after day." "Then we need to make things different." She says confidently. "I agree. Let's go find the garbage." I pick up the remnants of our pockets and take off. Olivia stands back, bewildered. "That's not what I meant."

Deal With Norm

Unless you are under the age of five, playing to win tick tack toe is a pointless pursuit. No one ever wins. No one ever loses either, but no one wins. It is always a tie, a stalemate, a cat's game. It does not matter where you put your X's or O's in the beginning, because that is where it always ends up. But I played into this idea that it was a winnable game because I wanted to pass time. At the start of each game I psyched myself up and said "this time it will be different." Of course it never ended any differently. Thing is though, merely pretending made time fly. Before I knew it, darkness had fallen upon us. "You think it's time?" Olivia asks me. "Only one way to find out." We get up off the ground and dust the sand off our clothes. We walk to the bonfire. Just as predicted we saw our critter friend sitting on a rock and staring at the flames as if it were a T.V. Beside him was a fox in a yellow construction vest. We sneak up to them. At first they don't see us. After a moment Norm realizes we are there and jumps up. "Oh hey! Don't be strangers. Sit down." We find spaces on the rocks and sit down. Norm points to the fox in the vest. "This is my buddy, Frankie." Olivia reaches out her hand to Frankie. Frankie does not move. He continues to stare into the flames. " He's just a little burnt out." Norm explains. "Long day?" Olivia asks. "Oh yeah. What about you guys? Was it a long day doing nothing?" "Hey, we're working very hard to unravel the secrets of the universe." I explain. Norm snickers. "You guys should just give up." He says. "And why is that?" Olivia asks. Norm picks up a beer and cracks it open. "Because you'll never figure it out. In fact you'll become insane if you attempt to figure it out." Norm takes a huge gulp. "But I highly doubt you came here looking for my advice." There is a brief pause. " I knew it! You guys want something from me don't you?" I look down and take a deep breath. "We want to get off the island." I say, sheepishly. "And I suppose you want me to build you guys a boat, right?" "Yes! Exactly!" Olivia shouts delightedly. Norm scratches his chin. " I don't work for free so... five bags of garbage" Olivia and I look at each other in confusion. "I'm a raccoon, so to me something like that is a delicacy." He explains. "I understand, but where are we even going to find garbage bags on the island?" I ask. Norm shrugs. "Not my problem." "So, you want this soon?" Olivia asks. "By this time tomorrow." Our jaws nearly drop hearing this. Norm put up his index finger. "One more thing. Frankie you want anything from these guys?" "World Peace." He says in a barely audible voice, while still staring at the flames. " Um.. you know what? Just get the five bags of trash."

Bright Idea

I hop on one foot to jostle the water out of my ear. "That's it." Olivia shouts. Her voice still muffled. "What?" I ask. "You remember Norm?" "Mcdonald?" "No, the raccoon."Oh yeah." I say still hoping on one foot. "He's a contractor. Maybe he can build a boat for us." The water falls out of my ear and hits the sand. "Yes!" I shout in victory. Olivia glares at me. "What, I was listening. I think it's a good idea." "You do?" "I do. But we're do you think we'll find him?" Olivia takes a breath. " We found him near the bonfire. It's possible that he may come back there." "But he's nocturnal." I add. "Right, so we would have to wait." "We could seek him?" I suggest. " We could be he'd probably be pissed if we wake him up early." "So, what should we do?" I ask. Olivia glances at the sand. "We've got hours till the sun goes down. Wanna play tick tack toe?" She already make the tick tack toe board with her index finger. I smile. "You're O's, right?"

Door Raft.

I have no skills in carpentry. Even if I did I can't seem to find a hammer and nails anywhere on this island. It's not like there is a Home Depot. I have no idea how all those kids assembled their tree houses. Perhaps I'll never know. Seeing as how we are desperate to get off the island, and we don't have the proper tools, we did the only thing we could think of. We ripped a door off an entrance to one of the tree houses. It's not enormous, but it is big enough to fit both of us. I'm sure using a door as a boat won't exactly be easy, but we'll deal with those problems as they come to surface. Right now we're ankle deep in the water. It's tricky to glide the door out and then hop on. We try at first to go one at a time. It is no use. The balance is always slightly off and the other person falls. We decide after a few attempts at this to just hop on at the same time. This isn't exactly easy either. We count to three. On three we both leap up onto the raft. Or so it seems. Olivia is all the way on. I'm half on. Half off. She lays down on her belly and pulls me up. As soon as we are both safely on the raft we paddle like hell. Our arms are tired, and we want to give up. It seems the current is too strong for us, but our efforts pay off. There eventually is a calm. We take our arms out of the water , and let the sea take us where it takes us. Unfortunately the calm does not last at all. A wave comes hurling our way. We are through off the raft and launched back to sea. I think it is time to revise our escape.

Sandcastle

Build the walls. Build them up. Make them bigger. Make them stronger. Yes, this shall be the finest sandcastle that any have the privilege of laying eyes on. It is missing one thing though. I draw a circle around the sandcastle with my index finger. Now to fill my moat with water. I rush to the water and cup my cup my hands. I quickly run back to my creation. Most of the water spills along the way. I am, however, able to make a small area of the moat damp with what remains in my hands. Not much though. One could hardly call it a moat at this point, but I'm not about to rush back and forth several times to fill it. Still, it needs something extra. I snap my fingers. I got it! I pick up a nearby twig and place it in the tower. It represents the flag of Castle Sparky Boy. I smile and admire my creation. I turn around and see Olivia staring out into the endless ocean. "Hey Olive! It's done." She turns and walks to the castle. "Baby, that looks great." She says with warm smile. "Thanks, you want to help me destroy it?" "What? Why? Aren't you proud of it?" She asks befuddled. "Of course I am, but that's what you do." "It is?" "Yeah, now do you want to be the monster that destroys the town?" "I'm the monster?" Olivia asks, somewhat offended. "If it makes you feel better you can be the 50 foot woman." Olivia shakes her head. "Sure, what do I do?" "That's easy. You just kick and stomp the castle." Olivia raises her foot and prepares to kick the outer wall. "No, not yet." I say in a panic. I get behind the castle. "First I have to say "Don't destroy my town."" Olivia raises her foot again. "No, not yet." "I thought I could destroy it after you said that." "That was me practicing. That wasn't me saying it for real." Olivia snickers to herself. "How about I say "don't destroy my town." and then I wink so you know?" "That's fine" I clear my throat and give my best reading of DON'T DESTROY MY TOWN. I then give Olivia a very animated wink. She proceeds to kick and smash my castle. I cheer and applaud as wet sand gets hurled across the beach. Olivia stops abruptly. "That was fun." "What are you doing? There is one more." I say while pointing to the remaining tower. With that, Olivia strikes down the remaining tower with full force. My castle is now just a mound of sand once more. I stare at the remains and hang my head. "Whats wrong?" Olivia asks gingerly. "It's just over so quickly, and then it's nothing." "We can build another one." She suggests. "No." "I think we should get off the island." She says to me as she pulls me close and we look on at our destruction.

Abandoned Tree Houses

Tree House City is abandoned. There is not a soul in sight. All the doors and windows are boarded up. Olivia whistles and looks on in wonderment. "So what exactly did they see when they put on the mask?" I shrug. "Beats me. All I know is he threw off the mask and ran like hell." Olivia rests by the bonfire. There is no flame going, but the big rocks for sitting still remain. I sit down beside her and scratch my head. " I was getting tired of this island, but at least the kids are gone." I say. " Aren't you concerned why they left?" Olivia asks me. "No?" "Not in slightest?" "No, should I be?" "I don't know. Aren't you at least curious?" "No." Olivia appears flabbergasted. "All I know is they are gone. I didn't really care for them." Olivia rubs her face. " What should we do now?" She asks. "How about we build a sandcastle?" I suggest. "What?" "Yeah, let's build a sandcastle. It'll be fun." Olivia rolls her eyes. "Ok." She reluctantly takes my hand and we walk off to the beach to build a sandcastle.

Pocketing the Diamond

"What are you gonna do with it?" I ask Olivia as she places the diamond in her pocket. "I don't know. There's gotta be some reason we have it though. I mean first the emerald now a diamond?" I squint at her. " You sure it was an emerald?" "What do you mean?" I clear my throat. "I said it was an emerald, but what do I know? It could have been a crystal." Olivia shakes her head. "Trust me, I know these things. It was an emerald. Besides what difference would it make if it were a crystal?" I shrug. "I don't know." Olivia smiles. "I don't have anything planed. Do you?" I shake my head no. "Nope, you want to go into the village and get something to eat?" "I thought we were kicked out?" Olivia asks. "We were, but I think they are afraid of me now. So it's ok." "What exactly happened while I was gone?" I place my hand on her side and grin. "Let's walk. I have plenty of stories to tell you"

Diamonds in the Rough

Not wanting to clean off the eye pieces and needing fresh air, I threw off the mask. Plus, I figured this was a solution that could be easily solved by climbing the tree. I love climbing trees. I don't think one is ever too old for it. I had a little bit of difficulty at first. I was a little rusty. It had been a couple years. But once I got my footing, it was a piece of cake. I was like a monkey hoping from branch to branch. Eventually I sat down on the branch that Olivia's parachute was caught on. "You've come to rescue me?" Olivia shouts out. "Damn straight." I pull a jagged rock out of my pocket and scrape the ropes. "What are you doing?" Olivia asks worriedly. "I'm cutting you out." "No, don't do that." "Why not?" "Because then I will fall." I stop what I am doing immediately, but the rope snaps. Olivia falls three feet down. I horridly rush down the tree and help Olivia off the ground. "Are you ok?" I ask as I pull her up. "Yeah, just gonna have a huge bruise on my ass." Olivia takes off her harness. She sees the mask in the pile of mud. She picks it up and brushes the mud off the eye pieces. She examines the mask closely and finds the eye pieces are cracked. "Huh, wonder if it will still work." She thinks out loud. "Try it on." I encourage her. Olivia puts the mask on. "I don't see anything." "Try tapping it." Olivia taps the forehead. Green sparks shoot out by the diamond and then fizzle away. Olivia takes off the mask. "I think it's busted." "That's a shame." I say. "Do you have a screw driver?" Olivia asks me. "Nope." Olivia shrugs. She picks up a rock and beats the mask with it. I grab her by the wrist. "What are you doing?" "The mask might be broken, but we could use the diamond for something." I half smile. "That's not a bad idea." With that Olivia continues to slam the rock against the mask. It takes a few tries, but the diamond does pop out. Olivia smiles big and bright as she holds the diamond in the palm of her hand and exclaims "Eureka."

Slide

Everything seems so small. So very small. The island below me is barely even visible anymore. It is now a little tan spec that is being swallowed by blue. It is possible that this pink bubble may pop. It is also possible that it may take me to land. I don’t want to stick around long enough to know the outcome. Without any other options, I put on the mask. A green, portal - like hole opens up at the bottom of the bubble. I crawl in to the portal. On the other side is a green slide. It looks holographic like all the other images that I see through this mask , but the slide supports me. I slide down to Earth with tremendous speed. I do not just glide straight down though. It bends, it spirals, it does loop de loops. Several of them. How I was able stay on the slide, I’ll never know. Faster I went down the slide with every slant and turn. I was like a bullet. My periphery was blurry. Needless to say, the experience was both fun and terrifying. The “ride” eventually ended. I plopped, face first into a pile of mud at the base of Olivia’s tree.

Bubble Trouble

Olivia shoots a pink bubble directly at the ground. It hits the mask and is lifted off the ground. I am able to reach my hand into the bubble and grab the mask. As soon as I grab hold of the mask the bubble encircles me. The bubble begins to pull me out of the net. "Fantastic." I think,knowing that we have at least solved one problem. It doesn't stop lifting me there though. It takes me out of the net. It moves me past Olivia, above the trees. Higher and Higher I go. The land below me is quickly shrinking and become a model town. I sure hope this bubble doesn't pop like a regular balloon.

She Returns

I try and squeeze through a small opening in the net. As skinny as I am, it is still difficult, and I am feeling rope burn as it rubs against my stomach. It reminds me of gym class. Climbing a dangling rope to a ceiling that seemed unreachable. Why did they make us do that? To prepare for war? Anyways I'm half way out of the net. That's about as far as I could get. The mask is just out of reach. If I can somehow swing to the mask, maybe I can put it on and Washington can help me out. I swing my self closer, it is still just out of reach. I try again, when all the sudden I hear "Jeronimo!" It is followed by the noise of cracking branches. I look up to see what happened. There I see Olivia stuck in a nearby tree. "Hey, good to see you" I shout up to her. She smiles. "Good to see you too." She pauses and looks closely at me. "Are you also stuck?" She asks. "What do you mean also?" I look back up and her an realize her parachute is tangled in the branches, leaving her hanging. I shake my head. "This is a pickle."