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."