A cool breeze blows off the Berry Bay
onto a lone figure holding onto a compass. Instead of an arrow pointing towards
Cardinal points, a small puddle of what looks like liquid amethyst vibrates
softly. High above, a mighty dragon ship roars a signal and the figure smiles
up towards the sky. What other reaction is appropriate to seeing a friend float
down hundreds of feet hanging onto a purple lacy parasol.
The figure on the shore is a young man
with a maroon coat and dark grey pants. He stands barefoot next to a man in a
tuxedo who’s facing the ocean with a conductor’s baton in his hand, as if
waiting for a cue from the young man.
The lovely damsel begins to descend a
bit faster. As the young man scratches his beard wearily, he notices her
descent, which prompts him to look over to the man in the tuxedo. “Ease her
down a bit, maestro; if you’d be so kind.”
The man facing the ocean begins to move
his baton gently while overlooking the ocean and the subtlest, gentlest breeze
blows precisely, catching the parasol perfectly and halting the young woman’s
descent. The barefoot man reaches up his hand to ease her down to the ground as
if she were stepping down from a set of invisible stairs.
“Thank you, J.D.”
“Thank the maestro, dear Claudi.”
She curtseyed towards the conductor who
nodded satisfied with his control over the melody of the wind. Turning back to
J.D., Claudette looked over her friend. “You’re looking a little tired, and a
little thinner. Everything all right?”
J.D. flashed his trademark grin, “Aye,
luv. Just a lot on the plate at the moment and worried about Jane.”
“How is she?” Claudette asked,
controlling the concern in her voice. “Your message seemed urgent.”
“She is well although I wanted to see
if you could help me ease her dreams. The ocean of her mind has been a bit
rocky lately, as has mine.”
“Hence you telling me to come prepared
and to provide backup.”
“Precisely. Did you bring the pencils?”
She scoffed lightly and pulled open her
purple suede coat. Underneath, she wore a black and purple shirt and the
embroidery on both garments was something J.D. could have looked at in detail for
hours if there weren’t more pressing matters at hand. Instead, he focused on
the rows of pencils on either side of her coat.
“That’s great,” he said shortly. “I
promise we’ll toast on giggle suds soon.”
Claudette held up her left hand as if
to stop him. “No explanations needed, J. As for the help, I suspect you plan a
full break out.”
“You already know me so well,” he
replied with his smile.
“Thought so. We’re going to need two
friends then.”
“Great. Where do we start?”
Claudette thought a moment before
replying. “The Down Pond.”
“Well there are two. Do you mean the
one before Up Mountain or the one beyond the Webbed Bridge?”
“The second one,” Claudette answered.
J.D. closed his eyes and held the
compass in his left hand. The crystal liquid rippled and spun until it pointed
back and to the left of them. “Off we go.”
“On foot?” asked the young woman
incredulously. “I think not mister. Jane won’t be made to wait.”
She pulled out two Easter eggs from one
of her coat pockets, cracked them open and two tiny kangaroos hopped on the
floor. One was lime green while the other was violet. Before J.D. could even
ask about the size of the small animals, Claudette took out a bag with what
looked like neon cotton candy floss. The tiny kangaroos jumped eagerly towards
her hand and quickly ate up all the candy.
“I’m guessing that’s not cotton candy,”
J.D. said.
“You are correct,” she responded
looking at the small animals as they slowly began to swell and stretch. When
they had grown eight feet tall, she nodded in approval. “It’s spandex candy,
not cotton. I needed to stretch them out a bit.”
J.D. shook his head and smiled. “So
where are the saddles?”
The two giant kangaroos looked at each
other and puffed, while Claudette smiled.
***
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