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¶ Short Stories (currently)
Jello & Donut
Two pairs of legs dangled down from the root, pointing into the darkness below. The feet bumped each other as they kicked.
"Oh, hello, who are you?" a girl said to a boy.
"Well, who are you?" the boy asked in response.
"Me? Oh, I'm, well, I'm Jello."
"In that case, I think I'll be Donut."
"Donut, really? That's silly."
"No sillier than Jello."
"He he, let's play," Jello said, and she shoved Donut playfully. After a long game of tag that lasted most of the afternoon, they sat back down on the end of the root and stared up at the branches and roots above. Jello paused, looking confused.
"Donut, how did we get here?"
"Well, Jello, I don't know. I think we used our ... oh, now I know where we are."
"Where? Where?" Jello asked excitedly.
"We're in a place that my grandfather told me about. We're in Imagination Land!"
"Imagination Land? Wow. What does that mean?"
"It means, silly, that we have to use our imagination to make anything happen. That's how we got on this root, I'm pretty sure. We both just imagined it at the same time."
"Or mebbe you're not real," Jello countered, "but just a figment of my imagination." She took her pointer finger and poked him in the arm.
"Or mebbe you're not real, and I am!" Donut said back.
"But I feel real," Jello said.
"So do I. So we both must be real, sharing an imaginary root. Or branch, as I see it."
"Branch," Jello asked. "What d'ya mean?"
"Well, if you'll look down..." Donut said, and as he did, his brow furrowed in concentration, and what was once dark became visible. Jello was able to see several miles down into the abyss, and slowly, as light from above filtered down, a pipe of some sort appeared. The pipe was crooked, though, and as Jello stared longer, she could start to make out other things in the darkness. Things moved. Legs shot out from the pipe. And it looked like the pipe grew right into their root.
"Hey, this isn't a root at all, but the branch of a really big tree!" Jello exclaimed.
"This is the Tree of Eternity," Donut said. "It has no beginning and no end." As if to prove his point, he looked up, and Jello did so as well. As far as her eyes could strain through her glasses, she could see no top to the tree, only more and more branches. Birds flew around higher branches, and a gentle breeze made the whole upper tree sway.
"Let's go higher!" Jello shouted, started to flicker in the light.
"No, wait!" Donut yelled back, and she stopped from disappearing. "We have to be careful if we want to travel together. If we imagine ourselves on different branches, we might never see each other again. We should stay here for awhile."
"But there's nothing to do..." but Jello trailed off, and a mischievous grin spread across her face. Her eyes briefly shut, and suddenly in her hand there appeared a big, fat chocolate bar.
"Ymmmm," she purred, and chomped down on the candy bar. It was the best she'd ever had. "I lmmph Immphhanph Lmpohhg..." Jello mumbled out.
"You like Imagination Land?" Donut asked.
"Mmm-hmmm," she agreed, and took another huge bite of sweetness.
"Me too," Donut said, and a Boston Creme Pie appeared before him. A fork followed, then quickly disappeared. He dug in with his hands.
A little while later...
"I don't feel so good," Donut said.
"I feel as bloated as a whale," Jello agreed.
"I think I ate too much chocolate. Wait, I know..." Donut's eyes narrowed, and his forehead crinkled. After a few seconds, he stopped. "Oh, it's no use. I can't unimagine my stomach."
Jello's eyes lit up. She closed her eyes again, and this time when she opened them, all her stomach's gurglings had stopped.
"How'd you do that?" Donut asked, envious of Jello's smug grin and apparently calm stomach.
"It's not a matter of unimagining your stomach, as just imagining that you didn't eat anything today."
"Wow, incredible." Donut tried, and a few seconds later, he was smiling too. "You know, you're pretty smart Jello."
"You're not too slow yourself," Jello replied.
They stared at each other for a moment, then Donut looked away. His shoulders sighed.
"What's wrong Donut?" Jello asked.
Then Donut sprung around and whirled a cream pie right at Jello. She didn't duck nearly in time, and her face was splattered with cream.
"Gotcha!" Donut yelled, and ran away down the branch. Jello chased in playful fury.
She noticed that Donut could run faster than she, so she stopped and thought. An idea sprung itself on her. She closed her eyes, and a second later, an "Ooof!" came from up ahead. She sprinted up to find Donut lying on the ground, his feet tangled in rope.
"Where'd this rope..." Donut began, but before he could finish a banana pie popped into his face. Jello stood above him laughing.
"Ha ha ha, oooh, that was so good. You should have seen the look on your face. Ha ha ha..." Jello was still chuckling when she notice the rope had disappeared and Donut was charging at her. In defense, she tried to imagine more rope, but she was still laughing about Donut that she couldn't concentrate. Donut tackled her to the ground a second later.
Temporarily stunned, when she came to she found she was all tied up. She looked around and saw Donut walking up to her. He smiled.
"Oh, this will be good," he said slyly. She noticed her shirt was pulled up a little, and wondered what Donut could be up to. Just as she was about to ask, 20 feathers appeared in his hands and all at once they started lightly jabbing into her flesh. Back and forth they swooped, and the tickling was almost too much.
"OOOOOO, STOP, OOOO, HE HE HE, OOO, HE HE HE HE HE HE HE, OK OK OK, STOP, HE HE HE, OOO, HE HE..." Jello moaned, but to no relief. Finally Donut temporarily let up, and she could think straight for a second. The feathers and rope disappeared. Donut was lying in the grass, tired and overflowing on laughter as well.
Jello walked to the edge of the root/branch and looked down. She felt a calm, warm, gentle breeze flow down from above and wash softly against her still-flushed cheeks. She hiccuped a giggle as an after-effect of the vicious tickling, then smiled and leaned out. She could almost feel herself falling again, like she was before, only this time not trying to image a root. Where would she go? Where would she land? How would it feel? These questions and others passed through her mind. Then she got tired. She looked back to find Donut sitting on the root near her, looking up in the sky.
"I'm tired," Jello said.
"Come here," Donut replied. She went over and sat down beside him.
"Put your back to mine," Donut continued, "and I'll put mine to yours. This way, we can sleep without falling off."
Soon, the two were sleeping very peacefully.
Two pairs of legs dangled down from the root, pointing at the darkness below.