Nothing aint nothing! And that's what starts a something!

So Moonshine tried to tell me Audrey (Not My Daughter) was my daughter. I didn't much appreciate that. So I up and threw my chair at him.

As you can see, he didn't take too kindly to that. He threw his chair right back at me and to be honest, it was a bunch of horse crap!

     Well, anywho, we were having a dang deep conversation about, "nothing." He asked, "where does nothing come from?" Sometimes that big foot looking feller gets my brain a spinning on the craziest conversations. I answered that nothing can't exist unless it came from something. I think he cracked a wry smile, course it's hard to tell under that furry face, but he went on with his point. By the way, I wasn't being serious in my answer at all, but Moonshine took me pretty dang serious.

     Anywho, Moonshine got on his religious kick and shouted, "That's right! You wouldn't know what nothing was, unless you had something to take it from, and that right there is proof of God!" I tried to explain that he was speaking in circles, but dang Audrey got all hyped up and actually looked up from her phone long enough to say, "Amen," then got back to texting, or whatever it is she does on that device. Typically when Moonshine gets going in circles, I reach out to Pablo to balance his gyrating self. This instance was no different. I asked Pablo for his two cents and I'll be darned, he reached deep in his pocket and pulled out two copper pennies. That feller is funny! Can you believe he actually produced two cents? Well, anyhow, Pablo proved Moonshines point. He had nothing in his hands and produced two copper pennies upon verifying something.

     Daw gone numb skulls got me speaking in circles. Here's a little clarity for ya'll. Audrey has decided to stay, indefinitely. I still aint talking to her. I mean, even if she did look up from her phone long enough to have a conversation, I wouldn't know what to say. Do all teenage girls act like this with their cell phones? I have talked to her Mom and she has confirmed that we knew each other. Her Mom is legit, but she aint, so, I don't really know what to do with that. Course her Mom was happy to hear she was alive and well. We've decided to move on. Our next stop is going to be a place called Deer lake. Apparently the fishing is better up there. With any luck, we'll be catching some whoppers. Here's some more writing. Hope ya'll like it.

Chapter 4 (Continued)

“Oh no…,” she whispers, pinching her thumb to her forefinger, then moves them apart again. She feels her fingers stick together. “Tis sticky,” she whimpers and attempts to wipe the pinesap on her dress. “Tis very sticky,” Princess grumbles and her tummy grumbles after. 

With a sigh, she looks around for a place to safely tuck her pearl as she prepares to sleep.  

“Wait a bit!” Her eyes light up. “You can sleep with me,” she says to her pearl, as she slides the white sphere between her sticky fingers. Just to be sure her present doesn’t wander, she opens her hand and shakes it. Each time she inspects it she’s surprised that the pearl remains stuck fast to her pointer finger. 

“See,” she smiles and then whispers, “I told you I would keep you safe.” The light blue sky slowly fades to darkness. The cool night blankets the earth but steers away from the warm, dry evergreen cover. Princess rests her arms on her knees and her chin on her hands, and breathes in the soothing pine. She blinks once, then twice, and falls fast asleep.   

Before sunrise, the familiar sound of sparrows singing and morning doves cooing awaken the orphan child. A knee-high morning mist causes her to shiver. 

Princess reaches her hand out from underneath the pine skirt, with the pearl pinched between her fingers. “Tis safe!” she croaks a dismal replication of Setchra’s silky smooth voice. 

“Are you sure?” Princess whispers, “Tis awful scary.” The surfacing memories of her parents cause her to hesitate. “We are all alone,” she whispers to her sole companion. 

Her low voice grumbles beneath the pine skirt, “I know, but I’m very hungry.” 

“Me too,” Princess confides to her pearl. 

She moves the pearl all around, looking high and low with the pearly surrogate eye. 

“No danger, come on out!” Princess creaks in a low voice. 

“Alright then.” 

Lying on her stomach, Princess shuffle-scoots along the foggy ground, and slides out from underneath the pokey tree. Dried needles embedded in her burlap skirt stab at her. 

“Ouch!” she cries out. Her hands sweep at her dress and knock the dried yellow pine needles off. “That’s not nice,” she scolds the prickly offenders.  

 Once Princess removes the painful pine needles, she skips on the grass back to the dirt path and notices her heel isn’t burning as badly. Though the throbbing is duller, the wound reminds her of her shattered, painful past.  

She folds her arms and promises herself that she will be respectful of her deceased parents. She feels she musn’t be happy because her parents have passed so recently. She marches her legs high with her arms folded squarely, honoring her parents’ loss with a respectful, one little person parade. After several pounding steps, she leaves the willows behind and enters a grassy valley with dense clustering trees a great distance away. Her empty tummy grinds her abdomen muscles together, causing her knees to knock together. 

“Ahhh!” Princess wails, her dry throat cracking as she rubs her stomach. 

Looking all around, she finds no source of food. She sees no homes, no farms, and no people. She presses her hand to her stomach and whimpers, “I think Setchra’s a liar!” 

“No she isn’t,” Princess grumbles in a raspy voice. “Carry on.” 

“Where are the kind people?” Princess demands, furling her brow. “You don’t understand Setchra, you don’t have a tummy.” 

Princess searches around and finds a stick at the path’s edge, she picks it up. The little girl holds it upright and places Setchra’s pearl on top of the twiggy body, pretending her pearl is the head.  

“Now you understand, tummy hurts!”  

The throttling spasms in her abdomen subside. She feels guilty for making her pearl hurt. 

“You are my new baby.” She cradles the stick. “It will be okay, baby. I will protect you.” She maternally holds the stick closer to her chest, trying to keep the pearl on the tip of the stick. 

“Do you walk like me or swim like Setchra?”  

“I can swim,” her low, creaking, pretend voice says.  

“Really? Show me.”  

Princess holds the stick up high and pretends to hover her imagined baby over the distant green-topped trees, keeping the pearl secure between two little fingers. With one eye closed, she moves the stick up and down like a dolphin diving in the leafy green treetop ocean. As her hands move, she tries her best to hold the pearly head against its brown stick body. When her baby rises above the treetops, she makes a splashing sound. “Woossh! Spooosh!” 

Far off in the distance, a fading blue sky reflects a shiny object that catches her attention. Clutching her pearl in one hand, she drops the stick and shields her eyes with her other hand. 

“What ‘tis it?” she asks her pearl.  

“We should go see,” her raspy voice answers. 

At the pearl’s urging, Princess skips off eagerly.  

The early morning light graciously releases yellow beams through puffy white clouds. All around her, Princess listens to song birds welcome the day. She feels as though they sing their repetitious melody for her and her alone. Wanting to contribute, she hums with them in a high-pitched, squeaky voice that could never match their soprano chimes.  

Princess hobbles along until her bare feet flap on a new, hard surface. She feels a sudden chill under her feet and looks down. Her twitching toes abruptly find themselves atop a brown, tan, and gray cobblestone road with dried horse manure on it. Princess squats down and pokes at a flat yellow stone, noticing the gray cement between the stones.  

“A very unusual path,” she observes, pressing her finger on the firm cement. 

Inquisitively, she moves faster towards the shiny object, sparkling above the treetops. The pale child energetically skips off a few paces, until the memory of her parents brings her to a guilty halt. Her shoulders slump and she hops backwards once, rebuking herself for feeling joy.  

“I know, I miss them, too,” she sniffles to her friend in her small hand. 

Princess decides to reverently fold her arms and it seems as though she is going to cry, but doesn’t, for she has no more tears to shed. Instead, she walks down the road holding the pearl in her clenched fist.  

The light blue sky deepens to a slightly brighter shade, but Princess’ eyes remain fixed upon the glistening object in the sky.  

In a short distance, the tree line reveals a dark blue cone pointing directly into the bright morning horizon. The glistening object is a golden needle at the top of the cone, reflecting the early morning light above the green treetops. Beneath the bushy trees, gray mist covers the valley like a sea of vapor. 

Still unsure of what she’s seeing, Princess throws Setchra up in the air so that the pearl can get a better look. Momentarily blinded by the rising sun, she fails to catch her prize. Frantically, she scampers around for a moment, then finds the pure white sphere on the lightly blemished cobblestone surface. 

“Oh my! I was so worried,” she professes, cupping both her hands around it.  

“You swore you would protect m—” Setchra whines in a raspy voice. 

“What was it you saw?” Princess demands curtly, cutting herself off.  

The little girl whispers to herself, “Tis a blue cone with sparklies on top.” 

She giggles then sprints down the road. 

Her itchy, scratchy burlap dress shuffles back and forth while her little feet smack against the hard road. Soon, the tree line reveals a radiant white base holding the blue-coned top, similar to a sturdy stem on a budding rose. As she continues along the path two smaller, identical pillars, also with blue cone tops, stand beneath the larger pillar to its left and right. 

“Tis many towers,” Princess tells her pearl. 

As she continues on the path, a giant white rectangular curtain wall comes into focus, towering over the forest. 

“Tis a castle,” Princess rumbles in Setchra’s voice. 

“A CASTLE!” she shouts, sprinting faster than she’s ever run in her life. In just a few moments the little girl tires, her heel aches, and she feels a cramp piercing her side. She pinches her abdomen for relief. 

“Why do you pinch your side?” her pearl asks. 

“Because, Ma says it feels better!” Princess answers herself in gasps. 

“Does it help?” 

“No,” Princess whimpers. 

She holds the silent pearl in front of her face, as though scolding it. She releases an impatient growl.  

Princess continues her journey with incredible excitement, as the massive castle seems to rise out of the green forest. White birds fly over the forest and pass in front of the blue cones. Their tiny bodies are mere specks against the azure backdrop.  

Princess watches the morning scene with wonder, until her stomach growls. “Ooowwwccchhh, tummy hurts!”  

She looks at the pearl and licks her lips.  

After a brief pause, she decides, “No, I couldn’t. I eat what you eat.”

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