Stacy--Part Five

Splog # 17

Five

   She sat on a bump on the green rock to rest after her exertions. She looked at the different rocks making up the circle and thought she'd try to find the color hidden in each. She looked at the first rock that she had noticed a color in. It was three rocks to her left and still looked red to her. Then came the copper one and the gold was right next to her. Between her feet she could see green tints where she was sitting. She looked to her right and that rock was orange. A dull orange like a pumpkin in a field at twilight. All the colors seemed to be like that. Not bright but faint suggestions of color that took a moment to extract from the dull gray-brown that was the rocks' uniform appearance. The next rock was blue and, after that, was one of a yellow hue. And, just as she was picking up a violet tinge in the next rock, she realized that, with all her climbing and jumping and viewing of rock colors, she hadn't noticed the rock in the middle of the circle.

   It was a lot smaller than the rocks she had climbed. Not much bigger than herself. It appeared to be pure white, very smooth and quite rounded, except that it was somewhat pointed at the top.

   Stacy let herself slide halfway and then jumped to the ground from the green rock. The floor of the circle was dry dirt and there was a little puff of dust as her sneakers hit the ground. She walked straight to the rock and put both hands on it. It was as white and smooth up close as it had looked from afar.  In fact, it was so smooth that it almost felt like metal. It was also slightly warm to the touch. She started to walk around it, trailing her left hand over the surface as she did. Some areas were cool and some were warm. She could feel the changes of temperature as she circled the rock and wondered if that was an uncommon or a usual thing - for rock surfaces to feel warm and cool in different places. The sun was still high overhead so it made sense that the rock felt warm - but cool?

   Arriving on the other side of the rock, she forgot all her ruminations about the surface. Part of the rock was missing! At least, that's what it looked like. As if a giant had tried to slice it in half from top to bottom but couldn't get all the way through. So the top of the rock was half gone and the bottom was mostly there except for a small missing block.

   Stacy stepped back to look for a moment and then started giggling. It looked like someone had carved a seat out of a giant hard-boiled egg. She sat in the niche in the bottom half and stretched her arms to either side and put her hands on the ledge that was the top of this side of the rock. Queen Stacy!

   She sat for a few moments looking at the taller rocks opposite her and letting their colors penetrate her brain. Soon she let her hands down to her sides. Her eyelids were getting heavy. The rock she was sitting on was hard, but somehow comfortable, so she pulled her legs up on to the seat and leaned her left arm on the ledge, put her right arm over it and rested her head on her arms. Here she was, nestled on her giant egg. She almost giggled again but was too tired, so she just smiled.

   She left her eyes half open and continued to look at the rocks across from her, wondering if she was really seeing colors such as magenta and turquoise. She was feeling that nothing could make her move a muscle at this point. She was a little tired, but that wasn't why. This white rock was so comfortable! She felt better than if she had been in her bed at home. She felt warm and cool at the same time. And the white rock wasn't hard at all any more. It was cushiony. It was like silk. She felt as though she were resting on a butterfly's wings. And then, with her eyes still half opened, she started to dream.

   She dreamed that the rock on which she reclined was rising off the ground. Very slowly, she saw the other rocks, the ones of many colors, sinking from her view. As she rose past them, she saw the forest around her. She didn't raise her head; she just let everything float out of her sight. Trees, hills, streams.