Stacy--Part Twenty-Five

Splog # 97

Twenty-Five

 

   Keeping her eyes fixed on the point on the horizon where she was sure that the cages would be, Stacy marched steadily onwards. She wondered if there would be a way to release the two children. Could they really be Lane and Johnny? They gave the impression of Lane and Johnny, but seemed much too young...

   Now she noticed a speck on the horizon. Excitement filled her at the distant sight of her goal and she started walking even faster. Optimism seized her along with relief that she had been walking in the right direction. She was practically running now and she started to notice that the air around her was quite warm. She became aware of droplets of sweat on her forehead which she rubbed away before they could fall into her eyes.

   By now the speck in the distance was close enough for her to see that, whatever it was, it was a singular object as opposed to the two cages holding the children. And it seemed to have a shine to it. It was gleaming golden and, even as disappointment settled on her, she continued hurrying forward to find out what could be breaking up the monotony of the landscape.

   The closer she got, the more details she could observe concerning this strange object situated in the middle of nowhere. She first noticed its golden appearance then she made out that it was fairly large and round - a big golden ball. That seemed very odd.

   As she finally approached the object, she found herself looking at a large golden kettle, fully as large as herself. She supposed that this was what would be properly termed a cauldron. She walked right up to it and looked inside. The rim was just above shoulder height and she stood on tiptoe to get a good look. Resting her hands on the edge, she made a diligent inspection of the interior of the cauldron.

   There wasn't a lot to see; the interior shone golden, just as the outside had. There were three circular depressions on the inside surface about midway between rim and bottom, one directly opposite her and one each on either side. She tried to see if there was one below her but, as the cauldron curved outwards, she couldn't see that surface. Aside from the three shallow spots, the inside was just what she'd expected, except for the bottom. Where she thought to see a flat, smooth surface, she found an irregular collection of tiny hills or bumps, as if someone had been trying to drive a sharp implement into the cauldron from underneath.

   With one last glance around the interior, Stacy settled back onto her heels and then started to circumnavigate the golden cauldron. She wasn't concerned about losing her direction to the cages, for there had been that depression on the inside of the cauldron, directly across from where she had approached it. But then she stopped. There had been three depressions and she had to leave from the correct one. She hadn't walked many steps and she looked back into the cauldron to get her bearings. This time the depression that had been across from her was off to her right.