Stacy--Part Twenty-Eight

Splog # 104

Twenty-Eight

   So she figured that this envelope was addressed to her and she should probably open it. But what was it doing here? Who left it? When and why? The envelope wasn't sealed, the flap had simply been tucked  into the body and it opened easily. Stacy looked inside and saw three items - one was small and silver, one was yellow and thin and one looked like a folded piece of paper. She would take them out one by one and examine them. The yellow item was a feather about as long as her hand and there was something rather odd about it. The narrow end, which would have been used for writing in the days of quill pens, seemed unnaturally shaped. Just before the tip, there was a squiggle in the form of a letter 's' and at the end it wasn't pointed. It was flat and had three small prongs sticking out at right angles to each other. It looked like a small yellow plus sign. Other than that it was an ordinary feather. The coloring wasn't uniform but variegated, with different shades ranging from a pale yellow that was almost white through canary yelllow, a sunshiny sparkling yellow and a deep rich gold. Stacy enjoyed examining the various hues but was curious to inspect the remaining contents of the envelope. So she re-deposited the feather and tried to remove the silver item. Her fingers couldn't seem to get a grip on it so she turned the envelope upside down over her palm and gave it a little shake. She caught something, but at the same time the feather and the paper fell out of the envelope and past her outstretched hand, one on either side. The paper landed at her feet and, just as the feather looked as if it would do the same, a gust of wind arrived from nowhere and blew it under the lid she had just walked around. As it fluttered to the ground, Stacxy ducked and started to waddle below the lid, figuring it was quicker and easier than walking all the way around again. But after only two steps, she turned back to grab the small piece of paper. She returned it to the envelope and headed back under the lid. As her eyes caught the feather, so did another gust of wind, and it began to rise fitfully in front of her. It only took a few seconds for her to reach the spot where it was floating erratically, but that was time enough for it to ascend out of her reach. With one hand over her head and the other clutching the envelope, Stacy watched helplessly as the feather danced above her. Despite occasional dips, it seemed to be rising higher and higher. Stacy worried that something important was getting away from her. Someone had left it, specifically for her (probably), out in the middle of nowhere. She was meant to have it and here it was slipping away from her. At least it's not being blown out over this endless plain, she thought. And then, to her joy, she saw that it was rocking back and forth and getting lower with each pendulum swing. She reached up both hands, careful to keep the envelope's opening upright so that nothing else would fall out, and smiled as the feather headed straight towards her. Then, just as it brushed her fingertips, a final gust of wind blew it away from her, and she watched as it spiralled lazily into the cauldron. She gripped the edge and went up on her toes to watch it land gently atop the myriad of tiny cones that dotted the bottom of the vessel.