Eric--Part Thirty-Three

Splog # 154

Thirty-Three

   As they climbed the spiral stairs, they began to arrive at branches that wandered off in different directions. A short way along these, Eric noticed two wooden posts that one would pass in order to travel further up the branch. Occasionally, he saw a vine attached to the posts and stretched across the branch. Or, conversely, the vine would be wound around one post, leaving access to pass. After they had gone by two or three branches where the posts were open to passage, Nol suggested they take the next one and settle for their meal. But Splog responded:

   "Seeing as this is Eric's first visit to Lon's, I'd like to take him where he can feast on the view as well as the vittles."

   So they continued climbing. Eric was entranced by the strange, exciting, vibrant, and verdant surroundings through which he was moving. At one point, a wide branch forked off and led to a large platform where a central table was laden with food and a diverse selection of people were sitting around it eating and talking. There were men, women and children and Eric was surprised to note that the children enjoyed the freedom of wandering around the table, not always remaining in its close proximity. He tried to spy if there were a rail of any kind to prevent  accidental tumbles, but in truth, he couldn't discover whether it was possible to fall from the platform or not. There were leafy branches all around that almost constituted a wall and the parts of the floor that he could see appeared to be without opening of any size. The platform was soon out of sight and he was left with quite a few questions as to the structure and building of this place.

   "Yes. Yes. I think this will do. I think this will do exceptionally well."

   After a moment's pause, Splog led the way up a branch that extended straight in front of them. Nol followed Splog with Bev behind him. Eric walked behind Bev and Cor followed him. Eric turned to see how Cor would fasten the vine between the posts, but all Cor did was touch the vine as he went by and, as if of its own accord, it extended to the opposite post and twined around it once or twice. Cor smiled and nudged Eric a bit as he just stood there open-mouthed.

   "Just a bit of hir-vine," Cor said, by way of explanation.

   Eric nodded and closed his mouth. He turned and hurried after Bev, who was a little way ahead of him. Shortly, he followed her into what appeared to be a green cavern, although it wasn't dark at all but quite brightly lit. Branches of all sizes seemed to spring from everywhere and nowhere to create a floor that, although slightly uneven in places, left no gaps through which one could fall. The walls of the space were hedge-like, though not very thick, with openings on all sides that looked into different sections of the enormous tree and one that looked out over the countryside. A few branches curved above the space, but not enough to constitute an actual roof. Eric could see other sections of the tree above and also clear through to the sky in some places. There was a table off to one side against the wall and above it was an opening into which a face shortly appeared.

   "Much time," the owner of the face greeted them.

   "No waste," came back to him in various voices.

   ("Waste, waste, waste, no waste," Eric muttered under his breath.)

   "Beef, ham, chicken, sausage, steak. Eggs. Pancakes, waffles, battered toast, muffins. Grapefruit, oranges, pears, apples, peaches, bananas. Juice, milk, tea, water."

   It all sounded wonderful to Eric, who was having a difficult time making up his mind. He was caught off guard when Splog replied,

   "Lovely, sounds wonderful. For five, please."

   The head said, "Thank you," and vanished. Almost immediately, servers began passing pitchers and platters through the opening.