Stacy--Part Forty-Five

Splog # 169

Forty-Five

 No one said anything for a few moments and the three applied themselves to their breakfasts. Stacy wondered about two notes with the same wording, one in her dream and one in Lane and Johnny's Doolin habitation. 

 "Where does the name Doolin come from?" she asked impetuously.

 Lane and Johnny looked at each other.

 "Splog told us about that a long time ago," Johnny said. "Sis, help me with the parts I forget, ok?"

 Lane nodded and Johnny started.

 "Supposedly, the people who first settled in the underground habitations were some families from the highlands in the south. Some of the mountains there would occasionally emit smoke or gases that created unpleasant living conditions in the surrounding areas. I guess some people went in other directions and some even stayed, figuring they could live with the inconvenience. But a few families headed north and after traveling up and down the hilly region they came to a place that seemed pretty level."

 "It was an endless stretch of grassland with hardly any hills or trees to break the monotony," Lane put in.

 "But there was one strange feature," resumed Johnny. "From where they stood, they could see what looked like a long dark line that stretched from somewhere beneath them all the way to the northern horizon. it was difficult to tell exactly what it was until they got closer, when they found that it was a narrow rift or valley with quite steep walls. It seemed to divide the plain into two separate sections. And although the plain was covered with grass as far as the eye could see there didn't seem to be a single thing growing anywhere in sight in the valley. And here the people were faced with a difficult decision. Should they continue their journey to the west of the valley or should they head to the east? From their vantage point, there was nothing that showed that one direction might be preferable to another. In the end, some of the people decided to try one direction and some others went the other way.But there was one old man traveling with a child..."

 "His granddaughter," Lane interposed.

 "...And he said that he had a hankering to explore the valley. Some people tried to persuade him that he'd be better off going with a group. They told him he and his granddaughter would be safer with other people and they wouldn't get so lonely. So he asked the child what she wanted to do."

 "She was only eight years old," Lane put in.

 "And she said she'd like to go where he wanted to go and wouldn't be lonely if he was with her. So they headed down into the valley."

 "They had a mule with food and water and sleeping bags," Lane explained. Then to Johnny, "You make it sound like they headed off with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. That doesn't make much sense."

 "Ok, ok," Johnny said. "I told you to help me if I forgot anything."

 "Well, it wasn't like you forgot. It just didn't make sense the way you were telling it."

 "So do you want to finish?" Johnny asked.

 "No, no, you're doing alright, just don't leave out important details." Lane began to peel a banana.

 "All right. So. The man and the child WITH THE MULE THAT HAD THEIR FOOD AND WATER AND SLEEPING BAGS AND PLATES AND CUPS AND READING MATERIAL AND TOOTHBRUSHES AND HAIR COMBS AND POTS AND PANS AND TOENAIL CLIPPERS..."

 By this time all three had been reduced to helpless laughter and while they recovered Lane offered Stacy a piece of banana and Johnny returned to the long table to refill his water glass.

 After a couple of relapses, Johnny resumed.