Stacy--Part Fifty-Seven

Splog # 205

Fifty-Seven

 Stacy turned and leaned her back against the side of the cauldron. She slid down into a sitting position. Because the section where she sat sloped downwards, she had to plant her feet firmly in front of her so she wouldn't slide onto the bottom with its pointy little bumps. It felt good to be slightly relaxed again and she began to wonder how she'd get out of the cauldron. Listening to the rain pitter-patter on the lid above her, she made a visual exploration of the vessel in which she found herself confined. There was not much to see. The flowers were pleasant enough to look at but would be of no use in her present predicament. She noted again the small round depressions that were located at four even intervals around the sides of the cauldron, midway from bottom to top. They didn't look like anything in particular. They could be simply some marking that occurred in the formation of the cauldron. She closed her eyes for a few moments and rested. Lane and Johnny passed in her mind's eye. Splog. A tiger. A swarm of ants. Red butterflies and white butterflies. When she opened her eyes again, it seemed there was a dark spot across from her on the side of the cauldron. That was where that round marking was. She looked to her left and right and saw the same dark patch. There was probably one behind her, she thought, just over her head. She levered herself to her feet, keeping crouched over, and turned around. She found a circle of dullness set into the glowing interior of the cauldron. It was about the size of her hand with the fingers outstretched. As she looked at it, it seemed to be growing less and less opaque. It was as if mist or fog were dissolving off of a window. It got clearer and clearer and a picture appeared. It resolved into a large tree. Stacy looked at it for a moment and then wondered if the others were pictures also. She delicately moved over to her right noting as she did that flowers were still growing in the bottom of the cauldron. She saw that only one was coming up at a time as opposed to the profusion of the earlier growth spurt. When she reached the circular spot, she found that it too was slowly disclosing a picture. It took a little time but she waited patiently and was rewarded with a picture of a boy lying asleep in a cage. She hoped he was asleep. Seeing the boy there, she hurried straight across the cauldron to find a picture of a girl also asleep in a cage. Did this mean they were still there waiting for her? She wanted to help them, but what could she do? Disconsolately, she moved over to the last picture. A beach with sand dunes and rolling waves. She looked at it for a few moments, thinking of the boy and girl in their cages. She didn't pay much attention to the waves, until she noticed that they were breaking on the shore. The waves in the picture were moving. She was so surprised that she stood up straight and hit her head on the lid covering the cauldron. It didn't hurt as much as she had thought it would. And the lid had moved when she'd collided with it. She put both hands up and gave a tentative push. The lid went up easily with the slightest pressure. She froze with her hands above her head on finding that she was facing a sandy beach with waves gently rolling upon it.