Chapter 2: Up, Up, Up

This is the next chapter of my ongoing Terra and Macho story Terra and Macho follow the pig to its destination

            The path was lopsided but the pig’s light-footed grace kept it upright.  Macho and terra were not as balanced.  The friends clumsily tripped through the rock and underbrush making lots of noise.  They ran and ran until they breathed as if they were sick dogs, wheezing, snorting and choking on the light soaked air.  The pig was slowing down. It disappeared behind a tree and Macho and Terra worried that they had lost it, but as they rounded the tree they were just in time to see the well-dressed pig vanish into the thick and rubbery foliage of the birch.

            “Going up.” Terra looked above into the tree’s undercarriage.

            “Mmf.”  Macho didn’t talk much. Just then a ladder dropped along side the tree.  It had two strong leather ropes on both sides and wooden planks up the center.

            “Looks sturdy,” Terra said as she started climbing.  When she was three quarters of the way up the rope ladder jerked and whatever was on the3 other side let go of the ladder.  Macho moved quickly.  He got down on one knee and caught Terra as she fell.

            “I’ll go first.” He rapped himself around the tree and started shimmying up it.  He was good at it.  Shimmying.  At the top there was a platform.  The platform was somewhat small and at the center a milk crate floated, suspended by velvet cords.

            Terra climbed onto the platform.  They were sweaty and flushed and Macho took off his hat and set it in the milk crate which promptly lifted it up, up, up into the next layer of branches. The friends scrambled up the branches and opened a trap door into a magnificent room.  Chandeliers hung from the ceiling in looming concentric circles.  Persian rugs lined the floor covering it in rich colorful designs. The pig sat at a grand table at the center of the room.  When the duo cam closer they realized that it was no longer living.