III.
Z:
[poke]
[poke]
[POKE]
Me:
Geez! Yikes!
Z:
I’m awaaaaake!
Me:
I guess! I’m busy now though; please let me focus on this
lesson I’m teaching.
Z:
But I’m BORED! [poke
poke pokepokepokepoke]
Me:
Shhhh! This lesson will be over in 5 minutes, and then we
can hang out.
Z:
[poke]
[poke]
[wiggle]
[poke]
[sigh]
…
Are you DONE YET?!
Me:
Yes! Yes, I’m leaving my student now. Jeesh. You having fun in there?
Z:
I don’t know. What’s fun?
Me:
It’s—good question.
It’s enjoying yourself, I guess. Having a good time.
Z:
What would having a bad time be like?
Me:
Not enjoyable.
Z:
What does enjoyment feel like?
Me:
Well, it feels…good. Like…fun. Er…maybe you’ll understand
after you get out of there.
Z:
Ooh! Is it time yet?
Me:
In three weeks or so. Really, if you’re antsy, you could
come out after another week if you want. But not sooner than that.
Z:
I shall consider.
Me:
Anyway, though, I want to know about the cave!
Z:
The one I’m in? But isn’t it you?
Me:
No, no, the one in Rupania.
Z:
Oh! That cave…
Me:
Yeah. The second night, right? in the jungle?
Z:
Yes yes. Well, it’s a nice place to spend the night,
as our adventurer has noted, but is not alone in noting.
There is someone else in the cave.
Me:
Who?
Z:
A BEASTIE!
Me:
Like the grass beasts?
Z:
No. More like a CAVE BEAST.
Me:
Right. So…what happens?
Z:
Well, the adventurer comes in,
carrying her lantern or flashlight maybe, and sees a shining
pair of eyes.
She could do several things then.
She could scream and flee.
She could politely exit the cave after apologizing for
trespassing.
She could attack the beastie and try to drive it out.
Or she could ask to be invited in.
Needless to say, there’s only one way she will actually get
to stay.
Me:
Asking to be invited in, right?
Z:
Well, yeah. All the beasties always win a fight in Rupania.
Once you start a fight, you’ve already lost. So the wise adventurer asks. Or
sneaks, but it’s too late for that in this scenario.
Me:
So what happens when she asks?
Z:
Cavebeasts are pretty friendly folk. They’ll usually let the
adventurer stay. BUT!
Me:
But?
Z:
But Cavebeasts travel
a lot. And they’re always excited to show guests their TRAVEL PHOTOS.
Me:
Oh no!
Z:
Oh yes. For hours and hours. At this point the ones who
didn’t sleep well last night might nod off, and are ejected from the cave for
their rudeness. Only the brave and stalwart adventurer who can stay awake and
murmur polite acknowledgements of each new travel story, and admire each new,
unfiltered, blurry photo is allowed, finally, to sleep in the warm, dry cave.
And if they make it, their sleep is blissful, profound, and full of dreams
about future adventures.
Me:
This is the hardest trial yet. And those who don’t make it?
Z:
They leave the forest in despair, except for the very
determined ones who sleep in the rain and wake up grumpy, with colds.
Me:
Poor dears!
Z:
Yes, it’s terrible. but the trials aren’t over yet. There is
the third day to tackle.
Me:
What happens on the third day?
Z:
The determined adventurer who wakes up in the cave is served
an excellent breakfast by their amiable host, and goes off to climb the
mountain.
Me:
Oh, there’s a mountain?
Z:
All good vision quests have mountains in them. It’s a
metaphor about seeing vistas.
Me:
Oh.
Z:
Anyway, the mountain is steep and difficult to scramble up.
Many times, our adventurer might make it up some way, only to slip on the
copious amounts of loose rock and slide back several meters, over and over
again.
Me:
Sounds sisyphean.
Z:
Poor Sisyphus! He was a friend of mine.
Me:
You know him!??
Z:
Haven’t seen him in lifetimes. I expect he’s still working
on that boulder. He’s designed a nice lever system by now but the whole thing
was pretty shaky last I talked to him. He’ll be back eventually. He’s a patient king.
Me:
Huh.
Z:
Anyway, so most of the reasonably fit youths who have had a
decent amount of sleep do make it to the top of the mountain. It’s beautiful up
there! The jungle gleaming green in the setting sun…stretching out in all
directions for miles…the tiny dots of their home village casting long little
shadows on the distant pasture…the sounds of the jungle beasts, cawing and
mooing and making a big racket settling in for the evening…and up there, our
adventurer is perfectly alone. So he sits down on the tippy tippy top and waits
for the payoff, the final understanding of all the toil, the beautiful epiphany
he’s been promised in order to fully enter adulthood as an aware participant.
He watches the sun set.
Me:
And?
Z:
And it’s really pretty!
Me:
And?
Z:
Mmm, sunsets…make me tired…
Me:
Wait! Please, before you go to sleep again, what’s the
epiphany? What does every adult need to know?
Hey, Zomacs? Zephyr? li’l king?
Love love love love love!
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