I had been walking for days with no rest and whenever I did try to sleep, I would drift off with my eyes staring up at the sky and would blink myself awake without meaning to. I was starving. The small sliver of cake that had been packed for me was long gone. I guess nobody thought it it would take more than an afternoon to find the highs, which apparently, was better than this dry, dirty, road. And, overall, I was frustrated. Four long exhausting days of walking, running and skipping – if I was in the mood. And, besides, between creepy visions and old ladies who lived under ground, my life had turned into a train wreck. What happened to Saturdays where I could just lay around in my pajamas and do nothing?
And what about my family, who had no idea where I was, and was probably worried sick? I rolled my eyes at the thought of it. I had to focus on the problem that I was in now. Like the fact that I was in the middle of nowhere, with no food or water, and not a lick of sleep. After another long hour of doing nothing but walking, I heard a sound in the distance. Trotting forward, half consciously, I went to discover the source of the noise, because I hadn’t heard anything for quite a while now, except for my own heavy breathing. Maybe there would be somebody to help me get to the so-called Highs. I could only hope.
When I finally heard the noise get louder, I knew I was going in the right direction. Then it stopped. Out of pure spite, I called out, “Marco!”, and surprisingly enough, I heard a tiny voice squeak, “polo!”. I walked forward from where the voice had come from. I came across a small little bird. I kept walking. Surely, that couldn’t have been the person making that noise, birds don’t know how to speak, right? But, I hadn’t gotten a foot when somebody shouted, “Hello, I’m right over here!”.
I turned to see the tiny bird’s mouth moving. Birds. Don’t. Talk. I jumped back, surprised. This wasn’t happening, OK? Even though my sore feet and grumbling stomach definitely felt real. “Can you talk, young lady?”, it asked. I had to learn sign languages, just so I could talk my cousin Steven, and I don’t even like him that much. “Uhhhh…”, I stuttered. But, before I could say anything else, the bird interrupted, “Oh Great, you can talk. You know, these roads have been just so lonely and quiet, it was starting to worry me.”. “Actually”, I interrupted back, “do you know how to get to the umm, Highs”. The bird’s yellow face darkened, “Oh, you don’t want to go there.”.
“Why not”, I asked. “It has to be better than this deserted trail.”. “No, no, no, no, no, no”, the bird said, “It is much worse than this”. I didn’t get it. This was where I was told to go. Why would it be a horrible place. After all, ever since the end of summer camp, everything had been pretty much horrible. “That is something for me to know”, he said, “and you, to never find out.”. I wasn’t liking what this was shaping into. “Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad”, I reasoned. The bird sighed, exasperated.
“Fine, but you can’t go alone. It is easier for them to play with your mind when you are by yourself. No matter how strong or smart, anybody seems, if they go alone into the Highs, they have dug their own grave. I was traveling in the direction of the Highs anyways. I’ll come with you. And, hopefully, we won’t die. But first, let me get out of this stuffy costume.”. And with that, the bird dropped dead.
I was less sad than annoyed and disturbed. My ticket to success was becoming harder to get than I thought it would be. And now, I had to follow a very confusing map to find this death zone that would more than likely get me killed. But I wasn’t waiting, so I started leaving, but it wasn’t long before the same voice yelled, “Wait!”, and a small three inch man wearing a maroon business suit, popped out of the bird’s mouth. “Ah!”, he said, brushing himself off. “It was starting to get a little stuffy in there.”. I stared at him. “What did you do to the bird?”, I asked shakily?
If that little man could kill a bird, I bet he could injure at least my foot. And even though it didn’t seem very scary, my foot was a very important part of my body in this predicament, and I would need it. “I asked..”, I said a little louder after he stopped messing with his jacket, “What did you do with the bird?”. “Huh?”, he asked finally. “Oh, don’t mind that old thing. It’s just a prop.”
“What?”, I asked. “Oh!”, he said, his eyes widening. “You didn’t know.”, then he made a huge smile and started talking in one big, loud and fast, run-on, sentence, starting with: “AhwellyouseeIhaveapowertocontrolobjectsthataren’talivesuchasthispoordeadbirdlikeyoumightfindadeadanimalonthesideofahighwayandthenyoutookafewdayslateranditiscompletelygonewellthat’sprobablybecausemeormyrelativestookitbecausewearepuppeteers.”, I had to stop him at “puppeteers”, because all his words were just piling on to of each other in a big jumbled mess.
“Ok”, I said. “Let me get a few things straight. First, you are are a real three-inch man. Second, you are a three-inch man who can control animal carcasses. “Quite right”, he answered, seeming quite pleased I understood his babble. “Well, if you can control them, why do you crawl inside of them?”. “Child”, he said, “I said I was but a puppeteer. I have no such magic as a magician. I must puppet them, like you would a hand puppet.”. “Hmmm”, I said. “Ok, then.” But really, I was thinking. Number one, I’m too old for hand puppets and number two, either this man is crazy or I am. “And speaking of magicians, we’d better get a move-on. They are quite powerful and do not like to wait, so let’s hurry up.”. “Hey!”, I yelled, since he was already running up ahead of me. “Why would need to meet magicians?” “Of course we’re not meeting them!”, he yelled back. “They are much too important.” But before I could ask why else they’d be waiting for us, he was already a tiny dot, barely visible next to the setting sun.