Chapter 4
The Garden
The next morning I awoke to a very bright sky.
"It's about time you woke up! According to my watch, you slept through to noon! And look at this!
The planet has two suns!"
"Two? But yesterday it was nearly dark!"
"Yes, well I believe that they probably aren't in the same orbit, so just 'cause one's up, doesn't mean
the other one is too."
"Oh, gotcha" I nodded. I didn't really get that, but I was still half asleep, so give me some credit!
"Also, just after you fell asleep and started snoring--every single window in the castle lit up. It was
astonishing!"
"Uh huh. But I didn't really snore, did I?"
"No, you didn't. But you did drool a bit."
"I did not."
"Okay, maybe not that either, but you sure do like to talk in your sleep! Whew! Let me tell you!"
"And I certainly don't talk in my sleep!"
"Okay, fine, you win. But enough of that, listen, we have a problem. I was exploring this place and I
couldn't find food anywhere."
"I guess I'll just have to resort to cannibalism then." I suggested.
"Don't even joke about that! Have you ever read the book 'Stranded at Sea?' Read that, and then you
won't feel so blasé about cannibalism!"
"Whatever. I wasn't really gonna eat you!"
"That's what Don told Chris, but the next morning, Chris was no longer!"
"That's gross! You're gonna give me nightmares!" I complained "Speaking of which, did you get any
sleep last night?"
"Nope." he said.
That was the end of that conversation. We went off to look for food and we couldn't find anything.
Our only resort was the castle. Frederick began walking up to the front gate which was guarded by two
huge machines. Before he was in their view I had a brilliant notion.
"You know," I pointed out, "they probably won't just let us in and take us to some food. We'll be lucky
if they don't just chop our heads off and eat them."
"Right, let's check for a back gate!" Frederick exclaimed.
I was about to object but he didn't give me a chance. He ran along the wall to a back gate that was
unguarded. Frederick walked up to it.
"This is stupid! They wouldn't be dumb enough to just leave their back door unguarded and op-" I
stopped short as the door swung open.
Frederick turned around and gave me a self-satisfied look.
I would've liked to just walk up there and smack it right off his face. Instead I shrugged my shoulders
and walked up to the door.
"C'mon, let's go!" Frederick cried enthusiastically.
"And to think, you're the one who didn't even want to come!" I mumbled.
Frederick just shook his head and gave me another look. Cautiously, I followed him in. We stepped
right into their garden. It, unlike the city, was bright and colourful. It was immense and contained every
kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable!
"Amazing!" exclaimed Frederick "They have Palm trees and Apple trees growing in the same
environment!"
Being the ever-so-observant girl that I am, I also noted that the air was much warmer in there than
outside, even though it had no roof.
"I wonder if maybe they used a temp regulation device to . . ." Frederick began droning on about tests
he wanted to conduct and how this was "simply impossible!" but I trekked over to an apple tree and
picked a huge ripe one. "Hey! Fred! Get over here and eat something! You're as skinny as a bean pole."
"Oh, ah, wha?" he stuttered, as he snapped out of his cocoon. "Right! Food! I'm coming."
We sat and ate for a while, after all, I hadn't eaten since Saturday night and according to Frederick's
watch, it was already Monday afternoon! I was surprised that no one was guarding this place and I
wondered if someone would be out to check on the food. We sat and ate for an hour and still no one
came. Frederick started getting fidgety and suggested that we leave or at least move to a less obvious
place in the garden. There was a door on the castle, leading to somewhere inside. He figured that if the
gate was open, the one door on the wall of the castle might be too. I didn't think so and I didn't like the
look of the door either. I picked up an old apple and chucked it at the door. Before it could hit the steel
doorway, it exploded. I was confused but not surprised. We went up for a closer look and noticed a line
in front of the door. Frederick took a rock and tried to throw it over the line. It burst into little pieces.
"What's this?" Frederick cried. "Some kind of laser beam wall?!"
"I dunno, but whatever it is, it ain't gonna let us pass."
"You're right"
"I know"
"Shut up."
"That's gonna cost you! No one tells me to shut up." I screamed, and I picked up a handful of dirt and
threw it on his pants. He yelled something about 150 bucks and his mother being an ex-serial killer,
then threw some dirt on my pants. My new pants. I jumped on him, knocking him over and rubbed his
head in a mud puddle. He flipped us over, turning the tables, and massaged the mud in my hair as if it
were shampoo. I reached back and picked up as much mud as I could, and flung it in his face. After he
rubbed it out of his eyes, he picked a up a huge handful and made me a mud beard. We fought for
about another five minutes, until a sprinkler system came on. We ran under the protection of the apple
tree, but when we were sure that no one was there, we ran back out in the garden and washed off. We
then decided it'd be best to stay here until tomorrow, when we'd make our attack . . . or something. We
climbed into the shade of the thick apple tree's branches, and got comfy.
"Now what?" I asked.
"We wait here 'till tomorrow." Frederick replied.
"But it's only . . . what? What time is it?"
"One-thirty"
"It's only one-thirty! I can't sit still until tomorrow!"
"Fine, do what you want, but I haven't slept since Sunday, I need sleep!"
"Okay" I sighed "I'll just sit here and . . . and what! What am I gonna do?"
Too late, he was asleep. I sighed, and sat there for about half an hour, just staring. It was hot and I
began to feel weak. Then I just sort of, fell over. My head was on Frederick's arm and it wasn't
comfortable, but I couldn't move. I fell asleep.