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  • Waiting in the Woods (final)

    “This must be it,” Sarah said.

    “Why didn’t we see it before?” Nathan wondered aloud.

    “We don’t usually come to this side,” Sarah observed. “Besides, it is hid so well I think we wouldn’t be able to see it from the trail.”

    Nathan looked at the ominous gate. It was a lot bigger than he expected. But then, it was a flood gate and it had to withstand a lot of pressure.

    “Now, how do we get in?” Nathan said as he looked at Sarah. She was smiling her really happy smile.

    “It won’t work,” Nathan said

    Sarah relied still smiling, “of course it will.”

    Nathan sighed. He knew it would. It was a bizarre and crazy enough that he knew it would work. He looked back from Sarah and into the woods. They were both smiling now. They didn’t go far into the woods before stopping and turning.

    “Is this far enough?” Nathan questioned.

    “Yeah,” Sarah answered. “Tell me again what Constance said about the Watergate.” Sarah remembered what he had told her but wanted to make sure he hadn’t left out any details.

    Nathan repeated back the same story as before. When he was done they moved into a small cluster of trees that they could hide in better.

    And there they waited. They waited for a long time.

    Night fell and a cool breeze crept through the woods from Nathan and Sarah laid waiting. The moon was just a sliver in the sky, but it was a wide sliver. It hung over the woods like a grimacing smile, as if it knew what would come that night. Nathan started to get worried. He knew that they couldn’t stay out much later, but they needed to get behind the gate. Nathan lay in the grass listening to the gentle sound of the crickets and the wind.

    The two talked for a little while longer but eventually fell asleep leaning against the trees in the cluster they were hiding in. Nathan’s imagination ran through the many different possibilities that could present themselves on the other side of the gate. He got so worried he almost didn’t want to go through with it. He almost didn’t want to be there, almost, but not quite.

  • Waiting in the Woods

    (Editor’s note: This chapter preceeds “The Watergate”.)

    Nathan and Sarah made it to the edge of the woods. This is where Constance had said the Watergate was. The bikes wouldn’t be very good through the forest so they hid them just off the road and started the trek to the pond near the other side of the forest. Time seemed to be still while the two hiked through the woods. They talked back and forth about their school work, their friends, their lives. The topic of the Watergate finally came up and the conversation stayed there for quite some time.

    They crested Sar hill and paused for a break. They could see the pond from there. The slough that fed the pond seemed unusually still, like it knew what they were planning. It was the forest on the other side of the pond that made them worried.

    “That’s where Constance said they would come from,” Sarah said.

    “Did she say when they would arrive?” Nathan asked.

    “No.”

    “We should go down the hill then follow the edge of the forest until we find the Watergate.” Nathan said. He was hoping to not sound too scared.

    They rested a little longer then headed down the hill. They were mostly silent going down the hill, both were thinking about what Constance had said. They wondered how Constance knew about the Watergate and what was in it that made it so secret.

    The journey down the hill was finally over and the two slowly started making their way around
    the pond through the edge of the forest. They had gone nearly all the way around the pond before they found what they guessed to be the Watergate. It was a large, round, rusty grate that looked very old. It almost looked like a man hole cover place in a large drain pipe in the side of the pond.

  • A hint of deviancy

    My first assignment in my Visual Media class was to use square shapes to describe six words that the teacher assigned. We were to make six mockups for each word making a total of thirty-six mockups. We were told to read the rules very carefully and I noticed that they were carefully written. I put my three best designs into Illustrator as instructed.

    While it was implied that we could only use squares I carefully read and reread the instructions and realized that all the rules applied only to squares, including being limited to only four squares. I decided that I should push the limits of the design and make the designs more meaningful.

    I realize that this is being slightly deviant, the directions were clear, but design is about pushing the requirements. Besides, I think that the designs are so much better with a little bit of line art.

    (Postscript: the teacher has since heavily revised the rules to forbid any additional lines. I feel proud to have helped improve the syllabus.)

  • Boots and Coat

    I have decided that I shouldn’t be allowed to wear my black trench coat with my black snow boots while going out on business. The other day I went to the library and talked to them about a book that they said was overdue for a month. I found it shelved and brought it to there attention. They reversed the fines and as I was walking back to the apartment I was thinking “I own this place”. Then I realized that my attitude was really different than I thought it would be. I decided that wearing my coat and boots made me feel like I owned the world. That is a good thing, sometimes.

  • Watergate (final)

    Sarah led down the hallway to the right. They walked for a bit before the hallway split again, this time one banked sharply to the left and the other led straight again. They took the left. This led them back to the entrance. They headed back to the left and saw that it split as well, one way straight and the other to the right where they had come from.

    “Let’s go back down that other hallway,” Nathan said.

    “Okay,” Sarah replied.

    There didn’t seem to be a reason to whisper, they hadn’t seen anyone since getting through the gate. They looped around the hallway and to the left. They passed another door. This one was obviously special. It seemed to be made out of the same iron that the gate was made out of but had more elaborate ironwork on it. It looked a great deal like a back vault door, just without the combination lock. The continued past the door though. The room at the end of the hallway was giving a very faint green light that made the two very curios.

    The room was blocked by a grate almost like prison bars. The walls and ceiling looked like plain rock, as was the floor. Sarah started looking for a latch to lift the door. Nathan started to laugh quietly.

    “I suppose you know how to open the door,” Sarah said a little irritated.

    Nathan smiled as has grabbed the gate gave it a gentle lift. It continued to lift until it was clear out of the way. He walked in with Sarah following closely behind.