(8:14 am Tue Nov 09, 2010)
*** Flipper ***
Well gentle reader, I am trying to get a morning start today. I have already had my breakfast and been out on the road for my morning exercise. The Eastern Road was surprisingly empty where I walked this morning. I would have expected to see a lot more cars on my travels. I am trying to get some words down during my cool down phase before I clean up and dress for work. So I don't have long.
Flipper. One who flips. I guess you could call a circus tumbler a flipper couldn't you?
Flipper. An item or device used to flip things. You know gentle reader, something like Mary's Friday night Fish Fry spatula. A spatula could be a flipper, right?
Flipper. And item or device worn on the feet to give extra propulsion and speed while swimming. Also known as fins. As in, dude, you see my new flippers? Man I could go so fast with these things on my feet. I believe I could out swim a shark with these. (Yeah right, that's a bit of a stretch wouldn't you say gentle reader?)
Flipper. A flat limb for moving through water. Like what killer whales have. And sharks. But since a shark is a fish it would generally be called a fin on the shark. Turtles have flippers too.
Flipper. A flat lever in a pinball machine used to send the balls higher. Mostly button operated. Careful now gentle reader, don't tilt!
Can you think of any more gentle reader? It is left, as they say, as an exercise for the reader. Don't you just love that phrase gentle reader?
(8:29 am Tue Nov 09, 2010)
Time for me to jump in the shower now and get dressed. I hope to write a bit more before I have to head out.
(8:55 am Tue Nov 09, 2010)
OK, so time is officially unsynced again, not quite a whole day this time but still. How can I catch up.
So Baldy went next door and found Stan lying under a hibiscus tree by the front wall.
(2:27 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010)
"Hey Baldy, what you doing here man?"
"Just come to say hi and burn some time until Mary has left for a while. Then I'm going out treasure hunting. How you been Stan?"
"Right here man. I can't complain. My hip is hurting me some with the cooler weather but still, life is good you know what I mean?"
"Aint that the truth. It would be sweeter still if I could find myself this treasure though."
"What kind of treasure are you looking for Baldy? Some buried bones? Don't come digging in my yard looking for no buried bones now. You an me will come to blows if you try any of that!"
"No man Stan, I got enough of my own bones stashed away in my yard to last me a year or more. I think this is a pirate treasure. Gold and gems man. Probably from South America and maybe even from the Far East. You know those Spanish dudes man, them dudes was all over the place gathering up treasure to send back to Spain. I already found me some doubloons and some gems that are probably a part of the treasure."
"Really? Show me," said Stan.
"I can't man, some mangy pack stole them from me after I just dug them up, before I could get them home," said Baldy. "You know what? We should round up a pack from around here and go and kick some mangy butt and take it all back. What do you say Killer?"
"You know me Baldy, I am a peace loving pooch, but I am always willing to tear up some butt for a good cause. We going today?" asked Stan.
(2:38 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010) 19546
*** Mango ***
Mango. What a fruit that is. What a delightful, sweet tropical fruit. Chill em and take em to the beach. Go out in the water and kneel down so the water comes up to your chest. Dip. Rip with your teeth. Eat. Dip. Eat. Now we are into the lather, rinse, repeat part of the instructions. The salt of the ocean on the chilled mango flesh is mmmm. Take it from me gentle reader.
"I didn't figure on going to fight today Stan, I have other things in my head I want to try but soon, OK? Hey, you want to come with me and Buster on the hunt today?"
"I don't know Baldy, like I say my hip is hurting me some. On the other hand, I could do with getting away from Rat for the day. That dog will not stop bothering me from inside the house. No matter where I go in the yard to get some peace, he is always at a window. Yapping and yapping. He just will not shut up."
"Cool then, give it a half an hour and we can go bet Buster and head out."
"Who is Buster?" asked Stan.
"Some seagull who got injured at the beach the day I found the treasure map. Mary brought him home to fix him up. He's pretty cool," replied Baldy.
(2:49 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010)
(3:24 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010)
So they waited around for a while and then went back to Mary's to get Buster.
The two dogs and the gull had a little confab and decided to go back out South Beach way to talk to Zevelyn again. Well, there was a bit of an argument as Buster took out his cell phone and offered to call first but the two dogs quashed that idea and so it was off to the deep South.
It was a good thing they managed to sneak a ride in the back of a passing pick up truck because Stan's hip started to pain him more after a short amount of running. They jumped off when the truck turned west on Cowpen Road and continued south at a gentle trot. Buster tried flexing his wings and flying for short distances. Things seemed to be improving in the flight department for him.
They got off the truck about here gentle reader:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=25.016779,-77.354103&spn=0.003024,0.003664&t=h&z=18
Just in case you want to see.
So south a bit and then they turned west on Marshall Drive. Well the rooster and the old hairy ram were outside the farm again and started to make a little noise until they caught a glimpse of Stan. After that it was all "Yes sir," and "Have a pleasant day sir," and so the three traveling companions passed by in peace.
*** Roach ***
Danger at the Roach Motel!
Roach get roach by one roach with one roach and some roachie breath. No we are not speaking of a horse getting roach. Nor of a young man's hair getting roach. No way. Not us.
Mash dat roach! Scull now, scull.
Yes, the roach is not a pleasant pet. The roach is not even a pleasant pest if you think about it. Now I am not sure that there are any pleasant pests, that might take some deep thought or even some argument to work out but in any case, even if there are some pleasant pests, I doubt that the roach could be found in that set.
And so, after a few more twists and turns, the three came to Zevelyn's tree and found him concealed in the branches snoozing.
Buster flew up and landed beside him. "Hey Zevelyn," he called, sort of pecking at the owl. Carefully though. A startled owl could do some serious damage to a damaged gull. Even to an undamaged gull come to think of it.
Zevelyn came out of his snooze calmly and slowly, not in the least startled. "Whoooo is it?" he asked, "Oh, its you Cooper, and I see you have brought Baldy with you as well as a new friend. Will you kindly introduce us?"
"Yes, well, Zevelyn, this is Stan. Stan, this is Zevelyn."
"Pleased to meet you Stan."
"Pleased to meet you too Zevelyn. Pardon me though, what did you call Buster?" he asked.
"Ah yes, I see your two names are causing some confusion Cooper. You see Stan, Buster seems to be a recent name for this gull here. One bestowed upon him by Mary, Baldy's friend as I understand it. I knew him from a chick as Cooper."
"No problem," said Stan," once I know. I have a few different names myself. I am named Killer but I like to go by Stan the Man or just plain Stan most of the time. I find Killer too intimidating and, personally, I am a peace loving dog myself," explained Stan.
(3:24 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010) 20373
(5:14 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010)
Whoa, ho where did the time go?
A good chunk gone there gentle reader. A little of this and a little of that and bam sookie a chunk is gone. Forever I might add. And now, just as I have started to write, I remember that it is time to feed the dogs. No, not Baldy and Stan. My dogs, Balto, Calypso, and Shadow. And why does my spell checker think Balto is misspelled?
(5:28 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010)
"I understand Stan," said Zevelyn, "So Baldy, let me see the map again please."
"Um, I don't have it with me. Sorry."
"That is a pain. I have been wanting to examine it more closely to see if I can learn something more from it. Tell you what, it is not too late. How long would it take you to dash home and get it and dash back? Could you handle that?"
"Well, getting home and pack isn't really the problem. The problem is that Mary has taken to hiding the map and the box and I don't know here she hides things."
"Hmmm," mused Zevelyn, "that is a problem. Do you think you may be able to bring it back tomorrow? Could you get her to give it to you?"
"I could try," said Baldy.
"Well, that's it then. See you tomorrow with the map."
Well gentle reader, Baldy and Stan headed home and Buster decided to hang out in South Beach for the night. That's how he rolled.
(5:34 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010) 20636
*** Sail ***
Sail. Sweet. Not sale mind you but sail. Not to say that an honest to goodness sale can't be sweet too. One can, but so many are bogus sales that it can be hard to get too excited about them. Some places are going out of business and having sales to celebrate the fact for years on end. But I digress.
Sail. Sailing. The bounding main. The Spanish Main. Treasure. Square riggers. Sloops.
Red sails in sunsets.
The sloops lined stern in along the market wharf in yesteryear as gulls fly above. Childhood memories. Sailing on a Sailfish. Later, sailing on a Sunfish. Good times.
So let's see gentle reader, last night when Baldy and Stan got home, they split up and went to their respective yards. When Baldy went through the gate he saw Mary sitting on her front porch sipping her mug of tea.
"And where have you and Buster been?" she asked. "Hey, where is Buster anyway. Did he fly off on his own or did you take him with you and lose him somewhere?"
"He went with me but decided to spend the night partying in South Beach. I will get him tomorrow. Listen though Mary, I will need you to let me have the map for tomorrow. Zevelyn in South Beach wants to take a look at it again."
They had dinner together and went to bed. Well, I guess Baldy went to limb. In any case, they both went to sleep.
In the morning, Mary brought out the map and the box and laid them on the breakfast table, "Let's look at these again. Are we missing something."
Baldy wanted to tell her that yes she was missing something and that that something was in the boc and they needed to pull it apart to see what it was that was in it. He decided against it though. He did not want to rip something again and have Mary lock things away. They looked at things over breakfast while they ate and Mary told Baldy of her plans for the day. Baldy replied here and there and sort of kept up his side of the conversation but in a distracted sort of way. he was biding his time.
After breakfast, Mary stood up to clear the dishes from the table and Baldy saw his chance. He saw his chance and he seized it. He grabbed up the map and took off like a flash out the front door and over the front gate. Stan saw him come flying out of the house and ran out of his yard to join him and they were off for South Beach.
(5:34 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010) 21090
(9:51 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010)
Well gentle reader, I did manage to go to band practice tonight and had a good time. I'm back now and cleaned up and ready for bed. But I had wanted to write some more and try to get my crew to the end of their day as well. I am not sure I have the energy or the drive to do that tonight though. I really feel like packing it in right now. I probably would have already except this partial lyric came to me and I wanted to get it down and uploaded so I turned on the box and once it was on I figured...
I probably need an extra word here tonight. Just a second while I go choose one off of the extra words list.
...
*** Energy ***
Yeah right. Why in the world would I choose this one when I have none of it right up in now? Why indeed.
Energy. Dirty. Energy. Green. Energy. Potential. Energy. Kinetic. Energy. Electric. Energy. Nuclear. Energy. Energize.
So we have this energy of which we speak. Well, not we really. You may have it, as I said, I really don't have much of any. I guess it is more a figure of speech.
So anyway, this energy. We need to get it flowing. Moving. Doing something. Working.
The two friends arrived out by Bonefish Pond with the map and found Zevelyn in his tree. They did not see Buster.
"Hey Zevelyn! Wake up! Where is Cooper?" called Baldy.
Zevelyn opened his large eyes, "Whoooo is it?" he asked.
"It's Baldy and Stan, where is Cooper. We left him here with you. You didn't let anything happen to him lsat night while you were out hunting did you?"
"No. Certainly not. He is right out there in the pond taking a little swim and hunting up some crabs and some baby cudas. Those baby cudas are a real treat. So he says anyway. I don't like fishy tastes myself. When things get tough though."
"OK, so, would you fly over and tell him we are here with the map?" asked Baldy.
So Zevelyn spread his wings and took flight, heading for the pond.
"Do you find that spooky?" asked Stan.
"What, how quiet he flies? I do a bit. Imagine him hunting you at night. You would never knew what hit you. That is some serious stealth technology that bird is packing. I tell you that."
(10:09 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010)
So, gentle reader, I really have to cut this short tonight, my eyelids are too heavy.
The owl and the gull came back.
Baldy handed over the map.
Zevelyn flew it over to the hot road again.
He set it down on the host road and examined the writing carefully again.
Yv yj'i jhuqikhu jxqj oek iuua.
Oek ckij qffbo q byjjbu xuqj.
Dej je cksx eh Y cqo rkhd.
Jxud oekh tuiyhui Y mybb ifkhd.
And as the road heated the map again...
Wisdom before treasure.
Je vydt jxyi jhuqikhu
Oek ckij vyhij vydu myitec
Jxud myitec qdt jxu dehjx ijqh
Mybb wylu oek oekh vyhij sbku
The teacher says to look for important information below the door of my house.
It was all as he had remembered it. Cooper offered him a magnifying glass that he took out of his pocket. "Here, this may help you to see something you missed before," he said.
Zevelyn took it and asked that he shade it so that he did not set the map on fire by mistake as he was examining it. Cooper tool an umbrella from his pocket and held it up for shade.
Zevelyn examined the map carefully under the magnifying glass but did not see anything more of interest. He turned the map over and put it down on the road again. The other side was blank but he decided to examine it under the magnifying glass too just in case. After a careful examination he did not see anything on the blank side. "I guess it really is blank," he mumbled to himself, giving the glass back to Cooper who put it and the umbrella away in his pocket.
"Well, I was hoping to find something we missed before but I don't see anything. That is disappointing," said Zevelyn to Baldy and the others.
So here is the thing gentle reader, while they were standing around moaning about their bad luck, the sun was heating up the road under the map again after it had been in the shade of the umbrella. And the heat brought out another word on the blank side of the map. One word. Caesar.
Goodnight gentle reader. I am done for the night. Sweet dreams. Restful sleep. Tomorrow we will see if we can find out if that extra word proves of any help in the treasure quest.
(10:09 pm Tue Nov 09, 2010) 21917
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