Chapter 7

Peace. The sweet smell of the meadow is the first thing I notice when I open my eyes. Goblin is grinning at me & Three Legs is running around excited to see me. There's a red ball on the ground by his back foot & I pick it up & toss it gently across the clearing. He looks at me like I've temporarily gone nuts & doesn't even attempt to chase it. I can see I'm going to have fun teaching him this one. The rainbows seem to be missing, perhaps because the sun is high in the sky & a shimmering heat haze has settled across the imaginary land.

I turn suddenly because I sense something behind me. A higgledy piggledy set of bones is looking at me, not a scary one though if you can imagine that! They look quite sweet. Smiling even. There's a skull connected to a backbone, arms, legs & a tailbone. My goodness, shocking! It's feet & hands don't appear to be much in evidence but who needs them anyway. Goblin comes over, maybe he wants to introduce us. He gabbles away in a foreign tongue still dancing to the tune in his head. The pile of bones, that we'll call Bones, starts to shake with mirth, I wonder what was so funny. They're looking at me laughing, I don't think they're laughing at me, but I'm not laughing so it can't be with me either. Over my shoulder Three Legs has finally discovered how to play with a ball. Bones & Goblin are actually looking past me & seem to be chuckling at Three Legs attempts to play with the weird object that's round.
Even though Bones has arrived in our happy clearing, I can still hear the distant sound of slithering. Three Legs has all his fur back now, he does look a bit odd actually, it's all different lengths & textures, soft to the touch & various shades of blue. He's a cute little monster, he has a mouthful of squared off teeth that glint at me when he grins. Goblin takes my hand & gently pulls me closer to Bones. I sit down beside him & Three Legs runs over to join us, ball in mouth. Three Legs snuggles into my side & I look Closely at Bones. He needs a bit of help in the flesh department. Is it my job to restore all the monsters in my happy place.... I don't get that feeling, but I must keep returning here for some reason. Perhaps it has something to do with the slithering...who knows. I didn't get a good look at the slithering being at all because the phone rang. I wish it'd trust me & come close again. Shame, but maybe one day. I turn around & stare at Goblins contented little face with the odd protrusion and it starts to fade, I'm losing my grip, waking up, but smiling broadly.