Story: The Ninja of Health, XIII

( Part XII , XIV )

The picture in the rearranged tablecloth was a little abstract. Well, very abstract, when you consider the means used to create it. Originally it had been multicoloured, striped, and studded with polka dots. Now, the weave had been altered onto a pattern of the karmic substrate of the universe. The Oracle could have explained it less opaquely, but he was asleep after his mind bending exertions.

"Is that a lighthouse?" Asked the Man.

"Maybe. Or a rocket. Or a lightbulb." Responded his lady companion. "Over there, is that a cliff?"

"I think so. What do you think it means? Including the rocks at the bottom?"

"Those are cookie remnants, you dope!" The Woman swept off the tablecloth. "What would a lighthouse be doing in the middle of a great big crater?"

"I don't know. Perhaps this is where that space marble came from? Or where it's going to?" After a moment, the Man continued, "This image might not even be connected to that entity. We'll have to wait for him to wake up. I wonder who's minding the shop?" He traced the edge of a large swirl, that might have been a baseball, as he mused, before moving aside so the Woman could document the vision with her camera.

The two went downstairs to the shop. There was a woman behind the counter that they didn't know. They wandered over to the wheel and stood on either side, facing each while holding the spokes.

"We should be doing something. Not just staring into each other's eyes while a mysterious entity is roaming the country and our tame soothsayer sleeps off a small prognostication that manifested as a rewoven tablecloth." The Man didn't shift his gaze.

"Love is a curious thing. Sometimes we just need to be together, gentle man."

"That's true, milady." The Man cocked his head sideways. "Do you sense something?"

"Yes, and it's not the pizza."

CRASH. The two looked over to see the woman behind the counter collapse to the floor, striking her head on a corner in the process. The Woman looked at her companion, and then rushed over. "Suddenly, I wonder if our friend upstairs is really sleeping off a vision. Go."

The Man went.

To be continued...