A Favor for Sticktight

Chapter I: THE LAND OF PINK WINDMILLS

When Meri woke up the next morning, the light was already bright in her room. She had slept quite a long time---after a full day of crossing The Lands!

Lying there, she might not have been able to believe it all, if she hadn’t been in the middle of a round bed with pink sheets in the center of a very neat round room. She liked the soft pink wallpaper on the curving wall all the way around. The picture of The Sliding Board on one side made her stop and think for a moment.

And as if this weren’t enough, the arms of the windmill were steadily passing by the windows. She could also see other pink windmills nearby. Their blades were slowly moving around, creating light wind.

Suddenly she sat up tense with excitement! The Land of Pink Windmills! She couldn’t believe she was actually here! Her heart began to beat faster. She realized she was probably going to be able to visit The Ticket Tree that very morning! Hopefully, Aunt Amelia wouldn’t have to worry much longer. Although---to be perfectly honest---for herself she really didn’t want to leave that quickly.

But she knew she had to.

She also had been avoiding the thought that her Aunt Am certainly by now had told her parents that she was missing. The news must have been devastating to them! With that thought she looked down dejectedly at the pink sheet below.

All three: her mother, her father, and her Aunt Am, must have suffered greatly yesterday evening and overnight. She felt unbelievably bad about that all over again. But she did know something that they didn’t know---she was all right! Sooner or later they would find out too! She felt better at the thought. That she was definitely going to visit The Tree of Ticket Leaves that very day helped her to feel even better.

Maybe her parents and aunt wouldn’t have to worry much longer!

Sitting up in the very middle of the round bed, she reflected that the Tackling Dummy would have liked her use of the word devastating in her mind. She had also heard her Aunt Amelia use it a number of times. And thinking of that word, she hoped his canvas was being improved at that very minute!

Jumping out of bed, eager to begin her day in this land, she stopped as soon as she did. For when she stood up, she saw herself in the mirror of the neat dresser against the wall.

What stopped her was the sight that she was wearing a long nightgown which she immediately loved. It was light pink, went all the way down to her ankles, just above her bare feet, and on its front was a design in light blue of the four arms of a windmill. In the center of the arms, where they joined, was a light yellow circle with a blue dot in the middle. Down near the hem of the gown was a faint outline, also in light yellow, of the front door to the windmill. One window only of her room was shown in another outline of faint yellow.

She was dressed like a windmill!

Looking around, she noticed again how extraordinarily neat and clean her room was. Near the dresser with the mirror was a chest of drawers that was the same light sandy color. On the wall between them was the colorful picture of the cliffs, The Sliding Board, and then she noticed many paper airplanes pleasantly floating down in the air beside the cliffs.

Directly opposite this picture, on the curving wall of the other side, was a picture of the village of pink windmills. Each one had the same light yellow circle where the arms joined, with a pale blue dot in the center, like her nightgown. So she understood that the windmills, although almost completely pink, did have two other colors.

And she had been right that the dummies lived in them!

That realization had also briefly crossed her mind the night before, when she had first entered Sylvestra’s front door. But she had been too devastated and worn out to think any more about it.

Neatly placed on the bench before the dresser were her bib overall jeans shorts, her coral-colored top, her white socks, and even her white tennis shoes---all newly washed and dry, Meri discovered.

Dimly remembering Sylvestra, who had been so kind to her the night before, she realized she must have gone out very early in the morning and found her shoes under The Sliding Board, where they had fallen down when she had kicked them off. She must have searched early, to have found them, washed and also dried them by this time. And they were completely dry, too!

Picking up her coral top, Meri noticed that even the deep green grass stain on the shoulder was gone, the one where she had fallen and slid on the grass the day before, just before finding The Help Button. Lying on top of her bib overall jeans shorts was the long distance phone card she had been given to call her parents with. It reminded her of her parents on their trip to England, and she wondered again, with a great deal of anxiety, what had become of their trip now that she was missing!

It’s a good thing the ship can’t turn around, she thought, realizing that if her parents could, they would go all the way back home to try to find her. Her mother and father would have rowed back in a rowboat if anyone would have let them!

Hearing steps on the stairs, Meri looked up as two knocks came softly from the other side of the small door she hadn’t seen yet. Sylvestra pushed the door open and came in. She was wearing pink shorts, and a white top which had a large yellow sun on the front and a white moon on the back in a black square.

Oh, you’re up, she said smiling. Welcome again to The Land of Pink Windmills, she said. She gave Meri a genuine hug. Her light green hair with hints of pink was right beside Meri’s light brown hair, because they were just about the same height.

I wanted to give you a welcome that is like us, not like what happened last night. We couldn’t help that, she said, stepping back to look more closely at Meri---not because Meri was the only flesh and blood dummy ever to be in The Lands, but because she was obviously such a delightful dummy anyway. She liked the expression on her face. Immediately she knew she was going to like her!

That gown fits you perfectly, she decided. Then looking at Meri’s eyes, she added, And you have the loveliest eyes. I’ll bet you’ve heard that many times.

Meri was about to reply when she noticed that Sylvestra’s own eyes were exactly the same color as hers. That was indeed surprising to her, because she had never met anyone with eyes just the same color before. She had never met anyone else who had, either.

Thank you, she said. But mine are no prettier than yours. Really, she added, as Sylvestra blushed slightly, smiling ever so faintly. In fact, yours are just like mine, light turquoise. And yours go so well with your hair, too. Sylvestra’s hair, of course, was a pleasant light green.

She already liked Sylvestra immensely. She had a combination of authority and shyness that was very appealing.

Is this your nightgown? she asked, then felt embarrassed because the answer was so obvious. But she had so many thoughts and feelings at that particular time that she couldn’t be expected to think perfectly!

Yes, replied Sylvestra, looking at the gown, without noticing Meri’s embarrassment. I have several different ones, of different colors, but that one’s my favorite. Do you want to get dressed? I have some fruits and nuts downstairs."

I’d like to keep this on for just a little while longer, please, if it’s okay. It feels so perfect here in this windmill. Meri felt very special wearing Sylvestra’s own nightgown.

Of course, said Sylvestra, pleased again with her new friend. Come on.

And she led Meri down a small set of steps to the next floor. Here’s a bathroom, she told the girl, directing her to a small room in aqua that the sunlight was lighting up.

We love neatness and cleanness so very much here in The Land of Pink Windmills, and that’s why we have these special sinks and that commode and even that bathtub over there. They help us clean, which we love to do. It’s not that we take baths, or even use the commode, but they’re useful in all the cleaning we do. A commode gets rid of cleaning water so fast that we like to have one. Closing the door behind her, she then went down the steps again.

The room sparkled, and Meri took a quick bath in the aqua bathroom. She hadn’t had a bath since everything had happened the day before. I can’t believe I slept in that clean bed all night after yesterday, she pondered to herself, embarrassed.

Soon Meri came down to the neat kitchen on one side of the main floor of the windmill, where Sylvestra was sitting at a table waiting for her. Wearing the long nightgown, which looked exactly right on her---exactly as if she were right at home in The Lands---Meri noticed the living room on the other side as she sat down. Then she began eating the delicious but unusual fruits and nuts Sylvestra had gathered from somewhere while she was still asleep.

Is that a vacuum cleaner? she asked of Sylvestra, who had gotten up for a moment to put something back in a closet.

Yes, I was cleaning before you got up. I clean every day, she said with a special look on her face, sitting back down across from her guest. Her light turquoise eyes confirmed the sincerity of her feelings about cleaning.

She reminded Meri of Ello, the way she watched intently, but not discourteously, as Meri ate the fruits and nuts, and drank the water Sylvestra had provided. Sylvestra, like Ello and the other dummies she had met, was fascinated to watch a dummy actually eat and drink.

I clean every day, she continued, looking approvingly around her. Meri unconsciously looked around too at the extraordinarily clean and neat interior. "It’s one of the things I---we---in The Land of Pink Windmills---love to do. We love two things most of all---to clean, and we’re also fascinated by air---still air, softly moving air as in breezes, and even air as in tornadoes. That’s why we live in windmills, and even why we live beside cliffs.

You probably didn’t have time to realize last night that these windmills are the exact opposite of regular windmills. You see, they turn to create moving air, instead of being turned by it---but wait a minute! Didn’t you say something about that last night! I remember! You did. I was surprised by what you said, that you would even think about something like that, after what had just happened. Evidently Sylvestra, now recalling, had a high opinion of her comment.

Yes, said Meri, hazily recalling her extraordinary arrival the night before. I did, didn’t I? She really wasn’t quite ready to think about it too much yet. When the scene came back into her mind anyway, of the windmills spinning crazily to create the tornadoes, however, she felt not only better but grateful once again.

The windmills are made of something that turns light into electricity, explained Sylvestra. Somehow, long ago in our history, we learned to love wind, and so eventually we came to be living in windmills. I wish I knew why, she mused with a mystical long ago look in her light turquoise eyes as she momentarily lapsed into a light reverie. Then she returned. But anyway, we love moving air. And we’ve had such a good time with the croapfs in the past because of it, she concluded, smiling.

Meri, just finishing her breakfast, was shocked. Her eyes opened wide. Do you mean the croapfs who did that last night? she asked, incredulous. Sylvestra, aren’t you mad at them?

Call me Syl, if you like, Dear. No, I’m not mad at them at all. I feel so sorry about what has happened to them, she answered. And then she explained how she really felt.

"Something has gone very wrong with them and they can’t help it. And I’m worried about what else they may do. Do you know what croapf means?" Sylvestra had placed the yellow, mixed slightly with pink, yarn of her elbows on the table and was peering directly at Meri with her head held in her colorful hands.

Meri was surprised at the question. "What croapf means?" she repeated. She didn’t understand. She had thought it was just a name that they somehow had gotten. But apparently there was something more.

I guess I don’t, she admitted, now interested.

She was surprised again when Syl then said, "The Land of the Croapfs means The Land of the Creative Original Airplane (Paper) Fliers. We just say croapfs because it’s convenient. Their name is so long."

Meri was amazed and even speechless. It was the last thing she had expected to hear. From her own experiences---in the border that looks like Amelia and on The Sliding Board the night before---she had understandably formed a very negative idea of the croapfs. But then she remembered meeting Nuggety, the croapf who had been knocked back right. He had been very nice! And she recalled that Wut hadn’t said anything at all objectionable about the croapfs---mainly that something had gone wrong with their land, as Sylvestra had just suggested. Mostly he had spent a lot of time worrying and thinking about them. Now talking with Sylvestra, Meri slowly began to adjust her ideas.

Sylvestra’s unexpected explanation of the meaning of the word croapf caused her to visualize in her mind the beautiful paper airplanes that the croapfs had thrown in the long border. She remembered that Wut had said, while they were being chased, They love paper airplanes. That fit Sylvestra’s words exactly! The day before had been the fullest day in her life. She was glad, during her conversation with her new friend, to have practically unlimited time to think!

The croapfs love to fly paper airplanes, continued Sylvestra with animation, strengthening what Meri already knew. The look on Syl’s face---and especially in her light turquoise eyes---also seemed to be one of fond memories.

"They are very good with their hands---the best in The Lands.