We Are

I did indeed end up getting approved to travel up to outer space, and there were a few dozen other people who were going to be going up there with me.

The way that they had us travel was that we would go to sleep for the night, and then when we woke up we’d be on the other planet!, which clearly meant that they didn’t really want us knowing exactly how they were managing to accomplish space travel.

I didn’t care about how they got us there, though; and didn’t care about what the others who were coming along would do on the planet either! Nope!, all I cared about was finding the palm reader lady!

Once I got to the planet, I quickly snuck away from the other humans who’d just arrived, and I set off in search of the palm reader lady!

Well… I had THOUGHT that I’d snuck away from all of the others. After about an hour of traveling (and picking some yummy fruit to eat as I walked), I heard a rustling behind me and thought that it must be some sort of alien.

It was an alien, in the sense that I was an alien to this planet, because I quickly discovered that another human had been following me!

“”Why aren’t you with the others?”” we both said at once, and waited for the other to respond.

I responded first, and told her that I was on this planet to find a palm reader lady who’d had an odd reaction to me and was the key to me discovering what it was about me that had caused her to run like the dickens.

“So, you’re following her, just like I’m following you?” she questioned, to which I nodded, and answered, “I have a reason for following her though. What’s your reason for following me?”

She paused, and answered, “I guess that I want to explore the planet, which is different from the others. They just want to settle down and colonize. And, it seems to me that helping you find the palm reader lady will enable me to do lots of exploring!, which means that I may as well continue to follow you.”

Her logic was impeccable!, and I shrugged, and said, “Fine with me, as long as you can keep up. There’s no time to waste!” and the two of us continued traveling on the planet in search of the palm reader lady.

We searched and searched and searched and searched and searched and searched and searched and searched and searched and searched, until one morning I woke up to find that a message had been drawn into the sand next to where I’d been sleeping.

I woke up Jewel, and showed her the message.

She had a pen and paper with her, and quickly began writing it down, though I felt that we’d be able to remember it and that writing it down wasn’t necessary.

It said,

“Your persistence is admirable, and I’m sorry that I didn’t explain myself to you before.

You see, it was because a cell phone buzz in my pocket reminded me that I’d been unacceptably tardy in regards to an important matter that I sent you away from my store.

I hadn’t sensed anything bad about you. In fact, you seemed like a very nice person.

But, I had to leave town for that completely other reason.

Perhaps we’ll cross paths someday, and perhaps we shall not.

But, regardless, there’s nothing about you or your palm that troubled me either a little or a lot.

In regards to the matter that actually did cause me to flee from town,

I really do hope that you won’t get mixed up in it; for, it’s the sort of situation that would turn even the widest of smiles upside down.

Best that you simply enjoy this planet, and forget about me.

Oh, and by the way, my name is Harley.”

I racked my brain to see if what Harley had written down could possibly be true, and quickly concluded that it was technically possible.

See, I wouldn’t have necessarily heard a cell phone buzz (because it might’ve been one that she’d have felt, but that also wouldn’t have been audible to me), and the words that she’d whispered had been, “Get out of my store…” which could’ve exclusively been related to the cell phone buzz spooking her (and not at all to me spooking her).

“Her explanation is not impossible.” I told Jewel, “My memory of how events transpired doesn’t contradict it, though that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s telling the truth either.”

“Ya think that we should keep looking for her, or that it’d be better to move on to other goals and maybe we’ll meet her someday and maybe not?” Jewel asked, to which I responded, “I think that it’d be best to give her the benefit of the doubt, which means that there’s no need to continue searching for her.”

And, so; the two of us took some time to rest and figure out what’d make sense to do next…