“You don’t have a name?” Mickey asks me. I shake my head no.
“How did 당신 get your names?” I ask them. “Are they normal names?”
“I was told mine on a note.” Mickey answers.
This word is strange to me. A note? His name was on a note? Like it was written on? Who did that? “What is a note?” Is the first 질문 I ask about this.
“It’s a piece of paper people use to put words on. 당신 haven’t heard of those before?” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 informs me.
“No I haven’t. Should I?” Was I… did I start with the wrong information? W-was I supposed to have more? That would explain why I didn’t know everything but… did this mean I’d forget things?
“We both started out without knowing a lot of things.” Says Mickey. That’s good. Then they are just like me… I hope.
“I got my name from the first thing I read.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 answers.
“What is a ‘chowder’?” I reply. He makes an angry face at me. I 옮기기 back a bit slightly afraid. What did I do wrong?
“It’s a…” He rubs the back of his head… is he scratching an itch? He’s looking down now. What is wrong, is he 더 많이 upset?
“It’s food.” Mickey finishes.
Oh. I see why he is upset now… I think. Being named after 음식 is a bad thing… why is it a bad thing? If I was named after the Raench I wouldn’t be upset.
“Raench?” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 asks me?
“Did I say that outloud?” I ask. I didn’t mean to do that.
“Yes… what’s Raench?” He questions. For some reason me knowing something they don’t feels… good. There is a word for this but if I ask them maybe they will get upset. I might ask them later.
“It’s a white cream… thing. I put it on salad.”
“Maybe we should call 당신 Raench then.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 says this in a strange way… it sounds a little like someone singing, but only barely… I think it’s a mean kind of way to say it… m-… mocking, he is… mocking, me…
“Chowder be nice.” Mickey looks at 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 angrily. I’m happy that Mickey is helping me but I don’t want them to be angry with each other. I try to distract them with a different thing to talk about.
“Wh-where do 당신 live?” They look back at me now. They don’t look angrily but they look surprised instead.
“We live in the same house.” Mickey replies. “Do 당신 live with someone?”
“No.” I feel… ashamed. I feel upset and bad for myself. I lower my head while feeling ashamed. I look back at them. Maybe I can go with them now. W-… will I have to go back to being alone soon? “Can I stay with you? Please?”
They look nervous. Did I scare them? Oh please don’t let them be scared, I don’t want them to leave. They give a strange motion to each other then begin to walk away. I walk after them. “Please don’t go!” I yell out nervously.
Mickey turns back to me. “We’re not leaving.” He raises his hands… this is another signal I guess. “We just need to talk alone for a minute.”
I don’t like this but I nod anyway… then I start counting to sixty. If we aren’t alone, who created us? Did the arms do it? They were the only other things I’ve seen act around me, but I do like being around Mickey 더 많이 than I do the arms… maybe 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 too.
When they walk back I smile, I want to seem nice. They were gone for less than a minute. Why did they say “for a minute”? Did they count wrong? Did I count wrong? What will they say?
“We don’t know if 당신 can stay with us.” Mickey tells me. “We... aren’t in control of anything really.”
“But… aren’t we out now?” I question. I begin to look around while confused about this. Are we still inside? Is this a trick?
“This is a play-yard.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 says.
“A play-yard?” I don’t want to keep asking them questions. I feel like it bothers them.
“Do 당신 know what play is?” He demands.
“Well…” Play… A play is… something with a curtain? When people dress up and pretend to be things. I say this. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 looks at me angrily again. I wish he wouldn’t.
“You’re not wrong but this is a different kind of play.” Mickey tells me. I like Mickey. He doesn’t look at me angrily. I want to 덮개, 랩 my arms around him again but he doesn’t seem to like that so I control myself. “Play,” he continues, “is enjoyment. It’s connected with a word called ‘game’. Games are things 당신 play. There is a goal, and the goal is what 당신 want to get to, the end of the game. And 의해 winning it means that 당신 reach the goal.”
“When did 당신 learn that?” I ask. “Was that on a note too?”
“No I knew that when I first woke up.” He says.
“But… why didn’t I?” I feel stupid. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 doesn’t like me because I’m stupid. It’s not my fault is it?
“We learned different things from our houses before we were put in the same one.” Mickey replies.
“Oh.” That’s better. At least I’m not… completely stupid. “You lived alone?”
“For two weeks.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 is showing his teeth now. He scares me and I crouch. Mickey looks over at him angrily again. I don’t want them mad at each other but is 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 going to attack me?
“She’s ten, Chowder. Keep your hostility down.” I’m ten? My age is ten? I-is that normal? What do ten-year-olds act like? How does he know I’m ten?
“H-how do 당신 know that?” I’m still cowering but I’d like to know.
“I don’t know, I just do.” He shrugs his shoulders. I know what this gesture means. It means that he doesn’t care 또는 doesn’t know… I think. “Maybe 당신 know what our ages are.” He suggests.
“I…” look at them back and forth. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 isn’t showing his teeth anymore. They have… smooth faces, but I don’t know what age that makes them. I’m ten… and they are almost twice as tall as me. Ten twice is… twenty. I hope that’s right. “Are 당신 twenty?” I finally guess.
They look back at each other, going down and up with their eyes, then nod and turn back to me. “You’re right.” Mickey tells me.
“I, I-I am?” I could have… I thought I’d be wrong, how did I get that right? I think I’ll leave it alone and just accept that I was right.
I want to know when this ends. I don’t want it to end if 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 scares me. I just want them to stay here. “Do 당신 know when this ends?”
“It ends… after a few hours.” Says Mickey.
“How long has it been?”
“Ten minutes.” Says Chowder.
“That’s short, right?” I want to make sure.
“Yes. Ten 분 is short.”
The 다음 thing I want to know is why I am here, why are they here, they are bound to know. “Are we here for a reason?”
“We were never told if there was one.” Mickey answers. “We spend our time walking, sitting, swinging-“
“Swinging?” I cover my mouth and close my eyes. Will 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 be mad again? My voice is muffled but I still say “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry” I keep saying it over and over. I don’t know when to stop.
“You can stop.” It’s Chowder’s voice that says this. I stop but I keep my eyes closed still.
“Here, I’ll show you.” Mickey offers. He waits a few 초 then tells me “You need to open your eyes first.”
“Is 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 angry at me?”
There is a pause. I hear… low voices… I can’t understand them. They sound sort of like grunts. It stops and Mickey says “He’s not angry, 당신 can open your eyes.”
Trust… do I trust him? Mickey has been nice so I don’t have a reason to- I mean not to… why would I have a reason not to though? Would this be a trick? Why am I saying that, of course it isn’t a trick, he’s… he’s nice…
I open my eyes. Mickey is smiling, 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 isn’t, but he isn’t being angry either. He makes his eyes go up then around… why was he doing that? I’m staring at 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 now, I don’t mean to, but Mickey waves to me before 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 does anything about it. I look back at Mickey. He’s 다음 to the wood attached to the metal strings. I walk over to him.
“These are swings.” He says, gesturing to them. They come up to my neck. What do I do with them? “What do they do?”
“Here.” He grabs my waist and begins to lift me up. This feels weird, I didn’t expect him to pick me up. It reminds me of the… arms, the metal arms. I remember how they’d hold me still… and… I freak out. I jerk a bit, letting out a short scream, and he lets go. I fall and almost hit my head on the wood. Mickey stops me before I do.
He hates me now doesn’t he, he must at this point. All I keep saying is that I’m sorry over and over again. But then he tells me “It’s alright.”
Mickey pushes me back up to stand again. I don’t freak out this time. I look back up at him. He isn’t smiling but he doesn’t look angry… then, he tells ME “I’m sorry. I should have asked 당신 first.”
I don’t know why I had to feel so bad when he picked me up. I was wrapping my arms around him before, he should be mad at me. “I just… I… there were these arms…” I don’t know how to explain it, will they believe me? I have to try at least. “I- in my house there were arms… metal arms, they woul-“
“They did that to you?!” Chowder’s voice is loud, and he sounds angry. I jump onto Mickey, and even crawl around to his back, hoping that 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 won’t attack me while Mickey is in front of me. Then I realize what he said. What does mean by- “What do 당신 mean?” I ask him nervously.
“They grabbed you, and made 당신 eat the pills?” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 demands. I nod quickly. He looks down, his hands clench like a fist, and his teeth show. He kicks the ground yelling “I can’t believe it!” Is… is he angry at me still 또는 someone else?
“I’m sorry, did I-“
“He’s not mad at you.” Mickey tells me. He doesn’t seem to mind me climbing on him I guess, he’s not saying anything about it. “He’s mad that that happened to you.”
“So… he…”
“He feels bad for you.”
“Is that good?”
“I think so.”
He must be right. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 hasn’t said anything mean to me right now, so I’ll believe Mickey. They know about the pills. Maybe they know what the pills do. “What do the pills do to us?” I 질문 Chowder.
“They make us fall asleep I think.” He answers. His voice still sounds upset but he seems calmer. “I don’t remember any other change.”
“Is there another way to sleep?” Will we always need pills to sleep?
“We don’t know.” Mickey answers. He sets me down and turns around to face me. “Whatever is going on we aren’t in control of it. But at least we aren’t alone.”
I do enjoy being with people. Even if 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 scares me he does seem protective. This ends every two hours, so I want to spend it at least happy. Then I can go live with Mickey and Chowder! … I hope.
“Could… could we try the 그네, 스윙 again?” I ask… t-timidly. I’m beginning to enjoy remembering new words, and Mickey and 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 will be able to teach me new ones.
Mickey smiles, nodding. “Do 당신 want help this time?”
I’m not sure. I don’t really mind being picked up but will it make him feel weird now? I don’t know. “Is, is that alright?”
“Of course.” Mickey kneels down and puts his hands on the ground, cupping them. What does he want me to do?
“Um…”
“You put your foot here, and I’ll push 당신 up so 당신 can go onto the seat.” He explains. Why did he change the way to get on? Maybe it DID feel weird to him. I don’t want to hurt his hands but I step on them anyway. He doesn’t look hurt and begins to push me up.
I’m not sure what he wants me to do 다음 but I feel myself beginning to fall. I remember falling the first time, but what if Mickey doesn’t catch me again? Before I know what’s happening, I’ve launched myself upward, spinning in the air, then landing on the swing, standing.
Mickey looks at me surprised. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 does too. Did I scare them? I feel the 그네, 스윙 옮기기 forward. I don’t want to fall again so I crouch down quickly and grab the metal ropes tightly. I’m okay now.
“That was cool! You’re really athletic.” Mickey says.
Cool… that’s a good thing I think, but I don’t know what athletic means. Does it mean I’m able to 옮기기 quickly 또는 spin? If I ask again 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 might be angry at me again so I change how I ask and reply “I am?”
Mickey nods. “Did 당신 learn that?”
I shake my head no. “I was afraid I’d fall so…”
“Nice move.” He smiles. I smile back. Mickey sits on the 그네, 스윙 다음 to me. I didn’t know we sat on them so I do the same. He begins to 그네, 스윙 his feet- Oh I get it now. He swings his feet back and forth, pushing his arms back and forth too. The 그네, 스윙 moves 앞으로 and backward, kind of like a circle. I try to do the same. Mine moves a little but it sort of just jerks around.
“You have to use the momentum.” He says. “When 당신 feel the 그네, 스윙 is at the highest it can go, 당신 lean and push in the other direction, back and forth.”
I don’t know what momentum is, but maybe the 초 part was describing it. I try it and my 그네, 스윙 moves more. It goes forward, then back, then 앞으로 longer, then back longer. I keep doing this until the 그네, 스윙 goes as high as the pole above us.
“Careful not to go too high.” Mickey warns. I slow down. This is fun. I like the wind going back and forth against me, and a weird… tickling-like feeling. It wasn’t like the lamp, it didn’t hurt, so that’s good.
Mickey calls out to 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 “Are 당신 going to 가입하기 us?”
I don’t see Chowder’s reaction because I’m facing up while I 그네, 스윙 but I hear him walk over. After a little while we are all swinging high up. Then, Mickey lets go of the 그네, 스윙 and flies 앞으로 in the air, spinning like I did, then landing on his feet.
“Are 당신 okay?” I call out.
“Yeah I’m fine. I do that sometimes.” He replies. “You want to try?”
I don’t know. What if I fall on my face? Maybe… “Can 당신 catch me?”
“Sure.” He opens his arms and waits. I take a little while nervously, but when I think I have the right amount of height I let go and I start flying 앞으로 too. Mickey moves around so that he can aim correctly, and catches me.
“That was fun!” I laugh. We both laugh. He sets me down and turns to Chowder. “I’m not catching you.” He says. I think 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 is going to be upset but he actual smiles “Oh no, what will I do?” He says it in that strange tune again.
“What does he mean when he talks like that?” I ask.
“Sarcasm. It’s… joking.” Mickey tells me. “He says something but he doesn’t actually mean it.”
“So… if I said I wanted to… um…” I can’t think of an example to use.
“You’ll get it eventually.” He says. Maybe I will. We all go back to swinging. We do this for a long while. None of us talk very much but it’s still fun. Eventually the blue in the air turns orange.
“Why is it…”
They both look up. “It’s the sunset.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 says. “It happens when the 일 ends.”
“Ends? Days end?”
“Yes, then night comes.” Mickey continues. “At night people… sleep…” The way he says it makes me think he just found out. Does this mean though that the pills in the arms will come back? I start to get scared again and stop swinging.
“Does that mean the arms will come back?” I ask.
They stop swinging now too. Mickey takes a little while before answering. “I… think so… I guess, we’ll just have to protect each other then, right?” He smiles trying to make me happy again. I’m still scared but he’s right. I want to protect them just like they want to protect me. Maybe we will be able to get out of here one time. Maybe we’ll find out why we are here… eventually.
“How did 당신 get your names?” I ask them. “Are they normal names?”
“I was told mine on a note.” Mickey answers.
This word is strange to me. A note? His name was on a note? Like it was written on? Who did that? “What is a note?” Is the first 질문 I ask about this.
“It’s a piece of paper people use to put words on. 당신 haven’t heard of those before?” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 informs me.
“No I haven’t. Should I?” Was I… did I start with the wrong information? W-was I supposed to have more? That would explain why I didn’t know everything but… did this mean I’d forget things?
“We both started out without knowing a lot of things.” Says Mickey. That’s good. Then they are just like me… I hope.
“I got my name from the first thing I read.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 answers.
“What is a ‘chowder’?” I reply. He makes an angry face at me. I 옮기기 back a bit slightly afraid. What did I do wrong?
“It’s a…” He rubs the back of his head… is he scratching an itch? He’s looking down now. What is wrong, is he 더 많이 upset?
“It’s food.” Mickey finishes.
Oh. I see why he is upset now… I think. Being named after 음식 is a bad thing… why is it a bad thing? If I was named after the Raench I wouldn’t be upset.
“Raench?” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 asks me?
“Did I say that outloud?” I ask. I didn’t mean to do that.
“Yes… what’s Raench?” He questions. For some reason me knowing something they don’t feels… good. There is a word for this but if I ask them maybe they will get upset. I might ask them later.
“It’s a white cream… thing. I put it on salad.”
“Maybe we should call 당신 Raench then.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 says this in a strange way… it sounds a little like someone singing, but only barely… I think it’s a mean kind of way to say it… m-… mocking, he is… mocking, me…
“Chowder be nice.” Mickey looks at 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 angrily. I’m happy that Mickey is helping me but I don’t want them to be angry with each other. I try to distract them with a different thing to talk about.
“Wh-where do 당신 live?” They look back at me now. They don’t look angrily but they look surprised instead.
“We live in the same house.” Mickey replies. “Do 당신 live with someone?”
“No.” I feel… ashamed. I feel upset and bad for myself. I lower my head while feeling ashamed. I look back at them. Maybe I can go with them now. W-… will I have to go back to being alone soon? “Can I stay with you? Please?”
They look nervous. Did I scare them? Oh please don’t let them be scared, I don’t want them to leave. They give a strange motion to each other then begin to walk away. I walk after them. “Please don’t go!” I yell out nervously.
Mickey turns back to me. “We’re not leaving.” He raises his hands… this is another signal I guess. “We just need to talk alone for a minute.”
I don’t like this but I nod anyway… then I start counting to sixty. If we aren’t alone, who created us? Did the arms do it? They were the only other things I’ve seen act around me, but I do like being around Mickey 더 많이 than I do the arms… maybe 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 too.
When they walk back I smile, I want to seem nice. They were gone for less than a minute. Why did they say “for a minute”? Did they count wrong? Did I count wrong? What will they say?
“We don’t know if 당신 can stay with us.” Mickey tells me. “We... aren’t in control of anything really.”
“But… aren’t we out now?” I question. I begin to look around while confused about this. Are we still inside? Is this a trick?
“This is a play-yard.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 says.
“A play-yard?” I don’t want to keep asking them questions. I feel like it bothers them.
“Do 당신 know what play is?” He demands.
“Well…” Play… A play is… something with a curtain? When people dress up and pretend to be things. I say this. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 looks at me angrily again. I wish he wouldn’t.
“You’re not wrong but this is a different kind of play.” Mickey tells me. I like Mickey. He doesn’t look at me angrily. I want to 덮개, 랩 my arms around him again but he doesn’t seem to like that so I control myself. “Play,” he continues, “is enjoyment. It’s connected with a word called ‘game’. Games are things 당신 play. There is a goal, and the goal is what 당신 want to get to, the end of the game. And 의해 winning it means that 당신 reach the goal.”
“When did 당신 learn that?” I ask. “Was that on a note too?”
“No I knew that when I first woke up.” He says.
“But… why didn’t I?” I feel stupid. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 doesn’t like me because I’m stupid. It’s not my fault is it?
“We learned different things from our houses before we were put in the same one.” Mickey replies.
“Oh.” That’s better. At least I’m not… completely stupid. “You lived alone?”
“For two weeks.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 is showing his teeth now. He scares me and I crouch. Mickey looks over at him angrily again. I don’t want them mad at each other but is 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 going to attack me?
“She’s ten, Chowder. Keep your hostility down.” I’m ten? My age is ten? I-is that normal? What do ten-year-olds act like? How does he know I’m ten?
“H-how do 당신 know that?” I’m still cowering but I’d like to know.
“I don’t know, I just do.” He shrugs his shoulders. I know what this gesture means. It means that he doesn’t care 또는 doesn’t know… I think. “Maybe 당신 know what our ages are.” He suggests.
“I…” look at them back and forth. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 isn’t showing his teeth anymore. They have… smooth faces, but I don’t know what age that makes them. I’m ten… and they are almost twice as tall as me. Ten twice is… twenty. I hope that’s right. “Are 당신 twenty?” I finally guess.
They look back at each other, going down and up with their eyes, then nod and turn back to me. “You’re right.” Mickey tells me.
“I, I-I am?” I could have… I thought I’d be wrong, how did I get that right? I think I’ll leave it alone and just accept that I was right.
I want to know when this ends. I don’t want it to end if 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 scares me. I just want them to stay here. “Do 당신 know when this ends?”
“It ends… after a few hours.” Says Mickey.
“How long has it been?”
“Ten minutes.” Says Chowder.
“That’s short, right?” I want to make sure.
“Yes. Ten 분 is short.”
The 다음 thing I want to know is why I am here, why are they here, they are bound to know. “Are we here for a reason?”
“We were never told if there was one.” Mickey answers. “We spend our time walking, sitting, swinging-“
“Swinging?” I cover my mouth and close my eyes. Will 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 be mad again? My voice is muffled but I still say “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry” I keep saying it over and over. I don’t know when to stop.
“You can stop.” It’s Chowder’s voice that says this. I stop but I keep my eyes closed still.
“Here, I’ll show you.” Mickey offers. He waits a few 초 then tells me “You need to open your eyes first.”
“Is 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 angry at me?”
There is a pause. I hear… low voices… I can’t understand them. They sound sort of like grunts. It stops and Mickey says “He’s not angry, 당신 can open your eyes.”
Trust… do I trust him? Mickey has been nice so I don’t have a reason to- I mean not to… why would I have a reason not to though? Would this be a trick? Why am I saying that, of course it isn’t a trick, he’s… he’s nice…
I open my eyes. Mickey is smiling, 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 isn’t, but he isn’t being angry either. He makes his eyes go up then around… why was he doing that? I’m staring at 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 now, I don’t mean to, but Mickey waves to me before 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 does anything about it. I look back at Mickey. He’s 다음 to the wood attached to the metal strings. I walk over to him.
“These are swings.” He says, gesturing to them. They come up to my neck. What do I do with them? “What do they do?”
“Here.” He grabs my waist and begins to lift me up. This feels weird, I didn’t expect him to pick me up. It reminds me of the… arms, the metal arms. I remember how they’d hold me still… and… I freak out. I jerk a bit, letting out a short scream, and he lets go. I fall and almost hit my head on the wood. Mickey stops me before I do.
He hates me now doesn’t he, he must at this point. All I keep saying is that I’m sorry over and over again. But then he tells me “It’s alright.”
Mickey pushes me back up to stand again. I don’t freak out this time. I look back up at him. He isn’t smiling but he doesn’t look angry… then, he tells ME “I’m sorry. I should have asked 당신 first.”
I don’t know why I had to feel so bad when he picked me up. I was wrapping my arms around him before, he should be mad at me. “I just… I… there were these arms…” I don’t know how to explain it, will they believe me? I have to try at least. “I- in my house there were arms… metal arms, they woul-“
“They did that to you?!” Chowder’s voice is loud, and he sounds angry. I jump onto Mickey, and even crawl around to his back, hoping that 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 won’t attack me while Mickey is in front of me. Then I realize what he said. What does mean by- “What do 당신 mean?” I ask him nervously.
“They grabbed you, and made 당신 eat the pills?” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 demands. I nod quickly. He looks down, his hands clench like a fist, and his teeth show. He kicks the ground yelling “I can’t believe it!” Is… is he angry at me still 또는 someone else?
“I’m sorry, did I-“
“He’s not mad at you.” Mickey tells me. He doesn’t seem to mind me climbing on him I guess, he’s not saying anything about it. “He’s mad that that happened to you.”
“So… he…”
“He feels bad for you.”
“Is that good?”
“I think so.”
He must be right. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 hasn’t said anything mean to me right now, so I’ll believe Mickey. They know about the pills. Maybe they know what the pills do. “What do the pills do to us?” I 질문 Chowder.
“They make us fall asleep I think.” He answers. His voice still sounds upset but he seems calmer. “I don’t remember any other change.”
“Is there another way to sleep?” Will we always need pills to sleep?
“We don’t know.” Mickey answers. He sets me down and turns around to face me. “Whatever is going on we aren’t in control of it. But at least we aren’t alone.”
I do enjoy being with people. Even if 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 scares me he does seem protective. This ends every two hours, so I want to spend it at least happy. Then I can go live with Mickey and Chowder! … I hope.
“Could… could we try the 그네, 스윙 again?” I ask… t-timidly. I’m beginning to enjoy remembering new words, and Mickey and 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 will be able to teach me new ones.
Mickey smiles, nodding. “Do 당신 want help this time?”
I’m not sure. I don’t really mind being picked up but will it make him feel weird now? I don’t know. “Is, is that alright?”
“Of course.” Mickey kneels down and puts his hands on the ground, cupping them. What does he want me to do?
“Um…”
“You put your foot here, and I’ll push 당신 up so 당신 can go onto the seat.” He explains. Why did he change the way to get on? Maybe it DID feel weird to him. I don’t want to hurt his hands but I step on them anyway. He doesn’t look hurt and begins to push me up.
I’m not sure what he wants me to do 다음 but I feel myself beginning to fall. I remember falling the first time, but what if Mickey doesn’t catch me again? Before I know what’s happening, I’ve launched myself upward, spinning in the air, then landing on the swing, standing.
Mickey looks at me surprised. 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 does too. Did I scare them? I feel the 그네, 스윙 옮기기 forward. I don’t want to fall again so I crouch down quickly and grab the metal ropes tightly. I’m okay now.
“That was cool! You’re really athletic.” Mickey says.
Cool… that’s a good thing I think, but I don’t know what athletic means. Does it mean I’m able to 옮기기 quickly 또는 spin? If I ask again 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 might be angry at me again so I change how I ask and reply “I am?”
Mickey nods. “Did 당신 learn that?”
I shake my head no. “I was afraid I’d fall so…”
“Nice move.” He smiles. I smile back. Mickey sits on the 그네, 스윙 다음 to me. I didn’t know we sat on them so I do the same. He begins to 그네, 스윙 his feet- Oh I get it now. He swings his feet back and forth, pushing his arms back and forth too. The 그네, 스윙 moves 앞으로 and backward, kind of like a circle. I try to do the same. Mine moves a little but it sort of just jerks around.
“You have to use the momentum.” He says. “When 당신 feel the 그네, 스윙 is at the highest it can go, 당신 lean and push in the other direction, back and forth.”
I don’t know what momentum is, but maybe the 초 part was describing it. I try it and my 그네, 스윙 moves more. It goes forward, then back, then 앞으로 longer, then back longer. I keep doing this until the 그네, 스윙 goes as high as the pole above us.
“Careful not to go too high.” Mickey warns. I slow down. This is fun. I like the wind going back and forth against me, and a weird… tickling-like feeling. It wasn’t like the lamp, it didn’t hurt, so that’s good.
Mickey calls out to 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 “Are 당신 going to 가입하기 us?”
I don’t see Chowder’s reaction because I’m facing up while I 그네, 스윙 but I hear him walk over. After a little while we are all swinging high up. Then, Mickey lets go of the 그네, 스윙 and flies 앞으로 in the air, spinning like I did, then landing on his feet.
“Are 당신 okay?” I call out.
“Yeah I’m fine. I do that sometimes.” He replies. “You want to try?”
I don’t know. What if I fall on my face? Maybe… “Can 당신 catch me?”
“Sure.” He opens his arms and waits. I take a little while nervously, but when I think I have the right amount of height I let go and I start flying 앞으로 too. Mickey moves around so that he can aim correctly, and catches me.
“That was fun!” I laugh. We both laugh. He sets me down and turns to Chowder. “I’m not catching you.” He says. I think 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 is going to be upset but he actual smiles “Oh no, what will I do?” He says it in that strange tune again.
“What does he mean when he talks like that?” I ask.
“Sarcasm. It’s… joking.” Mickey tells me. “He says something but he doesn’t actually mean it.”
“So… if I said I wanted to… um…” I can’t think of an example to use.
“You’ll get it eventually.” He says. Maybe I will. We all go back to swinging. We do this for a long while. None of us talk very much but it’s still fun. Eventually the blue in the air turns orange.
“Why is it…”
They both look up. “It’s the sunset.” 잡탕 요리, 챠 우 더 says. “It happens when the 일 ends.”
“Ends? Days end?”
“Yes, then night comes.” Mickey continues. “At night people… sleep…” The way he says it makes me think he just found out. Does this mean though that the pills in the arms will come back? I start to get scared again and stop swinging.
“Does that mean the arms will come back?” I ask.
They stop swinging now too. Mickey takes a little while before answering. “I… think so… I guess, we’ll just have to protect each other then, right?” He smiles trying to make me happy again. I’m still scared but he’s right. I want to protect them just like they want to protect me. Maybe we will be able to get out of here one time. Maybe we’ll find out why we are here… eventually.
