Charlie, Me and a Giant Ball Bearing (pt. 2)

My jaw hit dirt. Looking inside the teeny door, I realized we were probably in a little trouble. I don't think either of us had thought this through.

I looked at Charlie, his eyes the size of sand dollars, jaw in the dirt, and for once, nothing coming out of his mouth.

I squinted and tried to peer inside the thing and as I did, I heard the most beautiful, melodious humming coming from inside, immediately, I smiled. I couldn't help it. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the door, which was no longer dark, but filled with glorious colorful light, it was soft pink, no, bright green, baby blue, then a purple like I had never seen, if I could have looked away, and looked at Charlie, I know he would have been wearing the same awestruck stupefied grin as I.

It started to float away from us, and as I slowly rose, still in a daze, and half heartedly brushed my clothes off, never taking my eyes from it, I became aware that Charlie was still in the dirt. The thing bounced a little, to the left, then to the right, then back away from us, slowly and happily over the sand.

I leaned down and grabbed Charlie by the arm, "Get up bro, I think it wants us to follow it".

And so we started walking, following the beautiful sound and soft light.

The sun was setting, and it occurred to me that it had only been eleven a.m. when we brought the thing out to the desert, we had been walking awhile, but it felt like it had been minutes. The melody of the humming would change now and then, but it was soft and soothing, much like the light coming from the small opening.

Before I realized it, we were coming up on the foothills. It didn't seem possible, from the road, they looked like they were only thirty or so miles out, but in reality they were closer to a hundred miles out. How long had we been walking? My stomach started to grumble, and I looked to Charlie.

He was still following without taking his eyes from it, "Charlie, how long you think we've been walking?"

"Dunno," he mumbled and shrugged, still not looking at me.

"Aren't you hungry, man?"

His head lolled around toward me, he nodded, then, his eyes cleared a little, he shook his head, "Shit, yeah man, I am seriously fucking starving".

Suddenly, the thing, that was once a ball, stopped, hovered a moment, then Land softly in the sand. Charlie's eyes widened, "Shit, you don't think we broke it?"

I shook my head, "No way, man, we didn't even touch it, besides, it's still singing."

It sat still for a moment, then the top bloomed like a futuristic flower, and inside was food, glorious FOOD!. Charlie and I dug into the berries, that looked nothing like any we had seen, and tasted better than any we had ever tasted without considering that we didn't know what they were. Just when it seemed that the berries would run out before our hunger did, the flower closed back up, then after a moment, opened again and showed us meat, it looked like beef drizzled in gravy, but upon tasting it, it was clear, this was something much better than beef could ever be.

After eating, it seemed impossible to keep my eyes open, and looking to Charlie, I saw he had already laid down, and was starting to snore.

Next thing I knew, it was morning.

keep looking for part 3!