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The Land of the Lost Continues with NEW ADVENTURES!
Founded by author Donnie Sergent Jr.
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Episode 2
"From Home to Eternity"
by Donnie Sergent Jr
This story is Copyright ©2008 Donnie Sergent Jr and may not be posted to any other website. If you wish to share this story, simply give the link to this page.
Holly's eyes were open way before the crack of dawn, but dawn was finally here. She sat up and Will sat up immediately after her. He was obviously waiting on his little sister to make the first move, but just as excited about this morning as she was. Their father, Rick Marshall, had been swept back to them in the Land of the Lost just yesterday, and he'd hinted that he'd brought goodies with him from back home on Earth. Holly and Will were DIEING to know what was in those packs and duffel bags! Holly actually sneaked a peek inside one duffel bag to try to see something, but her dad had snored really loudly and turned over to face her. She'd jerked her hands back and slipped all the way back down into her sleeping bag.
Well, it was a light, fitful sleep for Will and Holly, but a deep resting sleep for their father, Rick. Rick awakened about two hours after Will and Holly and turned to look at the sun pouring through the front of their cave at High Bluff. He turned his attention to Will and Holly who were both sitting up with their legs still in their sleeping bags.
Rick grinned and played out the little game. “Well, we might as well go get some firewood and water before anything else."
“Daddy!” Holly almost screamed. “You said we could see what all you brought, and that it was going to be like Christmas morning back home!”
Will stared, hoping his father was joking, which he was.
“I'm just teasing Holly.” Rick smiled. “First things first. The surprises will start the day!”
Will and Holly both cheered their agreement and sat perfectly still with rapt attention, sitting in their sleeping bags like the were awaiting the greatest gifts on Earth. And, in this case, any gift from Earth would be great!
Rick sat up and slid one of the packs toward himself. “You know it might be better if we get out of our sleeping bags and sit on the rocks as I reveal these. Rick hadn't noticed the full-sized kitchen chairs, complete with woven reed backs, behind a canvas curtain that was situated across the cave from where he was sitting.
Holly and Will never missed a beat. They shucked their sleeping bags in the blink of an eye and were both seated directly across from where their father in the chairs. Will slid a chair to his dad.
Rick smiled, “You guys have really been busy since I was gone, and resourceful, too.”
Will grinned with pride after his father's encouraging words.
Holly spoke as if she didn't want to admit it, but did anyway, “Will made the chairs all by himself. I thought for sure they would fall apart when I sat on one, but it held up just fine. It even held up under Uncle Jack, so they'll hold up under you, too, daddy. They're actually pretty comfortable. I guess even Will can do something right every now and again.” She grinned.
Will squinted his eyes at his sister, but only for a second, and then he smiled. They quickly turned to the first small sack that was tied atop their father's backpack.
Rick untied it from his backpack, sat on the chair, and loosed the drawstring. He reached inside and pulled out two Ziploc bags, presenting one to Holly and the other to Will.
“Kool-Aid!” Holly shouted. “And Lemon-Lime, my favorite! What's yours, will?”
“Mine's Grape! That's MY favorite! Thanks, dad! There's enough in here to make gallons and gallons of Kool-Aid from our plain old water!”
“Yeah, thanks, daddy! This is great!” Holly pulled her bag open and smelled inside. The Lemon-Lime fragrance filled her nose like a dream. “Oh my gosh that smells so good. When we're all done, this is the first thing I'm gonna do; fix me some Kool-Aid!”
Rick smiled and pulled out yet another Ziploc bag, this one filled with coffee beans followed by a small hand grinder. “Now, I can start my mornings right,” he laughed. “And, if I ever get lucky enough to find some coffee plants around here, I'll have a grinder ready.”
Holly wrinkled her nose. “How are you gonna fix coffee with no coffee pot?”
Rick pulled out the last item from the bag; a small, four-cup, percolator coffee pot that could be used to make coffee over a campfire, like those back in the old west days.
“Well, that answers my question." Holly laughed.
“You wouldn't wanna share that coffee in the mornings every now and again would ya dad?” Will had a hopeful look on his face.
Rick smiled. “I think I could handle that.”
“Yes!” Will blurted out.
Holly wrinkled her nose, again. “I don't see what people like about coffee. It's yucky.”
Will shrugged his shoulders. “You just have to acquire a taste for it, I guess, Holly. The first time I tried it was when dad poured me a hot cup when we were out in our little bout on the pond fishing. It was cold and the coffee warmed me up. After that I kind of got used to it and even liked the taste.”
“Okay, then you drink the coffee with dad and give me your Kool-Aid.” Holly grinned.
“Nice try, sis, but no deal.”
They all had a laugh over that.
Rick shook the empty sack. “Well, that's all in that one. One more of those to go, then the two duffel bags.” Rick untied the second sack and drew open the drawstring. Out came another Ziploc bag, this one full of vegetable seed packets.
Holly grabbed the bag and looked it over good before handing it to will. “There's enough seeds in there to start a real garden! Wow are we gonna eat good, now!”
Will turned the bag and read some of the names on the packets. “Dad, you really outdid yourself with this one. I would've never thought to bring seeds. This is terrific!”
Rick smiled at Will's words and reached into the bag, again. Out came three whetstones and three sets of crock sticks. “Now we can keep our knives razor sharp. It'll be much easier cutting off the vegetables in our new garden, as well as vines, shelling out gourds and everything else.”
Will took a whetstone and turned it over in his hand. “My knife hasn't had an edge without pits ever since we got here. THESE will come in handy.”
Rick laid the remaining whetstones and the crock sticks on the rock beside him and reached back into the back. Out came a large Ziploc bag this time. It had four bags inside it. Two bags were filled with peppermint sticks hard candy, and the other two were filled with butterscotch candy of the same type.
“Candy!” Holly squealed as her father handed her the bag.
Rick spoke up quickly, “One peppermint and one butterscotch for you and the other two for Will. Although I may sneak a piece every now and again. There's thirty sticks in each bag.”
Will smiled. “With all you've been through, dad, you can have as much as you want.”
“I agree, daddy. You're welcome to as much of mine as you want.”
“Well, thank the both of you. But, I doubt I'll be having much. I got it for you two.”
Holly leaned forward. “Is the bag empty, daddy?”
“Looks that way.” Rick paused briefly. “Oh, wait, there's something else in here.” Rick pulled out three Swiss Army knives and handed one each to Will and Holly.
Holly was excited. “You mean I can have my very own knife, daddy?”
“Well, sweetie, you're thirteen years old, now. Not to mention living in this place for three years. I'd say it'll come in handy for you and I trust that you'll be careful with it.”
Will was opening and closing various blades, saws, and gadgets on his knife. It even had a magnifying glass in it. “Dad, these must have cost a fortune. This is the model with the most gadgets on it.”
“Well, son, I told you, I cleaned out our bank account back home. I wasn't about to skimp on things that we may be using for years. Although, I hope we won't need them that long. I hope I came from home for a visit, not from home to eternity.”
Will was still eyeballing his knife. “Thanks, dad. This is the best gift I've ever gotten.”
Rick tossed the sack to the side of a rock and reach behind. “Now, for the big bags.”
Will and Holly watched their father's every move as he pulled one of the two heavy bags around in front of him and untied the large duffel bag's drawstring.
The first items pulled from the bag were three D-cell flashlights, followed by a huge bag of batteries and a small bag of extra bulbs. Rick raised his eyebrows, “These should be handy in the Lost City if we meet up with any Sleestak. If the torchlight hurts their eyes, just imagine what these will do.”
Holly spoke up, “And, they won't give off any heat in case the Sleestak are in their dormant season!”
Rick was proud. “Very good, Holly. That's the main reason I wanted to use them, too.”
Holly held her head up and gloated at Will. He just rolled his eyes.
Next, Rick pulled out two large Zizploc bags full of disposable lighters. “There's 50 to a bag. These should last a long, long time.”
Both Will and Holly agreed. There was always need for fast fires in the Land of the Lost.
Next out was a bag with ten cans of lighter fluid. These will be handy to help start a fire with wet wood. Whether it's raining or not, we'll have a warm fire.
That sounded good to Will and Holly. There had been several times when they had to wait on firewood to dry before they could get the fire going. And, a lot of times it was pretty cold. They basically had to stay in their sleeping bags until they could get the campfire started.
Rick then produced a thin bag of what looked like a bunch of string.
Holly took the bag and examined it. “What's this, daddy, string?”
“No, honey, it's a roll of candle wicking. We can harvest wax from the honey bee's nest and snip off pieces of this wicking to make candles. It was the biggest roll they had and the clerk said it would make about a thousand small candles. They'll be perfect for here in the cave.”
“That's neat!” Holly had never seen a roll of wicking like that before.
Will was curious. “How do we make the candles, dad?”
“It's easy, actually. You just flatten out some bees wax into a little rectangle, cut off a piece of wick that fits the wax, with a little sticking up on top to light, then roll up the wax around the wick and you've got yourself a homemade bees wax candle.”
Will's mouth hung open. “They never taught us that in the Boy Scouts.”
“Well, son, there's probably a lot more in a Park Ranger's training than in the Boy Scouts.”
“That's true.”
“Don't worry, son, I'll teach you and Holly some things like that when we have the chance.”
Holly smiled. “That sounds fun!”
“Actually, honey, it was work back home, but it is kind of fun, now.”
Holly and Will smiled at each other, excited about learning neat little tricks like that!
“Okay, we're about half-way down this duffel bag. I wonder what else is hiding in here?” Rick shuffled a few things around in the pack. Ah, this is mine.” He pulled out a long, flat sheath with a handle. He pulled the really long blade from the sheath. Holly leaned back away from the menacing-looking blade. I'll be able to cut us some new trails with this. It's hard to tell what new adventures we might find.”
“That's one nice machete, dad!” Will took it as his father handed it to him. “This baby will definitely cut through the thick vines and small trees around here.”
Rick took back the machete and slid it back into its sheath. He laid down the machete and reached back into the duffel bag. This time he pulled out three two-piece Zebco fishing poles with nice Zebco 33 reels attached!
“Wow, dad!” Will could hardly believe it when his father handed him his brand new rod and reel.
“Thanks, daddy!” Holly liked to fish, too, but she liked fishing from their boat better than from the bank. But, that didn't matter right now. She hadn't held a fishing rod in years, except for the one Will had constructed from wood there in the Land of the Lost. It wasn't even close to how nice these were, though!
Rick looked his own rod and reel up and down and said, “I figured this would make it a little easier to catch fish for dinner, not to mention a whole LOT of fun!”
Will sat in awe of this gift. He could fish, again. He could fish with a true fishing rod and reel. He was so excited that words failed him.
“On the days when we can't find live bait to use, we can use these.” Rick pulled out a small box with about sixty rubber worms of various colors inside. He then pulled out lots of line, hooks, sinkers, and an assortment of artificial lures.
“Alright!” Will exclaimed. “These are the best of the best! There's top-water lures here. There's crank baits here that dive down and shake like real live small fish. There's spinners with feathered tails. There's needle-nose pliers to get the hooks out if they're in a tight spot. You really brought the works, dad!”
Rick spoke up, “And, if we catch so many fish on the lures that have feathers that the feathers fall off, I brought some fly tying line to tie new feathers onto them. We can trim the feathers that we pluck from the chickens and use berries to dye them any color we want.”
“That was good thinking dad. You really planned this out. We've got all this stuff and we can even use the Ziploc bags you packed it in.”
“That's right, Will.” Rick pointed to the Kool-Aid, candy, and Coffee bags and said, “These we'll keep in the bags to keep fresh, but everything else has a reusable Ziploc bag. I thought that it would be better to go ahead and use the bags to save space, not to mention keeping everything waterproof, in case I ended up in the water somewhere.”
“How do you use these artificial lures, daddy?” Holly Asked. “Do fish bite on things that don't even taste good?”
Rick smiled. "I'll show you all about them on our first fishing trip, okay?”
“Okay, daddy. A fish eating a piece of rubber or wood just doesn't sound right to me. But, I trust you. I can't wait to try them!”
Rick reached in the big duffel bag. He pulled out three big first aid kits one at a time. “These will come in very handy. They're stuffed full of first aid items. I even added a one hundred count bottle of aspirin to each one.”
Holly was excited. “You mean if we get a headache we don't have to just wait it out, now!”
“That's right, honey.”
Will shook his head. “This is going to make life here a LOT easier!”
“I agree, son. It's the little things that can make such a big difference.”
Next, Rick pulled out a roll of one hundred heavy duty plastic trash bags. “How many time have we wished we had just one of these?”
Holly felt one of the bags and said, “Wow, these are thick! We can use them as shelter in the jungle and not to mention a light way to bring back vegetables from our garden. These really will come in handy!”
Rick sat down the roll of plastic bags and pulled out three hardback books with no title on the covers. “The are for you, Holly. They are blank journals where you can keep track of the days here in the Land of the Lost. Of course, you can write about anything in them, but if we ever find our way back home, if would great to have an account of our time here.”
Holly took the three journals, which were two hundred pages each. “Oh, I will daddy! I'll note all of the important happenings here. But, hey, what will I write with?”
Rick produced several boxes of pencils. There were ten boxes of twenty, two hundred total. He handed them to Holly. “You can sharpen them with your new Swiss Army knife.”
“That's a great idea! I'll sharpen one before I write my first journal entry.”
"Okay, a couple more things and it's on to the last duffel bag." Rick handed Holly the book, “Robinson Crusoe.” Then handed Will, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
Both their eyes grew large.
Before either of the children could say anything, Rick added, “I got the smallest print available at the library. The print is small, but I could fit more books that way, and I know you both have great eyesight, anyway."
“OH MY GOSH, DADDY!” Holly looked up from the book to her father. “I've DREAMED of reading great stories and disappearing from our surroundings into a book!”
“Thank you so much, dad!” Will was turning the book this way and that, like it was a solid bar of gold the same size.
Rick then pulled out a big book, “The Lord of the Rings.” This is a huge book, but the librarian said that it would definitely be worth the read if you like fantasy stories. I told her you did to begin with. It's a fantasy story about wizards and knights and elves and Hobbits, whatever they are. It's been around for about twenty years.”
Will enjoyed those things most, so he took the book to look over.
Rick pulled out the next book, “Lunar Eclipses and their cycles and effects.” “This one's for me to study on a bit.”
Next came yet another book. Well, actually two at the same time. One was “Tom Sawyer” and the other was “Huckleberry Finn.” Then came “The Wizard of Oz,” a dictionary, and a Holy Bible. “You've both seen the movie, 'The Wizard of Oz,' but believe me, the book has much more adventuring in it and is even better than the movie, in my humble opinion. As for the Bible, I've studied it quite a bit and you two have, as well. It's said that everyone should read the Bible from start to finish, whether you believe in it or not, at least once. There's a lot of history in it, as well as wisdom. And, I don't know a single soul who couldn't use a little more wisdom. Well, as much time as we'll have, I figured I'd bring it along, too. The dictionary will always be interesting to learn new things.”
Then, Rick pulled out a new basketball, but it was flat. The children didn't look to excited. That is, until he brought out the bicycle tire pump with the ball inflater needle attachment on it and two extra needles!
“Holly jumped up, You mean we can play basketball!”
“Well, I didn't have enough room for a rim and backboard, but I think I can make them both out of the materials around high bluff. That is, if you two wouldn't mind helping a bit.”
Will spoke up, “We'll do whatever it takes, dad! I can't believe that we can actually shoot some hoops, again!”
“Alright, now for the last duffel bag. There's only one thing inside. Well, actually a few, but one main thing.” Rick pulled out a bag of tire patches and showed it to Will and Holly.
Will's eyes got big. “Those are round patches for patching up holes in a rubber bicycle inner tube. You fit a bicycle in that bag?”
“Not quite, son. But it is something we may have to patch someday.”
Will shook his head and looked to Holly for a guess.
Holly smiled. “Is it a beach ball?”
“No, but you're getting closer.” Rick grinned and pulled a little bit of the yellow material out of the bag.
Will jumped up. “A new raft!”
“You got it, son.”
Holly was excited, too. “Wow! That'll be a lot easier to pack than a bamboo raft like the one we made! We could even pack it underground and inflate it for an underground river if we needed to!”
“Very good, Holly.” Rick smiled approvingly. “That was my main intention for bringing it along. If we find another underground river, like the one we found close to Jefferson Davis Collie III's mining cave, we can take along the duffel bag and inflate the raft by the river with the tire pump. I have an attachment in the bag for the tire pump to inflate the raft.”
Will and Holly sat back down and Will spoke up. “We found a still-water pool just off the river a ways down while you were gone. I fished from the bank and caught a good mess, but with the raft I could catch some bigger ones out near the island in the middle, I bet.”
“That's quite possible, son. Maybe, we could spend tomorrow out there. You could do some fishing while Holly and I do a little more resting. We can get some plans together for our next exploration of this place all the while.”
Will was excited. “You bet, dad!”
Holly agreed.
“Well kids, that's it for the surprises from home.” Rick suddenly remembered something and put his hand in his pocket. “I guess that's not entirely true.” He pulled his hand out. “I brought a picture of mom for each of you, and one for me.” Rick handed a wallet-sized picture to each of his children, and then admired his.
Will and Holly hadn't seen a picture of their mother since before they entered this land about two years ago. They each took their picture and immediately teared up and smiled at the same time.
Will stared at his mother, who looked a lot like Holly wither her pretty face and long, blond hair. “You saved the best for last, huh dad?”
“That I did, son.” Rick looked from Will to Holly as she cried. He stood and brought her into his embrace and she cuddled inside the embrace. “I know, honey, I know. But, now you can see her whenever you want in this crazy world. Not just as a Sleestak illusion or in your dreams.”
Holly nodded against his chest. “Th... Thank you, daddy. If we never get out of here, it'll at least be a little better, now.”
Rick squeezed his daughter. “I agree, sweetie.”
Will looked up. “Yeah, thanks, dad. It's nice to see mom, again.”
Rick took one arm from his embrace and gave Will's shoulder a firm squeeze. “You're welcome, son.”
**********
Will and Holly had explained all of the important parts of what had happened while their Uncle Jack was with them. Sometimes Rick was surprised, sometimes he wasn't. They had also explained about Ta and Sa disappearing and how Cha-Ka was now living with them. He left to go exploring around the Pakuni impound just before Rick had arrived and was due back that night. They told him how Holly had thought of the idea of having Dopey fitted with extra thick ropes to pull away the debris from their old cave so they could move back in. They had been living in a temple near the Lost City with their Uncle Jack and Cha-Ka, but were constantly on guard for invading Sleestak. Rick praised his daughter for the Dopey idea, but didn't see how even he could move the boulders if they were as big as they'd told him they were. They explained that he would be surprised when he saw Dopey again. Rick's eyebrows raised when Holly explained that he was a little over twice the size that he was when Rick had seen him last. They also promised to take him to visit the temple one day. After Will and Holly had filled him in on all the details they could remember, Rick stood and went to stretch his legs a bit.
Rick Marshall stood just outside the cave, at the shelf's edge, which was about fifteen feet above the ground. He looked out into the jungle and listened to nature and the animals of the Land of the Lost, once more. The sounds of car horns as he drove around gathering supplies back home were gone, now. It was strange because the horns now seemed more out of place than the roar of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It all boiled down to one thing. Without the ones you loved around you, life seemed so very different and strange. Rick was back with his family, now. With that thought, there in the late afternoon, he smiled.
Suddenly, Rick saw movement at the edge of the clearing in front of their cave. He focused his eyes on the ferns moving where no wind blew. Whatever it was that was moving the large ferns was nearly invisible. He squinted his eyes and concentrated. As the hidden being came out into the clearing, Rick's eyes grew large. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a Sleestak, but much smaller than normal. The little thing was barely taller than Holly.
“Will! Holly! Come here!”
Will and Holly ran to a halt on either side of their father. Both looked out at the little Sleestak with wide eyes.
Holly pointed. “It's a little Sleestak!”
Rick looked to Will. “Have you seen this while I was gone?”
“No, dad. Never.”
“Well, we have, now.”
The ground began to rumble as the little Sleestak came to a halt in the middle of the clearing and looked up at them.
“Grumpy!” Holly yelled.
The little Sleestak turned to look toward Grumpy, then back to them.
Rick yelled. “Come up here! We'll protect you! Come up here! Hurry!”
The little Sleestak paused only until Grumpy roared from just inside the jungle, and then shuffled quickly to the base of the rock steps to the cave. Rick climbed down as fast as he could and pulled the little Sleestak up each step in turn as Grumpy came into the clearing.
Holly screamed from the mouth of the cave, “Hurry, daddy!”
Will dropped down a step. “Come on, dad! Hurry!”
Holly ran into the cave as Rick pulled the little Sleestak up yet another step.
Will climbed down a couple of steps to pull up the little Sleestak as his dad lifted from below.
Holly reappeared from the cave with a small, animal skin bag in her hand. It was tied at the top and had one leather string tied around it, separating the two crystals inside. She loosed the string separating the crystals, but kept the crystals apart with a finger and thumb. As Grumpy got in range, she let the two crystals touch inside the bag and threw it at him! The little bag flew through the air just the way Holly had wanted it to. Thanks could go to Will for playing catch with her with his baseball back home. As the bag got right in front of Grumpy's nose, it exploded into a ball of sparks with a loud bang! Grumpy stopped in his tracks as Rick and Will put up their hands to shield against the bright burst of light. Grumpy snorted.
“Get outta here you big overgrown lizard! Go on!” Holly waived her arms, diverting Grumpy's attention away from her father and brother.
Grumpy looked to Holly, and then snorted, again inside the cloud of smoke left by the exploding bag. He shook his enormous head and lowered it to wipe his eyes with his small, front claws. He looked to Holly once more, and then turned and stomped away back into the jungle, roaring angrily as he went!
Once everyone was safe in the cave, Rick went outside to look for more Sleestak. He saw none, but waited a few minutes before going back inside with the others.
The little Sleestak was standing with his back pressed against the cave wall. Will, Holly, and Rick stood staring at the little creature.
Rick took a step toward it. “We're not going to hurt you. Why are you here?”
The Sleestak's voice was high-pitched, like that of a young child. “I was traveling with my family when I strayed from the path to investigate what looked like the cocoon of an Altrusion Moth.”
Holly spoke up, “Daddy! He can speak English!”
Rick looked from his daughter back to the young Sleestak. “How do you know our language?”
“I am schooled in many languages. I recognize you as humans from the smoke visions where I am taught and most humans speak this language. I am pleased that is so.”
Rick explained that he was pleased, as well. “So, what are you doing so far from The Lost City, and while the sun is out?”
“I don't live in The Lost City. And, the sun is not harmful to us.”
“Who is “Us”?”
“I am a member of the Sleestak of Altrusion Brotherhood colony. We are peaceful and live in the catacombs below Redmond Island. My father is the leader of the colony.”
“Where is Redmond Island? Who is your father?”
“Redmond Island is downriver from the swamp. It sits in the middle of Ridge Lagoon.”
Will spoke up excitedly, “Dad! I bet that's the still-water pool I was telling you about earlier! The one with the island in the middle!”
The little Sleestak nodded. “There is only one island centering a lagoon in the Land of the Lost. It must be the same island.”
Rick nodded. “Yes, it must be. And, who is your father?”
“My name is G'Ratch. My father's name is S'Latch.”
“S'Latch!” All three Marshalls said aloud.
“Would you happen to be the Marshall family?”
Rick extended a hand. “Yes. I'm Rick. This is my daughter, Holly, and my son, Will. We are very pleased to meet you, G'Ratch.”
G'Ratch took Rick's hand in his two, small clawed hands and shook. “My father taught me this human custom. He said that you taught it to him, as well as the meaning of the term 'Brotherhood'.”
“Yes, I did G'Ratch. Your father and I worked together to escape the Hole of No Return in The Lost City. We shook hands before we parted in a bond of thanks and trust. I'm so glad that he took my advice about brotherhood. I had a good feeling about your father and hoped that he could use his intelligence to find an answer.”
“My father told me of this. He told the entire colony. He, also, told us that you could be trusted as a father to Sleestak children, like me, and a brother to Sleestak adults in our colony. Therefore, you have my complete trust Rick Marshall. Your children have the same trust that I bestow upon you, Rick Marshall.”
Holly looked at G'Ratch with big eyes. “So, you are a child, or young adult, like me and Will?”
“Yes, I am a Sleestak youngling. I will be able to prove myself as an adult in our rituals once I reach the correct age.”
Will was curious. “Just how old are you G'Ratch?"
“I am only one hundred and fifty seven years old. When I reach two hundred, I will be able to take part in the ritual.”
Holly couldn't believe it. “You're a hundred and fifty seven years old!”
“That is correct. How old are you, if it is not rude to ask?”
“Well, I'm thirteen and Will's nineteen.” Holly pointed to her brother. “We're considered adults when we turn eighteen. We humans live an average life span of seventy-five years, or so. On rare occasions we live to be a little over one hundred.”
“That is unfortunate. There is much knowledge that you must miss out on.”
Rick sat with his chin resting in his hand upon his knee. “How long do Sleestaks live on average, G'Ratch?”
“We live, on average, for seven hundred years.”
“Wow!” Will and Holly both said at the same time.
Rick smiled, “Thank you for answering our questions, G'Ratch. Now, how can we help get you back with your family?”
“We only leave our home when the sun is in the sky. When the sun is gone from the sky we guard our home from the other Sleestak, because, as you know, this is when they come out and explore. My father said that if we went out into the sunlight a little each day that we could train our eyes to withstand the bright light. He was correct. We did just as he said, spending a little more time in the sunlight each day until the light no longer was a factor with our eyesight. My father is very intelligent.”
Holly said, “Your father was born smart. I still remember him telling us about it. That's why the other Sleestak wanted to sacrifice him to their god. They saw him as a freak. That is until your dad and my dad helped each other and escaped.”
“That is correct, Holly Marshall.”
Rick looked to Will. “Is this Redmond Island close enough that we could get there before dark, son?”
“I don't think so, dad. It would probably get dark just as we came to Ridge Lagoon.”
“That's what I was afraid of.” Rick pondered the situation a moment. “Well, it looks like we'll just have to stay here and get a good night's sleep. Cha-Ka should be coming back later tonight, so it's just as well. It'll be good having him along to see or smell any trouble before we do. G'Ratch, will you be able to sleep here at High Bluff tonight?”
“You forget Rick Marshall, we do not sleep, we merely rest while awake. As for sleeping, we hibernate for a period of time. It is not time to hibernate, yet, so I will be awake and stand guard tonight. I will alert you at the first sign of trouble.”
“Yes, I did forget about your hibernation time. Well, that sounds good to me. Let's all turn in early to get a head start on tomorrow. We'll all get on the bamboo raft that you two and your Uncle Jack made in the morning and head for Redmond Island in the middle of Ridge Lagoon. I'm guessing Cha-ka will be back, soon. G'Ratch, you explain the situation to Cha-Ka. He is a small Paku. The last of his kind as far as we know, now. If he doesn't believe you, wake me up and I'll explain it to him.”
“I will do as you say, Rick Marshall. Everyone, enjoy your sleeping period and thank you for saving me from the large dinosaur.”
THE END of
Episode 2
"From Home to Eternity”
by Donnie Sergent Jr
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Land of the Lost Online Info and Message Board
Continued in
Episode 3
"The Island”
by Donnie Sergent Jr
This has been Land of the Lost: New Adventures, under the LandOfTheLostOnline.com Project.
Founded by author Donnie Sergent Jr.
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