Chapter 31: Roll-the-Roll

Eddy threw Caoilinn on the bed with a large grin on his face and said 'Shall we play roll-the roll? My Dad taught me that when I was a baby.'

'What does roll-the-roll encompass exactly?' Caoilinn asked as she sat bolt upright on the bed with a serious frown on her face.

'Just lay down flat on the bed with your arms along the sides and I'll show you.'

After Caoilinn stretched out on the bed hesitantly, Eddy got on his knees and started rolling her sideways to the other side of the bed and back until she stretched out her arms to stop, screaming out laughing. 'You're making me dizzy!'

Eddy recovered by attacking the now exposed armpits until Caoilinn bunched up screaming and rolled around the bed to avoid the tickling, but not before he managed to boop! her on the nose. Just as she crouched in one corner like a cat, ready to pounce, a polite knock on the door ended the showdown.

'We are not finished, pal!' Caoilinn hissed to Eddy, as Ava entered the room to announce that they should come and look, also mentioning that dad would like to discuss the pieces of chalk that just came down from the living room ceiling. 'Next time we play by my rules!' Caoilinn told Eddy, as they went down the stairs.

The grail was standing on the table again, a column of blue light pointing up to the ceiling (where large pieces of chalk were indeed missing).

'When you put ice cream in it, did you ever look inside past your food?' Ava asked Eddy. 'I suppose not, because if you know it but failed to mention it, we will probably be rather angry at you.'

'What kind of "it" is it that you say I may have forgotten to mention this time?' Eddy asked to the world in general.

'Well, just have a look inside the grail and then tell me.'

Eddy stuck his head in the column of light to look inside the Grail, making his hair flow up with the light.

'I would definitely have mentioned that! I mean, actual whales and another girl.'

'What girl?!' Ava exclaimed. 'Let me have another look!' as she pushed Eddy aside to see what he meant.

As soon as her head went into the blue beam, Ava heard the sound of the ocean and the weird beeping and rattling sounds made by the whales. This time she also saw a blue face looking back at her from the waves.

'Hi, I'm Ava. Who are you?' was all Ava could think of saying.

Through a lot of bubbles, the apparition answered 'I am the Hydrogenie who lives in this Grail. You can call me Hydrid, if you like.'

'Why are you crying?'

'After a long relationship my fiancé Raven, the Carbogenie, ran off with the Oxygenie. They are now happily making Carbon dioxide somewhere.'

'Apparently we do that kind of stuff a lot as well, but we are trying not to.'

'That'll teach them then…' Hydrid said with a sigh.

'I was wondering… This Grail creates hydrogen when submersed in water. Do you do that?'

'Sort of…'

'So do you know what happens to the oxygen?'

'I suppose that transfers to the Grail that is currently inhabited by the Oxygenie and my Carbogenie now. Wherever that one may be.'

'So hypothetically speaking, they could be on another planet?'

'Affirmative.'

'Great. Is there any way to find out?'

'I doubt it. He hasn't replied to any of my messages after we broke up. I shouldn't have let that Oxygenie come between me and my Carb. Ethane was always good enough for me, but they kept going on about that double bond they had. Next day they were gone and I was left with a terrible headache... Alcohol can be a real killer for a relationship.'

'How about the whales? can't they do anything?'

'Nah... They don't fit through the narrow bit at the bottom.'

'So what happens if you do happen to fit through the narrow bit at the bottom then?'

'Not sure I'm allowed to tell you'

'Oh, come on... The survival of every living being on this planet depends on it. I won't tell anyone I heard it from you. Unless you want me to, of course.'

'OK then. It allows you to travel between Grails. But they locked me out.'

'Could I go then, strictly hypothetically speaking?' Ava asked.

'You might. But I can't guarantee your safety.'

'Oh, I'm used to that by now. Bye!' Ava said as she dove headfirst into the Grail. The blue beam popped out and Ava was gone, leaving Eddy, Caoilinn, Wolfgang, Mom and Dad wondering what the hell just happened. The fact that they had been unaware of the conversation between Ava and Hydrid didn't help.

Caiman Raptor Elk

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