The trees all around were still and the only sounds were two sets of crunching footsteps ploughing laboriously along the gravel path. Having been plunged rather unexpectedly into the landscape of the imagination I had not really had much chance to consider what might be my initial emotions on encountering a whole new world. However I am quite sure that, even had I enjoyed the leisure to think it over, boredom would not have been high on my list. But this was turning out to be worse than Miss Sykes’ tour of CliftonCollege.
“Are we nearly there yet?” I asked, not particularly caring that I sounded like a five year old on the verge of a tantrum.
“Are we nearly where yet?” retorted my companion, Michael.
“I don’t know. Somewhere. Anywhere. We must have been walking for hours.”
“I’d say twenty minutes tops.”
“It feels like hours. How do we even know we’re going in the right direction?”
“Well, so far there only seems to have been the one direction. Do you see any other paths lying around?” Michael gestured at the dense foliage that surrounded us on all sides.
But looking around only served to remind me just why I was so bored in the first place. “I wouldn’t mind so much if there was something to see along the way,” I complained. “You’d think that a walk through an imaginary landscape might throw up one or two interesting sights along the way. But what have we seen so far?” I didn’t pause long before providing the answer myself. Trees.”
“Well…” began Michael.
“And more trees.”
“It’s not…”
“No, wait, just a second… what’s that? Oh look, it’s another tree.”
Michael confined his response to a look of pure disdain. But I had seen enough. Catching sight of a mossy tree stump at the edge of the path I stopped abruptly and sat down.
“That’s it, I’ve had it,” I announced. “I’m fed up and I’m hungry and I refuse to move another step.”
“And just how do you think sitting down there is going to get you any closer to a decent meal?” asked Michael reasonably.
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
“What about Sturridge? We’re hardly likely to find him if we stop here. He might be in real trouble. He could be facing all kinds of dangers right now, as we speak.”
“I’ll grant you he may be in danger of dying of boredom.”
“I suppose that means I’ll have to go after him by myself then, will I?” Michael said regretfully, switching tactics.
I remained unmoved. It seemed to me that it was just about time that we set some parameters on this unexpected partnership of ours and Michael was about to discover that I was not one to be pushed around. “I suppose it does,” I responded airily.
“Fine then, I will.” Michael considered matters for a moment. “I imagine it’ll get pretty dark soon. I mean, I’d offer to come back for you later but chances are you’ll have been eaten by a bear or something by then.”
“Well, at least somebody will be getting fed.”
Michael took a few tentative steps down the path. “Right, well, I’m going then.”
YOU ARE READING
Travels Through An Imaginary Landscape
Adventure“The Landscape of the Imagination. Just say it exists. Really, actually exists. A world that has grown and developed from the whole of human imagination over thousands of years. Every story ever told, every character ever created, every idea ever co...
