Tourist Trap

Chapter 9

"Not to mention in front of that damn tree," Zeke looked at it warily. The eyeballs still seemed to be staring intently at him. 

They stepped off onto the path. It didn't appear to see much use, as it was narrow and beginning to get overgrown by vegetation. 

"Watch out, that's a bloodsucker in front of you," Max indicated a long reed plant with a needle-like tip that jutted out into the middle of the path. They steered to the other side of the path. It still attempted to pounce at them as they made their way past, but it missed by several inches. 

The vegetation continued to get thicker as they went along and soon they were pushing their way through some heavy vines. Zeke was about to suggest they turn around and go back for fear of encountering more bloodsuckers that they wouldn't be able to spot when they suddenly burst through into a clearing.  

A large tiger in a blue Hawaiian Shirt sat on a rock in the middle of the clearing. It stroked its chin with its paw and had a far away look in its eyes. It appeared to be deep in thought. 

"Hey there, my good sir," Max called out. "Might you be so kind as to tell us where we are?" 

The tiger gave a little jump and looked up, clearly startled. "Oh, hello there. Sorry I didn't see you. I was pondering something that I find somewhat troubling." 

"Oh yeah?" Zeke asked. "What are you pondering? Perhaps we could be of some assistance." 

"Well, you see I'm a geometrical constructionist." 

"What's that?" Zeke asked. 

"I make two-dimensional shapes and sell them to people. It's really quite a good living." 

"So what's troubling you, my good man?" Max asked. 

"Well, I wanted to start out simple so I made a circle. It only has one side, so it's fairly easy to make. I got pretty good at making circles so I focused in on that and turned a tidy profit. Well after awhile, it started getting boring so I thought I should challenge myself. I started making triangles and squares and pentagons and the like. Every time I mastered a new shape I'd add another side into the mix. I got up to thirty, forty, fifty-sided shapes and I started thinking about the logical extensions of this pursuit. Now I'm completely obsessed with the idea of making an infinitely-sided shape. I'm finding it rather unfathomable." 

"Thus is the nature of infinity," Max mused.  

"Do you have any of your shapes with you?" Zeke asked. 

"Sure," the tiger replied. "This is a sixty-two sided shape." It held up a large bright green polygon constructed out of some sort of sticks. They formed the outline of the shape while the center was empty space. "This here's a seventy-four sided shape," it held up another. "And this big guy I just finished is a ninety-one sided shape." 

"Hmm," Zeke pondered. "I may be crazy, but it seems like those shapes keep looking more and more like a circle as you add more sides." 

"What are you saying?" the tiger scoffed. "That if I get to infinity it's going to be a circle again? That's completely ridiculous. A circle has one side! How can it also have infinity?" 

"I don't know," Zeke shrugged. "I stopped taking math somewhere around college algebra. I'm just calling it like I see it." 

"It's like a wise man once said," Max chimed in. "Everything is one." 

The tiger pulled out one of its circles and compared it to the other shapes. "Hmm, you just might be onto something here. Thanks guys. Maybe now I'll start working on three-dimensional shapes. Speaking of dimensions..."