Between

Episode 10

Episode 10

Philo wiped some sweat from his brow as he finished mounding up the latest load of bricks and lumber. If this first assignment was any indication, being a fetcher would be a lot of work, but not particularly unpleasant. He and Rill had been given a long shopping list of building supplies, and Rill had proved to be rather well suited to the task of gathering them. She had keen eyesight, which was to be expected for a creature with six eyes, and could move around incredibly fast. Strength was no issue either, though she wasn't without her shortcomings.

"Here's three more!" Right-Rill said, winding her way up to the deck of the pirate ship that had become their temporary base of operations.

She dropped three cinder-block-sized hunks of shaped granite, still rough around the edges from where they'd been ripped free from their mortar.

"That's great, Rill. That brings us to twenty-four," Philo said. He stooped to lift one up.

"Is twenty-four close to sixty?" Rill asked.

"Not even half," Philo said. "There's got to be a better way to do this."

"What do you mean?" Left-Rill asked defensively. "We're doing fine. There's plenty more bricks like that. We'll get everything."

"Yeah, but if you once dragged this whole ship, you must be able to bring back more than three at a time," he said.

"We only have three tails, silly," Right-Rill said.

"And we already know carrying stone in our mouths makes our teeth dull, and then we have to grow them and sharpen them again," Rill said.

"It's really fiddly and annoying," Left-Rill added.

"Well, I've been thinking. The whole time you're heading back and forth to where the bricks are, I'm mostly just stacking them up. I should come with you."

"That would make me feel better. I don't like you being here where I can't see you. You could run away," Left-Rill said.

"Again, Left-Rill, please remember that I can't run away because I can't fly, so there's no way for me to get anywhere."

"What did you just call me?" Left-Rill said, eyes narrowed.

"Left-Rill," he repeated.

"We've been over this. I'm in the middle," Left-Rill growled.

Philo glanced back and forth between the heads, all of which were now angrily eyeing each other. Realizing he couldn't simply defuse the situation, Philo shrugged and decided to throw some logic at it. A brawl was probably inevitable, but maybe he could get some answers before that happened.

"Well you're on the left right now. Just about every time I talk to you you're on the left."

"That's just because of how we usually arrange ourselves. You usually use your left hand when you do things," Left-Rill countered. "She usually ends up between me and her." She indicated her other heads respectively.

"But if you usually end up on the left, why do you insist you're in the middle?"

"Because I am in the middle. She's on one side, and she's on the other."

Right-Rill shook her head. "No, wrong. That's not it at all."

"It is not you! You're the least middle of all!" Left-Rill insisted.

"We're not going to fight about this again," Rill said wearily.

"Oh yes we are!" Left-Rill and Right-Rill said simultaneously.