Treasure Hunt

 

“Okay, so we are going to look in the couch cushions for something to eat?” asked Geo.  “Boy that sounds really tempting.”

 

“Suit yourself,” said Black Couch.

 

Pigmet was not that picky.  “Oh I dig potatoes out of the ground, and truffles too! So this is not so different”  But he was having a little trouble lifting such a large couch cushion.  He stuck his hand in and felt. 

 

“Hmmmmm.”  “oooooooh.”  The first thing he pulled out was a banana.  “I don’t want that!” he said, and he handed it to Geo over his shoulder.  He kept digging.  Next was an orange.  He gave that to Geo, too. 

 

Geo sat down on the gray rocky earth.  He looked at the orange and the banana.  Yes.  Orange for quick blood sugar, banana for a more sustained release. And what else would he want from under a couch?  At least it was packaged properly.  He watched Pigmet, who was having quite a bit of fun with this.  He was now going across the back of the cushion, pulling things out.

 

“This is like a treasure hunt,” said Pigmet.  “Look-EEE!” and he pulled out a quarter-dollar coin, American mint.  “Treasure!” said Pigmet.

 

“Oh HO!” said Geo.  I’ll put that in the first vending machine I see.”

  

Pigmet continued with his hunt.  “I hope there is somethin’ in here that I can eat!”  He felt something that was hard and square.  He pulled it out.  “What is this?” asked Pigmet.

 

Geo looked up. "Ha HA!" he said. "A remote control!  No couch is complete without a remote control tucked inside it!" 

 

Black Couch sighed.  "It's true," he confessed.

 

Geo started to eat the orange.  It was a very good orange.

 

“You are on a treasure hunt, aren’t you, ‘Met?”

 

“Yahump!  Mushroom.” Said Pigmet. “Looks clean.” He ate the mushroom.  "I need somethin’ big, though,” said Pigmet.  “I’m hungry Hungry!”  He kept digging.

 

“Potato! Yeah!"

 

Pigmet did a little joy hop. Then he sat down to eat his potato.  “Good potato,” he said.

 

“It is always good to have a friend on a treasure hunt, isn’t it?” said Geo.

 

“Yahump!” said Pigmet with his mouth full. Crunch, crunch, went the potato in his mouth.

 

Now finished with his potato, he dug some more.  “an inkpen…” he said.  “A penny! That’s good luck!” he stuck it in the sleeve of his robe.  “A Yam!” he said. He bit into the Yam.  It was cold, but it had been cooked, and this made it delicious.

 

Couch said “I know you’re waiting, Geo, but food is a hard thing to pull from another Universe, so give me a minute.  Drink from your Canteen.  Geo drank from his Canteen, and it tasted just like Snapple Kiwi Strawberry.

 

It was a strange scene. A gray gravel landscape as far as the eye could see, and gray sky to match the earth. A strange, black doorway to the left, with the Couch facing it on the right, and the square window above the Couch that looked out onto the New Universe.  The box that the Couch came in was hiding behind it.  There were the little bundles belonging to Geo and Shiara.  And out on the other side was the tiny door that Pigmet came through.

 

“Alright.” Said Black Couch.  “Geo, lift up my cushion on the right hand side.” Geo lifted the cushion, and there was a lacquer box inside. 

 

“Wow,” said Geo, and he pulled it out.  He lifted off the top, and there was a fresh, hot meal.  Sticky white rice, and spicy-hot chicken, and snap-peas with mushrooms, and other Chinese vegetable thingys.

 

“You use the top as the table” said Couch.  “And you eat.”

 

Things were certainly weird on this planet, but they seemed to be working out.

 

“Truffle!” said Pigmet!

 

Geo ate, and it was wonderful.

 

And so they were fed.

 

***

5:17:22 PM