CHAPTER 51Â
Trevor spent his day collecting. The giant cover would show up every day, usually after the deluge. Every day it seemed that it was a different color, and every day Trevor felt compeeled to take a sample. Some days the giant material seemed softer than others. The softer the material, the easier it was for him to collect. Some days he could collect five to seven times his body weight in material. Other days he couldn’t collect as much, but he would collect nonetheless. His friends would make fun of him. Some would get angry. There was not much room in the ditch where they lived, and he would find a way to clutter up the entire area. But it was so soft!!! The material was so comfortable to him! And so beautiful! He just had to collect it! And so everyone accepted this about Trevor.
Unfortunately, Trevor couldn’t find a way to keep what he had collected. No matter how much he collected the appendage always seemed to come in and remove it. This usually happened right BEFORE the deluge. Trevor always figured that the day would come when the appendage would not show up and his collection could be used to protect them from the large volume of water that would fall upon him and his co-dwellers. But every day it would come: the long giant rod with the printed marks on one side and with the hard surface on the other. It was the hard surface’s edge that would scrape up the material and dispose of it. And if Trevor wasn’t careful he’d get scraped away with the material. Fortunately for him, no one had ever been removed with the material, though there had been some close calls. losing someone, he knew would be the end of his collecting days. Trevor never understood why this object kept showing up all the time, but it did. But he would not be discouraged… he would continue to collect and collect.
Everyone did agree that the material was good for two things. On days when the giant cover was removed for long periods of time, it would protect all in the ditch from the very bright light that would sometimes show up. It also helped to muffle the noises from underneath… roars that they called the “HAHA”s, grumbles that seemed to bubble up, and what seemed like giant voices with foreign languages they didn’t understand, but that used very similar voices every day. It was these voices that they heard that helped them to come up with names for the covering, the material, and their home: shirt, lint, navel. That’s probably where Trevor’s last name came from – Navelintshi.
So Trevor kept collecting. His mission seemed clear. Get as much as you can. Overcome the dirty looks from his family and friends. Enjoy the material before it gets collected. And when the appendage comes… DUCK!!
THE END