Lulu in the Woodlands

Chapter 3 The Keys

More?

Of course, more isn't always better as Lulu found out, because what Lulu felt more of, if you can imagine, and I'm sure you can, was an urge to pee.

Darn, darn, darn, darn, (or words to that effect). The potion was supposed to solve a gigantic problem, but it appeared to have created one. That's false advertising if I ever saw it! She began to look around frantically for a place to satisfy the urge. But as she searched, a strange sensation made everything see either concave or convex.

Amazing! Nothing was really flat. Not even the floor. At first some of the concaves seemed to have possibilities, but they were small and getting smaller. Wait! Getting smaller! That could only mean one thing. She must be getting taller. Sure enough. Which turned out to be a great solution to the pee problem because, you see, as she got bigger, so did her bladder, naturally, and so it could hold more.

How do you spell relief? RELIEF!

Lulu took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, then another. She definitely felt better, but...

OK what's going on now?

She looked in the mirror. Well, I am definitely much, much taller. She was so tall, in fact, that she could only see herself from the waist down in the mirror. Which of course meant she could only see her skirt and those ugly Nikes. On the other hand, a giant problem had been solved – two in fact.

Escape at last!

She picked up the rat's tiny bag, took one final look around the studio, reached for the door knob.

IT WAS LOCKED!

Lulu sighed. This problem solving is annoying and exhausting and dare I say tedious? And stressful. OMG. Let's not forget stressful.

Another problem to solve! This was kind of like being in school. Except in school, there was a bell that rang and it was all over for the day.

OK. Let's see if we can solve this new problem. Once again, her education came to her assistance. Of course! Brainstorming! She remembered taking a brainstorming class in grade 9 or 10, or possibly 11. Now brainstorming is, (she was very proud of this because she had memorized it and could still remember it) a spontaneous group discussion to produce ideas and ways of solving problems. Rats! No group.

Time for a Plan B. Think of something else that you learned in school that may help you out of this mess. she admonished herself.

Of course! She had taken a course in logic. Good old logic. But wait. Try as she might, she couldn't remember much more than the title of the course, Introductory Logic, because truth be told, the course really hadn't made sense to her. I mean, she had passed, and well, it had something to do with thinking which they called reasoning, and there were some rules or principles involved. Lulu sighed again. Aren't there always. She thought and thought, but nope, nothing, no logic.

Perhaps I should try to use the word in a sentence. Sometimes that helps.

"That isn't logical!" she said aloud.

Too negative. Wait! What was it her friend Bernadette always said. Hmmm. Oh yes! Be logical, which is like putting one foot ahead of the other when walking except you put on thought ahead of the other. Of course. Like walking. One thought in front of the other...and then she caught sight of the window.

Now, Lulu was so tall that she had to stoop, but just a little, to look through the window, and stoop she did. On the other side of the door, for as far as the eye could see in every direction (except behind her of course) stretched her beloved woodlands. Then, to her amazement, at the sight of the woodlands, all thinking stopped. There was nothing logical about it. Simply put, she was just, you know, feeling, and she felt as though she was in a sphere – an infinite sphere if you must know - and instead of putting one thought ahead of the other, there were just, well, her surroundings - it was like... all volume. She looked around marveling and gave very little thought, well none actually, to the situation that she had been working to solve all this time. And get this, the experience was strangely satisfying. Very satisfying.

She began to notice things that she had never noticed before. The subtle colour of the glass in the window, the hinges, the frame around the door that made it seem as if it were in a picture frame, the small space between the door and the wall, the small cupboard in the wall near the door. But it was so peaceful, so very, very peaceful, that she just continued to enjoy her surroundings.

Eventually, languidly almost fluidly, she stretched, an elastic stretch that seemed to last forever. Her hand touched the door, (it was cool), and tried the door knob again, (no luck). Then the little cupboard came into view. She reached over and opened it. And there, in all their splendour and glory was a row of gleaming keys.