The Road to the End

Koko climbed atop the caravan with excited glee. The wind blew her hair into a mess, parasol folded at her side. Splice, Helix, and Max all looked at her with exasperation, Dot gave a worried glance, and Gor took out his crash kit. She rolled her eyes “Guys, I got this! Look no hands!” She gripped with her knees onto the roof.

She climbed down after a moment, and wandered over to Helix. “You know, I found a bit of an old writing about travel when I was digging recently, wanna see?” He nodded minutely, mostly just glad she wasn’t hanging out of the caravan any longer.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft

(paper damaged from here)

“I wonder what the rest of it said. I love the smell of rain!”

“Petrichor” a voice said quietly from the back.
“Huh?” Koko looked for the person the voice belonged to. Max was buried in his research, as always. She was surprised he even heard her.
“That’s what that is called. The smell of rain. Petrichor.”

“Oh, it’s a pretty sounding word! What will we do at The End when we get there? I am gonna dig and I wanna meet other Jones’ and I bet there’s gonna be some amazing stuff to do!”
“This is not a vacation, Koko” Helix looked at her seriously, we have work to do. Splice nodded and went back to her research with Max.
“I know, but just because we have serious things to do doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it!”

The Crystal Creek Darwins let out a collective sigh, as Koko climbed back onto the roof of the caravan and sat, wind in her face like an excited animal hanging out a window. Koko knew that there was much work to do, and she had some very serious things to worry about, but for now, wind and adventure, new places, new things, and new people. What could go wrong?

Blue Skies

Salt air and endless sky met the sea at the end of the world. A scientist told her it was round once, and since she had never fallen off the edge, she supposed it was a possibility. There was no land in sight as she sat precariously on the edge of the crows nest. It was a beautiful day, she knew the ship was headed somewhere, but had long since given up tracking destinations, she decided that the world had called her years ago, and when something else decided to, she would go there.

She watched the crew from above, they looked small from where she sat, sipping her diluted hooch and eating a fruit she had picked up at the last port stop, she knew they wouldn't last long, and would need to go through them quickly. She saw Charlie, one of the crewmen, motion her down from deck, and she rolled her eyes and smiled. Charlie was her friend, and partner in crime aboard the ship. She finished her orange and clipped her cup to her shorts, then in one quick, acrobatic movement, swung from the crows nest down the rigging, ignoring the ladders. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the ships captain, Ariel, nearly have a heart attack at her stunt.

Charlie threw his arm around her shoulder, she sheltered him with her parasol, small in his stature, but still taller than Koko, as she liked to be called, they were thick as thieves,

"Day almost over ya?"
"Sun' goin down for sure."

They sat in silence, sometimes there was no need for words. They watched the sunset at the end of the world, sailors, both of them, they could see the storm rolling in, why talk about what might be the end of the world?