“Forestland is where we are now,” Jimox said, gazing around with his elderly eyes. “From the pictures in the tourist pamphlets, and my memory, we knew everything used to be carefully trimmed and watered. But when we got here, weeds were a meter high, leaves and broken branches lay everywhere, and most plants were dead or dying.”
“It took us years to get it looking nice!” Teina declared, then lapsed into a fit of coughing.
Jimox held her close as he pointed to different buildings. “Birds had gotten into one gift shop through a broken window, but mostly things were in good shape. Of course, we had to find the keys . . .”
Teina started laughing. “That took a month!”
Jimox smiled. “But if Machineland was a play space devoted to the creations of our minds, and Castleland was especially for our hearts, then Forestland represented the soul of our people. There were a few high-tech rides — in there, over there, and around that corner — but they were all about trees, deep woods, mountains, and caves — climbing, swinging from ropes, flying, bobsledding . . .”
“And since this is the biggest open space inside the park . . .” Teina managed to say before losing her wind.
“This is where we met Nebador,” Jimox completed the thought. “But before we can tell that story, you have to hear about the thirteen-year-old girl who repaired and re-designed an entire city water system.” He looked at his
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 99
beloved partner and grinned.
She
blushed.
After spending hours in Castleland, the pair of young monkey mammals returned to the World Tree, then crunched through the dry leaves and twigs that lay years-thick all across Forestland.
Teina stared at a pair of double doors, then studied her map. “Three-D
Theater, ten different shows, all from the point of view of little forest creatures that dig or fly. That would have been fun.”
Jimox nodded and sighed. “Just rows of empty seats now.” He turned his attention to a snack bar in a little cave.
“Served nut milks and fruity drinks,” Teina announced. “Maybe some of it came in cans or bottles.”
“Hope
so.”
Teina brightened, looking at a pair of plastic trees that bent over to form a small entrance archway. “Here’s something that still works! Toddler’s Forest Playground. Safe for all ages, it says.”
Jimox frowned, forced out a smile, and followed Teina in.
After discovering they no longer fit in any of the seats in the Toddler’s Forest Playground, the pair wandered on, discussing how each attraction might be useful or fun now, without employees, electricity, or fresh supplies.
To make matters worse, several rides and gardens needed water, and every pond, pool, fountain, faucet, sink, and toilet was dry as a bone.
Then they heard a tiny sound.
Teina looked at her map, and indeed, just ahead should be Forestland Lake on which little boats once sailed, with splashing waterfalls, lighted fountains, and low-hanging trees to make the ride more interesting.
They heard the faint sound of trickling water.
“Red flag!” Teina whispered loudly.
Jimox had not yet realized the danger, but instantly followed one of their most sacred rules. He scanned his side of the large open area. “Stairs to an observation platform!”
Teina looked, and they moved quickly in that direction.
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 100
With guns drawn, they ascended the leaf-covered steps, and found they had the platform to themselves.
“What did you sense?” he asked as soon as they knew the place was safe.
“I realized that if there’s water, then every critter in the park is going to be there, maybe whole packs of them.”
Jimox’ eyes grew wide, and together they walked to the far end of the platform, overlooking Forestland Lake.
It was empty, but the bottom was green with marsh grasses.
Teina pulled a spyglass from her day pack. “Far left end, a pipe with a trickle of water coming out. Birds trying to get a drink. A brown dog trying to catch a bird. Uh oh, big gray dog creeping closer. Brown dog sees him, is standing his ground.”
“I can hear them growling.”
While the dogs fought, and the birds used the opportunity to drink, the two monkey mammals watched. After a few minutes, Jimox pulled a small pry bar from his day pack, went to work on the vending machine, and soon handed Teina food and drink.
“Thanks. I’m keeping an eye on the stairs.”
“I’ve been thinking,” he said, ripping open a package of crackers. “If we’re gonna stay here, you know, make this our home for more than a month or so, then we’ve got two big problems.”
Teina chewed on dry cookies and listened.
“We have to make the outside fence animal-proof. The place was in the middle of a city, and the fence was designed to make kids pay at the front gate.
It just wasn’t meant to keep out a constant stream of wild dogs.”
Teina nodded. “And once we got the fence all fixed, we could clean out what’s in here. It wouldn’t do any good right now, as more would just creep in.”
“I don’t see any problem with food,” Jimox continued, “as there are stores and restaurants all over the city. We could survive with bottled water and that one tiny trickle, once we got rid of the dogs, but if we could find out where the water’s coming from, and why it’s just a trickle, I bet we could fix some leaks and get a lot more than a trickle.”
“If you’ll do the fence, I’ll do the water!” Teina offered.
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 101
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” the elderly monkey mammal said slowly, her mind lost in far-away memories.
“Of course,” Jimox explained, “both projects took years, and required both of us. I couldn’t do anything on the fence without Teina protecting me from dogs and handing me stuff while I was up on a ladder.”
“And I’d find big old valves I needed to open or close, but I wasn’t strong enough.” She paused to cough. “Jimox was, or knew how to use something as a lever.”
“And if it hadn’t been for that water system, we probably never would have met the people of Nebador.”
She smiled at him.
“You see,” he continued, “our water was coming from a little reservoir in the hills east of here. The dam was in good shape, so all we had to do was stop the water from leaking out at every burned house or open faucet . . . you know, all five or six million of them . . .”
