Since our dear humane friend is a bit absent-minded I feel it is a good time to chip in some of my experiences. Yes exactly, Rough Bottom time.

  My brothers and sisters are having the time of their life. The first human in a very long time, that threw himself so willingly into their arms, without regard for his direct well-being.

  They aren’t very moved emotionally and since the water is so vibrant and tumultuous, their exclamations go under. Nonetheless, they’ll never forget this short blip of contact, notwithstanding our invisible brains and hearts. One more of the mysteries that should truly crack a fool’s brain, like the unripe egg that it is.

  I could tell you many of the stories other adventurers and seekers have faced, but none are as interesting as those that get out (in)-sane.

  All right, perhaps one is worthy enough to be told. Sit back and clench your anus, keeping it clenched as long as you can, and keep on listening.

  It’s about a young girl that wanted to keep the whole world in her pocket. How she proceeded is by far the most interesting. For her, the whole world consisted only of all the moments, places, people and things she interacted with, in whatever way can be deemed her way. Everything else simply wasn’t her whole world.

  Without knowing it, she took a very small grain out of each moment perceived and began collecting them.

  These grains are smaller than the eye can see, the hands touch or even a person speak of/ about, with any certainty but they are without any doubt material.

  As is everything this world is made of. In due time, her collection became so extensive, that she was able to perceive one grain with her eye.

  The grains coagulate together until enough particles are added that they separate to create a new grain until this one also is big enough to stay stable, right about the size of a grain of sand.

  Being able to perceive one grain she became aware of what she was doing all those years. Eyes can only see, not touch. The first time she was just able to feel one grain, just one grain, is a moment she’ll never forget, for it sent her in the right direction for whatever would come next.

  One grain doesn’t get you very far either, so all she had to do was keep on collecting her world. She was still very far from having the whole world in her pocket.

  It took her quite some time to have two of those grains but even these she collected patiently. If you’ve ever built sandcastles, you will know that two grains don’t get you anywhere but at least she can slowly see these grains form, so also the eyes learn how to work.

  The better the eyes work, the more grains are formed. After a small collection was formed she began her first manipulations, which didn’t amount to much, wasn’t stable and yet more experience of this kind was gained, simply by playing around.

  Seen from the outside, all you see is some sand thrown around, playful as that may be. Again many years passed before there were enough grains to give them any kind of shape, but remember, she wanted the world in her pocket, so what shape does one give an object, knowing what for her the world is?

  She tried and tried but as soon as something new happened, her idea of the shape changed. The dilemma is apparent her solution isn’t. She looked for a shape that contained all other shapes.

  Rounded, angular, triangular and many other shapes were tried, even mixed ones but they all lacked a determining quality. She came to prefer rounded shapes because nature isn’t square either.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Finally she settled on a sphere, to symbolise the bubble of awareness she lives her experiences in. She took all her grains and pressed them as hard as she could into a sphere thereby changing the grey grains into a black globe.

  She did of course not create a perfectly round ball but through all the times she has held the globe, marvelled at the beauty and simply played with it absent-mindedly it became perfectly round.

  This globe became her companion and guide, her most personal compass, which she cherished a lot.

  She was quite happy with her creation, looking around her, she realised that many people around her didn’t have such a compass, they walked around aimlessly through their lives.

  Some had self-important mannerisms but in the end it was all smoke and mirrors. Once she knew where to push or point at, it would all break apart revealing the emptiness inside.

  She took pity on the people she lived with and told them about this ball she had and how it worked and what she had done to create it.

  Almost none of the people she spoke to understood what she had in her hand and thus were unable to see it. They told her that she’s a fool, living in day-dreams and going nowhere in life.

  The more she spoke of her creation the less she became convinced that it was worth speaking about and yet she still desired that at least some of her closer friends and acquaintances might benefit from her globe.

  She devised a way of sharing that was instantaneous and irreversible, beyond her control.

  Everyone makes these grains yet since there is generally very little focused intent on the moment itself, the grain is used up to create the next one.

  Absent-minded people retain very little of these grains so they end up not having enough to create one full grain. They just don’t care, as is their right.

  This confuses the by now middle aged woman a lot but then again she can’t force anyone to see and look at life the way she does. Her search is ultimately her own.

  If she happened to meet a person that has collected enough small grains to almost be able to create a full grain, an instantaneous exchange takes place.

  For a small time a surrogate full grain is created allowing her to pass on one globe that is still empty. From then on, it is up to this person to work, if he or she so chooses, to continue on filling that globe. The exchange can be seen as a pointer on where to go.

  This sphere is the same as our adventurer is carrying around. It can only be passed on directly by human contact and only an empty one.

  It’s not said that this ball can only be passed around once, as each one in term may pass it on maybe even multiple times, as long as they work on themselves diligently.

  Even though there might still be a long road ahead for the receiver, such is simply the nature of what’s given. This gift is of a precious nature.

  The sphere, slowly filling up, will be a better guide over time, as both get to know each other’s language. Our common friend the adventurer has just made his first grain not so long ago.

  Only an empty ball is shared, because everybody forms grains while working on him- or herself that are all unique to the one doing the work.

  After the first time, one can touch a real grain is when a shift from theoretical to practical work is made. Should you ever come upon such a globe, become the truthful virtue it ought to contain.

  Enough dallying around, let’s see how our adventurer is faring in his trials. What was it again that he was doing? Oh yes, he was drinking clear water from a mountain stream, just about to hit his head on a very large rock, after which he floats upon a shore, quite unconscious.

  This basin is the home base of another fine friend I have the honour of introducing you to since our adventurer isn’t able to be much of a host. Please don’t think any less of him, he doesn’t do this on purpose. My dear centaur, the noblest of all four-legged beings just returns from a long journey.

  He’s just saying to himself: ‘‘I can finally sleep in my hearth again.” As he rounds the corner, he discovers Henry, bleeding from many cuts and bruised all over.

  He shakes Henry and is met with silence.

  As you may see, we have a new host, so I’ll leave you three to get to know each other. Maybe you’ll also come to the same conclusion, that this equine race of beings is among the most noble.

  The story in a story kind of story telling?

  Stay tuned for more discoveries, getting back to finding Henry awake again.