My new book, "Milo and Meg are Solid" will be published and available on May 26. I want to thank the many readers who have kept these sneak peeks among this blog's most-read posts over the past year. On May 15 I'll write up a little history of where the story originated. The book should also be available for pre-order around that time. -P.W.
From Chapter 6:
The next day after school Milo and Meg stopped on the hill where the two trees stood next to each other.
They paused for a moment, then Milo squeezed between the trees and was gone.
Meg followed.
As they adjusted to being back in Icarus, they realized something was different. It was quiet.
Where was the usual danger and panic?
A Gort flew overhead, but it seemed to be flying more peacefully than normal; none of the aggressive behavior that they had become used to.
"Ho! Ho! Milo and Meg!" It was Nanette's voice, shouting happily from the door of her hut across the field.
"Let's go," Milo said, and together they ran across the field.
As they came close to Nanette's hut they suddenly stopped running. Happy smiles spread across their faces.
"Wolf!" Meg shouted. "You're back!"
They all shared a few hugs.
Wolf was Nanette's son, grown up, like an older teenager, although sometimes he seemed younger, and occasionally he seemed a little bit older. It was hard to keep track, as his looks sometimes changed subtly, even as they looked at him.
"It was the strangest thing," Nanette said. "This mornin' I was just wakin' up and I heard him snoring like a lumberjack sawing wood. There he was!"
"Where were you?" Milo asked.
"Nowhere," said Wolf.
"He has no memory of being gone," Nanette said.
Milo and Meg looked at Wolf curiously.
"What's you last memory?" Meg asked.
"I just remember being here, talking to the two of you. Then you left, to go back to the solid world..." He paused for a minute. "Later that night, though, as I was falling asleep, I had a strange sensation."
Nanette came over from the stove. "Strange sensation," she said. "Wolfy, what was this here strange sensation yer speaking of?"
"I was going away."
Milo, Meg, and Nanette held their breath.
"You didn't mention none of this 'goin' away' bizness before," Nanette said, sounding slightly worried.
"My feet were going. Even the bed I was sleeping in was going. It was almost like I was falling asleep, except..."
"Exceptin' what, Wolfy?"
"...Except I wasn't going to sleep at all. I was wide awake. I was just disappearing...and then...then...I was...asleep, I guess. Then here I was this morning."
A long silence passed.
"Erased!" shouted Nanette. "You was erased! And then here you are redrawn!"
Peter Wick
April 15, 2020
