Chapter 4

THE FIRST TRAVELING PARTNER

Duck and Uzura were skipping down the yellow brick road when it split into two other roads heading in different directions. They stopped and Duck looked down one road then the other, thinking of a logical answer.

"I wonder which road to take Uzura," Duck said, her hand grasping the doll's.

"Both could work, zura."

"What does that mean?" Duck asked.

"I don't know, zura, I just said it. I wonder what's in there, zura," the doll said pointing to the tall corn stalks that lined the streets.

"It's just a bunch of plants. We don't have time to look at them," Duck said and the doll's hand slipped from hers. "Huh? Uzura, don't run off."

The little doll child ran into the corn field and was just running in zigzags as Duck chased her, banging on the drum and looking around at the tall stalks. Duck was having a hard time finding the doll but she was able to follow the drum and she did so with difficulty. Duck finally saw the doll and went after her, only to hear her bang into something and fall down.

"That hurt, zura. What is that, zura?" Duck heard the doll ask.

"Uzura, don't just run off like that," Duck said as she reached the child.

"What's that, zura?" Uzura asked, pointing up at what she ran into.

"It's a…oh," Duck said as she saw a scarecrow hanging from the pole. It's head was covered by a dirty brown hat and its arms and legs were tied tightly with ropes. It was a very scruffy looking scarecrow and Duck was a bit surprised to see one so far into the corn field. "It's a scarecrow, Uzura, but I don't understand why it's so…beat up looking."

"Scarecrow! Scarecrow! Scarecrow!" Uzura banged on her drum.

"Shush. Stop doing that," Duck said and stood up, staring at the scarecrow. "I wonder if I should fix it's hat. It looks really bad with it just hanging there."

She reached up and took the hat off only to see the face of a young man.

"Oh snap!" Duck cried and dropped the hat.

His eyes were closed and he looked like he was hurt really bad. She looked closer and noticed that he also looked very familiar to her but for some reason his serious face and long black hair that was tied back loosely didn't seem to tip her off as to where she could have seen him from before.

"He looks hurt. I wonder if he's even alive," Duck said.

"He's dead! He's dead! Scarecrow! Dead!" Uzura banged and shouted.

"Only one way to find out," Duck said and stepped up to him. She leaned her head against his chest and listened carefully. There! A heartbeat! He was alive and Duck couldn't help but be super glad. "He is alive, Uzura. Help me get him down."

Duck rushed around to the back of the "T" shaped pole and started to untie his arms while Uzura did her best with his feet. Duck made sure to not untie his second arm all the way until she was in front of him and she helped him slide gently to the ground. She pushed some loose hair from his face and stared at it. She couldn't help but think he was really cute and she hoped that if and when he woke up he wouldn't be a big jerk.

"What do we do, zura?" Uzura asked.

"Uh, I think we should get him some water or something. See if we can wake him up or something," Duck said, still looking at him. "I just hope we aren't too late to help him."

"Where's the water, zura!?" Uzura cried, making Duck break away from her trance.

"Wasn't there a stream by the road?" Duck asked.

"How the hell should I know, zura!?" Uzura shouted again.

"Can you go look?" Duck asked.

"No, zura, you might disappear or something," the doll said and crossed her chubby arms.

"I won't disappear. I just need to stay here and make sure he's okay," Duck said and turned back to him. "Please go, Uzura."

"Fine, but you better be here when I get back, zura," the doll said and left.

"Hurry," Duck said. She looked at the young man's face and clothes and couldn't help but softly ask, "What could have possibly happened that made you end up like this?"

It didn't take long for the little doll to come back with a handful of water and she carefully put it in his mouth. They waited a second before he began to stir and groan from pain.

Duck was the first thing he saw and he wasn't sure if he was seeing this right. She was probably the cutest girl he had ever seen and he blinked several times to make sure he wasn't dead.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a worried grin.

"Who…who are you?" he asked, his voice soft and rough from exhaustion.

"I'm Duck," she said and smiled even more. "You're lucky we found you or you might have died on that pole, mister."

"We?" he asked and Uzura jumped out from behind the red head.

"I'm Uzura, zura! You don't look too good, zura," she said loudly.

His hand flew to his head and is face scrunched up in pain and he groaned, "Don't do that. That hurt."

"Shush Uzura," Duck said pushing the doll back a bit. "Do you think you can sit up?"

"Maybe," he said and tried to sit up but couldn't, not without help from Duck. "Thanks."

"So, um, who are you?" Duck asked.

"I'm…I'm…" he stopped to think then he looked confused. "I don't know. I can't remember."

"You don't know who you are?" Duck gasped. "How horrible. You mean you can't remember anything either?"

"No," he said and rubbed the back of his head. "Seems I can't even remember where I am either."

"You're in a cornfield in some place called Gold Crown," she said, hoping to be helpful.

"Some place? What, don't you know either?" he asked, looking at her dubiously.

"Well, I'm not from around here and Uzura and me are trying to get home by going to someone called the Wizard of Gold Crown that the Good Witch of the North told us to go see. Apparently he's all knowing and all seeing or something and he's going to send me back home," Duck explained.

"Did you breathe at all during those sentences at all?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason. So, if this Wizard can send you back home, do you think he could help me remember who I am?" he asked.

"Well, I don't see why not. You can come with me if you want but…" she leaned closer and whispered, "between you and me, Uzura's very loud and uninteresting."

"I think I could figure that out," he mumbled and took a deep breath. "If it's okay with you then I'd be really happy to travel with you, not that I'm always excepting invitations to travel with random pretty girls."

"Really?" Duck asked, blushing a bit at his remark about her being pretty.

"I don't know. I can't remember if I do," he said and struggled to his feet.

"Oh, let me help you," she said and grabbed his arm.

It took a while for him to get his equilibrium back and when he was sure he wouldn't fall after a few steps they headed back to the yellow road. Duck again stopped and thought about which way to go.

"I got stuck here earlier. I can't figure out which way to go," Duck said a bit embarrassed.

"Where is this place that we're trying to get to?" the scarecrow asked.

"Um, the Emerald Kingdom. Well, we left the north and we traveled in this direction for most the way," Duck said pointing down the road she had come from. "But, what would be the right road to go down now?"

"It seems you've been traveling in a South-West direction so if you took this road that goes in more of a South bearing that you'd end up closer to your destination than if you took the other road," he said.

"My destination? You mean our destination sense you're traveling with us now," she said and grinned.

"Yeah, that's what I meant," he said and slightly grinned back.

She felt her face get a bit hot because she thought his smile was the sweetest thing she'd seen on any boy before. Why did he seem to keep making her blush at things that shouldn't ever really make her blush? Not in the real world at least.

They began to travel down the road with Uzura close behind and they had no idea what kind of an adventure they were getting themselves into. From then on it was up to the road. Where ever it went, they had to go, even if it led to the dark forest that loomed before them…several miles before them.