"Yes. Well, not really mountain climbing per-say, just hiking to the top of one. Are you okay? We've been hiking for quite a while."
"I'm makin' it, thanks," said the zebra, panting. "This is definitely the wild!"
Alex stopped and looked back down the vaguely visible trail, then sniffed the air and looked around to get his bearings.
"Do you know where we are?" asked Marty. "There's no one to ask for directions way out here, that's for sure."
Alex nodded, "I know where we are." He led Marty forward another hundred yards, then stopped in front of a rocky area. "Come here, Marty. Look at this." He boosted the zebra's butt to help him up onto the rock, then climbed up himself.
"Okay, look at what?" Marty asked.
"This," said Alex pointing, leading the zebra a few steps farther past a row of trees.
Marty passed the last tree and looked in the direction Alex was pointing. It was the ocean view, from up on the mountain. "Whoa!" said Marty, exhilarated by the spectacular view from on high. "Alex, this is beautiful! Thanks for taking me up here!"
"You're very welcome," the lion answered politely, "but this isn't what I wanted to show you. It's just some sight-seeing along the way. We're not quite there yet."
"Are we going all the way to the top?"
"All the way," said Alex. "The walk gets harder from here on... steeper... for a little while at least. Here, hop on, I'll carry you piggy back."
Marty's legs were getting tired, and he was all too happy to accept his buddy's offer. He launched up onto Alex's back, holding on to his neck and shoulders, the lion's forepaws supporting him from below. Alex's huge mane was soft and warm, and Marty rested his head on the fuzzy pillow. Up the rocky section the two of them went, the lion carrying the zebra piggyback. They entered a forest area again, and then finally, the incline began to lessen.
"Are we getting close to the top?" asked Marty, observing the terrain.
"Yes, we're almost there," said Alex. He carried his friend a little further and then set him down. "Feeling rested?"
"Yes I do, thanks," Marty said.
"Good. Mind giving me a ride the rest of the way?"
"Sure Alex, no problem," the zebra said. Marty strained as the heavy lion hopped up on his back, mounting him like a rider. "Good heavens, Alex, you're heavy!" he groaned.
"Are you okay with me up here? It gets more level just ahead."
"I'm fine, it's just a workout for me. Let's go."
Alex reached around Marty's head and held on with his forepaws, covering his eyes.
"Uh, Alex, I can't see."
"I know. That's okay, I'll tell you what to do. Just keep going."
Marty slowly started walking. "Why don't you want me to see? What are you gonna do?"
"It's a surprise. Don't worry, Marty, I'm not going to do anything to you."
"I know, it's just that... this feels wierd." Marty wondered what Alex had in mind, and started humming 'Jingle Bells' as he trotted along. "Hmm-hmm-hmmmm, hmm-hmm-hmmmm, hmm-hmm laid an egg! Mar-ty thinks that A-lex stinks, and the-"
"Will you stop with that?" interrupted Alex.
Marty stopped in his tracks. He knew what Alex meant, but was trying to deliberately act stupid to rile up his friend.
"No," said Alex, sounding a bit irritated, "I didn't mean stop walking, I meant- never mind, just keep going, we're almost there."
Marty started walking forward again, slowly. Walking and not being able to see at all gave him the creeps- he had to completely rely on trusting Alex. But he did trust his friend.
"Okay Marty, turn right," Alex instructed. "Not a sharp turn, it's like a 45 degree bend."
"Roger dodger," Marty answered, complying. He carried the lion forward about another hundred yards after the bend.
"Okay, stop, we're here," said Alex. Marty stopped, with the lion sitting on his back and still covering his eyes. "Now Marty, if I could have a wish right now, what do you think I'd wish for?"
"Uh...," guessed Marty, "a lioness?"
"Hmmm... well, yeah, that might be nice, but besides that."
"A nice, juicy steak!"
"You're getting warm."
"A bottle of wine to go with your steak?"
"You know I don't drink. Come on, Marty, focus!"
"Okay, okay, let's see... if you had a wish right now, I bet you'd want... to get off this island, to go back to Central Park Zoo!"
"Bingo!" said Alex. "You hit the nail on the head. But you gotta move your butt to make your wishes come true, right? Check this out!" Alex uncovered Marty's eyes and got off of him.
There before them was a towering structure of open framework, made of logs. The lower section was cubical, consisting of four vertically standing cornerpost logs, each about 14 feet in height, spaced at 10-15 feet from each other. A square of four horizontal logs at the top held them all together. Then, another section towered another 15 feet above it, same design. There were 16 logs in all. All the vertical logs sloped inward somewhat, tapering the structure as it rose in height. Marty noticed that one of the corner connections at the top was loose, and the two cross connecting logs that were to meet at this corner were dangling, not yet attached.
Marty didn't know what to say. He really wasn't sure what it was even supposed to be. "Uh, Alex, it's... it's... you built this? All by yourself? I'm impressed."
Alex nodded. "Yep," he said, smiling, "I did. That's where I've been over the last couple of days. Remember Lady Liberty, that I built on the beach our first day here?"
"Well, yeah, I kinda saw it from a distance. I was working on my hut you know, by myself, on the fun side of the island. But I did see you working on it... and I saw it burn. Sorry about that, big guy."
"Yeah, it had me down, dashed my hopes that night. But we're supposed to learn from our mistakes, right? So now, same idea, same plan, only on a much larger scale."
"Doesn't look like Lady Liberty to me."
"It's not. Same idea, though. Of course, it's not finished yet; this is just the support structure. It's going to be a lighthouse, Marty- sitting in this clearing on top of this mountain, with a straight view out to the sea. When you're up there you can see the ocean. I'm gonna build a platform up there, somehow fireproof it-"
"I see," said Marty, "to put a fire pit of some sort up there for the light."
"Yes! We'll take turns scanning the horizon for ships. One of these days soon, somebody's gotta come searching for that cargo ship the penguins hijacked. And when they do, we'll light the bonfire, and-"
"Flag them down," Marty finished Alex's sentence.
"Exactly!" said Alex. "They'll see this beacon from the sea for sure, day or night!"
"Hmmm. Nice. Well, good job, Alex. I don't know what to say... great!" Marty paused, looking up at the tower and then over at Alex, seeing the lion's huge smile as he admired his hard work. Marty was glad to see him smiling and happy. After a bit of thought, some questions came to mind. "Alex, are these lower support logs stuck into the ground, or just sitting on it?"
"They're stuck down into the ground. I dug all four holes myself, with my bare paws, stuck the poles in, then filled in the gaps with stones and sand. It was a lot harder than it sounds, especially working alone."
"That's a good idea. How deep did you make the holes?"
"A foot, maybe a little more."
"You probably should have put them in deeper, like four or five feet, for better stability."
"Yeah, but then I would lose some altitude. Every foot I go down into the ground makes the tower one foot shorter. Plus, you can't go much deeper than about two feet digging these narrow holes without any tools."
"That's true." Marty looked back at the structure thoughtfully. "What about that corner up there?" he said, pointing to the loose corner at the top.
"Oh, yeah. That came apart yesterday as I was putting it into place. The whole joint went, and I went with it. My grip slipped and I fell, hitting my head on the cross beam on the way down. That's how I messed up my neck."
"My God, Alex, you could've broken your neck! How high were you?"
"Here, I'll show you." Alex went to the left front support leg, leapt up on it and climbed with his claws. He went up past the mid-section, then halfway up the top section, shaking the structure as he climbed. Marty worriedly clenched his teeth when he saw the tower wobble badly with Alex up there.
"From up here, Marty." Alex examined the loose corner while he was up there, then came down to the mid-section and walked across a cross beam, grabbing one of the dangling logs. He went back up again slowly, pulling the end of the detached log with him, finally mounting it successfully on the vertical log. "That's not gonna stay," said Alex, looking at it. "I gotta get some more vine rope to tie it fast." He left the other log still dangling and climbed back down to the ground, the framework shaking badly as he went.
"Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, I fell from where I just showed you," Alex explained, "and hit my head on the way down. Then I laid on the ground for I don't know how many minutes, stunned and scared. I don't think I knocked myself out, but I can't remember. Anyway, the pain was terrible, I could barely walk. I drug myself back down the mountain at a snail's pace, all the way to the beach. Dragging myself, that's why I was so dirty... hey, what do you know, I still am," Alex said, looking at himself. "It was the middle of the night when I made it to your hut, I didn't want to disturb you. I was afraid I did break my neck."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't," Marty said, "and I'm glad I was able to put your bones back in place. Please be careful, Alex! If you need help, just ask, buddy."
"Thanks, Marty," Alex said, still very excited about his creation. "So what do you think? You look like you have something to say."
"Uh,... well, Alex, that tower was really shaking bad just now when you were climbing it. Please tell me the support structure's not finished yet."
"Just about," said Alex. "After I fix that top corner we were just talking about."
"Yes, but you are going to put in some trusses to stabilize it, aren't you?"
"What's a truss?"
"It's a structural member in the shape of a triangle," Marty explained. "A rectangle will flex, but a triangle won't. If you add a diagonal beam to to each side segment, it will form a truss there and make it a lot stronger."
Alex sort of tried to follow what Marty was saying, but didn't really want to hear it; he had his own ideas turned up full volume. "Marty, that's going to freakin' double the number of logs," Alex replied, in an angry tone. "I don't want to spend a whole month working on this! What if a boat shows up and the light's not ready because I'm still screwing around with this? So it wobbles a bit, that's not going to hurt anything!!" Then Alex got quiet and wasn't smiling anymore. He walked away beyond the other side of the tower. Marty followed, but not very far, for the edge of a cliff was there.
Alex stopped at the cliff and sat down, leaned back on his elbows, and dangled his feet over the edge. Marty approached the edge and sat down also, next to his friend. The cliff was steep and jagged, with a far drop to the bottom. Marty looked over the edge with a shudder, looking way down at the bottom of the cliff, seeing weeds, rocks, and what looked like a shallow marsh, that eventually led into a lake. The lake was in the middle of a huge chasm or canyon in the island, maybe a mile across to the base of another rocky cliff way on the other side. Marty could see that the top of the other cliff was as high or higher than this side, and was dense with green forest vegetation and some trees.
Marty looked at Alex, who was sitting there quietly, kicking his legs, and pouting. "Okay, what happened, Alex? Did I say something wrong?" No response came from the lion, he just kept staring straight ahead. "Come on now, best friend," Marty continued. "No secrets between us. Out with it!"