Lord of the Thing
Nobody quite knows what it is...

Chapter 8

"Fro"

Mary woke up a few hours later. He sat up, and stretched his arms, and looked out the window onto the forest. "What time is it?" he asked to nobody in particular. He noticed Zoe sitting next to the cot that Afrodo was sleeping on. He was still asleep, but she was looking at him dreamily. Mary's question startled her out of her daze.
"What? Oh, yeah," she cried, checking her watch. "It's five o'clock."
"I'm hungry," whined Mary. "But I don't want any of that fish stuff."
"I figured that," she replied. "Don't worry, I'll fix up some rice or something. But, shush! Everyone else is sleeping!" She looked back at Afrodo. The dreamy look came back into her eyes.
"How long have you been sitting like that?" asked Mary in a lower voice.
"Oh, um, since - " she began. Suddenly, she stopped and her face turned as red as Afrodo's hat. "Wait! I'm not sitting any particular way - " She was obviously covering up the fact that she had been sitting that way.
"Uh, forget it," replied Mary. Poppins stirred in the bunk next to him. He was still asleep.
"NO!" Poppins cried. He obviously was having some sort of a dream. "DON'T! NOT THE LLAMA! ANYTHING BUT THE LLAMA! TAKE MARY FOR ALL I CARE! BUT NOT THE LLAMA!"
"Yeah, thanks," he mumbled. "After all these years, you'd rather have a llama than me? I guess that it's just a dream..."
Suddenly, Afrodo turned over onto his other side. "Make him shut up!" she snapped at Mary. "He's going to wake Fro!"
"Fro?" asked Mary. "I don't even call him that! And I'm one of his best friends!"
"Do you think I care?" she snapped. Again, she turned to Afrodo and again, the dreamy look came into her eyes. This time, Mary understood.
"Oh, I see," he said with a smile. "You like Afrodo, don't you? I should have guessed sooner..."
Zoe's face turned red again. "Now, why do you think that?" she stuttered. "Me? Like Afrodo? That's preposterous..."
Suddenly, Poppins sat straight up. Apparently the conversation woke him up. "I couldn't help but eavesdrop," he said. "Don't worry, Zoe. It's perfectly normal to like someone in that way. Take me for example. There was this girl named Sarina..."
Now Zoe was really mad. "I DON'T LIKE AFRODO IN THAT WAY, DO YOU HEAR ME?" Her yelling woke Afrodo up. He looked puzzled. You would be too, if someone yelled that about you when you were sleeping.
"In what way?" he asked.
"Oh, never mind," replied Zoe. She didn't want to ac t this way in front of Afrodo. "I'll go get the rice..." She continued out the door and down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Hey, Afrodo?" asked Mary. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No, why?" replied Afrodo.
"Aw, nothing," answered Mary. "Just wondering."
"And by the way, Mary," interrupted Poppins. "I really would prefer a llama over you."