Coin-Operated

6.0

He Doesn't Build Ships, He Has No Use for Sails

"It's uh… fluffy? Kind of buttery, I guess," I say, taking another bite off of my plate. "Mushy."

Link leans back in his chair as he cranes his head to look at the clouds outside. "And?" he prompts. I glance over behind the counter and see the waitress giving us a sour look.

I shrug. "Sugary. It's really sweet."

The mechanical man pops his chair back into its place, his hair flopping under Mido's tweed cap. He frowns at me. "You're pretty terrible at this," he says with a quirk in his brow.

"I'm no poet or writer," I snap, jabbing my fork at him. Syrup slowly drips off of the fork. Link leers back. "Get off my back. It's not my fault you don't have a sense of taste."

"You really can't describe a flapjack and some maple syrup to me?"

"Asks the man who has never tasted chocolate."

"So? We didn't even have that back in my day."

Stabbing another section of the pancake on my plate, I say, "My point exactly."

"I don't follow."

"It's hard for me to describe the way something tastes to somebody whose tastes are so archaic compared to mine," I tell him. "Face it, Link, you're an anachronism."

"Since when do you use such big words?"

"Since when have you picked up a dictionary?"

Link groans and goes back to leaning on the back legs of his chair. "I don't think I like your smarts so much anymore," the mechanical man pouts.

I snicker to myself and push a bit of the pancake around in the syrup. "You just don't want to admit you don't know what 'anachronism' means." If his face could flush, I'm sure Link would be as red as a tomato by now. With this thought in mind, I try my hardest to keep my laughter inside. Link stiffens up, his brow furrows, and his mouth thins as he takes me in, pushing my flapjack around in syrup. "Got something to say, sir?"

His newly fixed hand slams down on the table, rattling my glass and silverware. The salt shaker falls over. With his other hand, Link points at me. "Don't take me for some country bumpkin just because I told you I stayed in Ordon for a good chunk of time."

Grabbing the cup of syrup, I pour a little more onto the plate. "I would expect someone who's been around as long as you to have some sort of head on his shoulders. I'm afraid I'm sadly disappointed," I say and take another bite. "Books aren't that hard to buy now, you know."

"You know," he starts, "Mizuumi gave me the money." Link leans back in the chair, pulling away from the table. "I could leave you here unable to pay the bill, lady," he threatens.

"Ah, but you need me," I point out.

He frowns. "For what?"

"To keep you operating for one," I say. "And two… well, I'm not sure what number two is." I quirk an eyebrow at him. "Because, why would you take it upon yourself to keep an eye on me and then, out of everyone in that forsaken carnival, would you do your best to keep me alive and out of trouble?"

"I don't need you for anything," he says stubbornly, and he crosses his arms and looks away. I snort to myself.

I tell him, "I'd like to point out that it was me who got you here in the first place. I could have left your ass in the field." I take a sip of my water and slam the glass down. "So quite clearly you do need me, and you're only arguing me because you don't want to admit you don't know as much as you think you do."

He gives me a hard look over. "So here's what we're going to do," I say, ignoring his glare, "first, you're going to pay for my food, and then you're going to tell me what I want to know. You've been keeping me in the dark and tip-toeing around me long enough."

"Since when did you get so gutsy?"

"Since I realized just how delicate you are. You build yourself up to be much more than human, but deep down, you're still there in ego, heart and mind.

"The flapjacks are fantastic, by the way."

Link ignores me for the rest of breakfast, and I revel in the silence and my small victory.

…

Later on, Link takes me down to the bank of the water like I originally asked. In the distance there are row boats bobbing in the water at residents' private docks. The water is exceptionally clear today, and its blue waves lap at the banks and the small island in the center where trees and plant life have sprawled and thrived with life. Link lags behind me as I take off down a dock off of the beaten path Link and I took from the professor's house. The borrowed boots thump and drum on the wood, a new sound to my ears from the click and clack of my heels. I skitter to a stop at the end of the dock and peer into the water. Bits of plants wave in the water, and a fish I'd scared scurries off.

Muted tups on the wood sound behind me as I take a seat on the edge of the dock. I pull Malon's boots off and roll the legs of the overalls up to my calves. I kick my bare feet and ankles, enjoying the soft breeze off of the water and the strange juxtaposition of recent events. The newfound calmness of the lake is a much needed change from the stress of Castleton and the calamity of the carnival. Leaning back on my hands I look up. "Take a seat," I say to Link. He doesn't move, standing stock still on the dock, his hands in his trouser pockets. I follow his eyes and harsh expression to the island out in the middle of the lake.

Finally, Link moves and sits down on the dock next to me, letting his feet dangle like mine. I sneak a glance over at him, but he catches me. He sighs and leans back with me. "What is it that you want from me?"

"Can we start with how you got to the carnival?"

The thin line of his mouth twitches and pulls a little more. It takes him a bit, but Link finally responds. "That kind of goes hand in hand with how I met Mido," he says. "And am I right in assuming that you want to know that too?" I nod. He sighs again, and pulls Mido's green cap from his head. With one hand, he rubs the back of his neck and the other fingers the tweed material of the hat in his hand. He opens his mouth to say something, but instead comes a short bark of a laugh. "I can't even feel," he comments.

A part of me wants to respond, do something to comfort him, but another part tells me to back off. I slide my eyes inside, and, to my surprise, I see that the green vines are back. They hold my core in place and wrap protectively around the top and bottom of the sphere. The in between area swirls with the different colors of my magic, and I take note of it and pull my eyes back to the lake and its crystal blue waters.

"I saved his life once," Link says.

"Is that why he mentioned being on borrowed time?"

"Yeah." Link pulls his gaze away from the cap in his hands and back out to the island. "He lost a poker game about…" He sighs, trying to rack his memories. "I want to say it was about ten or fifteen years ago, but…" He trails off again, and then shrugs.

"Time doesn't really move for you," I offer.

He nods. "Exactly." A seagull caws. "Mizuumi had actually just finished making this body for me. He was excited to do it, and did it as a favor for me since I was a willing participant in all his loony experiments.

"I ran into Mido at pub down in Faron Province. I walked into the pub right as the fight was breaking out. Mido lost in a card game, and he was accusing the winner of the hand of cheating. The guy Mido was accusing pulled out a gat and threatened to shoot Mido. And you know how Mido is… or was.

"He challenged the guy to shoot him, thinking the guy was bluffing, and I stepped in just as the gun went off. I pushed Mido back and took the bullet, and of course it went right through me. The guy that shot it off got scared when somebody threatened to get the cops involved, and he took off."

Link closes his eyes, letting his hair ruffle in the breeze. "He actually thanked me that night," Link chuckles, letting himself fall back completely onto the dock. Mido's cap rests on his stomach. "I found out later on that he was managing a carnival. Since I didn't have a job, and being what I am, I could never keep one for long without people getting suspicious and wondering about me, I told him what I really was and asked if he could give me a place there."

"Not everyone that I met was travelling with you guys at that point, though, right?"

"No," he says softly. "Ilia was though."

"Really?"

"Her father was the original caretaker for all the animals. He had a heart attack a couple years after I joined, and then Ilia took over his duties. She was real little when I joined, not even a teenager yet."

"What about the rest of them?"

"We picked up Darunia in Kakariko. He worked in developing new explosives during the war. It was good timing too, since the war had just ended and he didn't really have any idea what he was going to do after." Link sits back up, taking the cap back into his hands. "Doing all of that factory work during the war years is what got him all that muscle."

I chuckle a little. "I'm sure. Sounds like hard work.

"I don't think Marin is as fond of me as Darunia though."

"She's bitter."

"I know," I say. "Where is she from? Her accent is a little weird."

"She's from Koholint Island, actually." I start to kick my legs again. Link tells me, "I was the one who roped her in with the carnival." The guilt in his voice is clear, and seeing no obvious reason as to why, I ask Link. "She traveled from Koholint through the Great Sea Republic just to end up in Hyrule. She just wanted to know what was beyond the ocean and to see it with her own eyes.

"I unknowingly convinced her of all the places she could see with all the traveling the carnival does. And she joined our ranks."

"She just wanted to travel?"

"She wanted to be heard more than anything," he says. "She's an amazing singer, and you know with how small Koholint is and the fact that it refused to join the Republic, she wanted to go elsewhere."

"It sounds like you and her were close at one point," I comment.

"We were," he agrees. "But it just got too much for her. It wasn't what she really wanted out of life, wasn't where she wanted to be. When I first met her, she told me how she used to pray to the Wind fish of Koholint to allow her to fly away like a seagull to see lands beyond the ocean.

"You know that island out there," Link says, pointing at the island in the middle of the lake, "used to be pretty bare. Somewhere in all of those trees is an entrance into a cave where a spring is. It's said to be a sacred spot and houses guardian spirits."

"Do you think we might be able to go see it?"

He shrugs. "The entrance could be blocked off by now, for all I know," he says.

Pulling my legs up, I sit with them crossed, my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands as I look out on the waters of the lake. A seagull caws out and takes flight, and I watch as it soars over the little island. I spare a glance over at Link, whose eyes are locked on to that one little speck of a bird.

"Hey Link," I say.

"Hm?"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

…

Within a day of staying in the small town, the professor was able to fashion a new mold of Link's arm. "What's this going to do?" I ask him. The goofy man pulls up his goggles, all the better to glare at me. He turns away, not answering me.

Link tells me, however, "It's so he can make a new silicone cover for it. You know, skin." He shrugs.

"But then you can't boast about how you took that bullet in the crook of your elbow right before you set off that explosive in Calatia!"

In confusion, Link frowns at me, and the professor turns round to shoot me a disbelieving look. Catching on, Link tries to hide his growing smirk. "Right!" he chirps. "I mean, where would Hyrule be had I not set off that bomb?"

"I bet you had all the ladies swooning."

The professor grumbles to himself, and jerks Link's arm towards him as he fiddles with the metal casing. "Those nurses were pretty totsy," he reminisces, one hand cupping his chin. "There was this one bearcat- Hey!"

"Quit your yapping! Or I'll smack you broke!" the professor says sharply. "You were never in no war. You never even been to Calatia."

"Um, well, my metal arm says otherwise."

"Your metal arm says you're a machine."

"Oh come on," Link whines with a roll of his eyes. "We were only razzing." The professor whacks Link with his screwdriver in the face again. "If you keep hitting me, you'll make more work for yourself. I don't have nerves."

"Be serious, boy!" Mizuumi chides. "You better scram before I blow you up for gettin' on my nerves. The silicone should be set by tomorrow."

Link throws his hands up. "Alright, alright. You want me to make that delivery for you, right?" Link asks, sliding off of the work table.

Professor Mizuumi grunts in agreement and shuffles off. He picks up a package on the counter and hands it to Link. "Don't go hollerin' about it to everybody, now."

"What is this anyway?" Link asks and curiously shakes the package. He only receives another whack.

"None of your beeswax," the professor says. "I'm telling you, you better watch it."

"I'm not taking it to some bull, am I?"

"Then I'd really never get you back. With those squads around, you're more trouble than a bunch of gangsters, boy." The professor scribbles on a scrap piece of paper and then hands it to Link. "Take it to that address. Got it?"

"Right!" Link gives Mizuumi a salute and dashes out of the lab. The shelves and their contents all rattle on the walls when Link slams the door shut behind him. Mizuumi shakes his head and pulls his goggles down over his eyes. He plops himself down on a rolling stool.

"Hey Professor," I call, and he turns to me, his eyes wide and buggy under the goggle lenses. "How'd you meet Link anyway?"

"As a marionette." Not quite what I was asking, but interesting all the same.

So I say, "Do you know what he was before that?"

"That's a big of an extensive list there, little lady," the professor responds. The stool squeaks and groans as he rolls from one counter to the next around the lab, and I hop up and take a seat on the work table to avoid him. "I remember him telling me about being a scarecrow once. Can you imagine that?

"But the body I've built him is something else," he muses more to himself than to me. "If only there could be some sort of way to get a machine to think… Then I could build a true automaton!" The professor continues to ramble to himself, and I decide to excuse myself.

Slipping out of the lab and away from the professor, I snake my way down the beaten path to the banks of the lake. Little puffs of dirt sprout from each of my footfalls as I make my way through the wooded area.

When the dock comes into view, I see a boat bobbing in the water next to it. A woman tethers it to the dock, and she looks up and spots me. She waves at me as I come up. "Hey!" she greets. "If you're looking for a ride, I'm closing up for the day."

"Oh, no!" I stutter. "I just… I just wanted to sit on the dock is all." She nods in understanding and goes back to getting the boat at hand docked. I glance at the boat, and then out over to the island. I ask her, pointing, "Do you ferry people to that island?"

"Not necessarily," she says. "Nobody really asks to go over there. I mostly run people back and forth across the lake and the rivers is all.

"I don't believe I've seen you around," she comments, changing the subject. "Are you new in town or just passing through?"

"Passing through," I say, sitting down on the dock's edge. "I suppose."

She laughs, and shakes her head. The wild mop of hair on top of her head shakes and sways with her movements. "What kind of answer is that?"

"Well, I'm kind of staying up at that laboratory."

"Oh! With that professor? He's a bit of a nut."

I snort and start to kick my feet. "Tell me about it."

My eyes flick back out to the island for a moment, and then I turn back to the woman docking her boat. "Hey," I call out to her, and she casts me a sideways glance. "Will you be ferrying people tomorrow?"

She smiles cheekily at me. "You wanna get to that island, huh?"

"I would."

She nods, her hair swaying back and forth on top of her head. "Sure thing. I can do that," she tells me as she stretches herself back up to full height. Taking a few long strides over to me, she holds out her hand. "Name's Iza," she says, and I take her proffered hand.

"Zelda."

"Well, Zelda. I'll meet you here tomorrow then. How's eight sound?"

"That sounds lovely."

Iza gives me a two finger salute, and then saunters away down the docks.

…

When I wake, I'm scrabbling for my life, clawing away. "Hey, hey," comes a soft whisper. "It's just me, love." I relax, recognizing the gentle tones of Link's voice. I glance around the room. Link's dark form hovers over me in the dim room, and he moves away to let me up.

"Where's the professor?" I ask him.

Link shrugged. "Some experiment or study he's got going. He started me up."

Groggy, I ask, "Time?"

"About four."

"Four?" I exclaim. "Why in the world are you waking me up now?"

At this, Link suddenly changes. He bites his lip, his eyes shift to the side, and he can't keep his weight on one foot. In that one instant, I'm not looking at a machine. "Just… come on." I frown at him, and he avoids my glare, knowing he's dodging me. Still, I lean down slide Malon's boots on and lace them up.

Link leads me out of the house, and we walk down the now familiar path to the bank of the lake. Even in the dark, it's no problem for us to skip over protruding roots in the path and turn knowingly at forks. Link saunters over to the docks, and I trail behind. Our feet beat the weathered wood, and as we pass by her little boat, Iza floats to the forefront of my mind. In four hours, I'm supposed to meet her here. In four hours, I can go to that little island out on the lake. Link and I come to the stop at the edge of the dock, and I look out at the island.

A shiver runs itself up my spine as Link plops himself on the edge and lets his feet dangle, and I point out to the island. "Link, what's that?" I blurt.

"Hm?"

"Out there, on the island," I say, my hand still raised. "Don't you see it?"

Link cranes his neck to follow my finger where out in the trees of the little island is a glowing light of blue. It bobs up and down, obscured by the foliage, but even through that and the distance, the light bobbing in such a dark place is hard to miss. "It's a poe," Link finally says.

"A poe?"

"A restless spirit. They come out at night mostly and will attack the living." I settle down on the dock next to him, my eyes still glued to the poe out on the island. "There's a story actually, about them."

"There's always a story."

Link chuckles a little, but doesn't comment on my interjection. "This was before my time, mind you. It's a story that originated from the Twilight Era."

"How fitting."

"Indeed." I start to kick my legs, feeling the breeze waft up from the water. "There was a man who took for granted all his intangible possession. He was obsessed with money and material wealth. Most of this kind of greed was fueled by his desire to impress a woman."

"Well that's shallow," I spit.

"The woman?"

"Yeah. Why would anyone want a girl like that? A real gold digger."

Link shakes his head. "Unfortunately, dear, they're out there." I sneer, but keep my comments to myself to let him continue. "Anyway, he wanted all the riches in the world so he could shower her with gifts and, maybe in turn, gain her affection as well. He was offered a deal by a poe where he could have all that he wanted, but his soul would be theirs.

"The man readily agreed, thinking they would only come for him when Death stopped at his door. This, however, was not the case."

"So he didn't get anything he was promised?"

Link laughs, "Oh no! He did!" I draw my legs up, and turn myself to face him. "See, they gave him everything. They filled his house to the brim with gold and precious gems. His clothes were woven from the finest silk, and large emeralds encrusted the vest he wore. However, the poe also turned the man into gold. The poe stole the man's eyes and replaced them with rubies. He sold his soul for gold, so what was left but to be gold?" I snort, but Link ignores me and continues to fixate his eyes on the island. "The man was to sit frozen with his cat on his head for the rest of eternity," Link says before falling silent.

"'Was'," I say. "So what happened?"

"Clever as ever, I see," Link mutters. And then he turns to look at me. "They say that the Hero of Light was actually the one to break the curse."

I quirk an eyebrow at this. "Really?"

"The hero was well traveled, and eventually, the hero destroyed all the poes in the land that held a piece of the man's soul."

"But the main lesson was the vices of greed."

"Exactly."

A pregnant silence blooms between us, and Link and I sit comfortably at the edge of the pier. I glance over at Link, and realizing he's not going to say anything first, I break the silence. "Sooo… did he ever get the girl?" I ask him.

Link chuckles, and I see that familiar little pop of his shoulders. "No, actually."

"What! He went through all of that for nothing?"

"Pretty much," Link laughs. "The girl ended up going with some other man."

I shake my head. "You're something else. Now are you going to tell me why you dragged me out here so early?"

"I had a dream," Link says huskily.

"Oh?" I scoot a little closer. "Of what?"

Noticing my interest, Link lets out an airy laugh. "I'm not totally sure, actually," he admits to me. "I was wearing my old tunic and had all my knight equipment on me, but I was standing in a desert."

"So, you didn't recognize where you were at?" I push.

Link smiles at my knowing. "No, I didn't. And the strange part is that I've never been to a desert in my life."

"You've traveled basically everywhere though!"

"And what did you just say?"

I grumble in response, but he was right. The answer came right out of my own mouth. "Okay, well, what else happened?"

"I saw this huge, old temple," Link says with a little hesitation. "I think it was a temple at least. I'm not sure. It was built into these mountains, and there was a fort at the base of it. I was standing in between the fort and the temple entrance."

"What time of day?"

Link scratches at the back of his head, one of his more human gestures. "Night. There were torches burning and a pit fire back at the fort, but the temple itself seemed void of any light."

"Sounds creepy."

"The professor woke me up just before I walked into the temple though, so…" Link trails, and then he shrugs his shoulders, not know what else to say on the subject. "Should I give you a rupee for your thoughts?"

I laugh lightly. "No thanks. But I'm not sure what to think of that." A seagull caws over the lake. "You really only recently started dreaming in your off times though?"

"Yeah. It's like blinking. Or at least it was. Now it's like I'm actually sleeping."

"I told this woman who runs a ferry service I'd meet her here at eight," I tell Link, changing the subject.

"You want to go to the island, don't you?"

I smile sheepishly. "Can't fool you, huh?"

"Nope."

"You want to come with?"

"Don't see any reason not to," Link chirps. "We'll have to be back though in the afternoon. The professor wants me to make another delivery for him."

"We can't stay here forever, Link."

He grimaces and falls back on the dock. "I know," he grumbles. "I'm just trying to do him some favors since he's been putting us up, but I don't know where to go now."

"You talked about Ordon, why don't we go there?"

"I don't know, love."

"We're going to Ordon," I say.

"Why are so intent on helping me with this?"

I shoot him a glare. "Well gee, I'm currently stuck with the one man who probably not only has me on some sort of wanted list for magic, but also has left me stranded."

"You could have stayed with Malon."

"With a magical and technologically advanced coin-operated doll? That would end well, don't you think?" Link only gives me a dead-panned look. "You pulled me into a mess, and I don't even know what's going on, because you're so tight lipped about it. The way I see, you and I are officially stuck with each other until further notice."

Link digs into his pocket. He pulls out a silver pocket watch and flips the cover open. "On another note, what say we head back into town?" he asks, dodging me once more. I frown at him. "You'll want to eat something before we go."

"I'm not describing my meal in full detail for you." When I see Link roll his glassy eyes, I smack him right in the head.

"Hey! What is with you and the professor?" he shouts. "You know that doesn't do anything."

I retort, "Anything but annoy you."

…

Before we even make it up to the shore, I'm leaping from the boat, Link calling after me, "Wait up, lady!" He jumps out after me, barely missing the rocks and falling into the water.

"Hey!" Iza calls out. "I'll be back for you guys right here at one."

"Right! Thank you!" I yell back, and I give her a wave. Even Link throws up a hand to her as she pulls the boat away from the little island's shore line. There's a small flick of her wrist as she speeds off into the distance.

Link turns to me, a playful smirk on his face. "I'm surprised she didn't say anything about my arm," he says with mock disappointment. "I mean, I have tons of great war stories."

"Maybe you can entertain her about being on the Calatian front lines on the way back," I razz right back, turning away. My eye scan the dense vegetation around us, but there's no sign of any light other than sunlight.

"Looking for that poe we saw earlier?"

"Sort of."

"They generally disappear when daybreak comes," he tells me with a shrug and starts to take off into the brush. "It's probably better that we don't run into it."

"Why's that?" I call to his back as I chase after him, dodging bushes and tree branches.

"They can be… a bit violent," he says, and I stop in my tracks.

"What?"

"Remember that I told you they're restless?"

I grumble a response and hurry to catch up to the mechanical man. "Hey! You know where you're going here?"

Link shrugs. "Eh, kind of."

"That's reassuring," I mutter, tripping a little over an exposed root.

We wind through the woods for nearly an hour with little sense of direction it seems until we reach a sculpted formation. My stomach churning, I surge forward past Link to go to it. The pant legs of Malon's overalls crumple and catch on one another and the bushes rustle as I shoot past. I skitter to a stop in front of what looks like a cave entrance, but old sculptures surround the entryway. There's no real sense of what they are as bits and pieces have broken off and weather has caused any details in the carvings to have worn away. I reach out and touch the cool stone surface.

Link stumbles out of the brush, and I whip around to look at him. "What is this?" I ask him, stepping back towards him and pointing at the entrance.

"This, dear, is the shrine of Lanayru," Link says. "There used to be huge statues of snakes guarding the outside of it."

"Snakes?"

"The guardian of this shrine is supposedly to take the form of a snake," Link explains, stuffing his hands into his pockets. His eyes flicker up to the battered stone formation above the shrine entrance.

"What's wrong?"

"You can go in, but I can't."

"Why?"

Link shakes his head. "Don't worry about it," he says softly. He pulls a hand out of his pocket to gesture at the shrine. "If you want to go in, go in. I'll wait out here." And his hand returns to the pocket.

With a few quick looks between my companion and the shrine, I start to head towards the shrine with some hesitation and caution. Broken stone tiles make a walkway into the shrine, where in between the tiles grass and weeds had long since begun to spring forth. My boots clack on the stone as I enter the tunnel to the shrine. A strange gust of warmth from within the shrine rolls out to me the further I walk into it. In the tunnel's growing darkness, I reach out a hand to skim my fingers along the wall to feel my way through.

The warmth intensifies and envelops me like a cloak. It slithers around me and bead of perspiration begin to form on my brow and the back of my neck. I stop and roll up the sleeves of the button up shirt I borrowed from Malon. My fingers graze the wall again, and I start to move. The tunnel goes deeper and light begins to slowly break through the darkness.

I finally come to an open cavern where an ethereal light illuminates the pool of water. In this space without sunlight, even grass has been able to grow, and disbelieving, I stoop down to run my hand through the blades, just to make sure they're really there, that they're actually real. The blades scrape and scratch my palm and fingers. Standing straight, I move forward to the edge of the pool. Lilly pads float lazily on the surface of the water, and little flecks of light bob and drift past me in the air. The orbs swirl around the cavern, casting golden light.

I lay down on my stomach in the grass and reach down the little drop to the pool. My fingers skim the water's surface, and although the water is warm, gooseflesh bubbles up on my arm. The chill that runs through my body makes me shiver.

I gasp.

A pulse of gold bursts forth from my fingertips and ripple through the water.

Hey guys. It's way short today, but I wanted to get out before I disappear for a little while. The next chapter of Zombie Cake is halfway finished, but I'm not sure when I'll get that up. I was also hoping to finally start posting another story I completed, but I've turned it into another long one, so once again, I have another work in progress for you guys.

Yesterday one of my boy's friends and a classmate I went to school with was run over by a train. His foot was severed, but he survived, and was actually conscious to call 911 himself and was still awake when they airlifted him to a hospital about 45 minutes away. He was in surgery all day yesterday to amputate the bottom half of one of his legs. He was supposed to go into surgery again today, but it has been postponed until tomorrow. They have him highly sedated, and this is all I know. I actually heard his 911 call on the news last night, and it was a little disconcerting.

So, I don't know when I'll be back to writing or responding to you guys' messages and reviews, but I wanted to let you all know I'm flying the coop for a while.

:c