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Chapter 12

I had been travelling around long term for a while, but wherever I went I would always end up hitting a brick wall.

"Umm...excuse me? Have you seen my friend Joy? He's pretty tall, got brown hair and has golden yellow skin…"

"Yeah, but not recently, haven't seen anyone like that in months!"

"Oh, okay…"But I was determined to not give up, and trust me, when you are the embodiment of depression and futility, that is no mean feat. Of course I got a little down, but I quickly got up again. Harry needed me to succeed, and why should a little setback get in my way?

But then I struck gold. There was a bearded old man with a fishing rod, a bag of bait and an old pan in his hands. I wasn't too sure what to make of him when I saw him walking towards the shore of a small river, but I couldn't let my apprehension get in the way of some information.

"Hello? Sir?"

"Eh? Watcha want? I got a job t'do."

"Umm, I just wanted to know whether you've seen my friend around recently."

The man pulled out a pipe, lit it and inhaled a bit. As he breathed out, the fumes hit me and I choked a little, but the man didn't seem to notice.

"Mebe I have, mebe I haven't, you gotta be specific there friend."

"Well, he's pretty tall, got golden skin, and has brown hair. He usually wears a Tux…"

He took another puff from his pipe, and pondered a little, before replying with something I'd been wanting to hear for months.

"Yeah, guy like that went that way couple weeks back, up to some ol' guy's cottage. I do believe he's still there. But ya see, since then, things have become difficult t' navigate around these here water's edge, landslides an' all. If you wanna travel upstream, you gonna have t' go by boat. I would take ya on mine, but you gotta help me first."

Hey, that sounded reasonable. I really needed to get up river, and if helping this guy was my only chance, then helping him out wasn't too much to ask.

"Name it, I guess I'll help out, not much else I can do…"

The old man gave a toothless grin, and patted me on the back.

"Atta boy, shouldn't be too difficult to get your head around. I'll just go get more o' m'stuff."

Most of the Mind workers I had met were cute and cuddly, and had a role that you could easily guess. So far, I hadn't been able to do that. This Mind worker was weird, but he was the only way I could find my way to Joy, so I put on a brave face and tried not to get upset at his matter of factness.

"Hey kid, I got ya some equipment. Just do what I do an' everything'll be dandy"

"Okay…"

He put his pan in the water, and sifting it around, he managed to get out some silty looking substance. He jiggled it, and he then washed away the top layer, leaving a golden substance floating around in the bottom, which he emptied into a large container he'd taken out of his rucksack.

"See? Easy as pie. All ya gotta do is do exactly as I did, an' you'll be as right as rain. Once the box is full an' I've taken it down t' processin', then I'll take ya upstream."

And so my panning adventure began. It was soothing when you got into a rhythm. Swish, swish, swish, swish. I almost fell asleep, but I controlled my urges. The box was half way full, and I began to wonder what the stuff was for, so I asked the old guy.

"Well, it's been my job for over nine years, an' what I been told by people down in processin' is that it's used in all sorts of stuff, but mainly in manufacturing idea bulbs."

"Whoa, really? I never knew that."

"Well, not many folks do. There's a lot of things that we'll never know, we'll jus' have t'get used to it I suppose."

"So what is this stuff anyway? It looks like gold."

"Yeah, I guess it does. The stuff we're collectin' is what some people call thought granules, an' the only place you can get 'em is this here river."

"Okay, why is that?"

"This river is the stream of consciousness, an' if I recall right, all thoughts that ever exist flow through here sometime or another. It's the purest form of thinkin', and the dust is made into other forms of the same thing."

My mind was blown. How much stuff about the mind had been left out of the mind manuals? Maybe they just leave the bits out they think we don't need up in headquarters, but it is sure as hell interesting. I almost wish that the people who wrote those books had included much more than just the basics, then I would have been able to understand everything that got thrown our way.

We continued for a little while longer, then we finally filled the container.

"Hey, good job there, now I just gotta take it up to the plant, an then we'll be on our way."

We walked down to the processing plant, and when we got there, I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer size. We entered the building and were met by a round Mind worker with a tie and glasses.

"Hey Jeb, got us some more granules? You never seem to disappoint."

"Just doin' m'job boss"

"You don't have to call me that Jeb, call me Daniel"Said Daniel, smiling.

"T'me you'll always be boss"

"Well, alright then, if it makes you happy." Daniel takes the box and gives Jeb an identical empty one. "I'll see ya later Jeb!"

"Okay boss"

And we proceeded to leave the factory and continue back down to the river. We got on board the little rowing boat that Jeb had tied up at the shore, and we set off upstream.

"The boss is a great guy, but it jus' don't feel right callin' him by his proper name, get what I mean?" I nodded, and he sighed hard. "The boss is the fifth one we've had this year. For some reason or another, they all seem to end up overworkin' themselves, an' then they're never seen again. I always wonder what happens to 'em, but I guess it don't matter, we'll all go sometime won't we?"

"Uh-huh" I sure knew what it felt like to lose someone, and I knew what Jeb was getting at, but boy was it depressing to think about. Luckily we had made it to the place we needed to be, and Jeb stopped talking about his old bosses and brought the boat up to the shore and tethered it to an old tree stump close by.

"You want me t' wait around, take ya back?"

"Nah, It'll be okay, I don't know how long I'll be. Besides, you've helped me enough today, I'll manage. Thank you Jeb!"

Jeb gave another toothless grin and extended a hand, which I took and shook.

"No problem. Hopefully we'll see each other again. See ya!" and that was when Jeb untethered the boat, and rowed off down the river, and that was the last time I ever saw Jeb the thought panner.

I made my way up to the little cottage, and I stood outside for a minute, not wanting to disturb anyone if I could help it. The Mind world had just gone into night time, and I didn't want to wake anyone, but I knew that I couldn't just stand there doing nothing, so I knocked.

"Oh, come in Sadness, I've been waiting to meet you"

If that wasn't freaky, then I don't know what is. But regardless, I shuffled my way in, and the first thing I see is an old man wearing buddhist monk robes sitting on a cushion with Joy kneeling next to him.

"Hi…" I mumbled. I was tired from all of the travelling, and this made me even more likely to burst out crying, let alone the spirit guide man knowing who was knocking without even seeing my face, let alone having even met me.

"Join us on the cushions my little teardrop, it's really comfy and it'll make you feel much better after the amount of walking you've done."

"How did you…?"

"Right now, that doesn't matter. I think you should get comfortable first, have a little rest. Once you're relaxed and ready, then we can talk about anything you want. How does that sound?"

"Yeah…"and I promptly fell onto one of the empty cushions right next to Joy face first. When the man said they were comfy, it was an understatement. Think of the comfiest thing ever, and then multiply the comfy by twenty. That was how comfy it was.

"Now, you may want to sleep now, that's totally fine, but before you do, shall we talk?"

"Mmmph…"came my muffled reply.

"Yeah! Let's do it! Come on Sadness!" That was the first time I had heard Joy speak in months, and boy was it great to hear his enthusiasm once again. I sat up a little bit, and decided to pay more attention. But it was really difficult because the atmosphere in the room was so casual and soothing, it was almost as if it wanted me to sleep.

"Sadness, my name is Serenity, and I live here on my own, contemplating life and meditating, but I also help people if they need it. I give people a chance to find inner peace, their true self if you will."

"Okay, I guess that's cool, but what has that got to do with me? I'm nearly always depressed."

"But that's who you are meant to be! I am telling you this because Joy had lost his true self, and needed me to set him on the right track, to take him back to the Joy he is supposed to be."

I looked at him and I kind of understood what he was getting at. Joy had lost his faith in a way, not really looking out for Harold like he should have, running away instead of facing the harsh reality we were all facing.

"But now I feel amazing, like a switch was flipped on. I see all the good and bad I've caused, and now I can go back to correct the mistakes I made."

"Exactly. so now I am going to say this to you Sadness. I want you to remind Joy to always be there for Harry, no matter how hard things will get for him. Be his guide in making happiness be a core part of Harry's life. And remember, only when someone is sad can someone truly feel joy."

"I see. Thank you Serenity, I will try my best."

"That's all I ask. Now, you two need a way back home." Serenity looked at both of us with a calm but piercing gaze, and he said "If you guys follow the river upwards, you will reach the other end of Long term. If you time it right, you'll be able to get up a recall tube along side a memory, but it's tricky ever since they altered the mechanism."

"Oh, okay."

"Thanks dude!"

And as we got up to leave, Serenity handed me his dream catcher that was hanging on the wall.

"Take this. It'll help you focus on what's important. If you need me, just think about me and I'll know."

I looked up into his eyes once again and I smiled at the old guy's gift. I thanked him as he showed us out, and he told me not to mention it, and we were finally on our way.

"Y'know Joy? I've missed you."

"Me too, Sadness, me too."

And we walked on together, like nothing ever went wrong between us. Me and him, just like old times.