Emerging Compassions

Chapter 18: The Days Roll By...

(Libby's POV)

We spent the rest of that day attending to camp-related activities, like tending the fire and setting up living quarters, none of which could be achieved without Jimmy's help because it was all mainly his stuff he brought. All that work basically wore us out, especially Cindy and me, cuz we were both carrying children. We were asleep within 10 minutes of our returning to bed that night.

The next morning, we each got up according to each of our own mindsets. I was up first around 6:30am, mainly cuz my child kept wiggling in the night and waking me up, and I finally woke up at that time and couldn't get back to sleep.

We had set up camp inside the abandoned cave, complete with electrical lighting, plumbing, and modern conveniences, thanks to Jimmy and some new invention of his. I sat up in my bed and stretched, then quietly made my way to the refrigerator(YES, an actual working refrigerator) to find some breakfast. I looked through the stuff and found microwaveable breakfast meals stashed in there, so I grabbed one and stuck it in the microwave after removing the covering. I then set it to heat for 3 minutes and waited.

While I was waiting, I heard someone get up, so I turned my head in that direction. It was Carl. He stretched and said, "'Morning, Libby. Sleep good?"

"Hey, Carl," I quietly replied as to not disturb the others, "Ugh, I tossed and TURNED last night... My child kept wiggling and wakin' me up! I just now got up, cuz I couldn't sleep anymore. Help yo'self t' one of the meals in the fridge. Why are you up so early?"

"Sheen's snoring and sleep-talking about UltraLord kept me up until 1:30 in the morning!" Carl griped, giggling quietly, "I'm surprised Jimmy slept through all that!"

"Yeah, he seems to be quite a heavy sleeper...," I agreed, nodding.

After our meals were heated, we sat at the nearby table and began eating.

Later, we each did our own things; Carl drew pictures while I listened to my music for a while.

After a while, I looked at the time on my watch I'd received for graduation and noticed it was 8:45am, about time our friends got up. I was about to get up and try to get Cindy up when I saw her stir in her bed, sit up, and stretch, careful not to wake Jimmy up, who I'd noticed she'd slept next to, like I'd slept next to Sheen. She then quietly got out of bed and made her way to the fridge for something to eat. "Mornin', Cin. Sleep well?" I greeted her.

"Yeah, I did, despite Jimmy's noticeable yet moderately quiet snoring, heh, heh! How long have you been up?" she replied.

"Since 6:30 this mornin'...," I told her with an exhausted sigh, "My child kept me up ALL night with his/her persistent wiggling! I finally couldn't get back to sleep after 6:30, so I went ahead and got up."

"And Sheen kept me up until 1:30 in the morning with his loud snoring and sleep-talking about UltraLord!" Carl interjected, yawning deeply.

"What else do ya expect from an Ultra-Dweeb like him?" Cindy sarcastically commented, rolling her eyes as she ate her breakfast. Then she added, giggling softly and pointing, "Look, he's still doing it!"

After she'd finished, she decided to practice some yoga techniques to pass the time.

About 2 hours later, Sheen finally decided to get up, sitting up with a yawn and stretching. "Hey, sweetie! Did ya sleep good?" I asked him.

"Did I EVER! I had the COOLEST UltraLord dream last night! It all started like-," he began, but didn't get to finish because Cindy snapped, "Can it, Ultra-DORK!"

"Sssshhh, Cindy!" I gently scolded her, "You're gonna wake Neutron up!"

But I spoke too soon, because he soon sat up in bed, stretched, and got up.

"'Bout time you got up, sleepyhead!" Cindy playfully teased him.

"Oh, Cindy, you're such a kidder! Let me sleep in a bit longer next time, okay, sweetie?" Jimmy told her, grabbing something from the fridge and sticking it in the microwave for around 3 minutes.

I glanced over near the entrance of the cave and saw Sheer-Kahn at his post, snoozing away. "Looks like Sheer-Kahn hasn't budged from his post since last night...," I observed.

He just rolled his eyes with a chuckle and informed me, "Being a nocturnal mammal, he's mainly out during the night, hunting the local native fauna to maintain his physical well-being. We best not disturb his rest, and wait for him to awaken naturally."

"Yeah, okay," we told him in unison.

Once he'd finished, he went further into the cave to an area he'd created to suffice for his lab, which he wasn't able to access at the time.

"What are you making, Jim?" Carl asked him.

"You'll see, Carl, and the rest of you!" he promised us.

And we did. When Jimmy returned to us about an hour or 2 later, he had some sort of spray bottle with him.

"What is that, Jimmy?" Cindy wanted to know.

"This spray makes whatever we're wearing long-lasting and waterproof, so we don't have to worry about them floating to the surface of the water when we go swimming. I've already applied it to mine, so stand still so I can spray the rest of yours. Actually, I need to have them off of you so I don't get any of the spray on you, which dries instantly, so let's head to the lake," he explained, ushering us out while making sure we didn't wake Sheer-Kahn up.

"Okay, Neutron, we're here, so now what do we do?" I questioned suspiciously.

"Just get in the water and follow my instructions afterward, okay?" he instructed us.

We all nodded and waded in up to our shoulders.

"Now, while still in the water, take them off and toss them to me," Jimmy said while standing behind a waist-high rock to use as a table. Almost immediately, we followed his instructions precisely. Then he added, proceeding to spray each of them, "Thank you!"

He was finished within 10 minutes, then laid them on the shore and turned his back to us, saying, "You may come get your cover-ups now. I won't look."

One by one, we each got our cover-ups and slipped them back on, confident they'd last until we needed to head to the Himalayas after Jimmy'd fixed his rocket.