Moonstruck Madness: Laura and Jack's Adventure

"As wave after wave of the ocean's water broke against the shore, a young girl named Laura stood transfixed by the beauty of the waves and their white foam. It was clear that she had never seen an ocean before, for her eyes were wide with surprise and wonder. Her arm gripped tightly onto that of a boy of about her age. He was dressed in strange clothes, with a cape that hung from his shoulders like a coat, but which ended on his hips like shorts. He faced the ocean as well, wearing a smile as he watched the waves break."

"At last he turned to her, removing his cap and bowing ever so slightly. "Greetings, Lady Laura," he said gravely. "I am Sir Jack, at your service.""

"Laura gasped in surprise and delight. "Oh, how nice!" she exclaimed. "Where are you from?""

"Jack smiled broadly at this question. "Why, I'm from..." At this point he began having difficulty forming words, looking around himself as if searching for something. After a few moments he finally spoke again: "I'm from... well... I suppose I'm from here." He pointed towards the ocean."

"She raised one eyebrow in question. "What do you mean? Where is 'here'?""

He looked up thoughtfully at where the sky met with the sea before answering: "This is where I live.""

Her brow furrowed even more deeply. "You can't live in the ocean! That's silly!" She turned back towards the water impatiently, waiting for him to make another foolish remark such as that one."

He smiled gently and shook his head before continuing: "No, no, not here in this spot. I meant 'here' as in 'here' - where we are right now!" He pointed above their heads once more."

She remained silent for several moments as she considered what he had said. Finally she piped up again: "That makes sense! So where did you get all these clothes?" She gestured towards his tunic and cape."

He looked down at his attire with a puzzled expression on his face before calmly replying: "Oh! Well... I made them myself." His smile returned almost instantly."

She turned back to face him now with both eyebrows raised high on her forehead. "You made those? But you're only a kid! How did you know how to make them?" An air of admiration seemed to have replaced her previous disbelief."

He seemed pleased by her interest in his workmanship and went on to explain his process while they both stared out over the water: "Well first I collected some leaves off trees near my home - nothing special about those - and then I dried them out in front of my fire until they felt crispy but not burnt at all." His eyes glazed over slightly as he recalled how wonderful it smelled during that time of year when all the leaves had fallen. Then he snapped back into reality and continued:"

But once they were dry I laid them out on my table so they could be shaped into sleeves that would cover my arms - starting at my elbows and ending at my wrists."" He held up his arms to demonstrate how far down they reached past his hands - though it was clear that Laura didn't know what a sleeve was either so she just stared blankly at him."

Jack chuckled softly before explaining further: "Once they were shaped correctly I took some leather that was already cut into strips and stitched it onto each end so they wouldn't fray any further." Again he demonstrated how far up his arms these pieces reached by holding up two fingers on each hand that came to around mid-forearm.

Laura hummed thoughtfully under her breath as if she were imagining wearing such odd garments herself.

Jack continued on: "Then I decided that another piece of fabric would work better for a chest covering so I cut one long enough to reach from my shoulders all the way down to my waistline."" Again he demonstrated himself by holding up four fingers on each hand indicating how far down it went past his waistline before continuing:"

"So after making that part too I figured out what shape would be necessary for a sort of skirt or petticoat thingy..." He pulled up a piece of material from underneath himself so quickly that Laura didn't even notice what happened until it was done!" ...and made that too!" He nodded proudly to himself as if he had actually achieved something remarkable".

Laura's mouth gaped open at this point and she stared at him in awe."It must have taken forever!" She sighed softly before turning her attention back towards the ocean once more.

Jack shrugged with a smile still plastered across his face as if making clothes wasn't something truly spectacular after all:" Not really; it only took me three days!" His eyes followed hers to look over at the water before turning back around to join her gaze once more."I wish we could see more of your world," said Jack quietly after several minutes had passed by without either speaking another word between them.

Laura nodded slowly without taking her eyes away from the water:" Me too! It sounds really neat."" She paused for a moment before adding:" And pretty too - like in pictures when people used to draw things like mountains and trees."" She smiled happily as if remembering something pleasant about it. Jack smiled placidly in return before responding:" Yeah! You're lucky because your world seems really beautiful; mine is just kind of boring! There aren't any oceans or mountains or anything like that here just plains and hills and forests - though our forests are pretty cool since they're full of magic animals! And then there are dragons who live in caves underground too! My dad says they used to be very friendly but no longer trust humans anymore because we've invaded their homes so much over time... Some people say we should kill them all but others think we shouldn't because then there will be no magic or legends left anymore either... What about your world?""

Laura looked thoughtfully out beyond the waves once more before answering: "It has lots of mountains and deserts but also oceans... Our magic animals are wolves who don't talk but sometimes help us find our food - except when they eat it themselves first because they're hungry!" She giggled slightly before adding:" We haven't found any big scary dragons yet though; only small ones who can't even fly!"