Eta found a speck.

All her attention focused on that speck.

It fed off her attentions and began to pulsate.

Each time it pulsated, it grew.

It grew and grew. She gave it more attention.

The speck grew so large, it became the world.

Right then, she regained her thoughts

…and they made even less sense than she remembered.

The world was red and she could see all the way around it. Wait…that’s not right.

Eta shook her muddied mind, trying to rattle some sense into it. Shreds of clarity slowly returned and she re-evaluated. It wasn’t that she could see around the world, it was that she could see all the way around her. Instead of her vision pointing forward like normal, she could see up, down, left, right—everything all at once.

And what she saw was surreal. Gorgeous contrast lit up her surroundings. Even better, she could view every detail like an all-seeing panoramic.

The world was dyed red.

Shades of near monochrome lit up the cave she sat inside, every speck, pebble, shadow, all dyed varying brilliances of red. Although, it wasn’t complete monochrome, one mystical feature stuck out above all else.

Dangling in the air, thin yellow streaks hung, gently suspended by absolutely nothing. It took her a second to realize the cave wasn’t lit by lightbulbs or anything, but by these thin yellow streaks floating in the air. It felt like she was swimming in the stars, and for a moment, Eta forgot herself in the beauty of her surroundings.

That all came crashing down real quick.

Slurping, gnashing, and just all-around bad table manners destroyed her illusion of serenity. And like that, the beauty of swimming in the stars crashed down to reality.

The cave wasn’t pretty. It was barren, yet somehow dingy. She sat in a great cavern, surrounded by nothing except a leg of meat waving in front of her face. A few morsels stuck to the bone, but it was mostly polished off.

“Yoo-hoo! Here, here, I saved some. Hungry monsters need to eat!” Behind the leg of meat, she saw a young man waving to get her attention.

“You up? You up, yet?” the young man asked.

Eta tried to respond, but her throat was too dry for words. Best she could manage was a sultry growl—somewhere between feminine and bestial. Her growl was both soothing and terrifying.

“Want some?” He asked.

Drawing a blank, Eta could only shake her head. The gangly savage simply said “figured”, and began gnawing the scraps off the bone, slurping and gnashing it all up.

He paused, studying Eta. “You’re mad. I know you’re mad.”

Eta tried to explain she wasn’t mad, that she didn’t even know the kid. How could she be mad at him? Except, all she could manage was another sultry growl, perhaps a bit more articulate than the last. It turned out, even that was the wrong choice of words.

The gangly savage whipped his head back and forth, far too dramatic to be considered shaking his head no. He kept whipping it faster and faster, until he was nearly spinning it around.

Eta was flabbergasted at the tizzy he began working himself into, and here she thought she sounded like a sexy smoker, nothing to warrant that little savage’s reaction.

“You are uh-huh. You are mad. You are mad. You are mad! You are mad!” He repeated this mantra over and over again, increasing in volume until he was nearly shouting.

It reminded her of a tirade Scrub-bucket would throw, except ramped up to eleven. This kid’s volume dial was likely broken just like the one on Scrub-bucket’s radio. Scrub-bucket was terrible about controlling his volume back when they first set that contraption up. He’d either be yelling or whispering. Then Eta would have to holler in a request to get him to re-adjust his voice.

And then…and then…and then…

Eta grabbed the savage by the ears, hard. Not giving him a chance to resist, she pulled him into her chest so tight, it muffled his voice. It was a good old fashioned ear hug, tough love at its finest. Her little savage was flailing and hollering and slobbering all over the place, but Eta didn’t let go.

We need common ground. It was so easy with Scrub-bucket. Scrub-bucket was so easy to get along with. Scrub-bucket liked all the same things I did. Scrub-bucket tried so hard. Scrub-bucket would always make my interests his own. Scrub-bucket was…Scrub-bucket is! Scrub-bucket is!  I don't want to know!  I don't want to know what happened!

Her mouth stammered, refusing to form words. She kept trying, they got a little clearer. Again and again, until she could finally get out what she wanted to say.

“W-wha-what do you like?” She asked.

His muffled hollers changed pitch. He was trying to say something worthwhile.

“Loogs! Loogs!” He said, muffled against her chest.

“You like ‘loogs’?” She asked, pulling his head back.

At her question, he nodded so frantically, his ears might have ripped off had Eta not released them.

Loogs? Oh! Legs, he likes legs. Eta chuckled. A little man after her own heart. She liked legs, too. And hands, soft hands. And long tongues, and…

Eta shook her head, rattling those thoughts out of her brain. Focus on the present.

“So, you’re only after a nice pair of ‘loogs’? A real ‘loogman’, huh?” She asked, accenting his endearing phrase.

“Haha! Yes, yes! I like loogs. I’m a loogman!” He froze. “No, I am Loogman! I like it. I like it! I really like it!”

A happy tirade was one she could deal with. Her little Loogman happily went back to gnawing on his leg bone. He’d finally settled out of his tizzy and now the two of\them could have a nice visit.

She knew her brain wasn’t running on all cylinders, as Scrub-bucket would say, but she could at least enjoy her visit with the little savage. It wasn’t often she got visitors other than Scrub-bucket. Such a good boy, that Scrub-bucket. I hope he visits soon. I’m not in my room, but hopefully, he knows to check this cave. I wonder where this cave is? No. No questions.  I don't want to know.  I don't want to know.

She’d learned better than to ask questions. Last time she did, the apocalypse happened. And then…and then…and then…

Her new visitor slurped up the last of his bone and began beating it against the cavern wall. Tink. Tink. Tink. The wall was made of some hard stuff by the sound of it. Eta smiled and watched his quirky antics, reminded of her favorite companion, Scrub-bucket.

Eventually, her little Loogman chipped that spot into a little fist sized hole. Tink. Tink. Tink. Sploosh!

The tough exterior gave way to a gooey core and his bone slunk right into it. He dropped the bone and stuck his fist right into the hole, pulling out a handful of soft clay.

“What are—” Eta began, but stopped herself. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know.

She really didn’t want to know. Unfortunately, the damage was done.

He filled in the blank and answered. “Putting it back.”

And with that, he slurped a big old glob of clay onto the stump—

Stump? I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know.  Ignore it.  Ignore it.  It's just some quirky antics, just like Scrub-bucket used to do.

And with that, he slapped a big old glob of clay onto the stump below his knee and jammed the bone he’d been gnawing on into the makeshift socket.

He was missing the bottom half of his leg and he fixed it. And that was all there was to it.

Eta didn't want to know why.  She ignored the savage's brutality, tuning out the carnage around her, focusing solely on the beauty of her new red world.  After all, there was only one truth she was certain of: An old fogie needed to be obstinate in their inconsistencies, regardless of having the truth pointed out. Better to be confident in a falsehood than wishy-washy with the truth.

Fortunately, she'd had a long time to practice, old and haggard as she was.

The carnage around her dimmed, and once again, Eta was swimming in the beauty of the stars.  Shades of near monochrome dyed the wonderous cave varying brilliances of red.

Yellow streaks dangled in the air, lighting her surroundings into a gorgeous, surreal world.  She didn't know why, and didn't care to ask.  She didn't want to know.

Except, there was a major change from earlier.

Her vision, that all-encompassing panoramic, had narrowed.  Now, all she could see was a sliver of the world around her, the rest having been blocked out in her obstinance.

Eta didn't care though.  That change allowed her to focus only on the beauty in front of her.  She could block out all the bad, the bad she didn't want to understand.

“This has gotta dry for a bit and then we gotta hide from the dragon," her little savage said.  "He’s mad. Oh, and Domadinggone. He’s horny.”

Eta smiled and nodded, humming the tune to Wonderboy’s hit single, entertained by her new visitor's quirky antics.  She got so few visitors these days.

Such a happy tune and such a beautiful world.