After Mrs. Kelly pulled me inside the orange circle, I found myself back outdoors again. There was green carpet all around us, some gray mountains in the distance with white caps, and some blotchy trees dotted the landscape in between. Everything here seemed blurry. Even the clouds that floated up above were white, squarish shapes. There was a large golden square that slowly moved across the sky too. The shorter woman, who still clutched my hand, looked around a bit before she pulled me towards the treeline. As we got closer to a cluster of them, I noticed how squarish they appeared. Even the terrain seemed to be made out of squares. Mrs. Kelly walked up to a square tree and hit it with her right hand. Then she turned and spoke to me.

Laura says, in an unknown tongue, 'hyt p jskti jha nrtqw fsuoip'

Redmaw: i am sorry i do not know what it is that you said

Primrose: Same thing? Don't worry about it. Just let me know if you need any help with this stuff. If we had titles, then my title would be “Helper” and yours would be “Help Me!”. You can ask me anything, okay?

You say, 'i am sorry i do not know what it is that you said'

Mrs. Kelly leaned her head back as she rolled her eyeballs up. I must have disappointed her. I could not help but look down at the green carpet below us. Mrs. Kelly quickly came over and wrapped her arms around me. Her action really surprised me. I could not remember when was the last time I received a hug. The physical contact was still uncomfortable for me though, so I reached around with my left hand and patted her on the shoulder a few times. I could not hear her make a sound even with her forehead pressed against my chest. Mrs. Kelly pulled away and gave me a small smile. Her eyes were solid brown, much darker than her shoulder-length hair. Since she still held on to my hand when she walked over to punch the tree, I was next to her and the tree as well. My hand was lifted up to the tree by her as she showed me a punch motion with her free hand. Then she looked at me expectantly.

No, that was definitely not going to happen. I had never swung my fist at anything before. I quickly shook my head no and backed away. She held onto my hand to keep me close and quickly hit the tree bark with her other hand. I had no idea that Mrs. Kelly was this violent towards trees. There were plenty of them on the property next door before their family moved into the neighborhood. The trees were all torn down in order for their house to be built. Conservationism was not for everyone. If it was easy, everyone would do it to help nature grow. Surprisingly, the tree that she punched had a section of it disappear. But the most amazing part was that the tree did not fall over. It just stood there even though its trunk was gone. I did not know what face I had on, but Mrs. Kelly struggled to hold in her laugh, so I must have made a funny face. Though I still could not hear any sounds emitted from her. She finally let go of my hand and then really started to pummel the poor tree. More and more of the tree disappeared, even squares far above her head. Sections that her fist should not have been able to reach.

While she hit the tree far above her head, I noticed that smaller fragments fell down to the ground. I had thought that the tree trunk had vanished into thin air, but apparently it was shrunk down into smaller pieces. Mrs. Kelly halted her assault against nature and picked up a piece to show me. It looked identical to the piece that was removed, just quite a bit smaller. She handed the piece over to me so that I could compare it to another tree nearby. They really were the same. Dark brown on four sides, light brown on two more sides, and perfectly smooth. I could not detect any imperfections on the six surfaces either. Mrs. Kelly tried to hand me a second square tree trunk, but I still held a glove in my other, gloved hand. I briefly looked at my scaled hand before I placed the square tree trunk down on the ground. I needed both hands to put the second glove back onto the scaled hand. A problem for later, when I am back home. I picked the cube back up and also received another from her so that I held one in each hand. She picked up two more and waved for me to follow her. I took one last look at the crown of the tree that just floated in the air without support and then followed her further into the forest.

We came upon another strange square as we walked through the forest. It was a cube that had a brown grid pattern painted on the top as well as poorly painted tool pictures on the sides. A blurry saw and hammer were on one face of the cube while a silver and brown “X” was on another face. Probably a pair of shears, since the painting showed that the handle and the blade were the same length. Father had an excellent collection of shears and an expensive shear sharpener to properly maintain their cutting edges. Mrs. Kelly motioned me over to the workbench and tapped the block in her right hand on it. The square tree trunk in her hand vanished. This place really liked to make things disappear. A few seconds later, four light brown cubes appeared, but they looked different from the previous cube, which was dark brown.

I watched her as she placed the tree trunk in her left hand down and then picked up two of the newer light brown cubes. She tapped them onto the workbench and they vanished too. A few seconds later, and four slender, brown sticks came out. She placed two of the sticks on the ground and brought the two sticks that remained back to the workbench. Both sticks vanished with a light tap. I wondered what would come out next, but Mrs. Kelly bent over and picked up two of the light brown cubes and tapped them against the workbench too. Then a tool that I recognized immediately appeared before us. It was entirely brown, had a long shaft, a broad blade, and a pointed tip. Even though it was made entirely out of wood, it was definitely a digging shovel. This shovel had a round point at the tip specifically used for dirt. She chuckled at me again, so I must have made another embarrassing face. A quick hand motion instructed me to lay the tree trunk cubes in my hands on the ground. Then she handed the shovel over to me and pointed down at the green carpet with her finger.

I have used digging shovels in the yard many times before, so I immediately took the proper stance with my right foot forward and left foot further back to balance my weight. I positioned the shovel at about a forty-five-degree angle, then I pushed the shovel down into the ground. At least, that was what I had intended to do, but the shovel did not descend. Must have hit a rock just underneath the surface. I backed up a step and tried again. There was another rock that prevented me from digging at this location too. Mrs. Kelly walked over to me and held out her hand with a smile. I passed the shovel over to her. Unlike me, she grasped the shovel up high by the step. She got down on her knees, raised the shovel high like a hammer, and then took a quick whack at the green carpet. She must not have known how to use the tool correctly. Even after three taps, there were no changes to the green carpet. It was my turn to smile at her folly. On the fourth tap, though, the green carpet vanished without a trace. A square hole had appeared in front of her. I did not know what to say. Father would have hated this confounded place.

Mrs. Kelly continued to grin as she dug her way deeper into the ground. What she did could not actually be called digging though. She just hacked away at the ground with her poor shovel. It was a complete misuse of the tool and not its intended use. It was her tool though, so I kept my mouth shut. She could use it incorrectly if she wanted it. It was not long before she was completely underground. A cave that had been created entirely out of cube shapes. I started to notice that there were different colors of cubes below ground. Brown and gray seemed to be the most common. With slightly different patterns on each cube. The cave had gotten fairly deep as she dug diagonally, at an angle, while she descended. The cave continued to get deeper and deeper with each minute that passed. I could not help but worry about her. There were no support structures at all. She really should not go any deeper or the cave would collapse.

Redmaw: i am sorry but please come back missus kelly

You say, 'i am sorry but please come back missus kelly'

Laura says, in an unknown tongue, 'va hya sho mnyta utp'

I still could not understand the words Mrs. Kelly spoke, but at least she stopped her descent. The path down was very uneven and there were so many trip hazards left along the path down. Small blocks of various colors and patterns hovered and spun in circles. I hoped that she would not fall and hurt herself. She bent over and picked up two of the speckled gray blocks before she climbed back up towards me. As she got closer to me, I realized that she had not climbed up. She actually jumped from cube to cube on her return trip to the surface. She handed me the two small, grayish blocks and then went back down to get two more. After she returned to the surface again, I followed her back to the brown workbench in the forest, the one with the grid pattern on top. I was curious what would emerge from the strange device next. A few taps of the cubes against the workbench and another familiar object came out. It was a pickaxe. Unlike the shovel that was brown and entirely made out of wood, this tool had a large gray head. A few moments later, and a second pickaxe appeared. She handed one to me and then seemed to be lost in thought for a bit. Eventually, she dropped her new pickaxe onto the ground and then walked over to another tree to punch it. Another tree was felled without even a care.

She returned to the workbench and converted the dark brown blocks into light brown blocks. For some reason, she stopped and stared at me. An idea must have occurred to her because, in a flurry of taps against the workbench, a new cube appeared. This one was also brown, but it had even darker brown borders around the edge. There was also a shiny latch on the front of it. It was a square footlocker. That brown workbench had the weirdest things inside of it. Mrs. Kelly waved me over and then pointed at the footlocker. I walked over to the nearest tree first, and then slowly placed the head of the pickaxe down on the ground. The handle was gently placed up against the tree. I would not just throw the tool down towards the ground haphazardly, as she often did. Then I walked over to the lockbox and placed a hand on either side of it. I used a firm grip and lifted it up as properly as I could. It was much lighter than I thought it would be, but I still used the proper stance to lift large objects. For some reason, Mrs. Kelly's lower jaw dropped as her eyes lit up. She started to laugh and even clapped to show me her happiness. The workbench was not at all heavy. I did not understand why she was so happy, but I was glad that she was in such high spirits.

Mrs. Kelly eventually calmed down. She picked up her abandoned pickaxe and walked over to me. The pickaxe in her hand vanished, reappeared, and then vanished again. It appeared and disappeared several times in quick succession before she stopped and pointed at the lockbox in my hands. I looked at the brown box and then back at her. Mrs. Kelly nodded at me, and then she motioned for me to try and make it vanish as well. I stared at it for a short time, but nothing happened. Mrs. Kelly seemed sure that I could make the cube disappear, and I did not want to disappoint her again. So I concentrated on the lockbox and eventually, it disappeared. It simply vanished into thin air. I could not help but stare at my empty work gloves. At where the large box had been just moments before. Mrs. Kelly rushed over and hugged me again. Her body shook rhythmically as she embraced me. It was probably laughter, but it was hard to tell since I could not see her face. She was much shorter than me now. I tapped her shoulder, just in case she was upset, but she quickly released me and ran back to the workbench. A dozen more lockboxes appeared, and she motioned for me to make them vanish too. It took a little while to concentrate on each one, but I eventually made them all disappear too.

Mrs. Kelly seemed rather excited, but then she attacked the workbench with her pickaxe. It was really difficult to know what thoughts went through her mind. She just did not make much sense to me. The misuse of tools was bad enough, but now she had intentionally damaged the workbench. It was no wonder Father never let Mother into the garage. It was the sanctuary of men, not a place for women. Somehow, the workbench turned into a smaller workbench after she stabbed it many times. Everything in this place seemed to require violence. Once the smaller workbench was picked up, she pointed at the cave. I followed her back to the hole in the ground that she had hammered with the shovel. Mrs. Kelly immediately jumped into the cave, and she did not even use the large stairs this time. It was at least a thirty-foot drop before she landed. In only a second or two, she stood at the bottom and beckoned excitedly at me to join her. There was no way that was going to happen. This cave looked like it would collapse at any second. I was not going down there even with a pickaxe in hand. If pickaxes prevented collapses, then mining would not be such a dangerous profession.

Primrose: You sent me a tell before? What can I help you with?

Redmaw: i have a pickaxe

Primrose: You should use a shovel instead, or your hands. Have you tried using your hands?

Redmaw: the neighbor is going to be buried alive

Primrose: Earth rules don't apply where you are. She'll be fine.

Redmaw: the cave is too deep and it will collapse without supports

Primrose: It won't collapse. It's perfectly safe. Blocks can even hover in the air without falling. Do you see the white clouds and the golden sun above? They won't fall.

I did remember the tree crowns that floated unnaturally in the air. It was not even connected to the ground. I looked up and, just as Primrose said, the white blocks that floated up above, had not fallen down yet either. Both Mrs. Kelly and Primrose believed that the cave was safe. They knew far more about this place than I did. Perhaps more trust in them was warranted. I took a hesitant step towards the tunnel, but noticed Mrs. Kelly as she waved her arms around frantically. Her movements confused me, but then a sizzling sound was heard behind me. I turned around to see an unhappy man in a green and white costume. He was as short as Mrs. Kelly, but more rectangular, and had a deep frown on his face. I had not seen any signs of life in this place yet, but the previous area had men in lizard costumes. Maybe this place had sad men with blotchy green and white costumes. The man continued to change colors at me while I waved back at him. It was good to greet others with a friendly wave. Father never complained about the waves I greeted him with at the front door. The sizzling sound grew even louder as the short man touched his head to my chest. To think I would receive so many hugs in one day.

Since the pickaxe was in my right hand, I reached out with my left to pat this sad man on the shoulder. As long as there was a tomorrow, then things could always get better. I tried to convey happy thoughts as.....