Hydra Heart

IV

Chapter IV: we dumb in love i give her bone she give me head

A fishing bobber? Florence thought to himself. That must mean... He had to return to his study. When he did so, he took the markings from the last map, the zones of vanishment, and marked them on a new map. Not one with political boundaries, but natural topography. Instantly, the pattern emerged. Florence's hunch was correct, all of the disappearances occured next to a moving body of water. The bird he saw must be attaching bobbers to Kits (tying a knot with webbed feet?!), and then letting them float somewhere. Now, he just had to follow.

--

He repeated his experiment with two critical changes: First, he would attach a tracking device to his Kit. Secondly, he would do the experiment near the ocean, with a boat at the ready. He travelled to another spot in the Zone of Vanishment.

Once again, the albatross came. This time, he knew what to do. He got in his vessel, a tiny speed boat christened the S.S. Stutter, and followed. The bird continued to fly out to sea, and he pursued it. Eventually, it dropped his Kit, and Florence went after it.

So, now what? Do I wait the months it will take to wash up on shore? He waited for hours, too scared to lose the lead.

--

Eventually, his hopes were answered. The albatross returned, presumably rested, and resumed carrying the Kit. He pursued and checked a digital map; he was getting close to the shore. The journey continued.

It took days of hardly any rest for Florence to get where he needed to be. His boat washed up on the shoreline of a place he had never been before. In front of him was a cliff, and the albatross was landing on its only house. It was a tiny cottage with a perch on the terra cotta roof.

Florence stretched his sea legs and looked for a way up. With his uncoordinated feet, he clamored up a steep path running along the cliffside. The rocks slipped and tumbled underneath his weight, but in time he made it up. Near him, the albatross was perched on a stone cottage. He looked at his map again, and saw that he was on a nearly uninhabited piece of coastline, far, far away from human civilization.

He dusted off his robe, and then approached the tarnished wooden door of the cottage. He knocked. There was a long pause, during which Florence held his breath. Then, someone answered the door.

It was a woman, dressed in leather boots and some cotton clothes one would never find in a store, including a jacket so worn that its brand label had worn off. She seemed startled and nervous, but Florence was simply excited.

"Hi."