NINE TIME MACHINES: Do you want to undo your entire life on planet earth?

CHAPTER 124

The walls fall into a forest where cedar trees dominate. I can tell the grandparents from the parents or the children that are strewn about dancing in the playful winds. In the clearing up ahead I see a woman standing in the middle of three cedar trees, fingers meeting above her head, slathered in moss from head to foot, her focus downward. I follow her gaze to a table of boxes, eleven horizontal, nine vertical.

"Fill them," she says with a booming tone.

"With what?"

"Your fingers."

"What!" I step back.

"Relax, Mary." She says light-hearted. "I want you to write down whatever I say."

"Okay." I nod. "I can do that. Where do you want me to start?"

"Top left to right. All lowercase letters. Enter an L."

I do as she says.

"Now follow with N, E, G, L, T, R, G, L, O, W."

"Like this?"

"Yes. You're doing just fine."

"What on earth does it mean?"

"Never mind that. You'll find out soon enough. Just write it exactly as I say."

"Okay. I'll do it."

"H, W, W, W, L, R, D, O, L, N, L," she says then adds, "W, L, L, R, T, L, N, W, D, W, L."

"Three rows, six more to go."

"N, W, G, G, L, G, R, T, N, R, H."

"You got something against vowels?"

"They're in there," she replied. "More will follow."

"How come you didn't say your name?"

"N, O, E, L, O, E, E, N, N, L, E," she says, and when I finish writing, adds, "I am Suke."

"Suke. Never heard it before. What does it mean?"

"Doesn't matter what it means. It's what I do."

"What do you do?"

"I create problems so I can find solutions."

Is that what this is? What we're doing?"

"You ask too many questions. Just write: D, R, D, N, G, L, O, T, W, R, G."

"Which one are you?" She watches me confused. "Your number or whatever you call yourself?"

"I am the green wand. Number five."

"The green wand? So that's why you're wearing that thing. Does it itch?"

"It's me and I'm it. Nothing affects you once you become it."

"I don't understand."

"W, L, G, W, L, E, N, L, H, N, R."

I write the letters down quickly and dig in again. "Where am I? Is this whole thing real?"

"Think of it like a game. You're in the world you don't normally see."

"You mean, I'm still in Leer Island? On the bus?"

"N, N, E, W, N, E, L, G, T, N, L."

"Am I on the bus or the black box the woman in white gave me?"

"The black box is the bus."

"What? Okay. You know what? Give me the last letters."

"L, W, T, E, W, N, T, N, L, L, G."

"That's it?" I ask examining the madness. "This can't be it."

"Why? You think it's missing something?"

"Well, it doesn't mean anything; so, yes."