How Mia Met Gulliver

-3-

At two o'clock, Gulliver is beginning to get bored. Mia has been a great entertainer, but he no longer feels like sitting around in bed all day; he wants to do something. He longs to get some fresh air, and maybe even do a fun activity. Fortunately, when he brings it up with her, she happily agrees.

"I know a good place for us to go," she states. "I promise I won't exhaust you too much."

"Alright, sounds great! Where are we going?"

"That's for you to find out later. C'mon, get your phone; I'm taking you for a ride."

He gets out of bed, for the first time in several hours, and lets out a long stretch. The navy T-shirt he's wearing has no pockets, so she offers to hold his communicator in her own sweater pocket. After she gets her purse ready and puts on her sunglasses, they are ready to head out.

...

When they step out into the front lawn, the first thing he turns his gaze to is the luxury black car. Ooh, maybe we'll get to ride in that thing! His heart skips a beat when Mia starts walking toward it, implying that they are doing just that. He walks around to the passenger side, practically jogging, and gets in excitedly.

As soon as he takes a seat and closes the door, his jaw drops in amazement. Oh my gosh. This has got to be the fanciest car he's ever seen in his life. The whole interior is made of sleek black leather, and the seats could pass as massage chairs. On the insides of the doors, there are several colorful lights, ranging from orange to pink to royal blue.

Mia starts up the engine, and before he knows it, they are off. Neither one says much during the ride, but he figures out one thing quickly: she is a pretty good driver. Of course, there don't seem to be any road laws in this town; the paths clearly weren't made for cars. Even the bridge across the river is barely wide enough for it to fit. She clarifies this, explaining that walking is the main mode of transport here. Cars are only used to reach the outskirts of town, which would normally be about a half-hour walk away. In this case, though, the drive is only a couple minutes; she soon parks by the beach and states they have reached their destination.

It doesn't seem to be the one he washed up on; this one contains an assortment of fishing equipment, as well as a small boat docked next to a large pier. Looking to his left, he notices that the beach stretches out quite a long way.

"Well?" Mia asks, walking up to him. "How do you like this?"

"It's pretty cool! That pier looks really nice."

She agrees, before gesturing for him to follow her. Soon they are sitting on the edge of the pier. He lets his feet dangle in the cool water, and it takes a little longer for her to do the same, for she has to remove her shoes and socks first.

"So, Gulliver...it's been a pleasure getting to know you. I admit, I'm not the best at conversation, so you haven't learned much about me."

"I have though," he reminds her. "I found out that you help lead an entire town of people."

"Well, yeah, obviously. But there's more to me than just a Resident Representative, you know. Sorry if I'm coming off snobby or anything."

"No, it's fine. I want to learn about you too." He figures he'll be spending the rest of the day with her, if not longer, so they might as well connect a little more.

"Okay, great!" she replies enthusiastically. "I would love that."

With that cleared up, he asks her a few questions. He tries to limit himself a bit so as not to overwhelm her, but she doesn't seem to mind at all.