Mountain of Memories

4. The Journal

When Winston returned to the cottage, old and leather-bound journal in hand, there was another girl in the cottage. 

She too had fiery red hair in huge curls like Billy. On her shoulder sat another Indri, but with a very vibrant blue coat. 

When she spun around to stare at Winston as he came in through the door, it occurred to him at that moment that perhaps he should've knocked before entering. After all, he didn't really live here. 

She raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms over her chest. 

"We don't really get many strangers to this island. Who are you?"

"Now now Charlie, be nice to our guest. This is Cuxar's nephew."

"I'm Winston. I, uh--", he glanced awkwardly between Charlie and Billy, who gave him an encouraging smile and gestured towards the journal, "I found the journal. It wasn't under the seat like you said, but I think it's the one you were talking about." He stumbled over his feet as he tried to pull his shoes off to cross the room and give Billy the journal. 

She took it from him and stared at it, starry-eyed for a minute before dropping into an armchair. Winston glanced at Charlie, waiting for her to follow Billy before also following. She gave him a raised eyebrow before turning away. 

Winston sighed before dropping himself in the third arm-chair. 

"I know you gave the journal over to me Winston, but I think that you should be the one to open it up. If Cuxar wanted me to have it he would've found a way to give it to me."

She passed the journal back to him, he wasn't expecting the weight of the book and it hit the ground in a loud thud. 

He gave an awkward laugh before picking it off the ground and dusting it off. 

It felt heavy in his hands and the leather seemed old and withered. He hesitantly pulled the fold of leather holding the book together before sliding open the cover. 

There, it seemed, was a never-ending running to-do list. Each line containing a little hand-drawn square box with a check-in it, presumably meaning that Cuxar had completed the task and a neatly written task followed. 

There were hundreds of pages of filled tasks. Probably thousands of individual tasks that had been crossed off. 

He skimmed through some of the titles. 

"Boy running through a field. It's dark and raining. Something is chasing him."

"Girl falls into well and is saved by an entire village working together"

they all seemed to the names of different memories to be captured. Winston flipped to the end of the book.

"Hey, there are a couple here that haven't been completed yet." He looked closer at the names, "Growing up, " he frowned at that one. It was a little generic for a memory to be captured. What exactly was growing up? He looked at the second task that had yet to be completed on the list, "The memory from a dog who is about to be euthanized at the vet with his owner"

Winton frowned at that one too. A memory being taken from an animal? Was that even possible? 

He looked up at Billy. Her lips were pressed into a thin line and she fidgeted her fingers in her lap. 

"The last time he visited was ages ago. He came to tell me about the new kinds of memories that were being captured. Those for general ideas, I'm assuming much like Growing Up and about memories that were being captured from animals."

"Which one do you think he ended up searching for? Maybe he left all of this to me so I could finish off the collection."

"Well, I'm sorry Winston, but that was a long time ago. He hadn't chosen either one yet and I can't particularly remember him saying anything that might imply that he was interested in either direction. I guess it's up to you."

Winston looked down at the pages and read the other tasks on the page. He recognized the memories of some of the jars on the shelves in his caravan. 

"Where would I even begin?"

"These memories are actually a combination of many memories. It's up to you to determine what's needed for them."

"But I'm just a kid, how am I supposed to know what Growing Up is made out of?" Winston looked at Billy with wide eyes. 

"Maybe that's part of the process Winston."

Charlie hadn't said anything during any of this. She sat quietly, biting on her lip. 

"Hey, I wanna go with you."

Billy turned violently to look at her with raised eyebrows. 

"Charlie, you know that that's not part of the deal I have with your parents." Charlie rolled her eyes. 

"Yeah, but they don't need to know about this."

"Winston is going by himself. That's final." Billy stood up suddenly, "Winston, you are starting to overstay your welcome. I'll provide you with supplies for a month, but I think you should leave first thing tomorrow." With that she turned suddenly, retreating into the kitchen, leaving Charlie and Winston. 

"Take me with you." She whispered.

"Oh. Is that a good idea? After all the help Billy gave me I don't want to upset her."

"Winston, every good adventure story has a sidekick partner. You have no idea what you're doing and neither do I, but at least we'll be confused together."

Winston's eyebrows scrunched together in thought. Earlier today she seemed so disinterested in him. 

"I don't know if the caravan has two beds though"

"Billy has been training me for years. As long as you have the space for another bed, I can put one in. Please."

He sat quietly as she stared at him intently. 

Was he going to say yes?

This was his adventure, after all, he was supposed to do this by himself. But, he'd never been completely by himself for that many months. 

"Fine, you can come."

A smile illuminated her face and for a second Winston was taken back by how much of a stark difference it was from her usual frown. She gave him a playful wink. 

"Nipsey is coming too" 

She pointed at the blue Indris sleeping on the arm of her chair. Winston shrugged his shoulders. 

"It's settled then. I'll start packing now."