“Justi, come here! We have a problem!” Dingo Pingo calls out.
Justinian comes from the house. Justinian steps onto the verandah. Justinian sees the chewed pineapple.
“What happened to it?”
“It seems that a dog chewed it.”
“I wonder if we can still travel with it. I wonder if it’s still amazing.”
“Let’s try.”
“Find Isa. We need her blanket.”
“Isa? Isa!” Dingo Pingo calls.
“I’m here!” cries Isabella. She runs to the big boys. She loves the big boys. She loves to be near them.
Justinian takes her hand. The three children walk into the bedroom. Dingo Pingo holds the chewed pineapple. Justinian holds the atlas of Africa. Isabella holds her blanket. The three sit on the floor.
Justinian opens the atlas. He chooses a page. He chooses the ancient Ethiopian highlands. Dingo Pingo tries to scrape a bit of pineapple from the chewed fruit. Dingo places the bit on his tongue. They all hold hands. They wait.
They wait.
They wait.
They are still in the bedroom. They are not in the Ethiopian highlands. They are not in ancient times. The pineapple is no longer amazing. The pineapple no longer allows them to travel through Africa. The pineapple no longer allows them to travel through time.
They stand and walk from the room.
“It’s okay!” Isabella is still cheerful.
The two boys sit with Isabella on the verandah. Uncle Junior joins them.
The boys are disappointed. But they have to admit that it’s their fault.
“What did we expect?”
“You’re right. We abused our gift. We used it. We overused it.”
“And then we left it out for a dog to grab it.”
“We did not take care.”
“What did we expect?”
The boys sit sadly on the verandah. Uncle Junior looks at their sad faces.
On the road, a white minivan passes. The boys look into the rear window. Inside is Bumpy.
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