Eric meets a girl

Eric meets a Girl

By Dave Gore

Eric woke with the sun shining through the bedroom window, he stretched and thought about what he could do today.

"I think I will go for a walk in the woods and pick some mushrooms, he said to himself.

After showering and getting dressed he made his way down into the kitchen, he prepared a breakfast consisting of a whole spoonful of porridge, he thought about only having half of it but decided that if he was to meet anyone or be seen he might not get back in time to have his lunch.

After eating only half of the porridge he felt quite full, so he decided to save the other half of the porridge for his lunch, my eyes were bigger than my stomach he thought to himself.

After clearing up he unlocked eight of the nine locks on his door leaving the last one locked, just in case there was anyone waiting outside.

He then went into the lounge and carefully peeped through the net curtain to see if it was all clear outside, when he was satisfied that there was nobody waiting outside he took the door key from hook that was on the wall by the door and slowly unlocked the final lock leaving the door chain still attached to the door.

Before opening the door all the way he peeped through the gap in the door and when he was satisfied that there was nobody outside he removed the door chain and opened the door.

Outside the sun was quite bright and Eric felt happy, waiting there beside him was his friend the shadow, "good morning shadow" he said, but of course the shadow did not reply, not that it worried Eric for his friend the shadow had never spoken to him, he had only played hide and seek with Eric.

Eric locked the door and when he was sure that nobody else was around he started to walk into the woods with his friend the shadow, sometimes his friend would follow him but every now and then his friend would lead the way and every now and then his friend the shadow would disappear.

Eric did not want to play hide and seek with the shadow this morning so he didn't go searching for him, after a while his shadow would be by his side again which made Eric feel a lot safer.

Eric had picked a few of the nice mushrooms that grew just inside the woods and had put them into the bag that he had picked up in the kitchen, he bent to pick up just one more mushroom when he was sure that he heard a twig break in front of him.

He waited still bent low for a while not moving with his eyes shut tight, for if he couldn't see anyone they would not be able to see him he thought, he heard no more and slowly straightened up and opened his eyes, there standing in front of him was another dinosaur.

Both of the dinosaurs stood still looking at each other, their bones started to shake and their teeth started to rattle, but as hard as they tried to stop the bones shaking and the teeth rattling they couldn't.

After staring at each other and not moving for around two hours, Eric remembered that once this had happened to him before, was it just his reflection that he saw standing in front of him? and if not, would he be able to turn and run faster back to his safe room in the house than the dinosaur that stood in front of him.

The other dinosaur was thinking exactly the same as Eric, then they both looked down towards the ground at the same time, slowly looking at each other from the feet right up to the top of each other's head.

Then Eric noticed that the other dinosaur was wearing a dress, he couldn't remember putting a dress on this morning, the other dinosaur was thinking I can't remember putting trousers on this morning.

The other dinosaur whose name was Mary then said to Eric, are you me? hoping that the answer is going to be, yes I am you, or getting no answer at all from Eric, for perhaps this morning her eyes are just playing tricks with her.

Eric is surprised but say's, "no I'm me". The other dinosaur then said to Eric "you can't be me because I'm here and you are there and I don't wear trousers.

Eric then said " you can't be me because I'm here and you are there and I don't wear dresses. Mary then said to Eric, "If you are not me who are you, you are not going to catch me and cook me for your dinner are you"? as Mary slowly took a step back.

"I hope not, I only like porridge, lettuce leaves and carrots" said Eric. Mary then said "That is all I eat" as she took another step backwards.

Both of them are not sure what to do and can they trust each other, but before they have the chance to decide, their bones shaking and their teeth rattling had woke a mouse who lived nearby, he poked his head out of his hole and said "Who is making all that noise, you have woken me up".

Well with that Eric and Mary ran, they ran as fast as they could, soon they were running side by side for Eric had forgotten to turn around before he had started to run.

The faster they ran the further Eric was from his own house and his safe room, but Eric was so scared the only thing he was thinking about was to get as far away from that fierce mouse as possible.

They soon arrived at Mary's house, both of them entered the house and together they put all nine locks on the door, they managed to do this in a record time because there was the two of them.

It was only after all the locks and bolts were locked they realised that both of them were in the same house, with all the locks now on the door there was no escape.

The safe room they both thought together and again they both ran as fast as they could into the safe room and quickly locked themselves in.Mary went and hid in the right hand corner of the room while Eric went and hid in the left hand corner of the room.

They both closed their eyes and then put their hands over their eyes, because they both thought that if they couldn't see anyone, then anyone who might be near them could not see them.

They both sat there in their corners for a whole hour, both of them could hear the teeth rattling and the bones shaking in harmony with each others, ever now and then they would peek through their fingers open their eyes then quickly closing them again.

A while later Eric heard himself say "I wish I had my friend the shadow with me", but of course he couldn't because his friend the shadow only like to be with Eric when the sun was out and shining and there was no sunshine in the safe room.

Mary then said "Is that you my friend the shadow sitting in the other corner"?Eric said " No I'm Eric and I'm scared".

Mary then said "I'm scared as well, but I don't know any Eric""You must know me as this is my house and my safe room that only I know about" said Eric"No this is my house and my safe room, and I'm the only one who knows about it" said Mary.

Both of them sat in their corner in silence for the next half hour, both of them thinking am I in my own house and in my safe room?

Then Mary plucked up courage and removed her hands from over her eyes and slowly opened her eyes, she looked around and said, "this is my house and my safe room, because the last time I was in here I left my red scarf in here and it's right in front by the door".

Well Eric slowly removed his hands from his eyes and slowly opened them, he looked across to the other corner where Mary was sitting and then towards the door, there lying on the floor was a red scarf.

Eric was the next to speak as he said, "This isn't my safe room, where am I? and how did I get here?" Eric then said "You're not going to cook me and eat me are you? "No I only like porridge, lettuce leaves and carrots and I'm getting hungry, I only had half a spoonful of porridge for my breakfast" said Mary.

"I'm getting hungry to" said Eric". "Well if you promise not to eat me I can give you a lettuce leaf or a carrot if you like", said Mary.

Slowly they both started to get up from their corner, they then moved slowly towards each other until they were both standing face to face with each other, together they both raised a hand and slowly touched each other's hand.

"You look just like me, but your hair is longer and you are wearing a dress" said Eric."That's because I'm a lady" said Mary.

Together they unlocked the safe room and made their way to the kitchen where Mary prepared their meal.

Eric had a thin slice of carrot and just a little bit of lettuce leaf while Mary finished off the half spoonful of porridge that she couldn't manage to eat for breakfast.

After they had eaten they were both quite full, so Mary and Eric went into the lounge and sat together on the settee, both of them now feeling relaxed and safe.

As they looked at each other they both thought to themselves now I have two friends to play with

The End