Friday, April 27, 2007

living on the edge

life in dunedin carries on, and so far its good.

now i'm hesitatiant to claim its good. everytime i've said "things are looking better" or "on the up" (since my being laid off by the tyrrell anyways) they've always gone horribly horribly wrong...

i thought today was going to be the start of the downfall of my being in dunedin... force of habit i guess... but it had the setup to be a disaster...

my landlord ben the gardener wanted to meet with me this afternoon to discuss my living in the botanic gardens. when he told me i could move in originally we didn't really have time to go over... well... anything to do with my being a resident in his domain. that and i kinda lied to him and got him to sign a testamonial as to my character...

i was a little worried that ben was going to change his mind and boot me out of the garden...



it was a lovely afternoon when we met in the garden. i noticed ben seemed fairly cheerful, but then again i know people can be friendly and then do something really mean. i tried my best to be nice so that maybe he'd change his mind.


he suggested that we head up and take a seat on bench hill to have our little talk... oh man i thought sitting down. that means this was either going to be long or something "heavy" (hence the need for a sit down)... in either case that meant it was more likely to bad then good...


as we headed up to bench hill ben would stop to check out some of the plants. i wondered why? he informed me that's what being a gardener is all about. keep a close watch on plants and the other things in your garden and make sure that their doing fine.

hmmm big job a gardeners then...

when we got up to bench hill we took a seat, and i braced for the worst...

ben started off by saying "so how are you enjoying living in the gardens so far?"

okay not quite the start to this i was expecting, but i figured it'd get bad sooner then later. "it's pretty cool," i hesitately replied.

"good," ben went on. "i just wanted to check in to make sure you're first month has gone smoothly. i haven't had a lot of time to catch up with you since you moved in."

"no everything is fine," i sorta lied. not to say that wasn't the truth people of the world wide web, but talking to ben wasn't exactly fun. i didn't want to have to find another home already...

"splendid," ben said as he stood up. "i was worried you were going to need something or want to move out." he laughed "i know these gardens can be a tad bit crowded at times. i frankly thought you might want to leave and find a less busy place to live."

wait what? i thought. this wasn't what i thought it was at all... oh man...

things haven't been going my way for so long people of the innerweb (since i started this blog basically) that i've become used to them going wrong. i really need to watch that i don't fall into negative thinking...

"i've been feeling a little bad not having caught up with you since you moved in. i kinda like the idea of my garden having a dinosaur living in it," ben chuckled. "i was worried you'd already left. i haven't seen you around at all. where did you end up settling in the garden?"

"the dell," i answered.

"really!" bens face suddenly became serious. oh great right when i started to try and think positive he gets all mad...

"well that explains why you haven't noticed the crowds," he seemed to note out loud. "look traumador that is a very nice area, and i don't mind you living there, but i need to warn you."

ben looked a little troubled. "whatever you do don't venture beyond the dell. otherwise you'll be entering the maze," he tensened. "i don't normally like to talk about as it might encourage people to see it, but i figure i need to warn you about it."

"oh i know about the maze," i interupted. i'd heard about it in my initial explorations of dunedin. "supposedly nobodies ever found the end of it, and some have never come back."

ben looked on kinda impressed.

"i know it's just a story, and that it isn't real," i told him confidently. "you're secret is safe with me."

suddenly ben leaned in closer and lowered his voice "you misunderstand me my little friend," his voice had a urgency about it. "the maze is no mere myth. many who have set out to find its secrets have never returned. i myself have never wandered into its enigma."

okay i knew he had to be pulling my leg now. "yeah okay you fooled me," i jested back. ben didn't flinch or move. "you're the head gardener, you'd have to know every little spec of this place by heart by now."

he just looked at me his eyes never moving. "you don't understand traumador," his voice was like out of a scary movie. "this is no ordinary maze or trail. once you enter the dell that forest ceases to be of this world. it is that of some other."

okay i was starting to get a little freaked out...

"me and my crew never cut through that section of the woods. if you do you never come back," he came in closer to me. "whatever you do, if you find yourself in the maze for some reason don't ever step off the path. or you won't come back either..."

now i was totally freaked out. i promised to not go into the maze which caused ben to calm back down into his nice cheerful self. he said he didn't mean to panic me, and took me down to the cafe by the duck pond for a coffee to ease my mind... it was a nice ending to that somewhat stressful conversation...

had i made a bad desicion? i wondered. wanting to stay in the gardens now? i came worried i was going to be kicked out, but now i was worried about staying...

i'll just have to make sure i don't go into the maze...

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