Yes, everything seemed to be going well when all of a sudden giant tentacles erupted from the water and one of them grabbed Frodo! Frodo was saved by Sam who momentarily seemed to have forgotten his grief over the pony. Then the tentacles struck again! It was like ‘Attack of the Killer Tomatoes’ all over again! Except with tentacles… And no tomatoes… Come to think of it, it wasn’t very much like that at all.
We all retreated into Moria against Boromir’s better judgement and the gate guardian closed and blocked the door behind us. Gandalf helpfully pointed out the obvious by telling us the only way out now was to go all the way through.
We stopped at the top of a ‘short’ flight of stairs to eat and immediately continued on. Boromir was mumbling about how ‘we should not have come here’ but should have ‘taken the Southern rode to my city’.
"Sorry to say it, but I think Boromir is afraid of the dark." I whispered to Katy. Everyone was whispering now and I didn’t want to break the silence.
Katy nodded, "I think everyone besides Gimli and maybe Gandalf is afraid of the dark."
"One would think they’d be long over that. After all they don’t have night lights in Middle Earth…" I told her.
"They have candles though." Katy said.
"I’ve forgiven you, by the way." I said after a brief silence.
Katy looked up confused, "For what?" She asked.
"No, not you. Bethany Coconut Rock. I’ve forgiven her." I explained.
"Oh. Now look who’s talking with an inanimate object." Katy laughed.
"Yeah well, at least it doesn’t talk to me." I told her then stopped in my tracks with my eyes wide. Once I got over the initial shock I carefully looked around me (as if I could really see anything) but failed to find anyone near at hand.
Katy noticed me stopped and walked back to me as the Fellowship just passed by. "What’s wrong?" She asked seeing the look on my face.
"I could’ve sworn someone said ‘Who says I don’t talk to you’." I confided.
Katy laughed, "I knew you were schizoid, but now you’re just being crazy. No one said that."
I glared at her… Then I glared at the Bethany Coconut Rock which I was pretty sure was the source of the mocking.
I soon got over it like I get over oh so many things. "Hey Katy," I said, "Aren’t you excited?"
"How do you mean?" Katy asked.
"Well we just saw our very first sea monster! I’ve always wanted to see a sea monster. I should make a list of all the things I want to do and cross them off when I’ve done them." I said excitedly, groping for some paper.
"You do that, Rachel…" Katy replied uncertainly.
I stopped groping and looked at Katy, "Do you have any paper?" I asked.
She just rolled her eyes so I spoke louder so everyone could hear me, "Does *anyone* have any paper?" I asked. They all shook their heads ‘no’ and Legolas the closest one to me at the time told me to be quieter.
I pulled my pen out of my pocket (yes, I almost always carry a pen in my pocket. No, I’m not a geek. It can just be very helpful not to mention fun to play with when I’m bored and I’m just to lazy to carry it around in my hand all day) and began writing on my hand.
‘See sea monster’ I wrote, then I proceeded to cross it out. "Do you think that monster had any relation to Nessie?" I asked.
"Who?" Katy asked, I realized once again that she hadn’t actually been listening.
"The sea monster, do you think it was related to the Loch Ness Monster?" I asked. I never heard Katy’s answer though. At that moment I tripped on a rock and fell not more than a foot (closer to three inches I think) away from a deep 7 foot wide chasm.
I though about swearing, but being the model citizen and all around perfect person I am, I just said, "That was close."
Katy ran over, "Are you all right?" She asked.
"Um… I’ll live." I said and could’ve sworn I heard someone mumbling their disapproval of this fact. Gandalf looked around briefly before declaring we’d have to jump it. I really didn’t want to jump it. Katy really didn’t want to jump it. Pippin really didn’t want to jump it.
When everyone else was across it was down to us three. Who would jump next? Pippin looked on the verge of tears as the other hobbits were encouraging him to jump across. Finally I volunteered.
"I’ll go next Pippin. If I make it across alive I’m sure you can." I told him. He grudgingly nodded. I jumped. I felt my heart skip a beat and I was positive that I was going to fall to my death… Strangely like Gandalf… I then wondered if I would come back as Rachel the White. Or maybe Rachel the Indigo? As I was pondering these thoughts I suddenly found myself on the other side of the gap.
My cohorts on this side were trying vainly to talk our two missing companions (three if you count Bethany Coconut Rock). "Katy," I called over, "Can you find what I tripped over?" I asked.
"What you mean you didn’t trip over your own feet?" She asked sounding stunned.
I rolled my eyes, "Come on, it’s a matter of utmost importance." I told her. When she didn’t look convinced I added, "If you show me I’ll let you throw Bethany Coconut Rock to me and I’ll actually TRY to catch it." I said.
Katy nodded and looked around briefly with Pippin helping. He would do anything to put off the inevitable. Soon Pippin rose and handed something to Katy who also rose. "It’s just a rock I think." Katy yelled over (It was yelling for her, she doesn’t usually talk across a 7 foot gap).
"Um… Toss me Bethany Coconut Rock and then this other so thought ‘rock’." I instructed. She did so and once they were safely across the fellowship went back to convincing our friends that it was perfectly safe to jump across a 7 foot wide chasm to doom.
"What I wouldn’t give for some rope." I heard Sam mumble and I smiled.
"Did you say ‘rope’ Sam?" I asked as if I hadn’t heard, "Funny ‘cause I just happened to bring some with me!" I dug in my bag for a moment which Aragorn had helped me get off and proudly presented a bundle of rope.
"Why didn’t you give this to us earlier?" Sam asked, "It would have saved us a lot of trouble."
"It never came up." I told him plainly.
Everyone got across safely and my rope was returned to me. I now had time to look closely at the object which had impaired me earlier.
"It’s another coconut rock!" I exclaimed amazed.
"Wow, think of the odds!" Katy agreed, "Finding TWO coconut rocks in such close vicinity! Maybe there’s a coconut rock rally coming up."
"Or maybe we’ve stumbled upon their long secret breeding place." I added. Then upon looking at my discovery more closely exclaimed, "Eureka!"
"What?" Katy asked.
"Nothing. I just like that word…" I admitted, "But guess what, I officially name this a Catti Coconut Rock." I said in my most official sounding voice.
"Oh! Fun! Now the coconut rocks can talk to each other!" Katy exclaimed happily.
The others looked at us as if we were crazy as we introduced the coconut rocks to each other (I don’t know why) and they continued on without bothering to notify us. We noticed by ourselves however so we weren’t lost forever.
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