"An Adventure You Can't Imagine"


Once upon a time...

When was the last time you read a story that began with those words? How old were you? Six? Eight? You probably thought you'd never read another such story. And yet ... here you are. So ... let's get started...

Once upon a time, there was ... or is it there is...? Yes, I think that's right: once upon a time there is an abandoned store front. Oh, it isn't much at which to look. Just a narrow wooden door set in a narrow brick wall flanked by narrow, blacked out windows. Unnoticeable. So unnoticeable, in fact, that you have walked by it every day on your way to work for six years without, yes, noticing it. But today you do. Why? Because today, the blacked out windows are uncovered and there is a light beyond the glass. As you press your face to the dirty window, you find a strange old man sitting upon a short stool, looking directly at you as if he's expected you to peek inside. And with the bend of a crooked old finger, he lures you inside the shop...

Wait! How do I know you go inside? Well, if you don't, we won't have much of a story to tell, do we? And the title, "An Adventure You Can't Imagine" will actually be "An Adventure You Pass On Because You Are Too Eager To Get To That Job Where Your Boss Is An Ass and You Work Too Hard For Too Little Pay" ... right?

So, where were we...? Or, is it where are we...?

Oh yeah! So, you walk into the little store, and the strange old man says to you, "My, you are a fine specimen, aren't you...? Just like they said you would be. Yes ... yes! You should work out wonderfully." He speaks as if he was expecting you specifically to notice the store (finally), look through the glass, pass through the door. Why? Because he was. Or is that is? Well, before you have any opportunity to contemplate was versus is or is versus was, the strange old man lifts a hand before you, opens his closed fist to reveal a palm full of sparkling glitter that would look like gold dust if it wasn't a fluorescent green ... and blows it all over you...

And the next thing you know, you sit up from a laying position upon cold, wet earth ... light headed and disoriented ... stark ass naked!

You are no longer downtown in the Big City surrounded by people who pass by without noticing you anymore than ever had that little store front. Instead, you are in the middle of a vast, open valley with no one to notice you if they wanted. For at least two miles in every direction, all you can see is slightly rolling fields of wild grass that -- if you were standing -- would be waist high. To the east is a tall range of jagged, snow covered mountains; to the west is a shorter range of rolling, forested hills; to the north and south are just more fields as far as the eye can see.

Once you stand to look about yourself, you find a mile away, sitting on a slow moving river, a small town...



Your Turn: What do you want to do?
  • Go to the town?
  • Go a different direction?
  • Other?