Disrupted

When we last left Betsy, she had climbed the first mountain—well, hill—on her road to regaining her lost momentum. Not only that, but the Muse had returned! Everything was coming up roses! Hoorah!

But then the blog went silent for a few weeks, and you know as well as I do THAT’S not a good sign. So now let us rejoin Betsy, struggling writer, Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide on Betsy’s Quest to become a successful independent author, and the Muse, who needs no introduction, to find out what’s been going on. Has it been good? Bad? Indifferent? None of the above?

Let’s see…

*Harry and Muse are standing together on the top of a hill* *They are looking up at the slope of an even taller hill, watching Betsy struggle to carry a boulder to the top*

Well, she’s still going. *Harry scratches one of his long ears*

So far. *Muse frowns* *Birds sing* I’ll admit I’m surprised. I didn’t think she’d keep it up.

*Harry squints* Crap. It looks like she’s running into some trouble.

*As if on cue, Betsy suddenly stumbles* *She tries to catch herself and bobbles the boulder she’s been carrying* *Her legs go out from under her* *Her arms flail wildly* *She ends up face down on the hillside* *The boulder she’s been carrying flies into the air, hangs for a split second against the clear blue sky, then crashes down on top of her* *It breaks into several pieces on Betsy’s back, burying her*

Oh, man! *Harry bounces forward, ears upright and alert* She’s down! She’s down! What happened?

*Muse sighs* I was afraid of this.

*Harry turns to her* What? Afraid of what?

Betsy just slammed into an Unexpected Mundane World Disruption.

A UMWD? *Harry spins back around* Are you sure?

Let’s look at the replay. *Muse pulls a tablet computer out from her robes* *Brings up video* *She and Harry huddle over the screen*

See? *Muse points* There’s a crater in the hillside that wasn’t there before. Betsy tries to avoid it, catches her foot, and then face-plants.

How in the world did she miss that? It’s huge! *Harry grabs his ears and pulls* She could see it coming from a mile away if she was paying any kind of attention! In fact, she DID see it. Look. *He points at the video* She started to avoid it, but then she swerved and headed right for the danged thing!

*Muse shrugs* It happens. Sometimes the human knows intellectually the crater is there, but doesn’t think they’ll fall into it. And sometimes they SHOULD know the crater is there, but they’re just not paying enough attention. It’s a miracle the crater didn’t swallow her up again. This was a medium disruption as opposed to what happened earlier in the year.

I guess. *Harry sounds uncertain*

*Suddenly, the hillside shakes* *Clouds form* *Torrents of sugar begin to rain down from the sky*

Oh, man. *Harry pulls out an umbrella and raises it over his head* *Sugar rains until the ground is white around them* She’s going in for the inappropriate eating again.

*Muse sighs and powers down her tablet computer before storing it away in her robes* Well, I won’t be able to get through the interference until her brain clears. You’d better go slap some sense into her. I’ll be back in a couple of days.

How come I’m always the one who has to get her up and moving? *Harry whines*

*Muse looks at him steadily* *Raises an eyebrow*

Sorry, sorry. *Harry bows hastily* *Sugar falls off the top of his umbrella*

*Muse pats his head* Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon. *Tugs a silky ear* Take some super-glue. She’ll need to put that boulder back together if she’s ever going to get it to the top of the hill.

Yes ma’am. *Harry watches Muse dissolve into a mist of rainbows and flowers and puppies* *Sighs* *Hops up the hillside to where Betsy lays face-down, buried under pieces of boulder* *Considers her, then pushes some of the pieces of boulder away*

Hey.

*Betsy turns her head to look at him* Ow.

Well, you didn’t go all the way down the rabbit hole this time.

What happened?

*Harry shrugs* An unexpected disruption.

It was a really deep crater. I thought I was going to miss it, but then it’s like my body decided to head right towards it.

But you pulled away at the last minute, so you only tripped and fell. That’s pretty good, right? *Harry tilts his head* Could you cut off the sugar consumption now? There’s no way you’ll be able to pick up the boulder again if your head’s mess up.

Maybe I don’t want to pick up the boulder again. *Betsy pouts*

Yes, you do.

It’s broken, anyway. Maybe I CAN’T pick it up.

I have super-glue. *Harry holds up the tube*

Maybe this is too much trouble.

It’s not too much trouble. It’s just enough.

Maybe I just want to keep eating sugar and forget about everything else.

*Harry tilts his head* Do you really?

*Betsy plucks at the grass* No. *The sugar stops raining from the sky*

Good. *Harry waves a paw and the boulder pieces move to the side* *Reaches down and helps Betsy to sit back up* Then let’s get gluing.

 

To be continued…