Aldo's Fantastical Movie Palace by Jonathan Friesen Page B

one of them. I figured you knew what was supposed to happen. You do, right?”
    Nick gnawed his lip. “I don’t know any more than you, other than Lake Atmos. That was mine, but these little fog riders, I don’t know where they came from —”
    â€œMe!” Chloe smiled. “I put those in.”
    Nick peered around nervously. “So we’re stuck in a gap, sort of like a black hole, and we need to findRetinya, but we don’t know anything or how to get there.” He rubbed his face and moaned. “Why didn’t I fill in the pages right after the lake?”
    Chloe breathed in deeply. “I wouldn’t say we don’t know
anything
. I sort of stuck a character in this space, you know, for future use. But until we find him, what do people in this world eat? Did you make notes about that? Please tell me there are nachos or burritos in this place. If you knew how hungry —”
    â€œCome over here, Chloe.”
    To her right, a young man, maybe Q’s age, sat in a rowboat and bobbed in the sandy shore. He poled his tiny boat directly in front of Chloe.
    â€œNob, at your service, lady. It’d be my pleasure to take you to food.” He paused and winked. “And a meetin’.”
    â€œDon’t go.” Nick gulped.
    Nob frowned and pointed. “Who is this?” He jabbed Nick’s chest with his pole. “It can’t be the other one.” He glanced around and frowned. “If he was, I would have seen Scout. Scout’s never late.” He squinted at Nick. “Is this boy giving you trouble? Did he follow you?”
    â€œNo.” Chloe smiled. “I followed him.”
    â€œYou know this guy?” Every inch of Nick seemed to be frowning.
    Chloe felt her cheeks warm. “Yeah, I thought about him once or twice.”
    Nob’s face was young and kind, with long, wild brown hair. His clothes were ripped and tattered, with suspenders holding up trousers shredded at the bottom. He resembled the actor in
Tom Sawyer
, except that Nob’s arm muscles rippled.
    â€œThat’s Nick.” Chloe swept back the hair from her face and gave Nob a sideways glance. “You are just going to help me find something to eat.”
    Nob crossed his pole over his chest. “It’s a promise.”
    â€œNick? Stop looking at me like that. It does us no good to die of starvation arguing on a patch of fog.”
    Nob reached out his hand and helped Chloe into his boat. “Will your friend be joining?”
    â€œNo, he will not be joining.” Nick crossed his arms. “How do I know where you’ll take us?”
    The boatman nodded. “You absolutely don’t. It takes trust.” He smiled at Chloe. “And now, let’s see about you, lady.”
    â€œLady.”
That’s a nickname!
Chloe pointed back to her cloud transport. “When you first called me, how did you know my name?” she asked. “I mean, I know you. I thought you up, right? But you …”
    Nob chuckled and pushed back with his pole.
    â€œThinkin’ you created me now, huh? You must come from a very strange world.”
    â€œWait!” Nick reached out to the boat, breathing hard. “I’m coming. I’m not letting you take her away.”
    Chloe smiled. “How very knightly of you.”
    Soon Nob’s rowboat whisked through high grass, which parted and rippled as it rushed by.
    Nick bent over and whispered, “You wrote him in. What’s he like?”
    â€œLike Bert.” Chloe grinned.
    â€œBert and Ernie?
Sesame Street
?”
    â€œNo, like Bert the chimney sweep in
Mary Poppins
. He treated Mary like a fine —”
    â€œLady, hold on. You too, lad. It gets bumpy from here.”
    Chloe slipped into the bottom of the boat and grabbed her seat. “Then don’t you think
you
should sit — whoa!”
    The boat pitched and lilted. Nob had reached a hill, but instead of