//a crowded city is not a place of rest - an overlooked detail\

  We are in luck, Siblings! Such luck! The tall structures become very close now, though we has moved towards a different path, still east nonetheless. Ronald has said that were we head is known by him, he has pointed out "planes" that shall carry us to our destination. From there, we will continue on our way.

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  Now this "airport" had been reached, and Ronald stopped me just a short distance from the entrance. "Trinity," he said, "We can't enter such dressed in rags and dirt in our hair." My Brother left with me and we walked to another building, he handed a woman something and he received a pair of keys. Silently he led me up the stairway and into a locked room which he used the keys to get into.

  Such comfortable mattresses! Such big windows, I could see so much of this city from such a small space! Though, I did not have much time to stand in awe at this glass portal, for I was soon stripped of my rags and tossed into a tub that rained from the wall behind me. I was handed a bar of soap and told to wash myself with a separate rag made of rough materials. I did so, and was told to wash my hair. "With what?"

  Ronald was also in the tub now, and he took my head gruffly in his hands, scrubbing chemicals into my scalp while he let me rub soap over my slippery arms. His hands are so very gruff, his is rushed and paranoid, his fingers shake and his eye twitches slightly. My hair was tugged at so many times I had thought I would begin to bleed from the top of my head.

  He dried me, told me I smelled much better than I had before. Ronald's barley hair was darker when it was wet, though he let me stroke his head with another towel; one was wrapped around my body like a dress. I laughed and told him it was my ball gown, he remained serious and ordered me to cease my childish play. I cried a bit, but it only seemed to be drops of water from my hair.

  My Brother showed me, closing the window shades to hide his nakedness from those who might look in, many more little slips of paper. The faces of intimidating men looking out from them, and bold numbers printed in each corner. "Dollars" is what he called them. Or "money", "cash", "bucks" and "bills". It is somewhat similar to the movies and videos he had told me about, but much more complicated. I suppose I will choose one name, forget the rest. I only need one name, so do these pieces of paper.

  Ronald said he would take me back into the city and we would traverse to another building, where he would purchase us both new clothing, so that we may not look prisoners. Even the woman that handed my Brother the keys glanced at me in an unusual way, but I merely smiled at her. I believe she thought us to be her imagination, she held a hand to her forehead once I looked back from the hallway.

  So we did go to the shop, and Ronald wandered about squinting at hard squares that hung from plastic that connected them to a piece of clothing. Some he widened his eyes at, others his lifted from their places and laid them across his forearm. He chose a top for himself, as well as a bottom, shoes I consider quite fitting for him, and undergarments. Ronald allowed me to choose what I fancied, as long as I let him squint at the "price tags" first. I did so, choosing a brightly colored yellow shirt with an exotic bird as the design across the chest, bottoms that reached just above my scratched knees, rolled up a bit at the ends and made of rough material, and lastly, open-toed shoes that reminded me of spider webs; little golden pieces strapped around my foot, the sole supported with flat padding. Undergarments were not as enjoyable to choose, they were plain and all similar. 

  Ronald said that once we reached the airport, as we had already given back the keys to the place of comfy beds and warm water, we would have to spend most likely the remainder of what money we had left. Food would be hard to get once the plane dropped us off in another place, though my Brother promised to work it all out. 

"I will have time to think about it on the trip over. It will take a while, as it's almost across the whole country."

  Country? Ronald had seen a map before, a map of the United States, where we lived. Where we are now. He says we live in Nevada, but we must reach New Jersey if we plan to find our Shady and take her home again. I merely stood quietly while Ronald purchased a ride on the plane, though we had no bags of clothing to set down on the leather that moved into a small hole. It would be brought onto the flying ship, if we had any. Both of us had already disposed of our old torn clothing from Father's house. Food would be provided on this plane.

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  I sit now in my seat, Ronald asleep in one beside me. This familiar feeling of sickness visits me now. Shots of light appear in the tiny window to my left. Loud thunder. What shall we do if this flying ship were to fall down with the weight of such heavy raindrops! What hail pours against the metal rooftop of the floating vehicle! I cannot panic but Ronald and I must jump now! We must escape, must the seat lurch forward and drop downward onto the spiraling earth!

  PRAY WE MAY MAKE IT OUT IF THIS ALIVE! I CANNOT ABANDON MY LOVELY SHADY JUST YET!