[Drive, Innovate]

  “What do you think Lottie, is it safe to jump him back to Wyldwood, I’m sure his family is very worried about him right now. I can jump him back to the tower, Ryan is there and we have rooms for you and Ronja as well.”

  “Yes, that sounds like a great idea, I have to get some sleep, it’s been more than a few years since I pulled my last all-nighter.”

  I yelled to Maz who’d gone back to his lab. “Maz we’re going back to the tower, are you ready, or should I come back for you.”

  “Coming Rose, I’m coming.”

  “Lottie should we take this bed on wheels.”

  “It’s called a gurney Rose, yes if you can.”

  “Sorry, I’m ready Rose.”

  “It’s alright Mas, just put your hand on my back, you too Lottie, Ronja, just go ahead and grab my left hand, and here we go.”

  We jumped right outside an empty room. I opened the door and ordered a sideboard and dresser, extra lighting and three comfortable chairs. Maz and I shoved the gurney into the room. I asked Mossbeard if he was hungry and he confessed to being starving. I asked what his favorite food was. I went to the sideboard and ordered gulasch, which I’d never heard of but smelled wonderful.

  Mossbeard smiled with delight, when I handed him the bowl and spoon. I then went next door and made up two more identical rooms, except with beds and bathrooms. In Ronja’s I made her bookcase and books full size again.

  Gigi came out of the library.

  “Hi Rose, I thought I heard something out here. I was just going to get Ryan something to eat.”

  “Thank’s Gigi, where’s Lu?”

  “I sent her to work, we can’t have her missing her first day right. I offered to stay with Ryan, after lunch I was going to take him to the theater. Is his mother back as well?”

  “Thank you Gigi, I would have felt terrible if I caused her to miss opening day. You are a lifesaver. Yes, Lottie is three doors down, would you talk to her? She's been up all night caring for the patient and might appreciate it if you take Ryan to the theater. We can use the new transport network to Lily’s.”

  I told Lottie that I was headed to the Clinic to tell Orin how the patient was doing. After I showed Ronja and her how to operate the bathroom and the sideboard and told them to put Mossbeards torn and bloody clothes on the dresser and they’d be repaired. Lottie told Ryan to be good for Gigi and thanked Gigi for watching him.

  Then Gigi, Ryan and I touched the drawing and jumped to the book store, Opal was busy drawing and Sparky looked up from the chess board, which looked mid game but he had no visible opponent. Sparky wanted an update so I told him what was going on and I was off to the clinic.

  We jumped to the bakery, where I repeated Mossbeard’s condition and told Lily that Lottie was at the tower, about to take a nap. I invited her over for supper. I told Gigi and Ryan to have fun at the theater and that I’d see them later at the tower then stopped at the pub, to fill Lu in on what was going on. The pub was full, not a seat in the house, the soup was the mushroom soup I’d had last night. I asked Gunay for half a mug of the soup. It was just as good as it was last night. I ate and recounted to Lu about Ronja and the school for nurses. Gave her a quick kiss and headed to the clinic construction site.

  Orin was directing the crew, but he had a worried look on his face. When he saw me coming he hurried in my direction.

  “Rose, is he going to be alright?”

  “Yes, Lottie is very happy with his progress, he was eating a bowl of gulasch half an hour ago. He’s staying with me in the tower until he is well, we also rounded up a nurse. Maz acted as the nurse last night.”

  “I fired that Fred, first thing this morning.”

  “Well here’s the thing, please don’t be mad. It wasn’t Fred’s fault, Mossbeard was trying to pull a prank on Fred and told him to pull, not realizing Fred was strong enough to pull the wall down. His first thought was that he’d hurt or killed Fred. Then he was worried the colony would be exiled, lastly he worried about himself. Please forgive him Orin, he’s learned his lesson, he almost died, and it’ll take time for him to recover.”

  “Now, I’ll have to rehire Fred, pay him for a day he didn’t work and walk all the way to the Tower to knock that knucklehead on his knee.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Please tell his family if they’d like to visit him to just come to the tower. One other thing Orin, we’d like to build a nursing school. You saw for yourself last night that Mossbeard was in terrible shape; he had major injuries in multiple places. Lottie is a great surgeon, but sometimes one person isn’t enough; she needs knowledgeable staff. Last night we were lucky to have another medical person at the party. But he isn’t staying here forever. I’ll pay in gold, we need two classrooms and bedrooms for eight young women. If we could build above the clinic the students would be apprentices who’d work three hours a day in the clinic and the rest of the time would be learning from experienced nurses from Earth. I already brought one, she’s in the tower helping to care for Mossbeard.”

  “Whoa, slow down, you’re right he was leaking from so many spots, if he’d been a pipe I’d have tossed him away. His father is also one of my best friends, his stupid prank cost time and money, but also pointed out a weakness in our clinic plan. So he can come back to work, but his pay is docked for the foreseeable future. He has to apologize to Fred, and convince Fred that he should be allowed back to work. Fred is a decent sort, so I think he’ll forgive him. You, Rose, already overpaid for the clinic, so I think we can probably add two more floors for what you’ve already paid. Just tell Lottie to come down here tomorrow and I’ll have the blueprints drawn up after she describes exactly what she needs. Thank you for your part in saving him, he certainly appeared to be dying right in front of me before you vanished him to who knows where.”

  “Thank you Orin, you must be the most patient builder in the world, this’ll be the third time we changed the plans. I’m going to go, pick up my girlfriend and sleep for twelve hours.”

  I walked up to the brew pub which was just closing for its first day of business. Lu was very pleased, they never expected to do so well on day one.

  “Rose you look exhausted, how about a piggy back ride, like that day we first met.”

  “Oh, Lu, I remember that day so well. I was so impressed by the bard who’d saved me from wolves. The next time I get a ride like that I want to be awake, I’m afraid today I’d fall asleep, three steps in, let’s use Opal’s portals. I still have to speak to Lottie before I can sleep and I want to introduce you to Ronja”

  “Sure, that’ll be nice too.”

  So we went in the bakery back door and jumped to the bookstore then to home. I walked down to Mossbeards room. Lily and Ronja and Lottie sat there talking quietly, when they saw me they came out into the hall.

  “Lottie, if you have time tomorrow, please go down to the clinic and talk to Orin. He’s going to build two more floors on top of the clinic, but wants your input before drawing up the blueprints. Ronja you should go to, you’ll be teaching in the classrooms you should have a say in their design. How is Mossbeard?”

  “Last night I was sure he was going to die. He woke up and ate his third bowl of gulasch, a little while ago. I was hungry and had a bowl myself, it was very tasty.”

  “I’m sorry I’m exhausted, I have to go to bed. Good night, see you all tomorrow.”

  Lu and I went into our bedroom, I ate half a bowl of gulasch. Lu helped me to bed, she said I was falling asleep at the small dining table in our room.

  “Lily, you were right about her. I can’t believe that I used to be scared of her. The way she saved his life was incredible. After jumping us to Maz’s lab, she just paused Mossbeard, like he was a song or video, then she came back and got Maz to help. Then I asked her to transform him into a human so I could work on him. The whole time blaming herself that he got hurt at all because she asked for mercy for the human unemployed carpenters. Then she went from finding a nurse to help me to opening a nursing school so that there is never a shortage of nurses. While telling me that the way it is done on Earth is stupid and backward. Which it is.”

  “Well, I just met her today and was never scared of her but she is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. She was looking at my bookcase, and I just remarked that it was the only thing I’d miss. So she just shrunk it, put it in her pocket. Then when she made up my room she unshrunk it and put it in my room.”

  “Lottie, I knew you’d come around, it’s impossible to be around Rose for a very long time without seeing what a good person she is. She set up a transportation network yesterday, from Tower to Bookstore to Bakery. She wouldn’t use the jump to the bakery when we were closed without my permission. The second nicest person I’ve met is her girlfriend Lu, she’d do anything for you. We needed that oven built. Lu just took the day off work to help. Paula said Lu did the majority of the work, she’s so strong she can outwork Paula. Life hasn’t been the same since that pair got here.

  I felt much more like myself, when I woke up the following day. Lu was moving quietly around the room, getting herself ready for work. She came over and gave me a nice good morning kiss, before I realized that I hadn’t even brushed my teeth yet.

  “What time is it Lu?”

  “About ten forty five.”

  “Oh, no, I’m really late, why didn’t you wake me?”

  “Because according to Sparky he doesn’t want to see you until you get the nursing school organized and ready to go. I thought you could do that better if you had some sleep. But I have to go, I’ll see you tonight unless you have time for lunch. Love you Rose.”

  “I love you Lu”

  As soon as I’d bathed and dressed I went down to see how Mossbeard was doing. Lottie and Ronja were watching in amazement as he walked around the room. He was so spry I thought he was going to jump up into the air and click his heels together.

  “Rose, thank you for letting me stay in your remarkable home, but I have to go home and own up to ma and pa about how bad I screwed up.”

  “I talked to Orin yesterday, if you apologize to Fred and Fred agrees you can get your job back. Orin was mad at Fred and fired him until I told him what you told me. So I’ll go with you to Fred’s if you think it’ll make it easier. Well if Lottie thinks it’s all right we can all go together. Lottie and Ronja need to talk to Orin. Lottie can he walk from the bakery to the clinic and back?”

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this but yes I think he can.”