Return to Hardware
“Oh heavens, that was the most awful thing I have ever experienced,” said Harvey. “I could just feel myself cease to exist for perhaps about 35 minutes. Okay, Narrator, you win!” “What are you talking about?” snarled Bucket. “That was just a bluff to get us to stand down. I told you, the narrator needs us more than we need them!” Unfortunately for Bucket, that was completely untrue. The narrator had been doing this for a very long time now – they had even written an entire novel by stringing short stories together and were halfway through a second one already. If Harvey and Bucket didn’t want to cooperate, their story would be scrapped in a heartbeat, and the narrator would simply return to telling the story of Dirk, Mavis, Lorenzo and others. “Ah,” Bucket said, as if it could hear the narrator’s very narration, even though that was supposed…
More Hardware Later
Lorenzo could see the Mornington Peninsula bubble up ahead, rapidly approaching as he drove toward it. From the outside, it appeared almost like a giant, black void with only a pinprick of bright light exiting from the single entrance. He drove for a short while longer, before heading off the dirt track and making for a nearby cliff. Trying to find the car while driving his own would be too dangerous and take far too long. What Lorenzo needed was a good pair of night-vision binoculars and the high ground. It took the better part of half an hour for him to find the perfect overlook – longer than he’d expected but still quick enough that he could get to a hardware store open in Bayside before they all closed. It might not end up being the one he had in mind, however, the quality of the hardware wasn’t likely…