This is a game we used to love to play on another on-line group. I thought it might be fun to try it here.

There are no rules other than you must write at least a three sentence paragraph, it must follow logically from the previous paragraph, and it should make some sort of continuity sense. In other words: we are writing a group story. BTW, there does not need to be a cut off point. The last one I participated in ran for three years... I will start, and if no one participates I'll leave it up to the moderators if you want to leave it up or remove it.

Once upon a time (for that is how all good stories should start) there was a lonely woman who lived all by herself at the top of a large apartment building. She had no cats or other pets, no lover or husband, no children, and few friends. One day, she went to the roof to take some sun. As she sat on a bench beside the roof garden, feeling quite sorry for herself, she spied a curious looking book, jammed in a corner by the outflow vent. She tugged and pulled until she finally held it in her hands. The title was "The Curious Collection of Absolutely Everything Anyone Could Ever Want to Know."

It seemed a rather slim volume to have so weighty a title but nevertheless her curiosity was piqued and she opened it at page one. Even more curiously it had no title page or chapter heading; it simply started straight in with the text.

The cube root of one million eight hundred and sixty thousand eight hundred and sixty seven is one hundred and twenty three.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born on 27 January 1832.
The correct form of address for an Archbishop is "The Most Reverend His Grace the Lord Archbishop of...
Turkey Lurkey was eaten by Foxy Loxy.

Puzzled she flipped open at a random page somewhere near the middle of the book and read
Rolls and Royce first met at the Midland Hotel in Manchester.
The seven virtues are 'faith, hope, charity, fortitude, justice, prudence and temperence'.
The principle ingredient of sauerkraut is cabbage."
More puzzled than ever she turned to the back to see if there was an index.
There wasn't.

Fascinated, she returned once again to the beginning of the book.

"I wonder if there is any rhyme or reason to the way this book is organized," she said outloud.

Turning again to the beginning of the book, she found that the first paragraph had altered.

Not every informative book will have a Table of Context or an Index. Occassionally, the reader will need to read for herself to find the meaning and logic of the text.

Now the Lonely Woman was really perplexed... Was the book the Story of Life? Did this book have all the Answers?

Did it go beyond Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?

Would it explain why ice cube trays are never refilled?
And why tops were left off toothpaste tubes?
And which way toilet paper is supposed to be hung?

Was it just a book to insure getting a spot on Jeopardy?
Or a book to enrich the soul?

"What kind of book are you?" she whispered aloud.

Opening the book again to the beginning, she now found a title page.

Lonely Woman was surprised to read the page:

Logistics
Trivia
Symmetry
Dewey
TimeLine
Anything Goes..

Which section to pick? It was getting curiouser and curiouser...

She smiled, thinking briefly of Alice's rabbit and her bookish adventures.

Then she leaned her head back, eyes closed, twirled her index finger above the page, and pointed.

"Dewey", her finger showed her. "Well then," she tought. "Let's just see what old Mr. Melville will show me."

To her surprise, she found a citation not for the famous library science pioneer, but fo John Dewey, the philosopher. "What's this trying to say to me," she asked herself, and closed the book.

A strange noise broke her reverie, and with a start she jumped up. As she did so, she dropped the book over the edge, and watched as it it plummeted onto a hedge some five stories below.

"You really shouldn't get so excited, a voice from behind her said," as she turned to see a large, grinning lion, and nothing else.

Lonely Woman was certainly dismayed at losing her book, and surprised at the lion... she had NOT been reading C.S. Lewis, of that she was certain.

She stated matter of factly to the Lion: "I have just begun a fascinating new book. Now you have made me drop it into the hedge. It was going to teach me about Life! Why are you here?"

The lion continued to look like a Cheshire cat and said, "Oh, lady, your theory of inquiry is all wrong! I will teach you Logic."

Lonely Woman sighed... and mumbled... "I want my book back."

Suddenly the lightning flashed! The thunder rattled! The lion laughed!

"Your silly notions of dreaming and magic books will get you nowhere, Lonely Woman," he nearly growled. "You must climb on my back and come with me to discover the secrets of life!"

The woman shrunk back from the huge beast, whereupon he sat on his haunches and roared out a hearty laugh. "No reason to worry, I'm here to be your guide, not to have you for lunch," he growled.

"But my book!" she protested. The lion looked down at the book, raised his tail, and the book flew up and onto his mane. "Oh, very well," he said, "We can take it along."

Upon seeing this seeming legerdemain, the woman looked down to see if the book really wasn't still below in the hedge. It wasn't. She cautiously approached the lion, reached out and touched book, then suddenly ...

. . . the lion swooped under her and leapt into the air. She instinctively grabbed for his mane to keep from falling off as the lion soared higher and higher above the hedges and roofs. Afraid to look down, Lonely Woman squinched her eyes closed and held onto big fists full of the lion's mane.

Hey, Jo, you started this, then POOF! Keep it going!

sorry... been really sick.

When she opened her eyes they were standing outside a house.
"Where are we?" she asked.
The Lion chuckled, though it sounded more like a very quiet roar.
"Just stopping off to pay a visit." he said.
"But where?"
"Somewhere in the middens of North Iowa" he told her.
A face appeared at the open window.
"Hi Jo," said the Lion.
"Sorry to hear you've been sick. Just called to wish you well."
The woman at the window smiled and waved weakly.

With another very gentle roar the Lion bound into the air again. Lonely woman scrambled to catch at his mane and was just in time to be carried off into the air.

It was unsettling enough flying about on a lion, visiting people she didn't know. But the woman just had to know more. She quietly asked the lion to land in a lovely garden she spotted below. He readily complied.

The garden was neat, clean, with benches and meandering paths. The woman tidied her hair, straightened her skirt and sweater, and brushed some bird feathers from the lion's mane.

"My name is Cassandra," she said. "When I had friends, they called me Cassie. You may do the same."

"I have no name. Someone once tried to call me Leo. I ate him. You may call me Lion."

The two set out in search of adventure, Cassie still clinging to the strange book. She was somewhat more reluctant to open the pages than she had been at first. Adventures were not the normal stuff of her life.

Lion turned north, running on air, his sinews flexing rhythmically beneath Cassie, who began to have a feeling she had not had for many years. She began to feel a pulsing in her own body in time with Lion's gait, a feeling that shot through her, up her spine, and exploded in her brain so blissfully, so powerfully and exquisitely that she nearly lost her grip! She fell forward, wrapped her arms around the lion's neck, and pressed her awakened womanhood into his writhing spine.

Upon regaining her composure, she looked past the blowing mane to which she clung and discerned a great house - no, a castle - straight ahead. Who lives there?" she inquired. Lion roared a laugh and said, "You do," as the great beast nosed down towards the castle.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <Asa Lovejoy>,

Quote: Asa ....his sinews flexing rhythmically ...

Sorry, Asa, I can't write tonight.. I've lost my train of thought.. you're bad...

"I live there?"

"Yes, Cassie, it is your right to live there," Lion paused, as if considering what to say next, "but your cousin, Penelope, has taken it over for her own greed. I have brought you back to reclaim your rightful title."

"Title?"

"You don't remember anything, do you?" Lion shook his head slightly as he began to descend into the woods behind the castle. "Penelope may not know much, but she sure seems to know about how to manipulate your memories."

Lion landed in a small clearing in the middle of an ancient forest. Cassie didn't want to leave go of this massive, handsome beast, but could think of no reason to continue to cling to him, so she slid off beside him.

Lion turned and told her that should she have further need of him she need only to drop the book and he would reappear. At that he leapt into the air and was gone.

Cassie looked around the lovely sylvan paradise wherein she stood, then she opened the book to page two: "The lion has been a symbol or regal authority since ancient times." "Lion said this place rightfully belongs to me," she mused, "and he's a symbol of regal authority, and seems to have brought me here to reclaim what is mine, yet HOW is it mine?"

She sat upon a low limb of a massive fig tree and closed her eyes. She began to see an image from long ago, of her riding a horse, and the memory of the feeling she had experienced while upon Lion returned. Then someone knocked her from the horse and stole it from her! It was her younger sister, Penelope!" Cassie opened her eyes wide and blurted, "That's IT!!!"

Cassie realized that many of her vague memories of growing up involved Penelope. Her cousin had always been around, receiving all of the privileges and love Cassie's parents had to offer, but using them to torture Cassie or to gain advantage over other girls they knew.

Cassie closed her eyes again and remembered days of swimming in the cove with Penelope sneaking up to dunk her. She remembered days of playing games with other girls when Penelope always found a way to cheat and win. Then Cassie remember their emergence into womanhood. Penelope would preen for hours before going to simple picnics, and then flaunt herself and giggle wildly in an effort to win the attention of every boy present.

Yes, Cassie was remembering Penelope quite well. She could remember clearly all of her days up until . . . hmm . . . when, exactly did her memories end? How had she ended up in that garden with the book, and the Lion?

Cassie struggled to recall how she fell into the rote existence that had been hers for nearly a score of years, but pieces would not fall into place for her. From age seventeen until now, at thirty-six, she seemed not to have existed even in her own life! Yet she had a job in a library, and she had Robert, the janitor who was always trying to get her to straddle his broom with him as he galloped around the room screaming, Hi-Ho Silver, awayyyyyy! "Hop on my mighty steed and let me ride off into the sunset with you, fair maiden," he would say, and Cassie would giggle, thinking that Robert was crazy, but appreciating his after-hours attention all the same.

Cassie decided to find out for herself what her history held. She knew that to discover the truth, she would need to do some research. But this research would not be like that she'd done at the library. No, she would need to investigate first person. She began to walk in the general direction of the castle, thinking about a plan. She needed to find out what people in this world were like. She needed to find a way to blend in with the common folk of the castle so she could poke around without being noticed by Penelope. And she needed to find a bathroom.

As she climbed the winding path toward the castle, Cassie let her mind wander, recalling stories of childhood about fairy princesses, handsome princes, dragons, ogres... "Wouldn't it be something if it could all come to life," she thought. Suddenly she was lifted off her feet and soared into the air, held by a very large and very green paw. The air had a slight sulferous tinge to it, she noted, as she fainted dead away.

Her fainting caused her to drop the book, and, just as Lion had said, she awoke to find him standing beside her in a huge, animate oak tree.

"Lion! How did I get here!" Lion turned his head towards the tree. "The tree picked you up, Cassie. It sensed that you were walking into the brimstone pit just ahead. Can you, even with your poor human nose, not smell it?"

(Bob Hale, KHC, how about hopping back in here!)

I've only just found this thread, so I'll chip in my two pence worth.

Cassie sniffed cautiously. "I wondered what that strange smell was" she said. "I don't know what things are supposed to smell like in this world. I don't smell very nice now either. I was heading towards the castle to find a bathroom and now the shock of being picked up suddenly like that has made me wet myself. I need to find somewhere to wash myself and my clothes. My new trousers are ruined now.".

Lion raised his head and sniffed in the four cardinal directions. "That way," he said, pointing east, "you'll find a spring to bathe in and wash your clothes."

Cassie looked up and thanked first the tree that had saved her, then thanked Lion for his steadfast service, then, clasping her book, headed to the spring. Upon arriving she found not only the spring, with a lovely pool, but a man with a large staff. "Oh, NO!" she thought, I can't do my toilette with a man here!" She hesitatingly approached, then recognized a familiar face: it was Robert the janitor!

Dianthus, many thanks for reviving this thread!

quote:

a man with a large staff

What kind of story are we writing here, Mr. Lovejoy? <looks of incredulity and shock>
************************************

She ducked behind a tree to assess the situation and think about what to do. She was embarrassed by her state of filth, and needed to take care of herself, but with this man here, seemingly someone she knew . . . "Oh, dash it all!" she thought. "I'll just be bold and face this like a Woman."

She stepped out from behind the tree saying "Robert? Is that you?"

He turned to her, smiling.

"Yes, Cassie, it's me! I've been waiting for you to arrive."

quote:

She stepped out from behind the tree saying "Robert? Is that you?"

He turned to her, smiling.

"Yes, Cassie, it's me! I've been waiting for you to arrive."

Syrupy music played by a string orchestra began and swelled in intensity as they gazed into each others' eyes.

"Sounds as though they're having a ball in the castle" said Cassie, reluctantly tearing her gaze away from Robert.

"I've been here for a few days now and I heard that the Duke was going to be married. I'd forgotten it was today. Let's go and see if we can sneak inside and have a look". Robert turned towards the castle.

"I'm not dressed for a grand wedding!" expostulated Cassie. "I can't go anywhere till I've washed and dried my clothes and I can't do that now because you're here and this is the only outfit I've got! I'm not going to strip off and hang around in the nude for hours with you here. Besides, it isn't that warm now."

With a twinkle in his eye, Robert lifted his staff, pointed one end at the pond, and the other at Cassie. He twirled the pond end and water began to swirl. He flicked the end pointed at Cassie and her clothes began to melt from her body! Then he switched ends and a warm, swirling pool engulfed her, scrubbing and warming, until she was completely refreshed AND completely naked! "Don't worry about the clothes," Robert said, flicking his staff again. Cassie was suddenly draped in an exquisite ball gown of white with a lavender sash and pink roses at the bodice and arms.

"Cassie," Robert said, "I'm attracted to you, but I must hold my own desires in abeyance, since I have a job to do. I'm here with you as your psychopomp, or 'soul-guide.'" "I became aware of your plight several years ago, so I took the job at the library to learn as much as I could about you. Upon finding you to be a truly pure-hearted woman, I decided that it was time for you to begin your journey to self-understanding, and to, as they say in the psychobabble books, 'find yourself'" "Lion is a creature of your own psyche, your totem animal, if you will. He's the courage and purposefulness you've had buried since being brainwashed into believing that you were a nobody by Penelope. So, let's go find the real Cassie, and, maybe, find the prince you've been hoping for, shall we?"

quote:

So, let's go find the real Cassie, and, maybe, find the prince you've been hoping for, shall we?"

Cassie felt like Lewis Carroll's Alice must have done when the Queen told her that she believed "six impossible things before breakfast". She needed time and space to mull over and digest all the things Robert had just told her, but he was already heading off in the direction of the castle and she had no choice but to either follow him or stay where she was - which was really no choice at all. With a sigh, she gathered up her skirts and, wishing he'd magicked her some more practical shoes, set off after him.