Chapter Sixty-Seven, Part One

Sherwood Forest was much thicker and taller than it looked once they rounded the edges of the lake, which as it turns out, is comprised of a surprisingly large amount of floating settlements, or islands as the villagers call them. They go by very different names too, like Kin Island, Brother Island, Franks Island, Island of Lazies, and so forth.

At first Samuel thought Smarn was just joking when he began pointing to various islets, or islands, and giving them the odd names, but once he began making our way around them, and he could see the connecting ramps between them, and little signs, sort of Hobbit like which were carved and enamaled with the simple, or quite outrageous names.

They made their way towards the end into a lesser aspect of the lake, where the islands thinned out, and a rather large hamlet, or stretch of land moved from the east side of the lake, which was called Marion's Hair. A name Robin's eye twinkles gave away its namer. On the far side of the hamlet were indeed some tree houses, but rather crude by modern day standards, but once Samuel had been in a few, he didn't think them so crude anymore.

That night they climbed into the largest of them. It was Robin and Smarn's home, and about  dozen other men and women, who lived on the various levels of the home, which actually merged with the tree and went deep into its roots, where ice and food and extra clothing and weapons were stored.

At dinner that night the men brought out pipes and played dancing jigs, which the women would dance to and we would clap along with. Samuel had never had such a good time before as with these simple people. Not simple, that they were stupid or ignorant, just that they didn't make huge demands of life as most modern men and women might.

Samuel's first awakening to the more complex nature of his new friends, was when he was invited to sleep in Robin's room with Jimbo, while Nanny slept with some of Robin's women friends.

Smarn and Robin both slept in there as well, but there was plenty of room. The beds were carved out of the tree, and formed niches that were just deep and wide enough to along Samuel and  Jimbo to stretch out comfortably.

The niches had a kind of hair growing from the walls, which Robin said were sensors of a sort, in that when anyone sleeping on the grass like mattresses got too cold or warm, then extra layers of blankets would grow over them, or away.

It was like being hugged by the tree all night long.

It was a fantasy in many ways. Dream like. And so far from Vegas and its harder style of living that Samuel almost regretted that one day they would have to return.

The four men sat at a small table in the center of the room and played a game called Tarts, which allowed each player to have four cards in each hand, with them playing one from each hand by separating them with their forefingers. This allowed them to view their cards, and then decide which to toss down first. Whoever tossed the most likely cards first...calling them high and getting the highest...won by accumulating points.