{"id":7990,"date":"2021-06-23T20:55:53","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T00:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/?p=7990"},"modified":"2021-06-23T20:55:53","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T00:55:53","slug":"i-struggled-into-a-standing-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/i-struggled-into-a-standing-position\/","title":{"rendered":"I Struggled Into A Standing Position"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-24\" src=\"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/k-avatar-e1443983846496.png\" alt=\"by Kent\" width=\"81\" height=\"81\" \/>according to the banner pinned to the wall<\/li>\n<li>it\u2019s bandit country.<\/li>\n<li>each of the 24 wigs<\/li>\n<li>Suddenly, I want to touch him.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cOut loud!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Tune in next time part 608 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/tune-in-next-time\/\">Click Here for Earlier Installments<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I struggled into a standing position, still leaning against the damp rock for support. Carefully, tenderly, I reached for the concealed button John had used to deactivate Tessa. I felt a soft click behind her ear. She remained motionless, but powerful beams of light shot from her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Blinking and squinting in the sudden glare, I surveyed the tunnel. &#8220;Well, Tessa,&#8221; I muttered, &#8220;according to the way these stones have been fitted, I would say our little subterranean passageway is a lot older than Twerkistan. And, <em>according to the banner pinned to the wall<\/em>, <em>it&#8217;s bandit country.<\/em>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Given the likelihood of lurking bandits, I very much wanted to revive my formidable companion. A bit more exploration around the base of her skull turned up three more buttons, the third of which released Tessa from her paralytic state. I had left her headlights on, but as soon as she regained control she turned them off. &#8220;Gives me such a headache,&#8221; she explained. Fortunately her left pinkie contained an LED that was sufficient to keep us from tripping over anything.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;John went this way,&#8221; I said. &#8220;I wonder if he&#8217;s met any bandits yet.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We were still wondering that a few minutes later when a large heap of hair came into view. Inspection revealed it was a pile of wigs, and <em>each of the 24 wigs<\/em> was exactly alike. All the same vibrant green.<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t know what it could mean, and that made me angry at John for leaving me in the lurch, again. &#8220;Suddenly,&#8221; I said, &#8220;I wish to speak to John. <em>Suddenly, I want to touch him.<\/em> With my fists. A lot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tessa nodded. Something she saw over my shoulder made her freeze, and I thought for a moment John had snuck up and hit that button again. But she spoke softly. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to turn and run. Count to ten and then chase me.&#8221; Before I could get her to clarify, she whirled away and vanished into the blackness. I had no choice but to comply.<\/p>\n<p>My thoughts raced with the possibilities of what she&#8217;d spotted and why her instructions had been so unconventional, so I used the activity of counting to quell this storm within my mind. One, I thought. Two&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Out loud!&#8221;<\/em> came Tessa&#8217;s reprimand from the murky distance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;ThreeFourFiveSixSevenEightNineTen!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>bonus points for using them in order<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Stichomancy Writing Prompts\" href=\"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/stichomancy-writing-prompts\/\">about stichomancy writing prompts<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/stichomancy-writing-prompt-generator\/\">try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>according to the banner pinned to the wall it\u2019s bandit country. each of the 24 wigs Suddenly, I want to touch him. \u201cOut loud!\u201d Tune in next time part 608 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Click Here for Earlier Installments I struggled into a standing position, still leaning against the damp rock for support. Carefully, tenderly, I reached [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[319,4],"tags":[91,403],"class_list":["post-7990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stichomancy-prompts","category-writing-prompts","tag-bonus-points","tag-tune-in-next-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7990"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7994,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7990\/revisions\/7994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}