It was Saturday morning, and @Brisby had just woken up. Brisby glanced at her empty house and wondered what she was going to do all day alone. She never had a lot of alone time, so she should be happy to have the whole place to herself yet...

Finding herself with what she always wanted, Brisby decided it was not exactly as wonderful as she had always dreamed it would be. Brisby found herself wandering from window to window, just watching the fall trees slowly lose their leaves.

Where is the mailman!?

How can they be late today of all days? Don't they know how important the package is? Don't they know I have a small amount of time left to use the gift being sent? Sigh...

@Snook paced around her house, working herself up into a tizzy. In reality, the mailman never delivered the mail until ten in the morning, and it was only nine fifty-nine in the AM. Snook was never known for being patient and today was no exception. She ran up the stairs to the restroom to make sure she was ready when the package arrived.

At precisely 10 a.m., a mail truck pulled up in front of Snook's house. The mailman looked in the back of their vehicle. Seeing the large package with stickers from all over the world on it made her groan. You've got to be kidding. She's getting another package. What does she do with all these packages? Picking up the box, it vibrated. The mailman chalked it up to being tired and dropped the package off.

Snook slowly walked down the stairs and thought, fine, I will check out the front door to see if the package arrived yet, but I'm not going to hold my breath; I'm just going to.......and, oh my God, the box is here!!

Skipping out into the front hall, she grabbed the package and started ripping it open. She soon realized she needed a knife. Knife in hand, Snook cut that sucker open. Slowly peaking inside the box, she saw nothing. Everything was all wrapped in bubble wrap. A note was taped onto the bubble wrap along with a feather. Opening the message, it said Dream Heart Machine.

Not one to read the directions, Snook removed the bubble wrap. Looking at all the knobs and bob's was a tad overwhelming. She decided it was best to test it out on herself before she used it on somebody else. Squinting, Snook saw a knob with the number one written on it. Shrugging her shoulders, she pushed it. A voice shouted, where do you want to go?

Holy Hill, but I want to go to the picnic area of Holy Hill. With her hand still on the first lever, Snook found herself out in the middle of the beautiful Holy Hill picnic area, seated on a picnic table with the Dream Heart machine. She had a big huge grin on her face. This is going to be fun!

She wondered to herself, what else can this thing do? Taking a closer look at the machine, the number 2 knob popped out. Laughing, she pressed the knob. The voice asked her, who do you want to bring with you today? Snook said, Brisby, of course. Poof! Right in front of Snook, a bewildered Brisby sat looking at her while both dissolved into laughter.

"Care to explain?" asked Brisby.

"No, not really," replied Snook, "but I would love to take you up the hill to the Cafe and have lunch with you? Deal?"

Strolling up the hill through the stations of the cross, Snook regaled Brisby of many childhood stories of weekends spent on these grounds.

I would tell you more about these tales, but I need to post this story in less than 20 minutes...... 😹

Once sitting inside the little Cafe, Brisby and Snook spent the next four hours eating and talking. Snook told Brisby that they had to eat one hundred dollars of food or else she would have to send the Dream Heart Machine back. Never wanting to drive fourteen hours again to see her friend Brisby started ordering and keeping track of the two's amount.

Time was closing in on them, so they started buying food for anyone who walked near the Cafe. Both women had so much fun giving away food they could not stop laughing.

Once the total hit exactly USD 90.00, Snook handed over the last ten-dollar bill to the ladies that ran the Cafe. Hand in hand, Brisby and Snook walked back down the hill to the waiting Dream Heart Machine. Brisby grabbed the second knob while Snook grabbed the first one, and they both pushed simultaneously, laughing all the while.