A New Dimension: Chapter Thirty

        “Who taught this sheep to drive!” yelled Alise as they whipped around another corner.
        “I don’t knoooowww!” Nebraska called as he strained against his seat belt on the next corner.
        “I drive good?” The sheep’s broken English would be adorable, if they weren’t hurtling down the road at a break neck speed, narrowly missing guard rails and trees along the way.
        “Do we have to go so fast?” Alise asked at the next break in the curves.
        “Well,” said Nebraska, “if Crimson is in the capital city, she might need our help.
        “That makes no sense,” said Alise, “we have no idea where Crimson is. It’s extremely unlikely that she’s in the capital city. Unless, of course, you know something I don’t know.”
        Nebraska stared out the window into the darkness. Dawn would come soon, and he didn’t know what hope they had of finding Crimson Hen, but they had to try. Something, he thought, something was telling him that the Sheep’s haste was warranted. He couldn’t say what for sure, but he felt in his bones that Crimson Hen needed him.
        “Where should we go to find Crimson Hen if she were in the capital?” Nebraska said out loud. Always make a plan. His stomach was in knots. He missed Crimson so badly, but he knew in his heart that she was still alive. He knew, somehow he knew that she still drew breath.
        “What about the airport?” Alise said.
        They all thought a minute about that.
        “No, no good,” said Nebraska, “she wouldn’t be able to get on a plane. She’s a hen, after all.” They were silent again. “The question is, where did she go when she disappeared?” No one had a good answer, and the sheep took another hard turn and they all strained against their seatbelts. “But if she had appeared nearby, she would have made her way back to us quickly. If not . . . who knows if she’d be able to get back to Lithuania.”
        Alise said, gently, “who knows if she’d know to come here.”
        They were silent a while. Then the sheep pointed at a sign they passed. “Port!” she shouted, and hit the brakes hard while spinning the steering wheel. Alise tumbled out of her seatbelt against the window, smearing her face against the glass. Nebraska slipped down into the wheel well. Somehow the Sheep was able to stay in their seat as the car took the exit from the highway on two wheels.
        When they were back on the road, and all the car’s wheels were on the ground again, Alise said meekly, “Please, little Sheep, please don’t do that again.”
        Nebraska swallowed hard to keep from being sick. “Yes, please, don’t do that again.” After he recovered for a minute, he said, “what did you say?”
        The sheep smiled, “port! Where are boats.”
        The car was silent again as Nebraska and Alise digested this information. The sun was peaking above the horizon. “That … is a good idea,” said Nebraska. “We don’t really have a better plan. Let’s check out the port.”
        “Ok,” said Alise. “you’re right, we don’t have a better idea.”
        They drove on again in silence as the dawn broke around them. Soon, the three travelers began to see signs that they were approaching the port. Tall ships lined up along a narrow channel. The Sheep mercifully slowed the car to a reasonable speed.
        “What should we be looking for?” Alise asked?
        “I don’t know,” said Nebraska Rooster, “anything out of the ordinary?”
        They were silent for another minute or two as they crawled along the main road along the port area. Suddenly, the Sheep hit the brakes hard, throwing Nebraska Rooster into the windshield, and sent Alise tumbling forward against the back of the front seats.
        “What! Was that?” Alise said.
        “MmDrrrph Drr Drppfh,” Nebraska Rooster said from the footwell.
        “There!” Said the Sheep, pointing down the road and off to one side.
        Nebraska pulled himself up and looked where the Sheep was pointing. “My god!” he said.
        Alise pulled herself together and followed where the Sheep and Nebraska were looking. “Well, that’s got to be something, don’t you think?” she said.
        Down the road the little group could see truck after truck disgorging a huge contingent of army soldiers.
        “Yep,” said Nebraska Rooster who was letting a knowing smile cross his beak. “That looks like we’ve found Crimson.”
        The Sheep put the car into gear and inched forward. Then they parked the car behind a group of shipping containers. Carefully, they got out and inched their way around to a spot where they could see more clearly what was going on.
        Off in the distance they could see a large cargo ship coming to rest at the dockside. They could see dozens of soldiers dressed in all black with large guns stationed around the docking area, weapons at the ready. Then, they listened as a sound rose up into the morning air. It was singing. A beautiful sound of singing rose up and up and up. It was coming from the cargo ship, and it was getting louder.