5. The Odd Wish Fulfiller

Many, many years later an interesting message traveled through Slumberland. This happened thanks to a system they had recently discovered: the Message Trees. If you pushed some thick ferns aside, most Treetowers actually had a hole cut into them. One that was attached to all the holes of all the other homes. Sometimes using thick tubes through the air, sometimes using elegant tubes hidden inside the wood.

Some tall branches, at the border of the area, activated the system. They sucked in air and then used that to blow messages, scratched in leaves or branches, through the tubes. That’s also how they discovered that many branches they accidentally broke over the years … were tubes in this system. Well, let’s say that not all messages arrived where they should.

This message did, though. It fell before Sotho’s claws around dawn.

Human! New human in Slumberland! Our second chance!

Sotho met other sloths for the first time in weeks. They all fell or slid down simultaneously to greet this new human.

Would it be a researcher again? Would the humans have built even better machines by now? Those creatures invented things at a ludicrous pace. These days, sloths yelled Eureka! too whenever they discovered a new hidden system of Slumberland.

The visitor turned out to be not one human, but two.

Two adult men paced over the main path. One had gray hair, the other glasses and a clipboard. The grayman pointed at things, but the glassman couldn’t keep up. He just nodded and wrote down some numbers.

When they entered Slumberland for real, the glassman fell still. The other paced onwards and accidentally broke a branch from their machines. He didn’t notice—what was a broken twig to a large human?—until he noticed the pieces of metal inside that twig.

The two men squatted and studied the metal. Then they purposely broke more and more twigs, finding the same metals inside, which made them ask even more questions. Brrr. That would take ages to repair! So much effort!

The first sloths landed behind the humans. They tried to say the word Human, which they’d learned from the short period Mindy was here.

Stop! Don’t think about her! The more you do, the sooner you’ll forget her.

The men turned around, startled. Glassman polished his glasses to look more closely; the other pulled a black object from his belt and pointed it at the sloth.

Another camera? Tools? Sotho landed too and stepped closer, curious.

“Stay there or I shoot,” yelled the man.

“I don’t wish to be annoying, sir,” said glassman, “but sloths don’t understand our lang—”

They grayman grunted. “If you don’t wish to annoy me, then why do you do it?”

He still pointed the object, as his finger slid to a small lever at the bottom. Ah, so it was a kind of machine! Less impressive than Slumberland, less fun than Mindy’s cart—stop thinking about her!—but it was fine.

The sloths gestured for the men to follow. They walked to the side path that led to the Curse Circle. Along the way, Sotho pointed at the prettiest patches of Slumberland.

“And this is our Message Tree that connects all the tubes,” he said. He knew they didn’t understand, but he wanted to appear friendly and welcoming. “And this is the Flowerwall. You can climb it, but we prefer to just stand still and gawk at the pretty flowers. Less effort, you see? Oh, and if you pull that lever, this entire area gets a shower.”

The men followed, though even more cautiously than Mindy. The grayman held his black machine ready, but didn’t point it at them anymore. The glassman had switched glasses and concluded that his eyes didn’t betray him.

They arrived at the Flamefeaster. In full sunlight, the light was less impressive, and it almost seemed a normal basket on a pillar. But you felt your body being violently pulled towards it.

The sloths pointed at it. Then they played pretend—touch it, have pain.

“They lead us to an object,” mumbled glassman, “only to tell us we should not touch it?”

Grayman put the black object back on his belt and stepped closer.

“Not just any object. Look at what’s inside! Did you ever see something like it?”

“No. But I also hadn’t seen sloths until today.” He moved his glasses and studied the Flamefeaster from all angles, as he made a skillful and detailed sketch. “May I ask why you were certain this was ‘just an empty forest, always has been’, sir?”

“Because it’s on all the maps. Because that’s what everyone thinks.” He smiled at his friend with the clipboard. “We found gold here, man! I feel it. You feel it too, right?”

“I mostly feel uncomfortable, sir.”

Grayman moved his hands through his gray locks of hair. He looked up and saw the underside of a Branchbridge. He pointed at a special tree in the distance, which marked the border of Slumberland.

“We start there. The fastest route. Maybe we shouldn’t touch that thing, but a crane can easily lift it. Or maybe …”

His chest flashed a brief but piercing light. He looked down and smiled. “Ah, finally charged. You should use yours too, man.”

Grayman pushed his chest as if it were a button. His clothes, an old-fashioned suit, transformed into a tough harness. Glassman, who wore a worn-down brown suit that almost seemed camouflage, turned on his own armor too. The humans seemed to have turned into machines themselves!

What now? Mindy had quickly understood what they wanted, but she seemed the exception now.

“Wish Fulfiller,” said Sotho eventually.

“I’m not Santa Claus,” the man grunted, his mind elsewhere. “You have to pay if you want to use the Wish Fulfiller.”

Brrr. That was a cold response. He should’ve learned the sentence “Save us from our Curse” instead.

After turning on the harness, the glassman’s voice sounded as if it came from a metal tube.

“Did you know this was here, sir?”

“No. I only know that treasures await if you search in odd places. Do you recognize this object? Does it look like any jewels we found before?”

“Absolutely not, sir. I must dissuade you from touching it, sir.”

The man nodded. It was a difficult and nearly imperceptible movement, for his head was covered in layers of metal. They stood and walked away.

“Remind our boss about the agreement. They can do whatever they like, but all objects like this one are mine.”

“Yes, sir, of course.”

“Tell nobody about this and don’t show your drawings—”

Sotho quickly jumped in front of the men, before they’d leave for good. Immediately, grayman pointed that black thing at his head again. Glassman dropped his clipboard.

“Research! Help us! Please, kind humans!”

Sotho tried all known gestures. Only the word human remained.

Grayman grinned. “What, remind me, did you say about not understanding our language?”

“We might have found an even larger treasure here, sir,” glassman said. His voice cracked. “Maybe we should destroy our agreement with the boss—”

“All dead birds on a stick,” the old man cursed, “I’m taking that glowing thing now!”

He turned around swiftly and made for the object. Glassman tried to stop him, but was merely pulled along. The harness was heavy, but it also seemed to give the humans extra strength and speed where needed.

The sloths moved to form a wall to obstruct them. Save humans from their own stupidity.

They were too slow.

The men fell against the object. Grayman ripped it off the pillar and pushed it against his chest like a newborn.

Sadness already gripped Sotho. Another one gone. Another life erased. Another chance—

But the men didn’t cry or scream. They looked at the frozen sloths—they still saw us! The Curse seemed to have no effect on them.

When the men walked away, however, the Curse escaped their hands. It flew back to the pillar and snapped into place, as if it were connected by the strongest rubber band in the world.