Day 88

(Better late than never, this is yesterdays picture.  Went late night grocery shopping and was too tired when I got home)

The last time we saw Gum E. and her friends they had just escaped the dust bunnies and were hiding out in a coffee mug.  After hiding there for a couple of days they began to despair thinking they would never escape.  They were going to be trapped here forever!  It wasn't really that bad when you sit down to think about it.  Though it was certainly more dangerous than living in the bag with all their relatives.  Maybe they should just go home.

"At least there we were safe," said Sticky Lucy.  "Since we've gotten out we've been attacked, chewed on, chased and had to run for our lives.  Not to mention hide from those two legged creatures.  This would have never happened if we'd just stayed home."

"Yeah!"  Sweet Pete raised his little fist in the air, pumping it a couple of times.  "Let's go home.  This world is just too big and too scary."  Savory Avery looked at her two friends and felt torn.  She didn't really think it was that bad out here though they both had good points.  Gum E. sat silently listening to her friends complain.  She was slowly getting more and more angry at them and finally, as angry people tend to do, she exploded.

"I didn't ask you to come!  You just followed me.  If you want to go home then go!  I'm certainly not going to stop you.  Go back to that stifling bag with everyone pressing in on you, wondering what you're doing all the time.  Go back to being ignorant that the world is bigger than us.  Oh wait, you can't!  You can never forget this experience.  You might be able to go back but you will never be the same.  If you didn't want change you shouldn't have left!"  By this point she was yelling and shaking so hard she had to clench her fists to her side to control them.  She stopped at the shocked looks on her friends faces.  They had never seen her be angry much less heard her yell.  She took a deep breathe and tried to calm down.  She finally gave up at being calm and jumped back out of the mug leaving her friends looking at each other in stunned silence.

Gum E. was still in the middle of fuming when she looked up and noticed something different.  The door was open.  Her frustration suddenly forgotten she ran over to it and peeked out.  She couldn't believe her luck, here was her chance to escape forever.  All she had to do is step out and never look back.  No more feeling trapped, no more holding back, she could be free....

She stepped out, just to look around.  She was torn between taking a break for it or going back to her friends to tell them.  She was still angry with them but she didn't want them to be stuck inside forever.  She sat at the edge of the step debating what to do next.