Chapter 3 - A Flying Start

“We might do some packing” suggested Dexter after Genius and Tom had left, the last with a cheerful “Cheerio! See ya!”

With a grunt Sinister agreed. He was content to leave the details to Dexter. Dexter sighed. Here he was, going off on some stupid journey to recover a lamp which was probably lying buried in a murky cupboard in King Incarnate’s cellar between some socks of questionable odour, and that with a companion who would probably only grasp the purpose of the journey when they had returned from it. If they ever returned from it…

Now there’s food for philosophical thought, thought Dexter. What use would going on a journey be if Sinister would only grasp it after they had returned? More specifically, what use would Sinister be on a journey if he didn’t grasp the point of going on a journey? Ultimately, if they never returned from the journey, Sinister would probably never know why he had had to go on the journey in the first place. That brings up another interesting point of whether or not they couldn’t just pretend having gone on the journey and then find out whether Sinister had grasped the reason for the journey they had never gone on. With another sigh, Dexter gave up this line of reasoning before it became too tempting.

Instead he asked with some trepidation: “Sinister, you do know why we are going on this journey, don’t you?”

Sinister blinked in much the same way that the king did a short while ago.

“Yeah, sure. We’re going to find some lamp…”

Dexter gave a sigh of relief. Maybe there was some hope left for the kid.

“…but we must remember some matches. Otherwise we’ll never be able to light it. And if we can’t light it, we’ll never be able to find it if we have to search for it in the dark,” continued Sinister proudly and beamed at the thought of his own cleverness at thinking so far ahead.

ooOOoo

Almost two hours and twenty three minutes later they were ready to leave. In his bag Dexter had an amazing secret gadget that Genie had given him a few hours ago. At first he’d thought it was a pair of spectacles but Genie had been shocked at the mere idea.

“These are not just spectacles,” he had exclaimed. “These are so much more than just spectacles. You’re looking at a complete eyewear system, the likes of which you’ve never seen before. With these spectacles, developed through years of painstaking research by a team of devoted King Blink followers, led by the Darn Duke Dimwit himself, you can look right through things! Go on, put them on.”

Curious, Dexter had put the spectacles on.

“I see nothing,” he’d exclaimed.

“That’s right! You’re seeing through absolutely everything, right into nothingness! Amazing, isn’t it? You can see…nothing!”

“Is that so? I hadn’t noticed,” Dexter had mumbled politely.

“Use it often. You don’t want to miss anything!”

“There’s nothing to miss,” Dexter had grumbled.