The Garden
The next morning, the entire troop of twelve made its way down to the third floor, and then, after a surprisingly small amount of indecision on the Player's part, through a pair of large glass doors into the garden. Don had seen a lot of over-the-top things since waking up in the Manor two days ago, but this somehow seemed to take the cake.
First there was a broad -- hell, it was huge! -- patio stretching out in front of them and to either side. On the left was a large swimming pool, including a pair of diving boards at the far end. On the right was an outdoor bathing area. Directly in the center of the patio was a large fountain jetting sparkling water up into the air. All around the patio were tables with chairs as well as chaise lounges. Naked people swam, bathed and lounged in the morning sun.
Then, at the far edge of the patio, a long, wide set of stone steps led down to the garden itself. Don's first thought was,
We're gonna need a bigger search party
. At the foot of the steps was a bright green lawn of short grass. On either side of this lawn were a handful of fruit trees. Beyond this area there was an interesting area marked off by a low hedge, and then after that was a vast hedge maze spreading out to either side and into the distance. Don could see that there were little clearings in the maze here and there, and thought the entire garden seemed to be surrounded by a very tall, dark hedge.
"We've got our work cut out for us, don't we?" Tascha said next to him.
"Yes, we certainly do," Don nodded.
"Well first," she said, "I need to get cleaned up, and maybe eat an apple, or even two."
Don joined her and the rest of the group as they mobbed the bathing area. There was a great deal of mischievous grabbing and fondling, but everyone seemed to want to get down to the garden itself. Nobody bothered drying off, but just padded around on the patio and down the stairs, as they drank from the fountain and then went down to get breakfast from the trees.
Afterward, they all gradually moved toward the area in front of the maze. Three sides of a large rectangle were marked off by a low hedge only about a foot high. The fourth side was marked by a white line that seemed to be painted onto the grass, and the rectangle was divided into right and left halves by another painted line. On the far right end of the rectangle was a table with holes in it. In most of the holes were short rods, or batons, of different colors, and around each baton was a bracelet of matching coloring. In the left half of the rectangle were several women and one man, who were talking idly. While Don chewed an apple, a man entered the right side of the rectangle and took one of the baton-bracelet sets and walked over to the left half, where he offered the bracelet to one of the women there. She took it from him with a smile, slipped it on to her wrist and then jogged off toward the maze. There were two openings that Don could see, and the woman made for the one on the left. As soon as she got to that opening, she sprinted in, and the man suddenly gave chase.
"If he can find her and tag her with the baton, they'll play together," the Player explained. "If she can get back here without getting tagged, she returns the bracelet. The baton will vibrate, so he knows he's lost his quarry."
"Does that happen often?" Tascha asked. "I mean, she didn't have to accept the bracelet, did she?"
"Ah, but it's all about the game and the chase," the Player smiled. "In the maze, you have to win your playmates."
Don grinned, "I like it."
Amy, Keiko, Natalia, Marissa and Jamie all stepped over the hedge into the left half of the rectangle. Peter, Ilsa and the Player all went to the right. Peter offered his bracelet to Amy, who took her time walking to the maze and only started running when she got there. Peter took off after her. Ilsa chased Marissa, and the Player went after Jamie. Igor was sitting on one of the steps behind them, with no apparent interest in the garden or the maze.
Don looked to Tascha, "I think we can walk around the maze. If there's a way out, it makes sense it will be in the outer perimeter, right?"
She nodded, and they started off to the left. Don noticed that Shelonda was following along. He smiled at her and said, "You can play with the others."
"I can help you look for a way out," she said simply, and fell into step with them. "Why do you want to get out of the garden, though? You were trying to find the garden, and we just got here."
"Well, we want to find a way to get home," Tascha explained.
"Don't you live in the Manor, with the rest of us?"
"No," Tascha said, "we're just staying here until we can figure out how to leave."
"Don't you like it here?"
"It's not that simple," Tascha said a bit impatiently.
"We like it here, Shelonda," Don tried. "It's just that there are people who aren't here that we would really like to see."
"Oh. Everybody I know lives here."
Don smiled a little, happy to have answered Shelonda's questions without upsetting her.
"I am wondering about something, though," he said to Tascha as they walked along on the grass with the wall of the Manor on their left and the high hedge of the maze on their right. "If you're right about this being a 'different world', then is it likely that just finding a way out of this particular place will do the trick?"