Dust is Not the Same Thing as Dirt
No
miniaturization was required for us to enter the vacuum cleaner. Over the portal was a bronze placard
declaring this to be the Staubsauger.
Whether or not this explained our ability to enter the machine is
unknown. I suppose it’s possible. Science works in strange ways. I put the tip of my big toe into the glowing
hole and was quickly pulled through into the chamber beneath the bag.
“Did you
see that?” Daniel raved once he and the others in our party had followed me
inside. “It was just like an energy
drawing by Jack Kirby!”
“I kept my eyes closed,” I admitted.
“That’s not
surprising:” Joel replied. “Some of the
best vacuum cleaners in the world are made by Kirby.”
“There may
be something in that. It’s possible that
he was exposed to vacuum cleaners as a child.”
I was
thinking about Frank Frazetta, however.
And then I was thinking about Dr. Johnny Fever and Howard Hesseman back
and forth. By the time we were climbing
into the bag through a hold made with a sword of geodesic construction I had
moved on to thinking about Shaun Cassidy; he had so much makeup on his
face. Vincent Gardenia was worried about
his family back home at the foot of Mount Etna .
“How will
we know what we’re looking for?” Daniel asked as we began clawing through the
dust. We looked like refugees from the
apocalypse in our gas masks and clown suits.
I had already solved the crossword puzzle.
.
