Sharon and Gerald jogged down the long corridor. They passed several more offices like the one they had visited, but they didn't feel like asking for any more advice. After they had walked long enough to wonder if there would ever be an end to the corridor and its offices, they came to an intersection. Suddenly, a large group of men and women wearing stained overalls turned a corner and almost trampled Sharon and Gerald. They pinned themselves against the wall until the stampede was past them and they cold each heave a sigh of relief.
"Which way?" asked Sharon.
Gerald looked at the map to the ticket window and pointed straight ahead.
"This way."
Sharon looked down the corridor they were passing, expecting the same monotonous view that she had seen thus far. Instead, something blocked the hallway, something interesting.
"What are you doing?" asked Gerald impatiently.
"I want to see what's here."
"The guy told us to hurry to the ticket window."
But Sharon was now sure that she saw the large tree growing through the floor of the hallway with its branches extending up past a dusty skylight above.
"Gerald! The tree is right here!"
"So? The ticket window is this way. Besides, the tree we saw was in the distance. It can't beinside this building."
"I don't care if it's possible or not," Sharon insisted. "The tree ishere, so why look for the ticket window and try to take the monorail to get to it?"
"Because the tree can't be here!"
When Gerald started to walk on, Sharon ran up to him and grabbed his arm.
"Let go, will ya?"
"If you want to go your own way, the least you can do is give me the map. I'm the one who paid for it after all."
"I might need the map," said Gerald.
"What makes you think I won't?"
Gerald sighed with disgust, took off his book pack and took out the parchment map. His eyes started to grow wide as he looked at it.
"What's the matter?" asked Sharon.
"This map isn't the same."
"What?"
"Translated: This map has undergone a metamorphosis since I looked at it last."
"Thanks for the translation."
"Another way to put it," said Gerald, "is that the map we bought at Tindy's is now showing the corridors in this building and it indicates the tree down the hallway indicated by you."
"Told you," said Sharon.
Gerald gave Sharon a dirty look for taunting him, returned the map to his book pack, walked back to the intersection, and looked down the hallway he had passed. He still didn't want to admit it, but it really did appear that the tree was now inside this building, and the tree, with its delicate leaves, was a welcome sight. Several passers by were approaching the tree from all directions. Some stopped to check their maps and then turned back the way they came. Others turned away from the tree without even bothering to look at their maps.
"Now do you believe me?" Sharon asked, rubbing it in without mercy.
Gerald shrugged his shoulders.
"Get that tree out of here!" cried a man.
Behind him was quite a crowd of people pushing and shoving in all directions
"Move it yourself!" Gerald shouted back to him.
"You put it there!" cried a boy.
"Call the World CUP officials!" cried a man.
"I'll do it!" cried a man who waved a cellular phone in his hand and started to punch in a number.
Most of the people who had gotten close to the tree were trying to go back the way they came or go off in a different direction, but they collided with people who were still coming towards them. The cries of the people became deafening in the corridor as more people jostled others to no good effect.
"We'd better get out of here," Sharon suggested.
"I guess that's the size of it," said Gerald, who already had a grip on the nearest branch of the tree.
Sharon reached over with her free hand, but her books encumbered her too much. Gerald was already too far down the tree to be of any help.
"Look! They're trying to get away!" cried a woman.
"Stop them!" cried a girl.
But everybody was so jammed up against everybody else that nobody could reach Sharon. She peered into the darkness surrounding the tree, wishing she knew if it were safe for her to just drop her books. She looked up at the branches soaring up through the skylight and thought she saw the cutest little house nestled in among the leaves. When she heard a police whistle, Her only option was to drop her books, forget the house above, and climb down the tree as fast as she could, hoping she would find her books down below. She hadn't gone far before she saw lights of all colors flashing everywhere around her and heard the hubbub of another crowd. She looked for Gerald, but he was not to be seen. Once she could take in the sights, Sharon found that she had ended up in an enclosed mall that appeared to be boundless. The lights from all the stores flashed with so many bright colors that at first Sharon couldn't see anything. People were everywhere, carrying overflowing shopping bags. It seemed that she could buy all the ties, shoes, purses, dresses or appliances her heart could ever desire with the help of her father's credit card. Since the tree continued on down through the floor, Sharon wasn't sure if she should get off there or go further down.
"Thank you for climbing down my branches," said a deep croaking voice.
Sharon could hear her heart thumping.
"Y-you're welcome," Sharon replied. She couldn't tell if the tree--if it was the tree speaking--was angry or grateful.
"Please don't leave right now," said the tree--if it was the tree--- "I can help you."
"H-how can you help me?" asked Sharon.
"Climb down to my roots and you will find your way."
Sharon backed away from the tree to try and think. Before she could think for very long, she was so jostled by the crowd that she was quite a distance from the tree before she knew it. In the center of the mall was a large fountain with a mountain landscape and plastic dwarves perched all over it. Sharon sat down on a bench to think. Across from the bench was a shoe store. Even from a distance, she could see that the shoes were desirable. So she walked to the shoe store.
Close up, the shoes were breathtaking. She quickly fell in love with a pair of red shoes that she knew would become her very well. She waited a moment in the crowded store for somebody to wait on her. Nobody did. So Sharon picked up the shoes and walked over to the counter with them.
"Is there a chance you wish to purchase those shoes?" asked the woman behind the counter.
"Yes," Sharon replied, her breath short with excitement, "if they fit."
"They are darling, aren't they? You most certainly may try them on," said the woman, "provided you can show me your personalized authorized map."
"My map?"
A lump formed in Sharon's throat as she realized that her authorized map was in her school notebook, and she had lost all her schoolbooks while climbing down the tree.
"Yes, your map," said the woman.
"Why do I need a map to buy a pair of shoes?" Sharon asked. "I have my father's credit card. What more do I need?"
"I regret to inform you that I need to see the map that led you to this store so that I can put it in the records that you reached this establishment in the proper manner as established by the World CUP System."
"Oh. Well, maybe I'll buy the shoes next time."
Sharon walked out of the store as quickly as she could. Seeing the woman behind the counter reach for a phone did not reassure her. Sharon peered through the crowd for a sign of the tree, but she could no longer see it. Sharon looked at the other stores up and down the mall. When she saw a candy store, she couldn't resist going in, hoping that the sales clerk would be more easygoing. But when she started to go through the door, she ran into Gerald Kaylen.
"When are you going to learn to watch where you're going?" Gerald asked her.
"I could ask you the same question," Sharon retorted.
"Do you think you're going to be able to buy all the candy your heart desires on your father's credit card?" Gerald asked.
Sharon's heart sank.
"Well, yes, but I guess they'll ask for you map in this place, too?"
Gerald's face crumbled for a moment.
"I'm afraid so."
"Let's try to get back to the tree and see if we can find our way back," Sharon suggested.
Gerald nodded. He let no expression show on his face as he sat down on the bench by the fountain with the mountain and the dwarves. Just as he started to reach for his book pack, he jumped up and pointed.
"There's the ticket window!"
"So?"
"We can get our monorail tickets and get to the tree that way!"
Sharon could see for herself the large neon sign that screamed: TICKET WINDOW. Not knowing what else to do, Sharon followed Gerald over to the window.
"May I help you?" asked a thin man in the ticket window, whose frown suggested that helping anybody was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Two monorail tickets please," Gerald requested.
"Tickets please."
"We're trying to buy our tickets," Gerald replied.
"You need tickets to be admitted to this ticket window," said the seller.
"Oh, yea," said Gerald as he promptly produced the tickets he had been given.
Several people had gotten in line by this time and were beginning to murmur among themselves.
"Thank you," said the ticket man. "Your request?"
"Two monorail tickets, please."
"From where to where?"
"From--to---"Gerald spluttered.
"I infer from your request that you do not know where you are going," said the ticket seller.
"He doesn't know where he's going?" cried a man in line behind the children.
"Why doesn't he use his map and find out where he's going, instead of keeping us waiting?" asked a woman standing behind the man.
"We've spent the whole day just trying to find out way to school," Sharon explained to the man in the ticket window.
"Yea," said Gerald. "She's looking for the General Child Institute on 41st Avenue and I'm looking for the Franklin W. Richard Pedagogical Association on Rivervary Street."
"May I see your maps, please?" asked the vendor.
Gerald dutifully presented his legal map, while Sharon held back, hoping the vendor wouldn't notice. The ticket seller looked the map over and handed it back, his face expressionless.
"According to your map, you could not possibly have found your way to this ticket window."
"If you couldn't have gotten here, what are you doing in line, holding things up?" asked the man behind Gerald.
"And if you aren't even here?" asked the woman behind the man, "what are you doing in line?"
"Yea! Yea!" cried several people further down the line.
"Is this the right ticket window for the monorail system?" Gerald asked.
"This is the right ticket window for everything," the ticket seller replied. "However, I regret to inform you that by ending up at this window, you have refused to follow your map correctly."
"We just want to go home," Sharon moaned. "Can't you give us a ticket for that?"
"You have already used up the ticket you have," said the vendor.
"How can she go home when she doesn't know where she's going?" asked the man behind Sharon.
"If the maps don't allow you to be in the line, get out of the line before you throw the entire map system into disarray!" demanded the woman behind the man.
"Next thing you know, they'll want to draw their own maps!" cried a man behind that woman. "Then where will we be?"
"The whole society will fall into chaos and crime and anarchy!" cried a woman behind that man.
"Call the police!" cried a man behind the woman.
"The police! The police!" cried everybody standing in line behind the children.
The next thing Gerald and Sharon knew, they were each caught in the grip of two soldiers who were wearing more medals than could have been earned in fifty wars. Sharon couldn't tell which bright colors came from the uniforms and which were reflections from the store lights.
"LET GO OF ME!" cried Gerald. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!"
"W-what did I do?" Sharon asked.
"We have warrants issued by the World CUP System for your arrest."
"They violated all boundaries of decorum!" cried the man who had been standing in line behind the children.
The other people cried out similar charges. The ticket vendor stood impassively behind the window, waiting for this fracas to pass so that he could continue with business as usual.
"And what did we do to make the World CUP System issue the warrants?" asked Gerald.
"We'll find out at the station," replied one of the soldiers who had nabbed Sharon.
"YOU CAN'T TAKE HER, TOO!" Gerald cried, "SHE'S INNOCENT!"
"That is a philosophical statement." said a soldier. "Now march!"
"You can't do this to us!" Gerald cried.
"We can't not do this to you," one of the soldiers barked back. "We are under orders from the highest of authorities. NOW MARCH!"
Helplessly, Sharon and Gerald went limp as the soldiers dragged them through the shopping mall. Some of the shoppers looked at them curiously, others were busy reading their maps as they went along, but nobody seemed disturbed that two children were being carried away by a group of soldiers.
The journey was mercifully short. The entry to the station was connected with the mall, and before the children knew it, they were standing in a plush office with a broad view of the city skyscrapers. A small, thin woman was sitting at a large desk covered with computerized maps and at least a dozen rulers. She was wearing a military uniform with even more medals than the soldiers had. On her head, she wore a white wig such as English judges used to wear. The wig, forming a bun at the back of her head, made her look like a strict school teacher from ancient times. She stared at the children through her wire-rimmed spectacles until they both squirmed on their feet.
"We found them your Honor," said one of the soldiers.
"Names please?" asked the police chief-judge.
Both children were too confused to speak up right away.
She means give her your names, your rightful names," one of the soldiers prompted.
"Gerald Kaylen," said Gerald.
A soldier poked Gerald.
"Always say 'your honor'," said the soldier in a stern whisper.
"You honor," Gerald added sullenly.
"Sharon Van Vann, your honor," Sharon answered. "Wh- what did we do? We just were trying to find our way to school with our new maps and -- "
"It's my fault, your honor," said Gerald, trying to be gallant, "I talked her into going out the front door of our apartment building to help me out, thinking she could still find her way -- "
"THINKING!" cried the police chief-judge, picking up a ruler and pointing it at him. "You think you were THINKING?"
"Well, yes," said Gerald. "You don't have to arrest Sharon. She's a nice girl. She won't hurt anyone."
"WE will see about that!" the police chief-judge snapped. "Let me see your maps, young man! All of them!"
"Every last one," added one of the soldiers, "we have to get to the bottom of this if we have to shake the map to Arcturus Timbuktu out of you."
Sharon trembled when she thought of the map she had bought at Tindy's and given to Gerald. Gerald fumbled through his school bag and handed over his computerized map. The police chief-judge looked it over very carefully.
"How did you follow this map to the Hereford Station ticket window?"the police chief-judge asked Gerald.
"By trying to find the route to my school, your honor."
"Trying to find your route in flagrant disregard of what was printed on your map by the looks of things," grumbled one of the soldiers.
"You have not answered my question," said the Police Chief-Judge. "How did you follow your map and end up where you ended up?"
"A lot of things weren't on my map that were there, your honor," said Gerald.
The police chief-judge rapped Gerald's knuckles with her ruler.
"OW!"
"Listen up, young man! I am the one who decides what is on the map and what isn't. The World CUP System has taken care of all the loose ends there ever were--except---" she lowered her eyes at Gerald and Sharon -- "the two of you!"
"And the other people we arrested your honor," said a soldier.
"Well those, too," muttered the police chief-judge.
"I'll bet it's their fault the other people got lost," muttered another soldier.
The police chief-judge turned to Sharon. "Young lady, I suppose you also were allegedly trying to find your school this morning?"
"Why yes."
"Then why didn't you bring your school books?"
"I did!"
"Then where are your books now?" asked the police chief-judge.
"I don't know, your honor."
The police chief judge's face turned red.
"And where is your map?"
"I don't know, your honor."
"It is unlawful to allow a personalized map out of your possession at any time."
"It depersonalizes the map, you see," said one of the soldiers.
"It seems to have led to the two of you confusing your routes," grumbled another soldier.
"A girl without a map!" cried one of the soldiers.
"A girl without a map!" echoed another.
"It is no wonder that so many people have been thrown into confusion this day," said the police-chief judge.
"It's all her fault!" cried a soldier.
"One lost map was enough to throw off all maps," said another.
Sharon broke down and cried.
"What is the matter, Miss Van Vann," asked the police chief-judge with severe sympathy.
"I was just trying to find my way to school," Sharon sobbed.
Gerald looked away, embarrassed by the tears of his companion.
"Your honor," said Gerald, "Sharon really did have a map with her books. I saw it myself, and I'll testify to that in court. I know she had her map right up to the time we climbed down the tree. So maybe we could find them back there. So please don't put her in jail for what I did."
The police chief judge sat quietly for a moment, deep in thought. She looked over Gerald's map and the map to the ticket window. Then she cleared her throat.
"Master. Kaylen," she said, her voice chilled to the bone. "there is no tree on your map. Therefore, it is not possible that you and Miss Van Vann climbed down a tree or that she could have left her school books there."
"But I did, your honor," Gerald replied. "I saw the tree. We both did. We felt it. We both climbed down it to get to the ticket window. Maybe I dreamed it. I hope I'm dreaming now Anyway, if the tree isn't there, then Sharon's books aren't there, and we didn't get to the ticket window where we got arrested, and that means we didn't get arrested and that means we aren't here and that means you can't put us in jail."
"That has a touch of logic, your honor," said one of the soldiers.
"Better put them in jail fast before they get away, if they aren't really here," prompted another soldier.
The police chief-judge frowned at Gerald.
"Master Kaylen, we shall see presently if you are sufficiently present at this court for me to put you in jail. Meanwhile, I wish to see what is actually real in that school bag of yours. I begin to suspect the presence of an unauthorized map. If you and Miss Van Vann climbed down a tree that wasn't on any authorized map, I would like to know how you actually came across it. Like most things, trees have their causes, you know."
"Maybe this tree didn't have a cause," Gerald suggested.
"We shall see to that!" the police chief-judge thundered. "Open the bag!"
Seeing no choice in the matter, Gerald opened his book bag, resigned to the fact that the soldiers would snatch the parchment map, which they did. The police chief-judge spread the map out on her desk and scowled. Sharon's heart sank.
"And where did you get this?"
"At Tindy's Cartology Shop, your honor," Sharon replied.
"And what was it doing in Master Kaylen's book bag, Miss Van Vann?"
"Gerald's book bag seemed a safer place for it. But I am the one who bought it your honor."
"She bought a map and smuggled it into somebody's else's book bag?" asked a soldier.
"This map is not part of the World CUP System," the police chief judge proclaimed. "That is obvious when one sees that it is this illegal and unreal map that marks the unreal and illegal tree that allegedly interfered with the proper journey of these two children and of countless other people who have been rerouted by it."
"Not to speak of the illegal and unreal dragons drawn on this map," said one of the soldiers who was reading over the shoulder of the police chief-judge.
"Indeed," said the police chief judge, "not to speak of the unreal and illegal dragons drawn on this map."
"But I'm sure the dragons are pure decoration," Gerald protested.
"No map is allowed to have decorations," snapped the police chief-judge. "Decorations only confuse the issue. Put Miss Van Vann in jail for possession of illegal and unreal materials!"
"I'm her accomplice your honor!" Gerald cried out when two soldiers grabbed a hold of Sharon.
"That is illegal and unreal!" cried the police chief judge.
"To jail with them! To jail with them!" cried the soldiers.
"Now we can straighten up the snarls in the perfect system," grumbled an old soldier.
"It was their fault all along," said a soldier.
Two soldiers grabbed Sharon and two more grabbed Gerald and started to drag them away.
"Your honor?" said Gerald.
"You are delaying the process of repairing the system," grumbled one of the soldiers who had a hold of Gerald.
"Yes, Master Kaylen," said the police chief-judge.
"May we have our illegal and unreal map back until we have had our trial? If Sharon's map is unreal, it won't hurt anything anyway."
"That's rather logical, your honor," said one of the soldiers.
"It is the unreal map not co-ordinated with the World CUP System that has caused untold harm this day," declared the police chief-judge.
"Your honor," said Gerald, the wheels turning in his head, "If you don't return the illegal map, then we won't have it in our possession at the time of our trial, and then you won't be able to prove we had it, because we won't have it, and then you'll have to let us free, but if you let us have the illegal map back, we will have it in our possession at the trial and it will be easier for you to put us back into jail for possession of an illegal map."
"That is rather logical, too, you honor," said another soldier.
"Hmpf! Maybe so. Maybe so. Motion granted," said the police chief-judge, shoving the map towards Gerald, who scooped it up. "Take them away."