After lunch, I made my way back down the hill to the Hydroponics Lab. It was a fancy name for what was essentially a very large greenhouse.
It was a behemoth ten-story structure that was shaped like a huge glass-covered octagon with an atrium at the center. Its main purpose was to research and develop new plant strains that had various magikal properties. The idea was to utilize other sources for magik that could be used for various household needs which could not be addressed by magik alone.
All the labs were located half-way down the hill, clustered around the Secondary Courtyard.
On my docket for today was a large cactus plant that had to be transported from there to the main lobby of the Academy's Main Office building. It didn't seem to be that big of a job except there was one big problem.
The Hydroponics building was located at the bottom of Topaz Hill, whereas the Main Office was up in the area of the Main Courtyard. Getting a plant up the hill was not that much of a challenge...unless that plant was a huge six-foot tall cactus.
As often as I came into the Hydroponics building, it never ceased to amaze me. The lobby area was the only place in the entire structure that wasn't covered with plants. The place was bursting with green leafy foliage of every imaginable type.
Its black granite floor was smooth and polished to a high sheen, in direct contrast with the ten mezzanines encircling the curved glass walls made out of glass bricks. Each mezzanine was ten feet high and stacked on top of each other, going all the way up to the top floor.
The white kidney-shaped front desk facing the entryway doors backed up onto a wood-grain patterned circular wall structure which rose all the way up to the top floor of the ten-story building, terminating with a ceiling made
of huge panes of glass. Within that central wood panel wall were the offices, classrooms, and lab/work spaces of the plant mages...or so I was told.
"Good afternoon, little lady!" A jovial mage with light green hair, shaped and cut into a chin-length bob to match a pair of dancing green eyes waved at me as I walked into the Hydroponics building.
"Hi Alan!" I called out a greeting and grinned as I took in his baggy brown bodysuit. "You look like a luscious green plant today."
Alan laughed, his rotund body shaking with mirth. "I got tired of being lilac purple," he said with a slant to his head as he ruffled his bob cut. "People were mistaking me for one of the hyacinths in the floral department."
"Oh, you know you love it," I said, waving my hand in mock protest.
"Oh, you know I do," he agreed. "So, you're here today to pick up the prickly little girl."
"Yeah. The Main Office is constantly killing off whatever you give them, so I suggested a cactus, hoping they wouldn't kill it as quickly, but you know how they are."
"Oh my goodness, yes!" Alan's eyes widened in horror. "I've caught the accounting clerk dumping the last of his caramel macchiato into one of the bushes, and when I called him out on that, do you know what he did?"
Alan placed his hands on his hips and settled back on one leg, looking outraged. "That man threatened to hold up my paycheck, can you believe that?"
I shook my head in sympathetic dismay. "Well, let's see how long it takes for them to kill this one."
Alan rolled his eyes and then waved a hand. "Follow me." He said, turning away and levitating up to the third mezzanine.
I looked up at his rising form. "Alan, did you forget something?" I sighed with theatrical indignation.
I hated buildings that didn't have elevators or stairs to get to all the floors, and I hated architects and planners who designed places that were perfectly accessible to mages but completely inaccessible to people like me.
But of course, I didn't hate Alan. He was just clueless in his usual blonde way--when he chose to be blonde, that is.
Alan looked down and saw that I was still standing in the lobby, my head tilted up at him.
"Oops! Sorry honey," he covered his lips with his fingers in contrition. "I forgot you can't levitate. Let me go and get it for you. Just hang on a sec, sweetie."
He continued rising until he reached the fourth story mezzanine. Then he turned and stepped onto the platform, disappearing behind the rows of lush greenery. I heard some shuffling and more than a bit of muttering.
In no time at all, he had stepped off the mezzanine and was standing in midair as he motioned for a dolly to roll towards him. Then, both man and dolly sank to the floor in a graceful motion.
On the dolly was a six-foot tall cactus in full bloom. It had several large green stalks with prickly thorns and three huge white blossoms with pale yellow centers, protruding at right angles to the thick stalks.
The plant and its large orange terra-cotta container had been secured to the dolly with strong binding and looked fairly secured. It would make the transport of this thing that much easier for me.
"Now, don't forget to return this dolly to me when you can. I close at six today, so try to get it back to me before then. Otherwise, you'll have to come back tomorrow."
"You'll get it back today. Thanks for lending it to me, Alan."
"You bet," he said, and signed off the delivery papers that I handed to him.
Once I was outside the Hydroponics building, I was relieved to find that the dolly was responsive to my touch. It rolled along quite smoothly, the wheels having been well-greased.
Unfortunately, since I was going up the hill, it also had the penchant to roll just as effortlessly down the hill.
Halfway to the Main Office, I was panting with exertion as I fought the relentless force of gravity with every muscle I had. It had taken all my strength up to that point just to pull the cart up a few feet at a time and then locking the wheels in place so that I could rest a bit before continuing on.
I had been fighting a valiant battle half-way up the hill when a light bulb flashed in my head. I could make this trip much easier if I could find willing help.
I narrowed my eyes in concentration. There had to be a ready-and-willing helper somewhere in the proximity.
My mind found, and rejected, a dozen goats nearby.
Although they were tame and more than willing to assist, they were already quite busy with the chore of mowing the grass that was growing on the bocce ball courts. In any case, the primate gardeners would not be happy if I 'borrowed' one of them for my personal use.
Another random mind cast found several semi-feral cats sunning themselves on the deck of the school's stadium bleacher seats. They were half asleep and barely acknowledged my call.
Useless fleabags of fur, I sniffed. They didn't even do a good job of keeping the population of sick rodents down, preferring instead, to knock over garbage containers looking for food waste.
To my right and up the hill, however, was the beautiful howling sound of a malamute! I was in luck!
And I didn't even need to mind cast to find it.
Are you free and available to help me pull a cart? I asked its sharp curious mind.
Yes! It answered eagerly.
I was impressed. The malamute had enough of a vocabulary to be able to use simple human words to communicate with me rather than the simple images that most animals used to communicate with.
Come to me! I called out to it mentally.
I stood on the lookout for the malamute and was not disappointed when I saw its black-and-white pointy head poking up over the hillside as it made its way to me.
To my horror, however, the malamute was leashed, and at the end of that leash was a woman!
Her frizzy red hair bounced up and down as she tried to regain control of the dog, but dressed as she was, in a tight green dress suit and heels, she had no way to brace herself or to keep from being yanked forward by the momentum of the dog's pull.
She ran only to keep herself from pitching forward, and as she ran, she was yelling at it.
"Stop pulling, Max! Stop, you dumb dog!"
No, no, no! Stop! Stop! I called out to its mind, but Max was beyond listening to me. He had seen my dolly, and true to his sled-dog nature, he wanted to be of use.
Pull, pull! I help you pull! I could hear the dog's simple happy words jumble into my mind.
No, no! I protested.
Pull, pull! He howled with joy as he leaped up from the ground and jumped onto me. The woman chose that moment to cast a spell, freezing Max in place.
Unfortunately, he had already started the jump and the force of his momentum propelled him into me. Without any way to twist himself out of the jump, he made impact with my body.
"Arfff!" He yelped.
I gasped as he knocked me off my feet, pushing me into the parked dolly with a force that jarred my breath. The dolly's brake failed at the moment of impact, but I was too busy falling down onto the pavement to worry about that yet.
Max landed on top of me and then gave another loud yelp as the red-haired woman landed on top of him--which meant she also landed on top of me.
My eyes watered with the impact, but I struggled to crane my neck just in time to see the cactus making good its escape.
It waved its arms goodbye as it sped down the hill, going faster, faster, faster.
BAAAM!!!
The dolly hit a huge eucalyptus tree growing on the outer bend of the road and recoiled, the impact smashing the terra-cotta planter into several large pieces.
Freed from its constrictive terra-cotta planter, the cactus fell out onto the ground, spreadeagled, with its three white floral faces staring up into the bright afternoon sunshine.
"Ow!" I breathed, ex post facto.
Today was not a good day for me. My body ached everywhere, even though at the last minute, the woman had thrown a bubble of protection over me instead of herself. The malamute, freed from its frozen spell, began licking my face.
That was fun, fun, fun! More play! More fun! You play with me!
I shook my head, trying not to groan out loud from the abuse my body had been subjected to.
No! No fun. No play. Down! Stay!
The woman recovered from the spill and began pulling the dog back.
"Oh, my goodness. I am so sorry, dearie. I have no idea what came over Max, here. He is normally very obedient and quite calm," the woman chattered as she helped me up.
She turned back to the malamute.
"Look what you did, Max!" She stood on one foot and pulled off the shoe from her other foot, showing the dog its broken wedge.
"You broke the heel of my brand new shoes!"
I had to compress my lips to keep from giggling as Max stood there, tail hung low, eyes downcast.
She then pointed to the broken pot and its freed inhabitant lying by the side of the road.
"And you pushed the lady's plant down the hill! What a bad dog," she frowned.
I chuckled. Max looked contrite, but I could hear his brain still chanting, Pull, pull pull!
No pull. I gave Max a stern look.
Sorry. Max said to me as he licked my hand.
It's ok, Max. I responded, rubbing his head.
The woman heaved a big sigh.
"Mashangsholi"
She muttered the Repair Command, and made quick fix of the heel of her shoe. Then she slipped it back on her foot and turned, arms akimbo, body tall and twiggy, toward the unfortunate cactus.
"Can you hold Max's leash for a moment? Let me see if I can retrieve your cart," the woman said as she handed me the leash. I did not even have a chance to say anything and she was off, down the hill, going after my cactus.
Without the dog, the woman did not even need to walk. She levitated herself down the hill, and then floated back up with the dolly following behind like an obedient pet. The cactus was back in its container and waving its arms behind her like a buffoon.
"The pot broke, but I repaired it." The red-haired woman said with a friendly smile as she parked the dolly and retrieved Max's leash. "The plant looks none the worse for wear. All its flowers are still intact."
"Thank you for your help!" I gratefully nodded my head.
Since I was the one who had caused the calamity to begin with when I called the malamute to me, I was just happy that she was not terribly upset at me.
I looked up into her eyes and was struck by how pretty and vivacious she looked. Her hair was a shiny copper red, her skin a perfect, creamy alabaster, and she had bright emerald eyes which sparkled when she smiled. She was tall and rail thin like a model should look.
"Where were you going to take this to?"
"I was on my way to the Academy's Main Office building to deliver that plant."
"Then please let me help you get it up there." She turned and regarded the steep incline of the hill.
"It's pretty steep, isn't it? Hmm. I'm going to need both hands. Would you mind hanging onto this for me?" She handed the leash back to me.
"He won't run off, but he's still a young dog, so sometimes, he gets a bit distracted."
I certainly was not expecting an offer of assistance from the woman, but I was desperate, and in no position to turn it down.
I nodded and muttered a grateful thanks, and we headed over to the Main Office. The red-haired woman led the way, marching forth with purpose and a long stride.
The dolly holding the cactus, followed the woman at a brisk pace ahead of me while I followed behind, limping slightly, with a clueless, cheerful dog who was projecting to me his intense love for walk, walk, walk! and sniff, sniff, sniff!