“What is this place?” Lauryn asked. “The trees here seem … odd.”
It had been many hours since Lauryn and Pico left Clyde, and indeed, their surroundings did feel different than the rest of Festerfall Forest.
“Those are no trees!” explained Pico. “They’re trash piles. Looks like we’ve entered Junkyard Hollow. Although I have to admit, I’ve never seen it this messy before. Lady Lou usually keeps things much tidier.”
The two travellers carefully picked their way along a path littered with broken wagon wheels, empty tin cans and reeking heaps of discarded boots. Cresting a small hill, Little Lauryn Lollipop’s jaw dropped as she took in the sprawling, garbage-packed valley below. “We have to walk through that?”
“I’m afraid so,” Pico replied. “We need to cross Craggleheart Canyon to get you home. And the only bridge across it within a hundred miles is on the other side of Junkyard Hollow.”
Pico pointed to the horizon, where Lauryn could barely make out the silhouettes of jagged mountains in the distance. It seemed like a very long way to go.
“Just keep putting one foot in front of the other,” said Pico, as if reading her mind.
Distracted by the mountains of rubbish around her, Lauryn bumped into a precarious pile of rusty pots and pans, sending them clattering down around her feet. “And maybe watch your step,” added Pico.
And so, the two carried on, one step at a time. It meant wading through rivers of holey socks. It meant clambering over mounds of misshapen mangoes. It meant backtracking and trying different routes whenever they hit a dead end.
And from time to time, it meant taking a break from all that walking and stopping for a bowl of leftover wild walnut soup.
Step by step, the mountains in the distance loomed larger as Lauryn and Pico got closer to them. And finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, Pico cried out in delight as Craggleheart Canyon came into view.
The delight didn’t last long. That’s because the bridge across the yawning chasm was in its raised position, preventing anyone from crossing. Sitting in front of the bridge sat a steam-powered robot. And next to it stood a short woman, waving a wrench overhead and kicking dirt at the machine.
“Confounded contraption!” she shouted. “Mechanical buffoon! Knuckleheaded bucket of bolts!”
“Ahem …” Pico cleared his throat to get the woman’s attention. “Hello, Lady Lou.”
The woman let out a squawk and jumped in the air. “PICO?? You should know better than to sneak up on someone like that! What are you doing in a place like this?
Pico introduced Lady Lou to Lauryn and regaled her with tales of their adventures so far. The Rutabaga River. The Desert of Mournful Meows. Lake Tumbles. Festerfall Forest. “And now we need to get across Craggleheart Canyon to get Lauryn back to her family.”
Lady Lou frowned and shook her head. “I want to help you, truly I do! But we need SCRAPS here to operate the bridge,” she said, jerking her thumb at the robot. “And the old tin can decided to break down a week ago, and now he won’t budge.”
Little Lauryn Lollipop knocked on the robot’s foot, a dull clang echoing off the canyon walls behind it. Lady Lou was right. There were no signs of life.
“That’s why this place is such a mess,” Lady Lou continued. “SCRAPS is my cleaning unit, built to keep the junkyard organized and tidy. But one of his cogs seems to have sprung loose and I’m fresh out of spare parts.”
“Out of spare parts?” said Lauryn. “Isn’t this place one giant collection of spare parts?”
“I suppose you’re right,” said Lady Lou. “We probably could find the cog we need somewhere in Junkyard Hollow. But finding it in all this mess would be like finding a needle in a haystack.”
“Ho! Ho!” declared Lauryn. “Maybe for most people. But we’re not like most people, are we Pico? Because we’ve got … a magic suitcase!” Lauryn pointed to the suitcase triumphantly, eager to see what miraculous tool Pico would pull from it to help them find the missing cog lickety-split.
“Well,” said Pico, his head and shoulders disappearing inside the suitcase. “I do have … this.” Pico pulled out a rusty shovel. It was hardly the awe-inspiring revelation Lauryn had expected. But by now, she knew better than to question the magic of the suitcase.
“It’s a … a …” she said, struggling to guess the item’s secret powers.
“It’s a shovel,” Pico replied.
“… a shovel that grants us three wishes?” asked Lauryn.
Pico shook his head.
“A shovel that tells us exactly where to look?”
Pico shook his head.
“A shovel that transforms tin cans into robot cogs?”
Pico handed the underwhelming tool to Lauryn. “Nope … Just a shovel.”
Lauryn stared at the shovel in her hands. “Is the Ballyhoo Bean available?”
“Still sleeping, I’m afraid,” said Pico.
“Well then … we best get to work.”
And that’s exactly what Lauryn, Pico and Lady Lou did. They searched high. They searched low. They dug through heaps of coils and springs. They sifted through piles of broken toys. They scoured fields of waist-high waste.
For three days and three nights they continued their search for the robot’s missing cog, stopping only to sleep and the occasional bowl of wild walnut soup.
Then, five-thousand-one-hundred-and-fourteen pieces of junk later, Little Lauryn Lollipop — dirty, sore and ready to collapse — spotted a chunky bit of metal poking through a blanket of nuts and bolts. Digging in her shovel, she popped the piece loose and held it aloft, scarcely believing her tired eyes.
“I FOUND IT!”
Half an hour later, Lady Lou had the cog installed into her broken-down robot. One minute after that, the mechanized junkyard helper began to emit a series of clicks, boops and whirs.
<< GOOD MORNING, LADY LOU >> SCRAPS said, springing to its feet. << MY SENSORS DETECT YOU ARE IN DESPERATE NEED OF A BATH. SHALL I ACTIVATE HOSE MODE? >>
“You beautiful hunk of junk!” Lady Lou cried out. “A bath can wait! We’ve got work to do getting this place cleaned up!”
<< AFFIRMATIVE >> SCRAPS replied, moving toward the nearest pile of rubbish.
“Uhh … Lady Lou?” Lauryn said, loud enough to be heard over the robot’s clanks and clunks.
“Oh! Right you are, Little Lauryn! I almost forgot! SCRAPS, be a dear and bring down the bridge, will you?”
<<AFFIRMATIVE>>
SCRAPS slid back a small metal plate on his arm and pressed a series of buttons. Now activated, the bridge across Craggleheart Canyon slowly lowered. Pico gathered up his suitcase. Lauryn grabbed the trusty rusty shovel. And together, they strode across the bridge and into mountains beyond.
.
Ideas for your own journey!
In the age of high-speed internet, fast food and same-day delivery, we’ve come to expect immediate results. Reality competition shows feed the fantasy of the overnight success. A webpage taking more than four seconds to load triggers anger and frustration. The same goes if we need to wait a few minutes for a table to be ready at a restaurant.
That expectation sometimes spills over to other aspects of your life. You want the A+ without putting in the time to study. You want the dream job without working your way up from the bottom. You want the million YouTube subscribers and can’t believe your last upload only got 27 views.
But as Lauryn learned in Junkyard Hollow, there are few shortcuts in life. Far more often than not, success involves hard work, perseverance, patience, discipline and, yes, digging in with a rusty old shovel.
So keep putting one foot in front of the other. Take your time. Steer clear of those who offer quick-fix solutions. Because shortcuts are rarely what they’re promised to be, and the path to victory is usually a long and winding one filled with all kinds of setbacks.
DIG IN
The good news? There are always things you can do to make those long, winding journeys easier to endure.
Break it down. When you’re faced with an large problem, breaking it down into manageable chunks can keep it from overwhelming you. Instead of seeing your assignment as a 500-word essay, look at it as an intro paragraph, a conclusion and three 100-word sections in between. Meanwhile, make a point to acknowledge the achievements along the way. Doing so can help you see that you really are making progress. Set milestones for yourself and celebrate your successes with little rewards.
Recruit an accountability buddy. An accountability buddy can make it easier to stay on track and keep going. This is someone you share your goals with and ask to check in with you on a regular basis about your progress.
For example, on Monday, you could send them a list of two or three tasks you hope to accomplish that week. And then at the end of the week, your job is to report back about how well you did. Or you can get them to reach out to you to see how things went.
You can also give them a more hands-on role. For example, if you need extra motivation to go for a run in the morning, do it with a friend to make getting out of bed easier.
Eat the elephant beetle. This sounds gross, but “eat the elephant beetle” is an expression that simply means you should tackle the most difficult or dreaded task first. Maybe it’s an awkward text message you’ve been putting off sending. Or a challenging woodworking technique you know is going to be a headache to learn.
Getting that unappetizing chore off your plate right away will give you a sense of accomplishment, motivating you to knock more items off your to-do list. It also gets it out of your brain, so you can focus on other things without the thought of an unpleasant task buzzing around.
Remind yourself of the “why.” When you’ve got your head down, focused on the mountain of work in front of you, it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. So find ways to remind yourself of the purpose behind what you’re doing.
This could be as simple as posting a motivational quote on your wall. Or a photo of your family. It’s about keeping your eye on the prize as a way to stay motivated.
Find your focus. Struggling to find your groove while you work? Try this to keep things moving.
- Step 1.Eliminate as many distractions as possible. Find a quiet space or use headphones to block out noise. Silence your phone — or better yet, put it in another room. Let others know not to disturb you.
- Step 2.Set a timer for 30 minutes and get to work!
- Step 3. When the timer goes off, it’s time for a quick reset and recharge. Get up and move your body. Get a drink, get a snack, get some fresh air. Go say hi to your dog or rub your cat’s belly. Just don’t go overboard. This step only requires a few minutes.
- Step 4.Reset your timer, refocus, and get back to work.
- Step 5. Repeat!
NEXT: CHAPTER 6 – MOUNT CRAGGLEHEART
PREVIOUS: CHAPTER 4 – FESTERFALL FOREST
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