Gambling with a Hangover

After a night of celebrating by filling our stomachs with food and booze, the yellow poker chip sun peaked over the horizon.

With a slight hangover, I lifted my head up, immediately realizing something was wrong. “Rollnaldo?”

“Don't talk so loud, my head is killing me.” He spoke from somewhere above me.

“I wouldn't move too much if I were-.” I attempted to warn him.

He let out a Wilhelm scream as he fell from a branch of the pine tree that we were currently at the top of.

“Are you alright?” I shouted down to him.

“I hope so.” He groaned back at me.

I sat up on the branch I was on. “I don't know about you, but last night was kind of a blur.”

“I know, the last thing I remember was both of us drinking that funny tasting drink at the inn last night.” Rollnaldo spoke in a muffled voice, as he continued laying face down in the dirt, motionless.

“Yeah same.” Cautiously I began to scale down the tree.

I may not have been able to remember last night, but considering I was able to eat my first meal since coming to this world and I was now fully clothed with my new pair of crappy brown slip on shoes that I won off those kids, I’d call that a win more or less. At the rate I was going, maybe I would actually be able to live up to my name.

“Where are we off to next?” I optimistically wondered, as I made it safely down from the tree and onto the ground.

“Can't we sleep a while longer?” He mumbled.

I nudged him with my foot. “We've been on a roll lately. I don't want to lose this momentum. At the rate we're going, we'll make it to the Kasino King in no time.”

Without lifting his head/torso, still face down on the ground he held up the map in his left hand. “We’re like four hours from the next major city.”

“Great, if we head out now, we can be there by noon.” I lifted up his limp body and tried to place him up right on his feet.

“I think I’m going to throw up.” Looking a little green in his typically red face, he stumbled around as he tried to get his bearings on his own feet. “Don’t get too cocky, we still have a long way to go until we reach-... Bwaaaaaaah.” He proceeded to empty his gut just in front of my feet.

I stepped back about a foot back from the puke pile he just left. “We've made it this far as a team. If we continue working together, I'm sure we can pull it off.”

He let out a chuckle, as he wiped the bile from his mouth. “Oh, you're one of those ‘the power of friendship,’ kind of people.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I can use all the help I can get if I’m ever going to make it back home.” I retorted.

“Are you really sure that’s actually what you want to request from the Kasino King? I don’t know about you, but getting transported back to whatever fairytale land that you’re from seems like kind of a waste.”

“I have friends and family back home. I can’t stay here forever.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself, but I have a request of my own for him.”

I looked at him inquisitively. “What’s that?”

He let out a snicker. “That’s a secret. Maybe I’ll tell you if we can actually make it to him.”

Just as I was about to start prying at him out of curiosity, he froze as something dawned on him. “Where the pip is my merch cart!” He seemingly snapped out of his hangover while he looked around in all directions in a panic.

“Is that it?” I pointed above us.

He tilted his head/torso, confused. “How the pip did it get up there!?”

Perched at the very top of a tall pine tree above us was his merch cart, teetering as it was perfectly balanced on the peak of the tree.

“Man, we must have drank even more than we thought last night.” I picked up a pinecone from the ground. “Maybe we can knock it out of there.”

“Pip no! Are you trying to damage my merchandise?” He slapped the pine cone out of my hand. “Toss me instead, but aim for the top of my cart. I have an Idea.”

Not questioning him, I lifted him up and chucked him up into the tree.

Landing on his cart, while balancing on it, he pulled something out of one of his crates and tossed it down to me. “Do me a favor and blow that up.”

“What is it?” I wondered.

“It's a Matthew the Giant Twine Ball™ themed air mattress. Enough chit chat, just get that thing inflated.” He hurried me.

For the next few painstaking minutes, I puffed on the nozzle of the mattress, which had a graphic of matthew printed across the top of it, until it was completely inflated and my lungs felt like they were going to burst.

“Great, now get it in position.” Rollnaldo ordered me.

After I placed it beneath the tree, he tipped his weight to one side, causing the cart to fall, as he held onto the top of it for dear life. As it landed on the air mattress, it bounced a handful of times before settling.

“Looks like everything is safe and sound.” Rollnaldo responded after doing a quick inspection of all his merchandise. “Alright, let’s get the pip out of this town before anything else happens.”

From there, the two of us departed for the next destination on our journey…