(And NOW, today's episode of Days Turn in the Albian World of Our Lives . . . )

Flowerpower was dying. Moments earlier he had been blissfully engaged in a rubbing session with Nova and Groovy, over on the island. Sharp-toothed, rabbit-footed Amnotgrey has been sulking and starving in plain sight of all the free love. Amnotgrey couldn't live on love, but that was too bad. Nature got rid of those who couldn't adapt and that weird norn was doomed, thought Flowerpower. Flowerpower's last memory from then was of falling asleep standing up in the boat with the three others. He awoke in a flash of electromagnetic flux and found himself here, alone in the kitchen.

Flowerpower heard the announcement of another new hatchling. He had heard it twice before for his sons Roddy and Snort, although he wasn't aware that they were his sons. He saw Mommy going by with the wonderful little Computers, back and forth to the newly hatched norn. Desperately he stretched up, hoping for a life-sustaining skritch, but she ignored him. As he collapsed in despair his hand pushed a big Maker in the kitchen. A loud sound came out, which frightened away some more of his dwindling life force. Other things popped out. "Food", whatever purpose that served. "Drink". Flowerpower looked apathetically at these items. No love. He pushed on the Maker again and again, thinking it a faster way to die than this slow misery. Finally a Food popped out at which he simply could not stop looking. It gave him little bursts of love with each passing moment. He picked it up. A compulsion came over him to push this Food. When he did so Life Force flooded his being. Flowerpower had learned to push Food!

Having pushed all the Food in the kitchen, Flowerpower headed Right. That was the way to the island, and all his fond memories of the girls told him to head in that direction. He had gotten as far as the garden when he spotted the new norn whose hatching had been announced a short while before. She was nothing like any Hippy norn Flowerpower had ever seen before. She had the wispy white hair and big eyes, but her body was purple and was covered with stripes and spots. She seemed to be having trouble staying alive, even with skritching from Mommy. Mommy was glad to turn over the skritching duty to Flowerpower. She knew Candy would probably not live long otherwise. Flowerpower led Candy off the kitchen, thinking of the wonderful Food that he had discovered. There he kept her alive with tickles as he tried to teach her to push Food.

Candy's mother, Ema, was a Forest norn who had come for a visit and had mated with Flowerpower's son Roddy. They had wandered off together before Candy was hatched, moving downward into the more interesting regions below ground. There Roddy sired, over the course of the next hour, two sons on Ema. They were named Brad and Little Bit. The four of them lived together in the basement level of the abandoned Shee city. Little Bit learned to push the big, loud Maker which Mommy had moved downstairs from the kitchen and to push the Food and Drink that came out, but Brad stayed near Ema where he could live on love and nothing but.

Snort had cornered Amnotgrey left of the stinging Maker. Anmotgrey had gotten enough Food from the stinging Maker she was no longer in danger of dying. Snort had been eating from a nearby Plant, and at 45 minutes he was mating repeatedly with Amnotgrey. Naturally there was no productive outcome from this activity, but both norns were enjoyed themselves. Eventually Snort managed to sire a son on Amnotgrey, and the son was named Whuffle. Whuffle had a lucky toss of the dice. The only loss of Life Force he could suffer was from Pain, unlike his father Snort who lost Life Force from every little annoyance in life. As long as he stayed away from the stinging Maker his Life Force stayed at 100%. Lucky Whuffle!

By now Candy was almost 1:20 old and Flowerpower was beside himself. His courting frenzy reached a new high, and although he frequently slapped Candy by mistake she seldom slapped back. She had never learned to push Food, and her Life Force dwindled with every fumbled "push norn" from Flowerpower. Still, she would not leave his side.

(We will continue with the steamy consummation of the joining of Flowerpower and Candy after this message from our sponsor. Buy Ma G's Mock Norn for only . . . crackle . . . hisssss . . . pop )

The transmission fades as the universes move out of alignment . . .