Pip and Kip: The Best Gatherers in the Red Tree

You wouldn’t be alone if you’ve never heard of the Red Tree. It rests unassumingly, towering over the others, deep in the heart of the oldest forest. Within the Red Tree, you will find a peculiar ecosystem. Not one that particularly benefits anybody - aside from us Grumps, of course. It’s a hidden wonderland, and that’s exactly how we like it. Tucked far away from maps and meddling eyes - here we live out our humble existences, with no clear goal or intention. Just to live, content to slip under the radar of any potential threats that may come our way.

My name’s Pip, and my brother and I, Kip, do everything together. The important business, mainly - napping, snacking, the art of manipulation… Those sorts of things.

In our community, the female Grumps keep everything running like clockwork. They raise the little ones, cook the meals, tidy the homes until they sparkle.

And what of the male Grumps, you ask? We get given jobs. Not ones we choose, but ones we’re assigned. When a Grump hits a certain age, the Red Tree decides our fate. Names appear like scribbles of glowing ink across the inner bark of our tree, each one followed by a job assignment.

The jobs vary - tree cleanup, root maintenance, or, dreaded among all, taxes.

So here we stand, Kip and I - now of age. Waiting beneath the great list, holding our breaths as the magic tree began to scrawl our names across it.

Kip Foley - Gatherer.

Pip Foley - Gatherer.

And just like that, the universe had played its cruelest trick.

Gatherer! Of all the job assignments, we’d been given the most dangerous, gruelling one! It felt as if the tree had been watching us all these years and finally could say, ‘Enough’s enough.’

“Kip! Pip!”

Flow, the oh-so-virtuous leader of our community, came plodding toward us. One slow step after another, he finally approached us with what looked like a scroll clutched in one hand. “Congratulations on your Gatherer assignments.” He boomed. “One of the most honorable jobs out there.”

Kip let out a very obvious scoff, earning a furrowed stare from Flow. He cleared his throat before continuing. “I have a list here for you - our two newest Gatherers. I’m sure you’ll make us all proud.”

He thrust the scroll at me with unnecessary ceremony. I grabbed it, unrolled it… And watched in horror as it kept unrolling, and unrolling… Until it lay coiled across the floor, winding itself beneath my feet.

“Just a few things, you know. The usual.” Flow said softly, with a wink far too smug for his own good. “Nothing too unmanageable for young, sprightly Gatherers, such as yourselves.” He turned away, his grin wide.

Then, from over his shoulder: “Oh, and don’t forget to take a few days' worth of food. You may be gone for quite a while.”

Flow would be loving this. He, of all people, knew our tendency to cut corners. His smile said it all - and something akin to frustration began to bubble in my chest.

“How are we gonna do this, Pip?” Kip groaned, his brown eyes boring into mine.

“We’ll be fine,” I affirmed, attempting to sound braver than I felt. “I’m sure we’ll find a way around it. We always do.”

With that, we grabbed our empty sacks and supplies for the journey. We knew in our hearts that there was nothing we could do aside from getting the job done.

Grumps didn't leave the tree unless it was absolutely necessary, and hauling back supplies for the others definitely counted. The one good thing about being a Gatherer was that, although the job was long, dangerous, and full of effort, the breaks in between runs were longer than anyone else’s. And if there’s one thing that my brother and I excel at, it’s making the most of a break.

Still, with all of that time outside the safety of the Tree’s walls…?

Who knew what would happen?

—

Something they informed us about on our way out, much to our chagrin, was that the supply radius around the Red Tree stretched farther with each mission. Gatherers would leave the tree, head toward the brink of that radius, and bring back supplies. With each mission, they had to travel further and further.

There were stories of a clearing that two Gatherers found the edge of. Too uncertain to venture deep into the grass, they quickly scampered back. That left us, the two newest and probably laziest Gatherers, who had to travel further than any had ever gone. The only way that supplies could get closer to the tree was if the wind blew them here, but much to our dismay, the weather had been brilliant.

At least we didn’t need to worry about the rain.

We’d been walking for what felt like forever now, but it probably had only been…

I checked the sun's position, as I’d been briefed.

Two hours?!

Kip and I trudged through the cold earth, one slow step at a time. “This sucks.” Kip spat, stomping down the dirt track. “Why couldn’t we have gotten sweeping or something?”

I shrugged my shoulders, biting my tongue. I’d been dealing with the same conversation for hours now, and at this point, it had grown tedious.

In the distance, I noticed a deep rumbling. It did not come from the sky, the place in which such sounds usually came. This came in waves, from beneath our feet.

STOMP, STOMP, STOMP

What on earth was that?

Realization dawned on me. I clutched Kip's arm in desperation. “Quick! We need to hide!”

I looked around for a leaf, a cluster of grass - anything we could camouflage beneath. To no avail - all that surrounded us for as far as our eyes could see was plain dirt. “Okay, new plan. Don’t move. Maybe it won’t notice us.”

STOMP, STOMP, STOMP

The sound thundered closer, in time with the pounding of my heart.

And then, out of the distance, it appeared. A tall, plodding giant, draped in a pink and white garment that reached just below its knees.

Its skin a pale gold, and hair as bright as the sun itself. It had soft features: big blue eyes and an easy-going smile. It was only a fraction of the height of our tree, but still terrifyingly large.

“Quiet,” I whispered, hearing Kip’s panicked breathing beside me.

But there was no avoiding the inevitable. The creature was headed DIRECTLY towards us. At this rate, we would be squished beneath the dark brown covers it wore on its feet.

“ABORT!” I shouted to my left.

Kip and I took off in a sprint back towards the tree. Sprinting was near impossible, and not only because of the mountain of supplies strapped to our backs - but thanks to our complete lack of training and any physical strength, we weren’t the fittest of Grumps, either.

The creature exhaled, a sound similar to a gasp escaped its throat, and it proceeded to drop to all fours - hovering directly above us.

We froze. “Don't… Move…” I muttered under my breath.

Kip's eyes darted upward - and predictably, panic overtook.

“WE’RE UNDER ATTACK! WE’RE UNDER-” I slapped a hand against his mouth. “Shut it!” I hissed. “Play it cool.”

Shifting my eyes up, I was met with curious blue ones, glazing over us like two giant moons.

“Hi.” I uttered. The creature looked back, confused.

“Can, you, understand, me?” I drawled, each word coming out as clearly as possible. Slowly, it nodded its head, the yellow braids on either side of it drooping low and nearly slamming us onto the earth below.

“Careful!” I spat. “You nearly downed me!”

The creature grabbed its braids and shoved them behind its oval head. “How can you talk?”

Its voice was not only hot and breathy, but also near deafening. “Quiet, please!”

At my instruction, the creature held a hand to its mouth, muttering a few apologies.

“How can you talk?” It whispered.

I tilted my head. “How can any of us talk?”

“...True.”

The creature's curiosity didn’t diminish. “What are you?”

I sighed. “We’re Grumps.”

Kip flicked his head toward me. “Pip!”

I snapped mine right back. “What?! Do you think we could outrun, or worse - fight off,” I pointed one small finger in its direction. “That?”

The creature gasped in shock. “I wouldn’t ever hurt you.” Its face dropped from a large grin to something more unsettling. “Can I take you home with me?”

“No!” We shrieked in unison. “We have a home.” I told it. “And we’d like to go back.”

Kip now spoke up. “And what are you, exactly?”

“I’m a human. My name’s Celia.”

Shock flowed through me. So this was a human. I’d heard a lot of stories about them, but I’d never seen one in the flesh.

“Where do you live?”

Geez. This human sure had a lot of questions.

I explained to it the story of our home, the tree we came from, our roles as Gatherers, and the dwindling supplies from our preferred proximity into the forest.

It laughed. Laughed! Right in our faces.

“You're meaning to tell me, the furthest the Gatherers have travelled is…” The human named Celia stood up, looking over at our home and toward the edge of the clearing. “Ten meters?”

My face fell at the human's ignorance. “Well… ‘ten meters’ is a long walk for a Grump.”

“You don’t have cars?”

Kip and I glanced at one another. “What’s a car?”

The human let out a snort.

“It was a genuine question!”

It looked down on us with a blank, unreadable stare. “You guys don’t know much about the world, do you?”

“Of course not! We’ve lived in a tree our whole lives-” Kip snapped. I held my hand up to him, an idea beginning to take shape.

“You should be wise.” I drawled, squinting my eyes. “Making fun of a Grump can have terrible consequences.”

The human looked horrified at my words. “Like what?” It breathed.

“Oh, you know. A curse on your family is not something you should take lightly.” Kip shifted his gaze to mine and nodded in silent understanding.

“I can bring you your supplies.” It spat in fear.

I stroked my chin between my forefinger and thumb, feigning contemplation.“I suppose that would be a worthwhile trade.”

“I-I’m out here every two weeks anyway, gathering fresh flowers for home. Let me help you. Please.”

I looked around uninterested. “Fine. I suppose we can organize something. Here’s a list.” I shoved the scroll Flow had given us in her direction. The human picked it up gently, and against the sheer size of her hand, it looked like only a scrap.

“Go collect these things.”

The human stood ramrod straight. “Yes, sirs! Sorry to bother you.”

Kip and I sat back, lounging in the fresh dirt until the human returned, dropping a small handful of every material and resource on the list.

“You were only gone for two minutes!” Kip exclaimed.

The human shrugged her shoulders. “This forest is full of this stuff, and I have longer legs than either of you.”

“What did I say about making fun of us!”

The panic began to rise in her face again. “No, I wasn't making fun! I was just sayin'!”

“Very well. Every two weeks, drop everything beside our tree. Just outside, that'll do. Then, and only then, will we keep our promise to keep your family out of harm's way. And don't tell anyone you ever met us. Trust me. We’ll know if you do.”

The human nodded its head, staring at us, bug-eyed.

“Off you go.” I shooed, and it ran away, plunging the list into its pocket.

Kip looked at me with a large grin spread across his face. I gave him a smug smile right back.“I told you we’d find a way around it.”

—

We returned to the tree, beaming as the Grumps welcomed us back in with their usual hollering praises.

Flow led the crowd, a surprised look on his face. “Gentle-grumps.” He barked. “Excellent haul. A successful journey, then?”

Kip and I beamed at each other, resources protruding proudly from the sacks slung over our shoulders.

“I’d say so.”