When Arlo moved into Hill Valley a year earlier, his Science Board orientation folder had included a contact who lived in neighboring Lakeland, Mr. Daniel Holt, Observer Level Operative, for unforeseen emergency situations only.
Arlo had never been inclined to travel the forbidden road to Lakeland, and the common rumor was that the neighboring town was a crime-ridden dump, thieves and killers eagerly waiting to assault any good law-abiding Hill Valley travelers who were unfortunate enough to end up there. While Arlo couldn't imagine many of these rumors about Lakeland being true, the public mind of Hill Valley, well-dosed with narcotic fear, could.
After reading the Don Felger letters, Arlo quickly left the Bean House and smiled and waved his way back to his apartment on the South end of town, gathered up a few things into a backpack, and jumped back in his car.
He was going to Lakeland, before he could change his mind about it.
According to the map, it was a rather short distance to Lakeland. The border, Hill Valley's City Limit, was aggressively drawn with red ink across the official map, so that hapless voyagers could see exactly where the danger of Lakeland began, and the safety of Hill Valley ended. The highway then curved around the edge of Lake Spooner, and Arlo halfway expected to see fearsome sea monsters drawn into the lake's waves.
Beginning his spontaneous quest, Arlo passed through the last defunct traffic light at the edge of Hill Valley and entered a thickly wooded forest which hung over the highway, creating a partially sunlit tunnel to drive through. Steering with his knee, Arlo lit his pipe and admired the rich forest along the road.
After a few minutes of driving, the lake was now in sight on the left, and a sign could be seen ahead, but instead of a basic 'Welcome to Lakeland' sign, the metallic gold rectangle was painted with blue letters claiming "You Are Here". Arlo chuckled. "Duh". It seemed like a lot of effort for such a seemingly mundane message, and Arlo was starting to wonder where 'Here' was, as it was certainly hard to believe that this was really the dreaded Lakeland.
Just past the sign, a gravel parking area accessing the lake was surrounded by colorful tables and seats, and a van, craftily painted to resemble a big watermelon on wheels, was parked in one of the spaces. Arlo could now see a group of children swimming and playing in the lake, and he drove on, trying to remember the last time he had been swimming in a lake, while processing the fact that he had just seen a big watermelon on wheels.
There were flowers growing everywhere. Slowing down as he approached the first intersection entering the town of Lakeland, Arlo glanced up and noticed that the traffic light shells had no light lenses in them, the cavities were instead stuffed with grass and twigs; they were active bird's nests. A small greenish bird daringly swooped into one of the openings as he watched.
"Green bird... means go!" Arlo laughed, and then went on through.
There were a few cars on the road now, and Arlo crept along. A dark blue car shimmered by like an elegant fish, and Arlo stared at the paint- he'd never seen anything like it. The mysterious paint seemed to be eating the light in dark folds of movement on the surface as it passed, like an oblong gray-blue pearl on wheels.
The road curved up and into what was, according to the map, the town square. It smelled like pizza and flowers. The sidewalks were now lined with carts full of fresh produce, crafted items and baked goods, like a larger version of Hill Valley's own Farmer's Market. Arlo realized how hungry he had become, but his attention was now being drawn to the center of the square, and he stopped the car and looked up.
Before him towered a large sculpture, a twisting hollowed blob with curving stripes of red, green and yellow glass that glowed in the sunlight. Reaching at least two stories tall, it dwarfed the surrounding buildings simply with it's magnificence of artistic design. Arlo smiled when he realized that the colored glass was actually the individual lenses from all of Lakeland's former traffic signal lights, but what amazed him the most about the structure, besides it's vastness, was the way the whole thing seemed to be hovering 20 feet off of the ground. There were no visible cables above it or any apparent support below, but it appeared to be securely fixed in the air on it's own, floating over a circular stone platform.
Arlo decided to come back later for a closer inspection, and with soft vibrant music now seeming to come from everywhere around him, proceeded through the square towards the town library. This was where he hoped to find Mr. Daniel Holt, his emergency OLO contact. Parking easily near the library, he carefully stepped around the chalk artists who were adorning the broad sidewalk with their temporary art. Inside, Arlo noticed that this was different from the Hill Valley library- there was actually a good number of people here using the facility.
A coarse-looking gentleman was next to the front desk helping a young girl cut some chewing gum out of her dog's long hair with a pair of short scissors. Despite his rough appearance, he spoke kindly and seemed to be amusing the child with a story about how he had once fallen asleep chewing gum, and woke up with it stuck in his own hair. The dog's gum now removed, it squirmed free and bolted away from the desk, and the girl chased after it.
Arlo stammered a little, "Do you know if... do you have anything here by Edgar Greengarden?"
The man's face lit up with a smile. It was probably the friendliest smile Arlo had ever seen- a face obviously designed for just such an expression.
"An OLO! You an OLO? Well wrap me up in Naugahyde and spank me! Wait… you must be all the way from Hell Valley?" The man reached out and shook Arlo's hand with clear excitement in his eyes. "I'm Daniel Holt, welcome to Fakeland!"
Arlo introduced himself, and admitted that it was his first time to visit.
With his hands on his hips and still smiling, Daniel looked Arlo over up and down. "Who would dare visit Lakeland? You got all the way down that highway without getting robbed or killed?"
With a gesture of his hand, Daniel motioned towards the main entrance. "I'll bet you're hungry- c'mon... lets go grab something and talk, I know you didn't just wander in here by accident and sputter the name 'Edgar Greengarden'."
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PART II of chapter 6 is on its way
FICTIONARIUM- Where ordinary life isn't necessarily the greatest idea.