"Doodles! Wake up!"

I heard the voice of my friend Tramen as in a dream. But why should a dream say 'wake up'? Still lying motionless in my bowl-shaped bed, facing the wall, I mumbled: "Whassup, mommey?..."

I heard a third voice that belonged to a person I didn't know.

"'Mommey'? What's a 'mommey'?"

"It's... um - Doodles? What's a 'mommey'?" Tramen asked me.

"That's the female part of your parents, Toast." I answered, still half asleep.

The unknown voice whispered: "Say, Tramen - is he always that... weird? And where has he been yesterday?"

"Yesterday he was... um... how should I explain... it's a bit complicated... have you ever heard of the being that came to the Neverhood and later was turned INTO a Neverhoodian by Hoborg and Ottoborg?"

I turned around in my bed so that I could face my tall friend Tramen. I grinned.

"Sounds familiar, that sentence, Tra. I wonder where I heard that once..."

I sat up and had a stretch. Then I sat onto the rim of my bed, still trying to awake completely.

"Mornin', Toast. And who's that guy next to you?" I looked at the new fellow who stood left of Tramen.

"This is Gnimen. He was made yesterday."

"Hi, Gnimen!" I greeted him, "I'm Doodles, but if you want you can call me Doo or Doodledoo or whatever comes in your mind. And: No, I'm not always that weird."

Gnimen turned his head away, smiling slighly out of embarrassment. "Sorry. I didn't mean that."

I widened my grin. "That's okay. You'll get used to me."

Suddenly the pile of apples I had built up in one corner of my room trembled, then collapsed. The apples started rolling all over the floor.

"Oh..." Gnimen exclaimed, walking to the corner and picking up something small and white. "Um... this is Okluss, my mouse."

"Your pet?" I asked, while grabbing and eating a rolling-by apple.

"More my friend. I love animals", he stated, looking excusingly at the mess on the floor.

I followed his glance. "Oh - don't worry about that." I pointed at the apples. "That happens just too often. I should glue them together... What kind of animals do you like?"

Gnimen needed a short second to follow my train of thoughts. "Em... oh! All kinds of animals - mice, sheep, ..."

"... BUGS..." Tramen mumbled.

Gnimen grinned. "Yeah, bugs too... - Weasels, ..."

"WEASELS?" I interrupted, "Honestly? You like WEASELS??"

Even the thought of those crabs made me shudder.

"Yes. Tramen told me you don't like to talk about them."

"Talk? I don't like to THINK about those d... um. I shouldn't use that word in front of a 1-dayer."

"You surely talk funny... I still don't get what you meant with 'mommey'." He looked questioning at me.

I smiled and turned my head away. Somehow everyone who meets me notices at once that I'm no common Hoodian. "It's... from where I come... um... What has Tramen told you about me yet?"

Gnimen thought for a second. Then he began: "He told me that you're his bestest friend -"

Tramen grinned and looked at the floor at these words.

"...and that you aren't always in the 'Hood. - That's a point I still don't understand fully... Then he said that you like to draw and tell stories - he showed me some of your pictures! They're nice!"

I turned a bit reproachful to Tramen. "Toast..."

He shrugged grinningly. "Showing your pictures describes your character best."

I looked at Gnimen again as he continued: "Tramen told me too that you came from another world - what's up with that?"

"Actually, from another dimension... I think you should just read about me in the Hall of Records if you want. That's easier than explaining it now. - Hey, tell me a bit more about YOU. Anything else *I* should know?"

"Well, I can run." Gnimen said.

"Heh. Me too." I answered.

"But I can run really FAST." The three-stemmed fellow told me.

"He can outrun Bil!" Tramen threw in.

I cocked my head. "Don't kid me!" I stated, but I was curious and couldn't wait for a demonstration.

"It's true!" Toast assured me. "And we both have thought of a secret greeting we three could use - Kaydiju!"

I blinked. "Kaydi- WHAT? Tramen! You know my talents with words..."

"You'll learn it." He said.

After that, we left my room and headed for the Hall of Records, where Gnimen showed me his running-abilities and I told him a bit more about myself.

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