It was later in the evening, just past dinner. Hero had helped clear up the kitchen and put away the remaining bits of food before asking if he could go on an evening stroll around just to stretch his legs. It was almost two weeks ago to the day when he saw Rey last, and Hero wanted to know how the newcomer was doing. Plus, he had more questions for his fellow Borrower.

His parents agreed to let him go as long as he wasn’t out too late and, hastily, Hero agreed to the terms.

Even if Hero didn’t get to see his friend, he still had things to think about. He slung on his borrowing bag before darting out of the house to the popsicle staircase where he dared to take the steps two at a time until he reached the fifth level. The teenage Borrower waved to a few of his neighbors here and there, but his mind was wandering already to the things that were bugging him.

The first of those things being the fact that Rey lived on the fifth floor and that the human his parents warned him about was on the same floor. Coincidence? Hero was starting to think not. Were they seen as soon as they arrived? Or was it something else? Rey seemed secretive about something, but was more than willing to talk about his interest in humans and their contraptions.

The second thing pulling at Rey’s mind was the fact his parents and his siblings were no longer leaving every day to go to some undisclosed location. Once again, it had something to do with the fifth floor. Hero was sure of it!

The bright-eyed Borrower’s curiosity was getting the better of him. Even though he wanted to respect his parents and their order to stay away from the new family and the fifth floor, something else was pulling him in that direction.

He was about to duck down one of the darkened passages when he heard his name being called from across the way.

“Hero! Wait up!” Hero turned around to see Rey jogging along the path. “How’s it going?” Rey, slightly out of breath, was smiling from ear to ear as he approached his friend.

“Hey, long time no see,” replied Hero, mirroring Rey’s smile. “Things have been going I guess. I finally get to get out of the house a little more, thank goodness. I was actually going to come find you. What are you doing running around? Looking for something?”

Rey shrugged and looked up the elevator shaft which vanished into an abyss of black above them. “I was just exploring. I’ve been here for almost two months and haven’t ventured up to the top floors. Plus, I wanted to try out my new invention. What do you think?”

Rey slipped off his backpack and pulled the edges down to reveal a dual hooked mechanism inside of a hard plastic case with a very thin nylon wire wrapped around a gear like mechanism. Hero wasn’t exactly sure what to make of the machine, but it looked really cool.

“Great, right?” asked Rey, obviously thrilled at his invention. He looked up into his friend’s face and immediately picked up on his confusion. “It’s a portable pulley system. You toss this hook over the edge and secure it on this bottom part here by hooking it onto something sturdy on the ground. You hook whatever you want and use this crank on the side to lift it up. Then, because of the pulleys inside with all of the gears, you can basically lift anything you want from one level to the next. All weighing about the same as a double “A” battery.”

“What? No way!” said Hero, his jaw dropping. “But, won’t the yarn need to be replaced?”

“Nope,” replied Rey proudly. “Nylon string, point five millimeters. Harder to snap, so it’s more durable.” Hero looked closer at the device, seeing that it used to be made of some kind of correction tape machine that humans used on paper. Hero was so enthralled that he almost didn’t notice a few things that were a little odd with the machine.

One of those things was the place for the crank. The hole was cleanly cut for one. Also, how did Rey get a hold of special nylon string? Did the human on the fifth floor have some? Finally, the elements looked relatively new from the correction tape box to the fish hooks on the ends. Did he borrow something that wasn’t used? Wouldn’t that be noticed?

“Anyway,” sighed Rey. “I was just wandering around exploring. You said you were looking for me? What for?”

Hero now felt self-conscious about wanting to find Rey. The teenage Borrower was hoping to find Rey closer to his home so he could possibly be invited in and get some questions answered. The bolder part of his personality wanted to ask Rey directly, but the other, curious part thought he should wait and see what Rey offered through natural conversation.

“Just… to hang out. I haven’t seen you in a while and wanted to see how you were settling in,” answered Hero.

“Couldn’t be better,” he replied.

“Oh? And why’s that? Good borrowings?” asked Hero. His heart quickened in that brief moment before Rey responded.

“Yeah,” stated Rey. “Good borrowing, finally have my room the way I want it, and for the life of me I will find a way to make a decent trigger for my hook launcher. Anyway, want to show me the upper floors? I wouldn’t want to poke around some place I wasn’t supposed to be.”

Hero felt slightly disheartened. He would rather have Rey show him his room on the fifth floor so he could get a glimpse of this human he was borrowing from, but getting to spend time with Rey would be just as fun - for now.

“Sure thing,” said Hero. “Do you feel up for some climbing? Or do you want to take the lift?”

“Climbing if that’s okay. I was told recently I need to work on more muscles other than my brain if I want to be a good Borrower,” said Rey.

“Oooff ouch! Yeah, my brothers say stuff like that to me too. You know, the whole ‘be careful’ spiel,” replied Hero. For a brief second, Rey opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but he stopped himself and instead followed Hero around the elevator shaft to the set of emergency climbing ladders on the other side of the hole.

As they climbed, Hero and Rey talked about how humans construct their ladders and all of the inventions Rey wanted to make. He was still fixated on the idea of flight, but nothing they had other than paper airplanes and parachutes could fly, and even then it wasn’t a very long flight.

“Don’t you think it would be cool though? To fly around like Superman or someone like that?” asked Rey.

“That would be really cool, but also kind of scary; and wouldn’t you be more like Batman since he needs gadgets to do stuff?”

“Ooohh! Even better! Superman is cool and all, but he’s an alien and I’m pretty sure we’re more like humans than aliens,” replied Rey. They reached the top and Rey paused to sigh heftily. He looked out at the darkness below, seeing some of the small, twinkling lights of their makeshift city down below.

Hero was going to do it. The whole way up the ladders, he was fighting with himself to get the courage to ask Rey about the human they lived above. They rounded the corner to the last set of ladders when they were suddenly faced with an elderly Borrower ascending the first few rungs of the ladder, hand over fist. She was moving very slowly up the ladder and there was a plastic bottle shaped like a fish on her back filled with some kind of clear liquid that looked like water.

Hero recognized her immediately and, without hesitation, he and Rey both rushed forward to stop the elderly Borrower from ascending any further.

“Granny Hobbs! Here, let me help you with that,” said Hero as he greeted the elderly Borrower. She had on a patchwork poncho made of dark maroons and oranges, making her look like an autumn leaf. Her short white, puffball hair made her head look like the fuzzy part of a dandelion and her chocolate-brown eyes, though crinkled and crow footed on the edges, were just as sharp as ever.

“Well, good morning youngsters. I don’t recognize you little mister, but I’d know my little Hero anywhere. Where are you two off to?” asked Granny Hobbs as she allowed Hero to help remove the plastic water fish from her back.

“Oh, right. Granny Hobbs, this is Rey. He just moved here,” introduced Hero.

“Nice to meet you,” replied Rey.

“And we were just going up so Rey could see what’s up here. He hasn’t been exploring and we thought it would be fun,” replied Hero.

“Oh, I see,” smiled the elderly Borrower. “Well, I won’t keep you.” She made a shaky grab at the plastic fish bottle.

“Well, wait a second. Rey, do you mind if I help out Granny Hobbs and bring this up a level? I think I know what this is for,” said Hero. Rey nodded and smiled.

“Not at all. I was thinking the same thing,” grinned Rey.

“Oh! Well, aren’t you both just the most proper gentlemen,” smiled Granny Hobbs. Together, the three Borrowers ascended the ladder and veered off to the pathway straight ahead and to the left.

Unlike the other floors, this one was arranged differently. There were fewer beams and slats and significantly more panels and vents. Hero let Granny Hobbs take his arm as they walked along the beams. Hero knew where they were going and had no trouble guiding the three of them to the end location.

Around the corner beams nestled by one of the vents on the rooftop was a place that let in the slightest bit of sunlight where Granny Hobbs fostered her garden.

Hero heart Rey gasp slightly as he saw the budding flowers and sprouts forming as well as the vines which arched and weaved through. It wasn’t very big, maybe a few feet wide and a few feet long. Still, the flowers and herbs were a beautiful smattering of green in the darkened shadows of the walls.

“Wow! Hero, your granny is the best. Did you do this all on your own?” asked Rey as he jogged up and began looking at the plants which were slightly taller than himself. At this, Granny Hobbs chuckled.

“Oh sweetie, I’m not actually Hero’s grandmother; however, I’m old enough I could be,” smiled Granny Hobbs. “I do consider Hero one of my many grandchildren though. Sweet little tike. Just over here deary. I’ve already handled the other plants.”

Granny Hobbs directed Hero over to the side where there were still a few dry plants. While Hero watered the budding flowers, he looked over at the elderly Borrower with curiosity.

“Granny Hobbs? How many times did you climb up the ladder to water your plants today?” asked Hero.

“Oh, well, let’s see.” Granny Hobbs, obviously underestimating the number as she counted out loud, finally ended and looked shyly at Hero. “Maybe seventeen? No… sixteen times.”

“Granny!” Hero scolded gently.

“Well, the pipes up here are too thick to drill, and we haven’t been able to get enough straws and other materials to run the water from the other side to right up here. It would be so very nice to have a lever to pull and then just check on the pipes and the plants, but that’s just a dream. Besides, this is good exercise for me,” replied Granny Hobbs.

Rey, who was investigating the area, was clearly mapping out the area. Hero didn’t know the slightly older than him Borrower very well, but he could see the look on Rey’s face was that of sheer will and determination. He was thinking of a way to solve the problem.

“Ma’am are there pipes nearby?” asked Rey after several minutes of investigating the area. “Water pipes I mean.”

“What? Oh, of course. Yes. They’re over there deary,” replied Granny Hobbs. “And don’t worry about the whole ma’am bit, though you’re cute as a button when you say it. You can call me Granny or Granny Hobbs.”

Rey paused at hearing this and smiled, biting his lip for a second and reaching up to ruffle his own hair in the back before nodding.

The boys finished up at the garden and wandered around the top floor. Hero even showed Rey how to get up to the rooftop where the humans had their own greenhouse garden and sitting area.

Hero once again started to get the courage to ask Rey about his home when Rey excused himself quickly, saying he had some ideas and needed his tools at home to build. They bumped fists and Rey vanished into the beams and pipes of the fifth floor.

For a moment, Hero thought about following him, but it was Rey shouting over his shoulder that he would see Hero tomorrow same time. Rey had an idea. Hero watched his friend disappeared, wondering what he had in store for the next day.

Early the next morning, Hero found out what Rey had in mind.

Rey, using his newfangled invention, was dragging straws behind him. The rope was wrapped around the middle of the soft-plastic straws and was being dragged behind. Hero had never seen so many straws. Hero didn’t need to be close to see that these were in top condition – looking brand new as if they were fresh out of the package.

Hero wasn’t usually suspicious, but this was an interesting phenomenon. Wouldn’t the human notice if this many straws went missing? And Rey wanted more?

Hero let his senses come back to him as he began to help his friend drag some of the straws out into the main area.

“What on earth?” breathed Hero.

“Right? I was thinking that we could attach the straws end to end to end and secure it with tape. I’ll have to go back and get some more, but I think it’ll be worth it,” Rey said with an inventive smile on his face.

“You think so? I mean, Rey these look great; brand new even. How’d you pull it off?” asked Hero. Rey, for a fraction of a moment, looked hesitant. Hero, involuntarily, asked him a question about his home and the human he lived near. The bright green-eyed Borrower instantly regretted his question, mostly because he wanted to phrase it so he could get more information.

Still, Borrowers can’t be choosers.

Rey gave a shrug, obviously a bit tense, and continued pulling the straws behind him.

“The human has a lot of projects she does. It’s not a big deal. She won’t know they’re missing. Anyway, we need to get a move on,” said Rey.

Hero, suspicious, decided to not press any further and instead watched Rey use his device that he showed off the day before that used pulleys and levers. Rey would unhook the straws, go to the next level, secure one hook to an unmovable ledge, and then swing the longer hook down one level so Hero could secure it to pull up.

The plan was ingenious, and, after a couple of breaks and persistence, they brought the straws up. From there, it was smooth sailing. They had all the pieces and parts to make the full water pipe system after a couple of days of assembling. One end of the straw would go into the next end, glued and taped to secure it.

When they got to the end, Rey placed the straws in between the rows of vegetation and poked holes in it strategically so it would spray from each of the punctured points onto the plants.

All the while, Rey was oddly lucky to be able to get the exact supplies he needed when he needed them.

Hero knew for sure something was up now – and he was determined to figure it out very soon.