Occams Razor

It's early. The birds are awake and going about their business, and Ellie idly names their calls as she passes. "Chickadee, cardinal, grackle..." It's not warm by normal standards, but after the winter they've had, the locals joke about it being nearly beach weather despite it long being before Memorial Day. But if you're out for a jog, as Ellie is, you can get away with dressing lighter. Gone is the doctor's coat, professional dress, and even her glasses--they were fogging up--replaced with a plain t-shirt, some yoga pants, and calf-height hiking boots that had clearly splashed and sucked through the mud in places.

On her way back, one of the older locals is hauling in his canoe and calls with a wry grin, "Back to jogging, Ellie? Who's the fella?" She returns the remark with a patented death glare and continues on.

A few minutes later, there is the sound of sucking air in sharply through one's teeth. Ellie rests a hand on a nearby tree for support, grimaces, and raises her left foot off the ground slightly. Guess it was time for a rest anyway.

"Let me guess; getting back into shape before the puck drops next season?" Henry mused from his seat on the forest floor.

Ellie spots the source of the question and smirks in recognition. "Something like that," she says, leaning back against the tree and still keeping weight off her left leg. "Though I'm not gonna get too far if I re-injure myself. Definitely had to stay on the bench last season at least." As she leans down and starts testing parts of her shin with her fingers, she says belatedly, "Good morning, Mr. Gondorf. You're up early. Let me guess; out training for the National Rock Skipping Contest?"

A groan escaped him as he stretched out. "Yah caut me..." He grumbled before relaxing, "The secret to my 'drunken stupor' throwing style is ruined."
He made to rise only to sit back down hard. A wince pain clear on his face before clearing. "...gotta lay off with the 'shine. Gonna end up in your waiting room with my guts in a plastic bag one of these days."
The glare of the rising sun works its way into his eyes. More pain. Pulling down his walking cap against the rays, Henry finally triumphs as he rose to his feet.
"Mind a shambling partner for a bit?" Henry offered.

"Sure," is the simple response, accompanied by the appraising look of a doctor looking over a patient. Well, a squinty appraisal--still no glasses. The woman tests her weight gingerly, then takes a few steps with only a very slight limp and nods approvingly.

"Stuff makes you go blind, y'know. Professional opinion," she snorts with a quirked eyebrow. "I'd rather not have you puking your guts out at my clinic. Stomach pumping is not my favorite thing to do. After you," she gestures forward, bringing another hand up to shade the sun from Henry's face.

"So why the moonshine? Fun party?"

:: Liberty comes running along the road from the direction of main street. She's wearing cargo shorts - from the pocket of which pokes a squirrel head, running shoes, and a navy t-shirt with Rainbow Dash holding a rocket launcher on it. A cord leads from an over-the-head headset (in blue) to the other pocket of her cargoes.::

:: She slows down as she approaches the doctor and Henry, stopping her forward movement but lifting her heels one at a time while keeping her toes on the ground to keep her calves limber. Slipping her hand into her pocket she pulls out her ipod, thumbs the lock open, and then pauses the music. If someone was listening closely they might recognize some Shakira before the music cuts off.
What? It's good to run to ::

:: Pulling the headset down so it rested around her collarbone she eyes the doctor's foot gear ::
Ma'am. Are you wearing those to support your ankle? Or are you trying to get shin splints?

:: She turns to Henry and cocks her head ::
Henry.
:: She pauses, like she might add something more, then turns back to the doctor with her usual shutter-stop focus ::
Chloe is going to be teaching yoga. It might be better for you than running since you broke your leg.

:: After a second she blinks and shifts her attention between the two of them ::
Did I interrupt something? Are you two having a special moment?

"Eh," Henry shrugged, "Just shooting the breeze about the merits of White Lightening as part of a healthy breakfast. Turns out we should stick to milk and OJ."

Henry ambled along a bit more before his brain caught back up to him. "Oh...right. About that." Henry looked over his shoulder at his impromptu bedding. "Not so much a shindig as a rescue party for my poor head. Thought I'd try my hand at some old fashioned cartography for these parts. Kind of a "where are you going, where have you been" deal. Good news is I got some decent company this morning and a diamond cutter hangover. Bad news is I think my compass and sextant need an exorcist." Henry gave a pained smile.

Ellie gestures to Liberty to walk with them, if she wants. "Being hungover and finding you spent the night outside isn't doing much for my confidence level in you, Mr. Gondorf. Even when he was at his worst, Sally had the good enough sense to find his own bed at night. But," she shrugs, "probably best to walk it off now." She passes him a water bottle.

Having taken care of that, she answers Liberty's question. "By the way, I'm actually trying to get shin splints. I'm doing a good job of it so far. It's a part of my master plan to become the defenseless princess of Whisper Hill, in which everyone has to wait on me." Characteristic dry Northern sarcasm. Doctors are the worst patients. More seriously, she says, "Yoga might be nice though."

"So cartography, eh? Where are you going and where have you been?" she asks, addressing them both.

Henry took the bottle with a nod of thanks. He was careful not to kiss the opening as a tipped back a slug of water. No telling where he'd been. He handed the bottle back with a refreshed "aww".

"Hey now, Doctor. Waking up in odd places comes with the job description. You can only keep your eyes open on stakeout for so long. Some nights you just gotta pick your spot, fluffy yesterday's papers and settle in for the long haul."

The addition of water to his system help shock his liver into action. The headache remained but at least his stomach seemed a touch less volatile.

"Yeah, heard that in a song once and seemed to fit the plans for the day. See, I got it in my head trying that with everything that's been happening it is about time to help bring together a new map of the area. Maybe mark off where others happened upon the strange or out of place. So I gathered some notes I picked up of where folks have been. And..." Henry thought for a moment as the trio walked along.

"The best I got is Whisper Hills is about 20 gallons of strange in a five gallon bucket." Henry winced at his lack of eloquence at the moment.

That, now that elicited a rare full-throated burst of laughter from Ellie with just a touch of bitterness or sadness in it. "Yeah, probably the best description of Whisper Hill I've heard in a while. The bucket is trying to be normal though. Plastic and orange and emblazoned with Aubuchon Hardware, P.O. Box 9, Whisper Hill, New Hampshire, oh-three-five-seven-six. Wants normal very badly." She takes a long, thoughtful draw from the water bottle.

"And anyway, that's exactly the reason not to be hangin' around outside overnight. Especially, asleep and unaware of your surroundings," she continues, returning to her lecturing voice. "The smart people go in before the wildlife comes out." It's clear she means this literally and figuratively.