Peer Review

“Lollipops? Seriously?”

“Yep. Here, look.”

“Where the hell did you find lollipops?”

“Ready to think I'm crazy?”

“I already do.”

“On that tree over there. The one by the cliff.”

“Extra crazy. Suspicions confirmed.”

“I'm happy to show you.”

“What? And draw me into your mad little world along with you?”

“I think it's a little late for that. You're the one who agreed to step through the portal.”

“Point. So, are confections the standard for flora here?”

“Not that I've noticed. I did see some odd critters poking at the lollipops, though.”

“Define 'odd'.”

“Kind of like a cross between a fruit bat and an earthworm?”

“How exactly does something like that eat a lollipop?”

“I'm not sure they were eating. Just poking their... snouts, for lack of a better word, against them.”

“Maybe they think it's just as weird as we do.”

“Could be. I haven't seen any other lollipop trees nearby.”

“So what? It's a freak mutation?”

“At this point, I've given up on making rational hypotheses about this place.”

“What kind of scientist are you?”

“The kind that knows perfectly well that nothing I see here is ever going to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.”

“Hey, I'd vouch for you!”

“I'm pretty sure that would just hurt my odds more.”