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“That’s the last of the boulders. Nice work guys!” Three of the survivors, Wilson, Walter, and Willow, went out to get more materials. They chose to go mining because the Rockylands was near the base, and the closer they were, the easier it would be to transport all the heavy goods. Wilson wiped some sweat off of his forehead as he packed the rest of the gold he found into his backpack. He was excited to go home and use some for his work when he heard Walter walk up to him, Woby following closely by his side. “Hey Mr. Wilson! How much did you get today?” Wilson was about to reply, but smiled as he thought of something better to say.
“App-rocks-imately 30 rocks, 7 gold, 10 nitre, and 20 flint, but I could be wrong. What about you Walter?”
Wilson chuckled. He enjoyed puns, although they usually weren’t funny, they were certainly clever enough for his taste. There was a groan coming from Willow in the distance, and he expected Walter to do the same. Instead he was met with a smile. “I mostly got rocks, so I’ll use a cobble of them for slingshot ammo. Get it?” There was a bit of silence before the scientist was able to catch his words. “Was that… a pun?” Walter grinned back at him. “Of all pebble, I expected you to know that I like puns too!”
Wilson put his hands to his sides and shook his head. “Of quartz, how could I have forgotten!” The two of them began laughing, Willow walking over just as they began to settle down from their fits. She sighed. “First it was Wilson making all the puns, then it was Walter, and now you guys are making rock puns together. I’m so disappointed.”
The two looked at each other, then looked back at Willow. Walter chuckled and cleared his throat. “You don’t under-sand how funny these jokes are Willow!” Walter looked back towards Wilson, who had already stifled a laugh. “I mean am I right, ore am I wrong?” This kid was going to give Wilson a heart attack from all the laughing he did. He could feel the heat of Willow's disappointed gaze on them. “Those jokes were solid Walter! Sorry, I forgot to keep my coal.”
Willow was tempted to leave both of them and go back to camp, but wanted to test how far these two clowns could keep it up. “What are you guys going to do when you run out of these?” They were now seated on some grass with their backpacks off to the side. “It’s sedimentary, my dear Willow.” Wilson started, Willow now deciding that trying to stay was a terrible choice. “We’ll just try a grain and a grain.” Walter perked up. “If we need to, we can just start off with a clean slate. I’m pretty opal that we can make more jokes.”
Willow stood up, grabbing her things. The sun was already starting to set, so what better time to leave than now? “Okay, that’s enough. These puns are gonna make me lose my-” She was interrupted by Wilson. “Marbles?” Before anyone could stop her, Willow was already making a run for it. “That was pretty gold of her…”
It was just Wilson, Walter and Woby left on the grass, the furry creature yawning and curling up between them both. “It’s getting late, we should head back to base and catch up with you-know-who.” All the bags were picked up, and Walter turned to Wilson with a grin on his face. “Maybe Warley will have something for us to eat in his rock-pot!” Wilson smiled back. “I hope so too.”
As they were walking back to base, the sun continued to go down as nighttime made its way into the Constant. “I’ll have to admit, there were a few gems amongst all of these terrible rock puns.” Wilson said as they opened the gate and put both of their bags aside for dinner. Both of them thought all those puns were worth it, besides Willow not wanting to talk with them for a while afterwards.