| Tale Six "Vision or Apparition? Where are you?" |
| And with a jolt she was dragged from her dream. There was a sound; a voice calling in the night … and her dream … never felt again. "I will be with you tonight. Don't you dare fall back to sleep ... don't you dare try to snooze. For soon, I will lie next to you, body and soul, snuggling late with you so tight." the nasty dark voice rang again, “Ah ha ha. I will be with you in body and soul on this nighty, night, night. Just you wait. Just you wait." She spun tangled in her sheet, arms flailing in the air, swinging with futility at nothing, "Who said that?" only to hear her own breath get caught in her throat, "Whose there? Whose there? Where are you?" and in a higher pitch, "Where are you?" again she exclaimed, "WHERE ARE YYOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!". From the corner of her bed sheet, was a flutter beneath the fabric. What seemed to be a hand forming a shape within the sheet burst forth and formed itself into a grizzly, deformed hand. With open fingers it slunk down into a fist, in the dark of the night it seemed to have a light of its own, glowing green. Then with full intent, those fingers opened wide, exposing its palm and on that palm an eye peeked out seeming most sure to look in her direction. An ear, pointy tipped and covered with ghoulish matted hair popped into sight hanging limply from a pinky and another dangling from the thumb. A mouth, with purplish lips, wriggling in a most unpleasant way, showed its yellow knarled teeth, just below that lip, spewing like lava, spittle over each tooth in a crewel, demonic way, "I will be with you tonight. Don't you sleep my child, not for second, oh yes I’ll be with you tonight. I wont let sleep engulf you, nor allow you to drift to some better or peaceful place. No, no you belong to me make no mistake, you belong to me body and soul." The hand melted in a carnival of lights and smoke, back under her bed sheet and with a pop, it was gone. The room was still again, and the dark of the night covered her space. For sure it was real, she was woken plain and without doubt. There was no time to sit and wait for another gulp of fear. Her toes touched the cool night’s air, drifting in from the window. She flipped to her side letting the soles of her feet touch the chilly wood floor. With all the energy she could muster, she sped toward her bedroom door, grasp the doors handle and felt the knob slip through her fingers, seeing a green, glowing goop encased around the knob. Battling a gag reflex she forced herself to try the knob again, holding onto it with all her might, feeling its slime slide through the cracks between her fingers and then knob was gone, leaving behind only the green glowing goo on her hand. She turned, with the speed of a top, as if a child had flung it with all their might, and she said, "Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?" With a tiny pop a creature, a scaly green goblin I guess you could call it, appeared on the side of her bed, sitting comfortably like one who belonged there all along. In a casual voice, a bit raspy, a bit tender with its sound, "Sit next to me and closer still, sit next to me, don't be a pill. Sit next to me, I need you love, sit next to me, don't make me shove. Into that wall where hurt will hurt, into that wall, my name is Burt. The night is long and dreams far gone, our night is long, I'll ring that gong. And ring it loud, so ghouls can hear and ring it loud I'm here my dear. To sit and wait ... (pausing) ... till you come near." Sir Burt crossed his spindly leg upon the other and smiled with a most hideous look. “Hum. Don’t you like me? Won’t you be my friend? Don’t think me frightly. Cause my ears do bend.” He leaned forward putting his elbow on his knee and tucked the back of his hand beneath his chin, in a thoughtful way ... like the thinker does do. "Oh come, come my little one, no one will rid you of my presence. Tis I who will stay till morning light, tis I, tis I, ugly as I am, who will snuggle, uggle, buggle under sheets so white and grand. Tis I, tis I, with one eye, smack in the middle of my head who has come to make you wriggle, maybe wiggle, but no doubt they'll be no giggles. Because frankly, I'm the meanest of the mean say goodbye to pleasant dreams. Like my rhyme? Oh like my rhyme? Oh dear child shall we rhyme!" The little child looked at this creature and this time did not flee and to the creature’s surprise, let out not even a cry. Instead she looked straight at him, with a cocked head and twist of her mouth, she stood fast … not knowing what strange happening might happen next. And what came next, you ask? The creature vanished, but of course … "Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?" she looked from left to right and back again. She spun in her place, open mouth, blurting out the words “Where are you, you beastie? Where are you? Where are you? Why tease me the leastie? Where are you? Where are you? Why show me so little why lead me no way? Oh come to me softly just so I can say. There must be some more to this monster this night. There must be much more than a creature with fright.” She then melted into a sitting position, folding her legs, letting her elbow rest on her knee just as the creature had done and continued, “As I look around for the better of it. I lean on my elbow and wonder and sit. Till he comes back so plainly to talk and to tell. Of times with his brothers and sisters from Hell. But it can’t be all bad, no it can’t, no it can’t. I do hope that he comes back and does bloom like a plant.” She sat shivering as if a frost engulfed her, she sat shivering in the night. A sound broke the silence, a wobbling sound, toward her left, from her window, from its sill. There sat a flower pot rocking back and forth, rocking, rocking, rocking like a sea saw horse. She got up not sure if going to it was the right thing to do. You just try and make a decision as such. I’m certain no decision could be right, until you were face to face with the same situation as our little lady of the night. She looked into the flower pot and saw what should have been brown earth, but instead was something that glowed green, then cracked open. Like a jack in a box a tiny head peaked out of that crack, then two arms long and spindly, holding its waist high in that green dirt. Its looks, thank God, were nothing like that beastie. No … this little varmint was pleasant as anyone could ever think. It was brown, it was tan, it had two eyes not one, it had the cutest grin, it had all that would change the mood to what’s right. The little creature grinned and spoke, just as that other ugly creature had spoke, in rhyme and with phrase, “I’m sorry I came as a beastie this night. I’m sorry I shook you from sleep with a fright. I’m sorry, so sorry to break you from dreams. With a look, with a pop that would make you do screams. But all that I wanted to do was surprise. Now I’ve scared you and not dared you, to feast with your eyes. Let me make up with rhymes and with songs I can play. With my harp from my bag filled with tricks on this day. I’m a jester from court, from a time you don’t know. I’m a pester sometimes, says the King with a glow. He calls me his play toy, he calls me his friend. He calls me to court cause I’ll stay to the end. Of his dinners with friends who come when he calls. To spout wisdom and joy as he laughs at me small. Oh me lady, let me show you good times, wonderous things. Come and dance, please let’s prance in my forests that sing.” Our little girl looked down upon the little brown creature, letting a smile grow wide on her face, and even from ear to ear. Surely this is so much better than the creature I met before. Then she said with a joyful noise, “I’m so glad you’ve changed from that ugly, ugly monster that was heaped on me before. I’m so glad that you creature have popped out with so many nice things to say. Please don’t ever do that to me again or I might not be so forgiving. Now let’s see what in that bag of tricks of yours.” The little fury creature reached down in the dirt and pulled out a bag. Red and green, it looked like he stole it from Santa himself. He reached in and pulled out the first thing he grabbed. “Walla my little one, walla this is yours.” A little box of glittering gold shined in his hand, wrapped with sky blue string and a bow colored rainbow. “Here, this is the first of many good gifts to come. Please, please open it, there’s not a minute to waste. No, no not a minute, not a second and please don’t do it in haste. Ohhhhhhh … forget the rhyme, forget the time, forget the things we’ve left behind. Forget the frost, oh what a cost. I said forget, that we just met. That monster me, drowned in a sea, of deep despair of bluest air. Ohhhhhh … forget the rhyme, forget the rhyme, forget the rhyme!” The little creature paused while handing the little box, that now grew to her little girl size, with the thought, “Oh silly me, I completely forgot. I’m little Tom Tom, the jester of the court of our king and not just a jester.” His grin widened on his mousey face and to his delight the wide smile on the little girls face grew wider too. As she reached for the box, now grown to her very proportion, she said, “Oh little Tom Tom a pure delight to meet you. I’m overjoyed to make your acquaintance. My name is Girty.” Tom Tom knew at once that his decision to show his presence was more than right in his noggin’, it was a supremely great and wonderful idea. He let go of the box balancing in his tiny hand and let it be grabbed up by this gigantic, young girl before him now. “Oh Girty, Girty, I’m so glad your not dirty. No rhymes, no rhymes, no rhymes!” The rainbow colored bow unraveled, the sky blue string gave flight, the gold wrapped box disappeared and what was left was no box at all, but a tiny winged horse coated in colors that even a rainbow could never match. The little creature lips furled up and flapped, letting out a horsy kind of sound. The horse grew and grew to the size of a small pony, just big enough for her to jump on and to feel as comfortable as though she had been on the horse before. Tom Tom pulled the rest of himself from the ground and exclaimed, “Oh Girty, your so purdy Jump on Susie, aint she a doosy. Wings that flutter, like her mudder. Ha, ha, ha I made a funny. Glad I made your night so sunny.” Little Girty didn’t waste a minute and climbed on Susie’s back, “Come on Tom Tom your coming too, where ever that is, I bet you know. And go and rhyme if it makes you feel fine.” Little Tom Tom leaped from the pot landing squarely on Girty’s shoulder and he said in a broad voice a little creature would ever do, “Susie turn toward that door with what used to be that gooey green handle.” Its knob now glowed with colors to match the colors of our Susie favorite blue. Tom Tom continued his command, to the pony to ride through the door that lie ahead, “Open wide for the three of us, open to our world. Open day and not the night for now we have our girl. What lays ahead the day will bring, what lies behind is dust. Tis three of us and not the two, our journey is a must.” The three travelers left the little girls world that night. We all should believe that as plain and positive as the nose on our face. And be sure of this, that this is only the beginning of many tales to come. Some might be hard or ever so soft. Some filled with glow and some dark shade. But all will be told in the boldest and kindest of ways. For now it is the end. |
| The Wizard of Plenty. |
| Tale completed on July 6th, 2009 Drawing is a WIP. Page created in July 6th, 2009 |