Here it is, and only two days late! (Which is, for me, a miracle.) Enjoy!
Boober was unconscious. “It’s probably better that he is,” said Lana. “It’ll give him a nice long rest.”
“Lana, uhm…” said Wembley, “Why did you never come see Boober? I mean, you’re family, right?”
“Come to think of it, we’ve never seen any of his family, “ said Gobo.
“Lana’s face tensed. She gently grabbed her stick, pulled herself up to her full height, which was just a bit shorter than Mokey, and said, “let me put it this way; not all Fraggle societies are as nice as yours. Boober grew up in one where everyone lived in fear. Where no one helped each other.” She paused. “That’s all you need to know.”
“But what about his family?” said Red. “Spill it! You’ve got no right to keep secrets from us!
“Lana’s gaze turned as black and brittle as slate. “These are Boober's secrets,” she said, her tone steely, “not mine. And I won’t hurt him any more than I already have by divulging them.” She walked over to Boober and touched his forehead.
“His fever’s up. Anybody know where I can get some moonrose?” “I’ll go said Wembely. “I’ve been there before, with Boober.”
“I’ll go with you, “ said Lana, stick in hand. It clomped on the floor as she joined him.
On the way down to the cave of shadows, the two Fraggles were quiet. Each was wrapped up in their own memories, some bittersweet.
“Y’ know, I never paid any attention to Boober like I should have.” Said Wembely. “I never really listened about medicine and now I’ve got no clue, no clue what to do.”
“At least you’ve only known him for a little while.” Said Lana. She plucked a moonrose flower from a snaggle of plants on
a nearby rock. I’ve had years to cause damage. I once-“ “Wembely! Lana! Help!”
Red was running toward them with the blinding speed of a true athlete. Wembely opened his mouth in shock. Lana froze. Her deep magenta body grew as stiff as her beaded hair rustled in the breeze.
“Quick, Quick!” said Red. “Run, Run!”
“What’s going on?” Wembely gasped, scrambling alongside Lana, who was struggling to keep up.
“Boober’s delirious!” said Red. “He’s yelling things that don’t make sense! It’s scaring the stalagmites out of Mokey- and- she’s the calmest Fraggle in the Rock!”
Lana, despite the fact that her stick was practically holding her up, made it to Boober’s room first. He was thrashing fitfully, and screening things that made horror hit her heart. She could almost hear the thud.
“Mom! Dad!” Oh Lana, we have to find them! The house is burning!”
Lana ran up to him. Boober, you’re very sick and-“
“I’m not leaving them behind! Mom! Dad! Oh no…No…”
Lana pushed Boober’s shoulders down against the pillow until he was too tired to fight anymore. “Sleep Boober, “ said Lana, motioning for the sprig of moonrose still in Wembley’s hand. He gave it to her, and she passed it to Red.
“Can you make tea out of this? It will stop him from hallucinating.”
Red took the sprig and dashed to the kitchen. Boober began to fight again, shouting, “We can’t leave them all behind! Lana! Lana!”
There was a crash from the kitchen “She’s broken the teapot,” muttered Lana. “Mokey, could you-“
Mokey wordlessly shook her head, eyes fixed on Boober. Gobo realized that instead of comforting the others as she normally would, she was focused entirely on Boober. It was almost as if-
“Gobo, go!” said Lana pointing her head towards the kitchen. She pressed harder on Boober’s shoulders as he tried to sit up. “We need that tea!”
Gobo looked at Boober, who was still thrashing weakly, and hurried off to the kitchen.
As he opened the door he heard a muffled noise, almost like a squeak. Red was crying.
“Red?”
Red stood in the middle of the room, the shards of the broken teapot scattered around her. Her face was buried in the tea towel.
“Red, are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?”
Gobo looked around, trying to see which one of the broken pieces cut her.
Red turned. “Go away!” she said
“Red, it’s okay to be scared.” He thought of Boober lying listlessly in bed and shuddered. “I’m terrified!”
Red lowered the tea towel from her face. Gobo scared? Never!
“I knew you’d come in here just to make fun of me,” she said. “Oh, Gobo, I feel just awful. I try to do something nice for Boober and I break his tea pot.” She sobbed heavily. “I wreck everything.”
“You don’t wreck everything and I’m not making fun of you, Red.” Gobo hugged his friend gently. “And besides, Boober always has a spare.”
Gobo opened the cupboard above the stove. Inside was a teapot identical to the one Red had broken. “See?”
Gobo set the water to boil. He tossed the moonrose in.
“W-when we were trapped in that spiral cave place, Boober told me a secret.”
“Really?” said Gobo.
“Yes, he said that he sometimes likes the good times he has with us.”
“That’s no secret, “ said Gobo. “Of course he does. We only have to look at Sidebottom to know that.”
“I wonder what happened to Boober that was so horrible, “ said Red.
“I don’t know, but eventually we’ll find out,” said Gobo.
Soon the tea had been administered and Boober was asleep.
“That was a funny nightmare Boober had, huh?” said Wembely.
Lana’s voice shook. “That was not a nightmare, that really happened.”
Lana stood up, clasping her stick. “I’ve decided. I’m going to tell you everything. But sit down; it’s a long story.”
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: Sounds like New York City! Ahhh! Wocka wocka! Me: Will you go away? ....while at first it tends to rub me the wrong way that Fraggles wouldn't help each other, this makes perfect sense mostlikemokey. If Fraggles are supposed to be a realistic species, they would have societies that were ill-run or just generally didn't work out. >sigh< You can probably blame us humans and our influence for that....
:Will you stop that? Don't you know how many germs those things carry?!?
