The sun shown down golden and warm, making even the lowly pile of garage that two mole like rats were rooting around next to look cozy and cheerful.
Red Fraggle scooted to a stop, breathing heavily before the tall collection of filth.
"Madam Trash Heap! Madam Trash Heap!" She gasped, trying her best to breathe though her mouth and not her nose.
Their oracle may have been wise, but her odor was not all that appealing.
"Whew, I finally got here! Oh, I have so many things I need to ask you about!"
Both mole rats looked up as if only now noticing all the commotion of the arriving fraggle, looking her up and down.
"You are in the presence of the all knowing…" The pink rat began.
"All seeing…" The grey one added.
"Trash Heap! Nah!" Both announced together.
"But if I was you, I'd get out of that presence right now." Philo said, ruffling his dark pink fur.
"But why?" Red whined.
" 'Cause Marjory is in a state of disrepair." Gunge spat.
"I'll say, that last advice took all of 'er sensitive sensibilities, if ya know what I mean." Philo sniffed, nabbing a used tissue over his eyes and blowing his nose like a miniature trumpet.
"Last advice? You mean Mokey's already been here?" Red asked, hopping hopefully in front of Philo.
"Tall fraggle in a white robe?"
"Yes, that's her!" Red said, hopping faster.
"Maaybe she was here…" Gunge said with a half hearted nod.
"If she was, she left a couple hours ago." Philo sneered.
"Oh foo…" She looked one way and then the other with a sly curious look. " What advice did you give?"
The topmost layer of the pile of trash rose up slowly suddenly, it's contents rearranging themselves into a face, neck, arms and upper torso of what looked like an old gypsy with a bottle cap necklace.
"I make it a point never to tattle, young fraggle." It spoke in a warm voice that still held some of the tell signs of having been crying, lifting an old fashion looking pair of glasses without lens on a rod to her eyes.
"That's it Marjory, tell her off!" Philo agreed.
"Yeah, you've been givin' out advice like free popcorn these last few days, you're in no shape ta…"
Gunge began, but was cut off by a solid rap of the large glasses on his head.
"Now, now boys, down! I think I know when I've overdone it."
Marjory huffed, raising herself up to her full height proudly.
" I still got a few good ones in this old body of mine. After all, if it wasn't such a dirty job I wouldn't be doing it would I?"
"Now what seems to be the trouble?" The trash heap asked, leaning in with interest.
"Well you see…" Red began, taking a long deep breath.
"Aw no, this looks like a big one." Gunge mumbled, ducking his head into an old eggshell.
"My best friend, she was having trouble with something I wasn't suppose to talk about, but she made me talk about it, and then I wanted to make her feel better by making her feel worst, which made her feel worst and not better…"
The Trash Heap nodded as Red gasped continuing on with her long run on explanation.
"She actually understands all that "As The Rock Rolls" stuff?" Philo whispered.
"Impressive, ain't it?" Gunge whispered back.
"..and then she called me immature, and then I thought I might really be, so I went to go see my other friend, who is a boy and actually more than a friend to me, but we never seem to be able to…and besides that his friend , whose my friend to, tried to…"
"How old are you little fraggle?" Marjory interrupted.
" Thirty eight ma'am..but you see.." Red answered in a vain tempt to get back to her story.
"Ah, thirty-eight. You know that old saying, "True love with come to you…"
"Between thirty-three and forty-two." Yes, I know it."
"Ah, those are the days..you know, I had a man myself once…" The oracle began in a far away tone.
"You did?" Red said, wrinkling her nose in disbelief and an emotion she couldn't quite name.
"Why of course! Have you ever heard of a compost pile?"
"No, but I have a feeling I'm about to." Red replied, her pigtails wilting down from the disappointment of going even longer without any answer for her troubles over the subject of normally inanimate objects love lifes'.
"Wonderful steady job, composting. You have to really know your stuff." The trash heap rambled with a dreamy sigh. "Takes so long to get results you know…He had a great reputation with the worms, that one…"
Red's pleading voice snapped the oracle out of her glazed over expression.
"But what is your advice to me, Madam Trash Heap, ma'am?"
"Oh! Yes..that's right… My advice to you is: What matters more to you: What other people call you, and see you as, or who you really are?" She spoke with a serious wag of her hand.
"I don't understand…" Red said, her brow wrinkled with effort.
"My advice: Be yourself. Don't worry about what others think. Be yourself and everything will work out fine." The Trash Heap concluded, patting the little yellow fraggle on the head.
" 'Be myself ?' That's all?" Red repeated, some of her usual cheerfulness returning to her voice.
"You got it!" The Trash Heap relied with a yawn.
"Thank you!" Red yelled, getting on her mark again and quickly darting back in the direction of fraggle rock.
"Marjory, that was wonderful!" Philo exclaimed, zipping over to hug her, where he was quickly joined by Gunge.
"Yeah, you're really in your top form today." Gunge said with a smile.
"Well boys, as many generations as I've talked to, you learn a thing or two, and remember all their names to boot… but you know…"
"Yeah…?"
"I always miss the years when their biggest worries are missing hats."
The trash heap, as slowly and silently as it had awoken, drew itself back into the earth once more, just as a colorful array of breakfast scarps was thrown on its surface to bake in the early sun.