Chapter Three - Now with pictures!
Chapter Three: Found and Lost
“All right, everybody, stand back! What I’m about to try has never been attempted before by any Fraggle!”
The Fraggles gathered at Fraggle Pond scooted away several paces. Red stood on one of the high rock platforms, arms stretched out at her sides. It was worth noting that she was also backwards.
Gobo sat on the shore, safely away from the splash zone. Beside him was Mokey, quietly sketching the young explorer in his moment of repose. “If Boober were here, he’d say that one of these days Red’s going to get herself killed diving from up that high,” Gobo commented, shaking his head.
“I wonder what made him go off in a huff like that?” the artist wondered. Gobo shrugged in response. Their friend wasn’t like other Fraggles; who knew why Boober did half of the things he did?
“Maybe he was offended by Red saying that he had a crush on Tosh,” he suggested, looking back over at their friend. She had yet to make her dive, whatever it was supposed to be.
“I can’t imagine why,” said Mokey. “Tosh seems like a nice Fraggle. Maybe a little shy, but that’s because she’s new to the Rock.” Gobo nodded in agreement.
The pair fell silent, Gobo looking out over the pond and Mokey sketching him. They both looked up when they heard a distant voice calling someone’s name; it was Gillis, and he looked like he’d been worked into a panic as he entered the Great Hall.
“What’s wrong, Gillis?” asked Gobo as the Maestro hurried by them.
Gillis stopped, but before he could say anything he was interrupted by a familiar “YAHOO!” from the diving area of the pond. Everyone turned to see Red diving backwards off the ledge, turning three somersaults in the air before finishing with a cannonball into the water. The resulting splash soaked quite a few Fraggles…including Gillis.
“Sorry, Gillis,” apologized Red as she paddled to the shore.
The Maestro coughed, shaking his head to get some of the water out of his hair (and causing the surrounding Fraggles to duck so they wouldn’t get hit by the drops). “New dive?” he asked rhetorically.
“Yeah!” Red beamed proudly. “What’d you think?”
“Splashing,” Gillis deadpanned.
“What’s the matter, Gillis?” asked Mokey. “You looked like you were in a big hurry just a minute ago.”
“Oh! Oh, it’s terrible!” he fretted. “Tosh is missing!”
“Missing? Well, what happened?” Gobo asked.
“I’m not sure; I was busy working on a song that had popped into my head after we returned home,” the musician replied. “When I finally looked up, she was gone. I’m afraid she might be lost somewhere.”
“These tunnels can be pretty confusing, even to someone who’s lived here a while,” Gobo remarked. His words didn’t exactly make Gillis feel better.
Mokey set aside her sketchbook and stood up, pulling her shawl around her. “Do you want us to help you look for her?”
“If you could, I’d greatly appreciate it,” Gillis answered. By this time a slightly larger crowd of Fraggles had gathered around, and Gobo wasted no time in organizing a search.
---
Meanwhile, the object of the search was still wandering the tunnels of the Rock. There were so many twists and turns that Tosh feared she was a long way from her uncle’s cavern. A small part of her feared that she wasn’t even in the Rock anymore.
But, as she wandered, Tosh couldn’t help but look around at the caves themselves. All of the tunnels were surprisingly well-lit, though she couldn’t see a light source. Various forms of plant life grew out from cracks and holes and other spaces in or between the rocks, completely unlike what Tosh was used to seeing at Fraggle Cove.
She was so wrapped up in checking out her surroundings, that Tosh didn’t notice the other Fraggle in the tunnel until she was right on top of her.
“Hey!”
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Tosh quickly jumped back a couple steps, startled. “I didn’t see you.”
“Yeah, I kinda noticed,” replied the other Fraggle dryly. She was around Tosh’s age, tan-colored with light purple hair. A white ribbon was tied around the crown of her head to keep her hair pulled out of her face. “I’m Mimzy.”
“My name’s Tosh,” she answered. “Hi.”
Mimzy asked, “You’ve gotta be new, right?”
“How’d you guess?” asked Tosh.
Mimzy shrugged, then pulled the sleeve of her white sweater back up over her shoulder. “Usually only baby Fraggles or creatures who haven’t been in the Rock before are that fascinated by the ditzies.”
“Oh. What, uh, what’s a ditzy?”
“They’re what makes the light in the Rock,” answered Tosh’s new companion. “If it weren’t for them, Fraggle Rock would be dark and we’d all be asleep right now.”
Tosh looked up at the ceiling of the cave again, as though trying to catch a glimpse of the creatures that lit up Fraggle Rock. “Wow.”
---
Water splashed and sloshed in the washtub as Boober scrubbed at his socks with an almost savage intensity. Normally doing the laundry was very therapeutic; all it took was a few pairs of socks and maybe a shirt or two for Boober to start feeling like his old self again.
But not this time.
The cap-wearing Fraggle sighed as he dunked the socks into the water again. Why was this bothering him so much? he wondered. Red teased him all the time about his habits and such. He was used to it. Most of the time he just ignored her. So why in the Rock did he overreact to her implications that he had a crush on Tosh?
Especially since there is no crush, Boober said to himself.
Sure, she seemed like a nice Fraggle. And I wouldn’t mind having her stop by for tea or something. B-but she lived by the sea, by open water! Who knows what kind of germs she could bring in here? Who knows what she’s brought into the Rock with her? Still, she was kinda cute…
As his inner debate rambled on, Boober gradually became aware of a slight commotion going on outside of his cave. Quickly he pulled the socks out of the washtub and clipped them onto the clothesline to dry before going to see what was happening.
“What’s going on?” Boober’s sudden appearance caused Mokey and Wembley to jump in surprise. “Sorry. Did something happen?”
“Yes. Oh, Boober, it’s terrible,” answered Mokey. “Tosh is missing!”
“She is? Well, what happened?”
“Gillis was on another one of his song-writing binges,” said Wembley. “Tosh must have gotten bored and left their cave, and wound up getting lost in the tunnels somewhere.”
“I know you’re probably busy, but do you think you could help us look?” asked Mokey. “The more Fraggles we have searching for her, the quicker she’ll get found.”
In response, Boober zipped back into his cave. When he zipped back out, he was holding his first aid kit in one hand. “What are we waiting for?” he asked his friends as he started to hustle down one of the corridors. “Tosh could be in serious trouble and need our help! We’ve got to find her!”
“Right, uh, right behind you!” called Wembley as he and Mokey followed.
---
“So, what are you going to do with all of this moss?”
After Tosh had explained her situation to Mimzy, the other Fraggle had agreed to show Tosh the way back to the Maestro’s cave. That was, as soon as she was finished with her job, which was gathering moss.
“I give most of it to a friend of mine,” Mimzy answered. “I’ll have to introduce you to Lou sometime; I think you’ll like her.”
“Okay,” agreed Tosh. “I’d like that.”
The two of them stopped at the entrance to a cave, which Mimzy identified as her own. “You can come in if you want,” the purple-haired Fraggle invited. Tosh hesitated a few seconds before following her companion into the cave.
It was fairly spacious and well lit, with flowering vines along the walls adding splashes of color. As Tosh looked around, Mimzy set her basket on a protruding ledge and began taking out the moss, sorting it into two different piles.
“Does someone else live with you?” asked Tosh as she took note of the two bunks, one low and one high, in the cave walls.
“Nope; I live by myself,” answered Mimzy. “Always have.”
“Doesn’t that get lonely?” wondered the plum-colored Fraggle.
Mimzy shrugged. “Sure, sometimes. But on the other hand I’ve got more room to hang moss, and for my Fraggle Pebble collection.” Pushing aside a loose rock on the floor, Mimzy pulled a bag out of the hole in the wall it was covering. Inside of the bag were dozens of pebbles: small ones, big ones, blue ones, gray ones with streaks of purple in them…even some that sparkled.
“Wow,” breathed Tosh. “Those are pretty. I-I used to collect shells back home, at the Cove. But none of them were as pretty as these. What do you do with them?”
“Trade them with other Fraggles, or give them as gifts. Here.” Mimzy dug her hand into her pouch and pulled out a pebble that was light purple with some shiny silver flecks in it. “I want you to have this. You can start your own collection.”
“Really? You mean it?” Tosh’s eyes widened. Mimzy nodded.
“Sure. C’mon, we’d better get you back home before your uncle organizes a search party or something.”
---
Down in Great Hall, Gillis was anxiously pacing. So far Tosh hadn’t been in any of the areas that the search parties had searched, and this was making him more worried by the minute. He couldn’t stop himself from contemplating all of the ‘what-ifs’, like “what if she hurt herself?” or “what if she wandered out of Fraggle Rock?” The only thing Gillis knew for certain is that if anything happened to Tosh, he would never forgive himself.
The sound of voices entering the Hall caused him to look up, and he almost felt his heart stop. It was Mimzy, the young purple-haired moss gatherer. And walking beside her, chatting like they were old friends, was Tosh.
“Tosh!” Gillis rushed up to the duo and embraced his niece tightly. Other Fraggles, many of them ones who had been searching for the girl, gathered round at the reunion. “Oh, dear girl, you had me so worried! What happened; where were you?”
“I left because I-I thought you were mad at me for something, and I got lost,” Tosh explained meekly. “Then I ran into Mimzy and she showed me the way back. I…I’m sorry, Uncle Gillis.”
“Oh, it’s quite all right. I’m the one who should be apologizing,” Gillis said. “Unfortunately I tend to…block everything else out when I’m working on a song. I didn’t mean to ignore you. I’m just glad that you’re safe.”
“See?” piped up Mimzy. “Told you everything would be okay.” Tosh looked over at her friend and nodded.
Gillis put an arm around Tosh’s shoulders. “Come, now, let’s go back home. I’ll fix us some supper, and you can tell me everything you saw. All right?”
“Okay.” All around them, the other Fraggles were passing the word along that the missing Fraggle had been found. Mimzy called goodbye to Tosh as she and her uncle left. “Uncle Gillis? Would it be okay if I went to see Mimzy sometime?”
“Of course, but I don’t want you going alone until you know your way around the Rock better.” Tosh nodded. “And please, don’t ever scare me like that again, hmm?”
“Okay, Uncle Gillis. I promise.”
Illustration: Mimzy Fraggle
-Kim
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