CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Ball and Epilogue
The main hallway had a slow parade of guests filing in. The stones were brightly polished and colorful flags swayed in a breeze from several gothic arch windows. The music was raucous as it was outside in Goblin City. Large numbers of bands played together.
“Wow,” Lips gasped, “I wished the Electric Mayhem could get a gig this good. It’d be nice to make a national tour again.”
Ailie spotted Ed and company and yelled for them to come closer, which they did. Red bounded into Beth’s arms, making Beth cringe slightly as Red was soaked to the bone.
“Such fantastic costumes,” Uncle Deadly noted with satisfaction. “I wished I had had time to prepare a Shakespearean monologue. Surely these fine ladies and gentlemen and ….” He stopped to stare at a large boar-headed green-skinned troll female with long black hair and a frilly blue dress and long strings of pearls and other fine jewels around her thick neck. “ … and whatever that was, would be most appreciative of fine theater.”
Some red demons flew around Ed. “Can we interest you in a game of chance?” they hissed.
Ed smiled. “No, thanks. I’m just here for the dance.”
“If you win, we’ll give you sacks of gold!” offered one.
“I bought this ‘an’ from some guy I know,” offered another, holding up a circular golden medallion.
Everyone looked up as a flock of French-speaking multi-colored birds with toothed beaks flew overhead.
Gonzo sniffed, wide-eyed, Zoot and Dr. Teeth. “Whoa, what a fascinating fragrance!” he exclaimed. “You gotta tell me where you bought it!”
Zoot cringed. “Man, it’s that Bog of Eternal Stench.” He turned to Dr. Teeth. “You think the smell will wash off?”
Dr. Teeth shrugged. “I heard ya had to be in it to be it,” he replied. “We didn’t evah go skinny-dippin’ in dat awful cesspool, so I think a good shower or two oughta get the job done.”
Gonzo sniffed deeply and closed his eyes. “That stuff oughta be bottled and distributed! It’d make millions!”
“It’d make millions of calls to the Better Business Bureau!” Ryan laughed, waving his hand in front of his face.
“Or the CDC,” giggled Beth.
Around ten-thirty, everyone from the Dorms was escorted to dressing rooms to freshen up for the ball. It took nearly an hour, but soon everyone was clean and ready to attend.
Digit’s “hair” wires nearly sparkled.
Vicki clasped his hands and smiled, leaning against him. They were dressed in a simple black tuxedo and peach-colored gown. “I do think this fits us better,” she commented.
He took her hands and brought them around his waist and kissed her gently on her lips.
The music began to take on a more romantic tempo.
Kelly sighed. Suddenly, she smelled something familiar. She walked around towards the throne room. The scent got stronger and as it did, her heart started to beat faster. She spotted him just twenty feet from her, talking to a robed figure in the crowd. He had a thick black leather jacket and a red bandana draped over his head, and shiny black leather boots with sparkling silver chains draped around them. She could feel her cheeks heat up and redden. “Spike,” she whispered.
He turned around as though he had heard her. He waved and grinned. He approached and looked around. “Got da rest o’ da guys ‘round here too, eh?” he asked.
She nodded, soaking in the image of the blue-purple spiky dinosaur standing before her. It had been so long.
He smirked. “T’ought I might crash da party, but it seems I’m not da only one wearin’ shall we say ‘casual’ attire,” he continued, nodding to the others mostly dressed in clean street clothes.
Kelly wiped tears away from her eyes. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
Spike rolled his eyes and winked. “Don’t tell me you were evah in love wit’ me. Ick.” He shuddered and chuckled. He looked around again and growled slightly. “I see Buzzard Beak’s still makin’ a stink wit’ da locals.”
Kelly followed his gaze, spotting Chamberlain scaring guests with dismembered fiery parts, cackling as some of them fainted to the floor.
A Caucasian male and female, both with dark brown hair and wearing black jumpsuits, drank a few shots at a small bar nearby.
“Are we headed to Moya or Cheyenne Mountain?” the male asked.
“I have no frelling idea,” the woman moaned in a British accent.
Pearl walked up to the bar and glanced around, ordering several tall glasses of various liquors. “Hoo-howdy!” she gagged as she downed a particularly strong batch. She slapped the counter hard, nearly cracking it. “That’s some mighty fine flavors you got yourself there!” She downed another swig. “I sure do wish I had a fine saloon stocked with that fine inventory!” She licked her lips.
Alex sighed as she spotted Jareth guiding the dancers from a balcony high above them. “I wish I could marry my sweetheart – or meet Elvis. Either way, it’d be heaven on earth.” She thought about that gorgeous dress Sarah wore in her dream and sighed again.
Count von Count was near ecstasy, counting everything he could come up with: guests, party favors, balloons (though Waldo entertained himself by morphing into different balloons to interfere with the count before Digit grabbed him and ordered him to stop), and musical numbers. “Zis is just like a party I vould like to throw for my family,” Count sighed happily.
Spike looked down at Kelly. “So, you got a date with Wire-head or Buzzard Beak?”
“Neither,” Kelly responded slowly.
Spike nodded. “Ah … I see.” He turned around and pointed to a brown saurian female wearing fur. “I met dis chick named Thighs o’ Thunder.” He turned back to Kelly and smirked. “Believe you me, toots, she’s all dat an’ more.”
Kelly smiled politely, though her heart dipped. “I bet,” she said finally.
Spike smiled and lowered his head and whispered in her ear, “Anytime you need me, toots, just say da word.” He stood up again and nodded, heading back to his saurian girlfriend.
Gonzo, Camilla, Pepe, and Rizzo were hollering loudly as a small band of goblins acted like a mosh pit and carried them around. The last goblins, though, weren’t as clever as the others, and soon they were all flat on their backs groaning, aside from Gonzo, who laughed hysterically.
Cotterpin dazzled the crowd with tales of the fantastic amusement park she was planning to build. She was extremely flattered as some guests offered her tons of raw materials if they would make such quaint playthings for them.
Ed and Uncle Deadly both danced to the music.
“Hey, Ed?”
Ed turned and stopped dancing. “Kelly? What’s up?”
“May we dance?”
Ed blinked. “Uh, sure, why not?” She placed her hands in his and began to twirl slowly around the ballroom.
Bean sighed. Red had gone off and really she was the only one he felt like dancing with. He suddenly heard a small girl clear her throat. He turned around and saw what looked like Alice from Alice in Wonderland, though it was just her shadow. He looked and looked and she finally giggled. “Silly,” she said, “I am Shadow!” Bean smiled and took her hands as they sprung from the wall and they danced all around the ballroom, nearly oblivious to the taller dancers.
Soon Jareth raised his hands to stop the music. “Does anyone have a good follow up for that last song?” he asked.
Caitlyn smiled and raised her hand.
Soon, the entire dance floor was set up for a gigantic musical number. A spotlight illuminated Caitlyn, Ailie, and Beth as they began to sing.
“Been working so hard,
I’m punching my card,
Eight hours for what?”
Alex, Pearl, Kelly, Red, and Vicki joined in.
“I’ve done this feeling,
That time’s just holding me down,
I’ll hit the ceiling,
Or else I’ll tear up this town!”
The entire group of dancers began to sing in perfect harmony.
“Now I gotta cut
Loose, footloose,
Kick off your Sunday shoes!”
Caitlyn was quickly shocked to see other Dorm residents appear, such as Scooter, Lindbergh, Katy, Erin, Nora, Storyteller, and a gaggle of goblins who sobbed about how clean they were. They joined in, twirling and shuffling along the dance floor in intricate patterns.
“Cait, just wait,
Dorm life was just so great!
How, we wow,
All those dancers just now!”
The song continued until loud chimes began to ring.
Count von Count counted them. “One, two, three, four ….”
At ten chimes, Jareth hushed the crowds and floated everyone their own crystal ball. “A present.”
“What is it?” Sweetums asked.
“A crystal, nothing more. However, if you turn it this way and look into it, it will grant your very dreams.” As soon as he finished speaking, the thirteenth chime sounded and loud thunderclaps were head as Count finished his count.
Suddenly the Dorm residents found themselves on the front lawn of the Dorm building.
Pearl, for one, immediately made her wish. Far off on Mullin Terrace, a huge saloon of the classic old Western style appeared, with a large sign that said “Scorched and Snowed”. Inside was a bar, a humongous stage for mock fights and dancers, and plenty of room with sturdy stools and tables of all sizes to fit any kind of inhabitant of Hensonville. A mailbox appeared just in front of the building, which was just across from the Muppet Museum of Art, with the number 109 on it.
Lips turned his crystal and soon got a phone call from the EM’s agent, asking about the possibility of a national tour.
The others decided to hold onto theirs, waiting for the perfect moment for their dreams to come true.
THE END
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