"The Choice"--A Fraggle Rock FanFic

[Convincing John]

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight, everyone. Enjoy!

"When your back's to the wall,
and your luck is your all,
then side with whoever you may.
Seek that which within lies waiting to begin
the fight of your life that is everyday."--Jethro Tull "The Third Hoorah"

Chapter Eight--"...And One Went Alone"

Two Spiderflies gingerly hovered into the depths of the T. Matthew Fraggle Room. It's ramp had been left open, letting the two insects explore the new territory. Other than the barely audible hum of the sparkling insects' wings, all was deathly silent.

Until...

With a sudden burst of wind, three of the cave's alabaster tunnels lit up: one orange, one blue and one green. Terrified, the Spiderflies flittered up the ramp to their own familiar grounds above.

As the Spiderflies vanished, the six Fraggles emerged into the T. Matthew Fraggle Room as gently as Doozer dust in a light breeze.

Gobo, Cantus and Mokey managed to land on their feet. Red stumbled into the wall, but quickly regained her balance, glad that Gobo hadn't noticed it.
Wembley made his usual entrance, as he did in any room, by tripping, falling flat on his face and quickly hopping to his feet again.

Boober arrived not on his own feet, but on one of Mokey's. During his journey through the vortex, he managed to cling desperately to Mokey. He was now firmly clamped around her leg like a frightened child. The force of his head pressed against her knee had kept his hat from blowing off in the magical wind.

"We made it back!" Wembley cheered.

"Did you see any Silly Creatures?" asked Red. "We saw lots of 'em!"

"We did, too..." added Mokey. "Boober..." Mokey did her best to hobble over to her friends with Boober attached to her leg. "Boober and I saw all kinds of them until we saw..."

"G--G--germs!" a voice pitifully whimpered near Mokey's shin.

"Wembley and I saw some Silly Creatures, too." remarked Gobo. Wembley nodded in agreement.

Cantus joined the group.

"You have all returned safely, and you all have tales to tell," Cantus smiled. "but remember, we are on a quest to aid a Silly Creature in great need. Red and I did not see anyone in need of our help. The Silly Creature we seek is gravely ill. Did any of you see such a Silly Creature?"

"Wembley and I saw lots of creatures..." recalled Gobo.

"Lots of creatures!" Wembley echoed.

"But none of them looked sick." Gobo finished.

"No no, none of them were sick." agreed Wembley, shaking his fuzzy head.

Cantus nodded and turned to Mokey.

Knowing that Boober's mind was only on the smelly, green beast they saw, she decided to answer for the both of them.

"Boober and I saw Silly Creatures, and they were all Fraggle-sized and in a group. Then one of them, an orange one, was teaching them how water disappears and comes back."

"Then what scared Boober?" asked Gobo, pointing to his cowering friend.

"He's scared of everything, Gobo," Red sighed. "he probably saw some Silly Creature's dirty laundry or something."

At that moment, Boober untangled his grip from Mokey's leg and stood as steady as his quaking knees would allow him. Turning to face Red, his breath came in irregular, ragged gasps as he pointed at her with one small, blue, quivering hand.

"You...have no...idea..." he paused to gulp and continued. "of all the hideous, offensive, disgusting odors..." he gasped.

"But did you see any Silly Creatures in need?" Cantus gently interjected.

Boober glanced at Mokey, distracted from the memory of the green beast.

There was the Silly Creature who cooked...and helped someone else with a problem...the little Silly Creatures...the water...

The sign.

"Mokey! Remember, we saw a sign on a Silly Creature door...the 'Habla Espan Ol'."

"Huh?" asked Red, bewildered.

"Boober and I saw a sign we couldn't figure out." Mokey told the group. "it might be a clue to find the Silly Creature in trouble."

Cantus pointed his nose towards the ceiling and closed his eyes in concentration, Listening. After a deep breath, he lowered his head.

"No," he said gently. "the words you saw will not help us now."

"Oh, well then...we didn't see anyone sick or in trouble." said Mokey.

"Same for us," agreed Gobo. "we saw a scared furry creature trying to be funny...but no one who was sick."

"Then we will try again." Cantus concluded simply, gesturing to the three remaining, marked tunnels.

"Ag...ag...again?" stammered Boober.

"Sure, Boober!" Wembley replied brightly. "Outer Space was kind of fun!" Behind him, Gobo smiled proudly.

"Ready for another adventure, everyone?" Gobo beamed.

"Sure, Gobo!" agreed Wembley.

"I'm not scared!" Red exclaimed.

"I am!" wailed Boober.

"Then Red can help you." Cantus smiled.

"So, Wembley and I will take this tunnel," Gobo pointed to an unexplored, marked tunnel "Boober and Red can take the next one and Mokey--"

Cantus held up a hand for quiet.

"This last tunnel should be examined again before it is explored," he cautioned. "it did not light up as well as the others when it was marked. Observe."

Cantus took out his magic pipe and aimed it directly at the mouth of the last marked, unexplored tunnel. He blew a long, low note into it, keeping a sharp eye on the tunnel's behavior.

It was just as he feared.

The magic pipe caused a fluorescent blue glow within the tunnel. But it was much weaker now. As Cantus Looked into the depths, the normal dark gray shadows of the tunnel's interior became an intense black. The blackness ravenously consumed the blue glow in one silent, rapid motion.

This was not good.

Turning to face the group, Cantus made his decision.

"Mokey, you will join Boober and Red. I will explore this tunnel...alone."

"Are you sure you want to go into Outer Space all by yourself, Cantus?" asked Gobo. "It can get pretty scary out there."

What Cantus sensed from that tunnel exceeded far beyond "scary" to a normal Fraggle. He could only hope his senses were wrong.

The problem was his senses were rarely wrong.

"Go ahead and explore," Cantus answered, pointing to their assigned tunnels. "time grows short."

Gobo knew it was no good to argue with Cantus once he had made up his mind. He decided to just go ahead and touch the arch, drawing himself and Wembley into a yellow glow and a light wind from the tunnel. Within seconds, they were gone like loose radish leaves in the wind.

As Gobo and Wembley disappeared, Boober tried to make a break for it. As he ran past, though, Red grabbed Boober by the tail.

"C'mon, Boober!" Red insisted, tightening her grip.

"No! No! Not again!" he wailed. "I'm too young to die!" Boober's feet tried to run as his arms spun like pinwheels. Red tugged with both of her arms and slowly hauled him over the tunnel's threshold. Too bad Boober doesn't play Tug-O'-Tails. Red thought. He'd have a trophy for sure!

Behind them, Mokey touched the arch with her palm and the three of them were lifted off the ground in a sudden breeze tainted a bright purple.

Cantus watched them go.

He was now alone.

Solemnly, he stepped over the threshold of the tunnel he was going to explore...alone. Turning around in the entranceway, he observed the ivory, silent beauty of the T. Matthew Fraggle Room in deep appreciation. Behind him, the swarthy, unknown realm waited for him to enter.

He knew what he had to do. There was little time.

Turning to the tunnel's wall, he touched the arch with a tanned, wide hand. The vortex which enveloped him glowed the color of bile. The hot, dry wind, smelling heavily of mold, whipped at his feathery hair and beard.

Cantus watched as the last visible bit of the T. Matthew Fraggle Room was mercilessly consumed by the sickly khaki-greenish glow.

Loping straight into the abysmal passage, Cantus remembered the last thing he saw from the otherwise colorless T. Matthew Fraggle Room. It was something glued to the floor, marking the entranceway.

It was the Rollie.

It was pitch black...as black as the inevitable path that lay ahead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


More to come.

Convincing John

 

[The Count]

Well... Certainly should hope so there's more to come. You left us on such a cliffhanger, Cantus!!! Post more, we need to know what realms each Fragglish group explored.. But more importantly, what will be Cantus's fate!

 

[FraggleRockRock]

WOW!
This is the first Fanfic I've read on MC and...
It is awesome and terrific rolloed into one!
More soon, PLEASE!

 

[Convincing John]

More to come very very soon!

(The thread opens up like an old door with a long, low, creeeeeeak followed by clouds of dust.)

(Cough cough) Excuse me.

Hey everyone. (brushing off spiderwebs) Convincing John here.

Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about this story. I have gotten a new job and moved to a new place since the last chapter, and this has been the first time I've had a chance to get back to it. Moving and settling in to a new job takes a while. Thanks for all your patience.

I want to let you guys know that I have a new chapter which is almost ready for posting. However, I haven't written anything in my notebook after that. (I know I'm picky, but I have to get it just right). I know what happensnext in the story, it's just a matter of articulating my thoughts and getting the right words.

The new chapter should be posted by maybe Wednesday or Thursday afternoonish. The chapter after that, I'm not sure when.

Stay tuned...

Convincing John

 

[Convincing John]

Chapter Nine!

Hey everyone! Here's the latest installment of "The Choice":

“They say truth comes flooding if you let it.
But what happens if I just don’t get it?
I’m blissful in my sweet ignorance…”--Jethro Tull “Two Short Planks”

Chapter Nine—“Some Kind of Help”

Later….

A little house stood on the outskirts of a town. The gentle breeze rustled the shrubbery surrounding the lawn and the edge of the driveway. It tickled the wind chimes on the open front porch.

The lilac bush near the house gave an unnatural lurch and sprouted foliage that clashed with the pale purple flowers.

Fiery orange, fluffy “foliage”. Beneath it, two round, excited eyes took their first glance into this part of Outer Space.

“Wow!” exclaimed Red. “Mokey, look! Mokey?”

The lilac bush gave another lurch and its center coughed up a strange wind, followed by Mokey.

“Red? Red, we…” Mokey’s eyes widened in amazement when she saw the house before her. She gasped at both the size and beauty of it.
“We made it!” she finished, hugging her pigtailed friend.

“Wait a minute, Mokey. Where’s Boober?”

Beside them, a clump of lilac blossoms trembled, then exploded with a loud sneeze.
“Just as I thought,” complained a voice. “two seconds here and already I’m plagued by a strange disease from Outer Space. My sinuses…”

Red frowned. She plunged her hand into the flowers and fished out Boober, who was now peppered with lilac petals. As soon as he saw the odd structure before him, he shrank back, but was blocked by Mokey.

“Wh…what is that?”

Mokey tried to remember what one of Traveling Matt’s postcards had said about these things. She remembered, in a vague sort of way, that this was a Silly Creature dwelling. There were windows (oddly rectangular) with a Silly Creature-sized door between them. The top of the structure came to a gentle point, like some of the Doozer constructions she had drawn in her sketchbook.

Red was eyeing the building curiously when Mokey broke her concentration.

“Red, we found another one!”

“Huh?”

“Boober and I saw some things that looked like this when we were in Outer Space. Silly Creatures were inside them!”

“Wait,” replied Red. “do you mean to tell me that’s a Silly Creature cave?” She pointed to the Gorg-like structure.

“Yes, Red. We both saw a whole row of them hooked together.” explained Mokey.

“But none of them had a built-in Fraggle trap!” Boober pointed out nervously.

“Fraggle trap?” Red snorted. “Where?”

Boober’s jaw clenched as he pointed. “Right at the bottom of the door!” he whispered frantically.

Sure enough, there was a Fraggle-sized hole, square in shape, at the bottom of the door. Covering the hole was a dark flap that barely moved in the wind.

“See?” Boober's voice cracked slightly as he suspiciously eyed the odd square.

The three Fraggles watched the dark flap, hanging nearly motionless.

“I don’t know,” said Red. “I have a feeling about this place.” Usually it was Mokey that tended to listen to her inner self, dreamily following her nose. Red seldom got those inclinations. When she did, she rarely took notice. In the flick of a tail, she’d shrug it off and go play Thwack-a-Ball.

But for some reason, she decided to listen to that voice inside. It was as if there was…

“Mokey…” she began, “you always understand these things better than I do. I…this Silly Creature cave…I just have a feeling about it.”

“Me too,” whimpered Boober. “I have the feeling that cave is full of Fraggle-eating monsters!”

“Wait, wait. Remember what Cantus said,” reminded Mokey. “this part of Outer Space is linked especially to Fragglekind. Us…and this Silly Creature cave…are connected somehow. The Silly Creature who needs our help might be inside that cave!”

Grateful that Mokey had helped to articulate her thoughts, Red was back on track. “Right!” she agreed. “and I’m going to find the Silly Creature and help them. C’mon!”

Red hopped out of the lilac bush, turning her head this way and that. It was out of habit for a Fraggle to do this. Although Red knew she was in Outer Space, an open area like this made her instinctively look for Gorgs.

Mokey took Boober’s hand and gently helped him to his feet.

“Mokey…” Boober began. He paused.

Mokey looked at him, smiled and waited for him to continue. “I’m…I’m glad we’re here together,” he continued. “I know I couldn’t do this without your help.”

Mokey put her hand on Boober’s shoulder and looked straight into his eyes (or where she guessed they were).

“I couldn’t do this without your help, Boober.”

Boober managed a small smile.

“Hey, are you two gonna just sit there and twiddle your tails all day? C’mon!” Red was already halfway to the mysterious Silly Creature cave.

Mokey and Boober, together, followed Red.

“By the way, Boober,” Mokey noticed. “I never noticed how good you look in purple. You should wear it more often.”

“Huh?” Boober forgot the foreign surroundings for a moment.

Mokey looked at Boober from top to bottom and smirked. “Nice composition, too.”

“What th-” Boober finally looked at his body and noticed the lilac petals still clinging all over him. “Oh!” he irritably brushed them off. “Very funny!”

Mokey tittered as they followed Red to the Fraggle-sized door. By the time they caught up, Red was prodding the flap with her finger.

“Careful!” Boober warned.

But Red had already lifted the flap.

The cave’s interior was astonishing! Red immediately noticed a large, oval table in the middle of the room. It’s legs were smooth and shiny, much like the legs of the chairs that surrounded it.

Cabinets, much like the ones in Boober’s room, only larger and more boxlike, lined the walls. There were boxes in the cave as well. They were shiny, incredibly square or rectangular, and came in one of three colors: black, gray or silver. The exception to this was a huge white box with two doors that stood upright in the corner.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. She glanced around to make sure that the coast was clear. No Silly Creatures or hairy monsters in sight. She crawled through the opening.

“Mokey!” her voice called from the inside. “Come on in, it’s OK!”

Mokey got down on her hands and knees and squeezed through the opening. Since she was larger than Red, it took her a little longer to fit through.

As the flap swung shut, Boober found himself alone outside. He wasn’t sure whether to stay or follow his friends. Just then, a new sight was making his decision for him. A shiny beast with wheels (as Traveling Matt had seen many times) appeared from around the corner. It turned and slowly crept toward him, following a wide, flat, gray path.

Quick as a flash, Boober turned and sped through the opening.

“It’s beautiful, Red!” Mokey carefully stroked the smooth, wooden surface of one of the cabinets. “look at the way the patterns reflect the light.”

Red had found an amusing reflective box as well. It stood on the floor in the corner, and was taller than either one of them.

“Look at this one!” The large, black box was shiny enough for her to see her reflection. “I can see myself!” Red began to make goofy faces at her reflection. (This, of course, is a noble Fraggle pastime). Mokey joined her as they both rolled their eyes, stuck their tongues out and laughed.

A few seconds later, a Boober-shaped reflection joined them. It waved its arms and its face crumpled and twisted. Mokey turned around.

“Boober! You like the shiny box, too!” Mokey grinned.

“Yeah, it’s about time you had some fun!” Red added.

But Boober kept making faces and pointing to the flap.

“Shiny…big…beast…it’s coming!” he finally gasped.

Just then, the Fraggles heard something growling outside. They turned around, facing the door. The growl was getting closer…closer…

It stopped.

The Fraggles heard a muffled thud, like the closing of a huge jaw. A pair of lone footsteps followed the sound. The footsteps came closer to the door, not stopping.

Thinking quickly, Boober, Mokey and Red dove under the large table. They held their breath as they heard new sounds: a soft jingling, followed by a sharp click.

The door opened, revealing a pair of Silly Creature-sized legs. They walked towards the table and stopped just in front of it. A muffled thump directly overhead startled the Fraggles. Boober ducked and held his hands over his head.

The legs turned around and walked out the door, which closed after them. A minute or so later, the door opened again. The legs appeared, there was another muffled thump and the legs walked out the door again. This happened four more times. At last, the door closed behind the legs, putting the Silly Creature inside.

“There!” a female’s voice said. “That’s all the groceries. I wish they didn’t take so long to bring in and put away. I wish I had help.”

Under the table, Mokey’s eyes widened as she, Red and Boober looked at each other in silent comprehension. The Silly Creature needed help! She said so herself! Red could hardly keep herself from letting out a whoop of excitement.

The Silly Creature’s legs walked the perimeter of the table, stopping and starting here and there. In between, the Fraggles heard a combination of noises: paper rattling, doors opening and closing and miscellaneous objects being moved around.

What was she doing? Red was slightly frustrated that she couldn’t see what was going on above her.

She was just about to crane her neck for a better view when a sharp ringing sound made her jump back. The legs calmly walked over to the noise which came (somehow) from a curly, white rope dangling next to the wall. The legs and ringing both stopped as the white rope wobbled a little. The Fraggles listened as the female Silly Creature carried on an odd conversation with a muttering voice somewhere near the ceiling.

“Hello?” (mutter, mumble)

“No, I said hello, but that’s close enough.” (mutter, mutter)

“Yeah, I can meet you for lunch today. Where do you wanna go?” (mumbling)

“Yeah, Jerry. I know you don’t want to go back to Charlie’s…” (angry mumbling and grumbling)

“The grapefruit sandwich…I remember. Well, how ‘bout that new place down past…(mumble)…yeah, you just take the new exit on Nebel Street…” (questioning mutter)

“Yes, that street’s full of exits, just you ain’t seein’ ‘em. Take the new exit from Nebel to Esskay. Try drivin’ through it. You’ll see what I mean. The new restaurant is left on…” (mumble, mutter)

“Hey, hang on!” (mumble)

“Not right! Left on Esskay.” (questioning mutter)

“Don’t go that way! Never go that way. Okay, Ill meet you there in about twenty minutes. ‘Bye.”

The Fraggles heard a single ‘ding’ as the curly rope wobbled a little. The Silly Creature then remarked:

“If he had kept on going down that way, he’d have gone straight to White Castle.”

The legs turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind them. There was a ‘click’, a pause, then footsteps fading away. The roar of the beast they had heard earlier growled awake, then faded away as the ground crunched under its black, round feet.

Then all was quiet.

“She’s…left?” Boober wondered aloud.

Red frowned.

“Now how are we supposed to help the Silly Creature if she isn’t here?” she complained.

“Remember what it needed?” said Mokey. “The Silly Creature said she needed help with something called…grow…growsh…” she tried to remember the word.

“Groceries!” Red exclaimed. “That’s it! Something about helping with the groceries!”

“But what’s ‘groceries’?” Mokey put a hand to her chin, thinking.

“Maybe…” Boober considered. “maybe ‘groceries’ is something the Silly Creature was looking for. My guess is medicine.”

“Medicine?” asked Mokey.

Boober nodded. “Remember the Silly Creature opening and closing those doors? That’s what she was looking for…‘groceries’, or medicine. She was sick, that’s for sure.”

“Hold on,” Red sighed. “that Silly Creature didn’t look or act sick to me. How would you even know without seeing its face?”

Boober looked at Red in mild shock.

“How do I know? Red, look at the symptoms! First, her legs were dark blue. That means lack of circulation. And her feet were swelled up, too. She had them wrapped up with white cloth and tied up around the ankles with string like tourniquets. And need I remind you that she was talking to a mumbling voice from nowhere?”

“All right, I’ll give you the mumbling voice, Boober,” Red answered “but anyone who was walking around like that Silly Creature was doing and not limping can’t be hurting that much.”

Red had a point. Boober knew of no way anyone could walk around like that unless they were healthy.

Mokey interrupted their argument with a sudden realization. “I know what ‘groceries’ is!” she exclaimed suddenly. “They’re something you put away!” Boober and Red looked at her.

“Remember what the Silly Creature said?” she continued. “She said ‘I wish I they didn’t take so long to put away. I wish I had help.’ ‘They’ means ‘groceries’!”

Red nodded excitedly. “Yeah! We can open and close those doors, find the ‘groceries’ and put them away to help the Silly Creature!” She crawled out from under the table, followed by Mokey and Boober.

“But where do we put them away?” asked Boober. When Mokey stood up, she noticed something brown and papery hanging over the edge of the table. She was just tall enough to see the tabletop…which was filled with empty paper bags.

“Red, look! We can put them in these!” Mokey climbed up on the chair, retrieving bags and tossing them to the floor.

Boober looked at the cupboards hopelessly. “But…but…we don’t even know what ‘groceries’ are! How do we know what to put away?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Boober. I’ve got it all figured out,” Red announced confidently. “the ‘groceries’ are whatever we find in these cupboards and boxes! We just fill ‘em up! So let’s get started! Woo-hoohoohoohoo!” Red couldn't help but cheer in excitement.

Smiling broadly, Red immediately reached up and opened the door of the huge, white box. Mokey and Boober looked up…and up in astonishment.

“My goodness!” Mokey remarked. “Look at all this!” The three Fraggles gawked at the various shapes in the brightly lit, yet surprisingly cold box. Mokey’s eyes recognized some of the shapes at once.

“Vegetables?” Red made a face as she picked up a bundle of broccoli tied together with something stretchy. “Look at how small they are! These are Doozer-sized vegetables!” Red found a handful of radishes and held them out for Mokey and Boober to see. Each one was no bigger than one of the buttons on Wembley’s shirt.

Mokey, having spent countless hours in the Gorgs’ Garden, knew how big vegetables ought to be. A radish, easily, was supposed to be as big as a Fraggle’s head.

“Well, it’s no wonder they’re small,” she took a small radish from Red and examined it. “it’s cold in there. Nothing grows when it’s cold. Here, Boober, put this…Boober?”

All this time, Boober had wrapped his scarf around his neck three times and backed up, shivering.

“Would you two hurry up? I’m getting cold!”

Mokey wanted to take her time examining the rest of the box’s contents, but, as Cantus had said, time was growing short. She fetched two paper bags and opened it up. As she gave one to Boober, Red discovered that the box was easy to climb around in. Her golden nose sniffed inquisitively in the frost as she climbed up to the top shelf. In the door of the box, she discovered some small, white ovals sitting neatly in two rows.

“Let’s start with these white things,” Red snatched them up one by one. “here they come!”

Without another word, Red tossed the white things over her shoulder hand over fist. She kept her grip on the shelves with her feet and tail. Mokey caught the white things in her bag with amazing accuracy. Although normally she was a Fraggle found with a sketchbook and daydreaming, she could play an exciting, energetic game with the best of them. She had picked up a thing or two from Red over the years.

Boober caught what Red threw with amazing accuracy as well. This was due to pure, dumb luck. Boober held the bag up in front of him. He couldn’t see where he was going, and he merely ducked behind the bag whenever Red threw something.

Once Red got going, she had both cold boxes (and the cabinets) cleaned out in no time. Each time a bag became full, Red would climb down from her perch and make more room in the bag by jumping up and down on the bag’s contents. (She used this same technique when packing her Rock Hockey equipment).

Soon, all the paper bags were completely full. Red put her hands on her hips and looked proudly at her handiwork. Lucky for Red she knew little about the objects Silly Creatures possessed. Otherwise, her pride and sense of accomplishment (which was especially important to her) would have been crushed:

Each paper bag bulged horribly with mismatched items. The broccoli was topped with rapidly melting ice cream, which oozed into boxes of spaghetti, Bisquick and a crushed container of Quaker Oats. Loose rice, (mixed with M&M’s) stuck to toothpaste tubes with the help of leftover casserole and dripping lumps of cottage cheese. The bottom of each bag was saturated with yellow, slimy goop—the remains of the eggs.

Mokey looked into the bag nearest her, where she had just placed the last three items to pack: a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter.

“Anything else, Red?” Mokey asked.

Red looked around and her eyes fell on a bottle that had dropped from the table. The Silly Creature had left it there. Red picked it up.

“Here, put this—” her eyes read a single, bold word on the label.

She had that funny feeling again. It was the same as when she saw the exterior of the Silly Creature cave. Was there something about this bottle that Cantus should know? It seemed like…there was some kind of a connection…

Suddenly, the ringing from before happened again. Boober jumped in alarm.

“The ringing! The…the…the Silly Creature’s coming back! We gotta go!” he was already heading to the flap.

Convinced the ringing would summon the Silly Creature as well, Mokey and Red followed him out the Fraggle-sized door. Red was still clinging the bottle in her hand.

“Won’t that Silly Creature be surprised by all our help?” Mokey beamed as they headed for the lilac bush.

“You bet!” Red remarked. “Fraggles are always willing to help, even to help Silly Creatures.”

“Hey Red, what’s that?” asked Mokey, pointing to the bottle.

“Oh!” in the rush to get out the door, Red forgot she was carrying it. “Oh…I…I just forgot to put it away. Mokey, I was going to ask you something about it…there's writing on it…”

Just then, a gush of wind erupted from the lilac bush, beckoning the Fraggles back home.

“No time for that!” shouted Boober. “Leave that thing here! We have to go!”

As Boober, Red and Mokey jumped into the vortex, the bottle slipped from Red's hand.

As the wind from the bushes subsided, the bottle tumbled into the lawn, label-side up. A single robin perched on the bottle and inquisitively pecked twice at the label before fluttering away. It took no notice of the bold word printed on it:


"Prell".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More to come...

Convincing John

Footnote: the title's chapter was inspired by this poem/song.

 

[Java]

What a nice update. Poor Karen sure will have a mess on her hands when she gets home.

I especially enjoyed this line though:

Mokey looked into the bag nearest her, where she had just placed the last three items to pack: a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter.

Oh, and more please when you have the chance.

 

[The Count]

Agreed... Thanks for the update, twas lovely, and more please!

 

[FraggleRockRock]

Fantastic!