Chapter 1
And here's Chapter One...enjoy, everybody! (By the way, each chapter will be preceded by a Jethro Tull quote).
“There's a picture-view postcard to say that I called.” --Ian Anderson ‘One White Duck’
Chapter 1--“The Sorrow of the Stained Sock” (or “The Indoor Fraggle Pond”).
The water splashed and sloshed around in the Fraggle Pond with a myriad of small ripples. It was dawn, and at this time, the only other sounds of the Great Hall were the distant calls of the Doozers as they began their daily shift. Their miniature vehicles hummed along the crystalline bridges that glistened in the warm glow of the caves.
"Hup, two, three, four..." a crew chanted as they carried a load of tools and Doozer sticks to an unfinished overpass.
The steady buzz of the Doozer work crew remained oblivious to the edge of the Fraggle Pond, which was now afroth with bubbles and mixed in with soon to be clean laundry.
Boober loved this time of the day. As much as he cared about his friends, Boober had always loved these moments alone, admiring the Great Hall's many familiar contours, cracks and assorted flora.
He sniffed. The scent of soap made him smile. Ah,
laundry.
Now this day was off to a good start. It was a wonderfully safe and boring way to start the day.
Unbeknownst to Boober, another Fraggle was in the Great Hall this early.
It was Mokey. She was concealed behind her easel, working on a new painting. It had started out with just the Fraggle pond, but since Boober had arrived, she had decided to add him in. She was tempted to paint him smiling and popping the airborne soap bubbles. (He had been doing this for fun as the laundry soaked). However, Mokey thought better of it. If Boober saw himself immortalized smiling, he would be mortified.
Picking up her smallest brush, she painted Boober in a slouch, holding a purple sock out at arm's length. The Boober in the painting was looking at the sock as though it were a slowly deflating celery soufflé.
Mokey stood up and admired her work. It wasn't exactly true to life, but it was true to
Boober.
Was it finished? Something inside her said
one last detail. Mokey squinted a little...and then her eyes widened. At her feet was a small patch of cave moss. She pinched a little of it up between her fingers and dabbed it on the sock in the painting. When the moss was removed, it left a very true moss-colored stain along the length of the sock.
There.
As Mokey was about to put the moss back, she noticed a Thimblebug crawling along the rock wall.
"Here you go, little Thimblebug," she said sweetly. 'have a little breakfast." She carefully set the moss down in front of it, smiling as the little insect took it and silently carried it away.
Behind Mokey was a lone Doozer construction. She broke off a piece and crunched on it, thoughtfully gazing at a group of fluttering Spiderflies.
Crunch?
Boober looked up from his laundry (which he was about to gather up and take back to his cave to dry).
There it was again. Another crunch. It
sounded like some Fraggle was having an early breakfast of Doozer sticks. But then again, it just
might be the sound of the talons of a Fraggle-eating Poison Cackler. Trembling slightly, Boober chanced a glance behind him. He saw...an easel. A pair of pink feet could be seen underneath it.
Another crunch. Boober cringed and came to two conclusions. Either Mokey was calmly eating breakfast...or some terrifying beast hiding behind the easel was eating
her for breakfast. Trusting shakily in the knot tied in his tail, Boober gulped.
"M-Mokey?" he stammered. Mokey's head poked out from behind her easel. Her mouth was still chewing. She swallowed.
"Good morning, Boober!" she said brightly. Boober's round frame sagged with relief.
"Whew!" he sighed. I heard a crunch and I thought for a moment a Poison Cackler had ..." his voice cracked with anxiety. He couldn't express in words the rest of the gruesome mental image he had a moment ago.
"Oh, Boober," she patted him on the shoulder. "there are no Poison Cacklers here."
Boober looked around the Great Hall. "Well...not
now, but you never know." His attention was drawn now to Mokey's painting.
"That is
beautiful!" he breathed.
Mokey blushed a little. "Thank you, Boober."
"It is! You can almost see the radish stains washing away underneath the bubbles...and I
love the stain on the sock!" Boober knew a great piece of art when he saw it.
"You'll like the title of the painting too," said Mokey. "I call it
The Sorrow of the Stained Sock."
Boober's mouth opened in a wide smile. "It's so beautifully morose." He looked at Mokey appreciatively and patted her shoulder.
"You should be proud of yourself, Mokey. There are very few Fraggles who can truly immortalize the ongoing angst of dingy laundry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About a half hour later, Boober was finishing his last load of wet clothes. As he picked up his basket, he noticed something flop out. It was one of Large Marvin's sweaters. Luckily it had fallen on Boober's scrub board and hadn't gotten dirty.
"Oh well," he shrugged. " I'll get it when I come back."
As Boober left for his hole, Fraggles began to emerge from their caves. A group of them started a game of Fraggle Freeze. Others decided on having a morning snack of Doozer sticks.
Two Fraggles (who had been friends for as long as they could remember) were having an animated discussion.
"I tell ya, Wembley. Uncle Matt sees the strangest things in Outer Space. I just got a card from him when I checked this morning."
"You did?" Wembley asked excitedly. "What'd he see?"
"Well--"
But before Gobo could respond, another group of Fraggles ran past yelling "She's gonna do it! Hurry!"
Gobo and Wembley looked at each other in confusion. Their faces followed many hands pointing up to a high outcropping of rock.
There they saw a Fraggle ready to perfect her latest dive. Her fiery red-orange pigtails fluttered in the light morning breeze.
"Fellow Fraggles," Red announced. "I am about to execute my latest dive: the Triple-Backwards-Somersault-Flip!"
A collective "oooh" rose from the awed Fraggles below. Mokey watched as her best friend turned around on the high ledge. Just then, Boober returned.
"Look, Boober!" said Mokey, pointing up. "Red's gonna dive from way up there!" Boober glanced up at Red, then down at the Fraggle Pond.
"NO!" he yelled, and began to run towards the pond. His round body bounced as he raced ahead of the crowd. Red jumped backwards off the ledge and became a spinning, twirling blur in midair. As she began to plummet, all Fraggle eyes were on her...except Boober's.
Boober was now running as fast as he could go. One hand was pushing down his flat, brown hat so that it wouldn't fly off his head. His other hand, stubby fingers outstretched, reached for the scrub board and the sweater.
Red was falling faster now. Her pigtails flowed behind her as she aimed for the center of the Fraggle Pond. Far below, with a cry of panic, Boober grabbed the scrub board and the sweater and continued to run. At a safe distance, he finally slowed to a stop.
The next sound everyone heard was an enormous splash. Water cascaded up and over the Fraggle Pond, soaking everyone nearby. A moment later, Red's head broke the surface.
"HOORAY!" cheered the Fraggles. Red bowed at the neck, smiling proudly.
"Thank you! Thank you! And now let's start the day with some much needed frolicking!" And with that, the Fraggles began their daily activities of playing, singing, dancing and swimming.
Red thought about joining a group of Fraggles who were tumbling down the rock slide into the Pond. But then she saw her four best friends and decided to join them. She climbed out of the pool and joined them.
"Hey! Great dive, huh?" she beamed proudly.
"Oh Red!" breathed Mokey. "It was an excellent display of athletic prowess! I
must write a poem about it!"
"It was
great!" Gobo remarked, patting Red on the shoulder.
"Really great!" Wembley agreed, patting Red's other shoulder.
“No it
wasn't!"
Still panting from his run, Boober marched up to Red with his scrub board and the damp sweater under his arm. He frowned.
"You know, you could
look before you dive!" he grumbled. Red sighed. She was used to Boober's constant complaining about anything fun.
"You know, Boober has a point," agreed Mokey. "you might have gotten hurt."
Boober shook his head. "Impossible...at least this time."
"What do you mean?" asked Wembley.
Boober cleared his throat. "In Chapter Four in my book of superstitions, it says that red-headed Fraggles who dive backwards early in the morning never get injured." The other four Fraggles looked at each other and then back at Boober. Wembley scratched his head.
"But why were you running like that?" asked Gobo.
"This!" Boober held up Large Marvin's sweater. "It was lying on the edge of the Pond! If I hadn't got there in time, it would've gotten so wet, it would've taken
hours to dry!"
Red rolled her eyes. "Oh,
Boober. It's
laundry. It's supposed to get wet."
Boober turned to Red and tried to keep his voice even. "Do you know how
long it takes to do Large Marvin's laundry?"
Across the cave, Large Marvin had plopped down on the cave floor. He was the height of an average Fraggle, but at least twice as wide. He was greedily chomping on a sandwich. In between bites, he licked most of the sticky jelly off his fingers and wiped the rest of it across his robe (which was about the size of a winter blanket). Boober's face crumpled at Large Marvin's lack of respect for cleanliness. Gobo decided to change the subject before things got worse between Red and Boober.
"Hey, since we're all here, how 'bout I read you the latest postcard from my Uncle Traveling Matt?"
"Yeah!" cheered Wembley.
"Okay," nodded Boober.
"Of course, Gobo." Mokey agreed.
Red groaned.
Ignoring Red, Gobo began to read the postcard aloud:
"Dear Nephew Gobo,
I have recently discovered that Silly Creatures may not be so different from Fraggles after all. True, they aren't fuzzy like us..."
(Now we see Traveling Matt in a Silly Creature's house. He is examining a small, white room with a tiled floor).
Traveling Matt (narrating): "But some Silly Creatures seem to be just as noble and intelligent as Fraggles."
(Traveling Matt then bumps into a Rubber Duckie, which squeaks. Traveling Matt turns to it). "Oh, I beg your pardon."
(Narration continues): "It seems that Silly Creatures like to wear silly hats, sing and swim. I recently encountered a Silly Creature that can do all three at
once!"
(Traveling Matt hides behind a clothes hamper as a robed Silly Creature wearing a shower cap steps into a combination bathtub/shower. He closes the shower curtain and we see his hand put his robe on a hook just outside the shower door). "This Silly Creature actually has a miniature Fraggle Pond in his cave! When he stepped inside and closed a curtain, water magically came out of a pipe above him!"
(The water is now running full blast. The Silly Creature, now only his shower cap visible, begins to sing an off-key rendition of 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head').
"As the water ran, the Silly Creature began to sing...but not very well."
(Traveling Matt winces at the sound of the Silly Creature's cracking, flat notes). "I quickly discovered that Fraggles are
much better singers."
(Traveling Matt turns to face the viewer) "Perhaps I can help."
(Narration continues): "To assist the Silly Creature, I decided to sing as well, just to give him a chance to harmonize."
(Traveling Matt jumps out from behind the clothes hamper and begins to sing and dance).
"Dance your cares away!
Worries for another day!"
(The Silly Creature stops singing and pokes his head out from behind the shower curtain).
Silly Creature:
"HEY! Get outta here!" (The Silly Creature begins throwing shampoo bottles and his back brush at Traveling Matt. Matt quickly runs from the room).
(Narration continues): "Unfortunately, the Silly Creature didn't want any help. Apparently, they prefer to 'sing' alone. In the future, I'll be cautious of any indoor Fraggle Ponds with Silly Creatures in them."
(Back to Gobo)
"I'll write again soon. Love, Your Uncle Traveling Matt."
"Wow!" Wembley was amazed. "Silly Creatures with Fraggle Ponds! I never would've thought that!"
"Well, Uncle Matt's always finding new and strange things in Outer Space." replied Gobo.
"Oh, gimmie a
break!" moaned Red. "I bet he's making it up."
"No one would make up anything
that weird, 'ay?" answered Gobo.
"That's right!" agreed Wembley. "Gobo's Uncle Matt always tells it like it is."
Before Red could reply, Boober spoke up.
"Hey...does anyone else hear that?"
What does Boober hear? Find out in the next Chapter of "The Choice". 
Convincing John
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and I don't think that other Silly Creature would have the heart to throw anything at Matt. 
Hilarious! And I can imagine the whole thing like an actual episode. Keep it up, CJ!