Jake, had in the meantime been wracking his brain for a distraction. Bogworts were, as a rule, painfully easy to distract. But of course there would be 5 small children skipping away from them in an open field while carrying treasure. Hmmm, the only thing that could distract a Bogwort army from something like that would be pizza and root beer. Or at least what they thought was pizza and root beer. Jake had only minutes, so he moved fast, like only an elf in a hurry can move. He found a blown over sassafras tree and broke off a fairly fresh piece of the root (smells just like root beer, check it yourself). The pizza was a little tougher, but really it only needed a box, some imagination on the part of the Bogworts (not tough when it came to what they thought might be free food), and some crushed basil and oregano leaves. The suggestion of a box was a little tricky until Jake saw a birch tree with just the right color of white bark. He politely asked the tree if he could take a bit of the peeling bark and was told, “Of course if it will help in dealing with Bogworts”. Everyone liked to help teach Bogworts a lesson, even trees. Especially trees.
Just as the Bogworts took off at a run after the children, Jake got to the edge of the clearing. A friendly breeze happened to come up just then to bring the Bogworts the unmistakable scent of pizza and root beer. They had been chasing that rainbow for quite a while and a Bogwort can only live so long on candy bars, energy drinks, cigarettes, and gummy bears.
When that hungry army spotted Jake, with what they thought was a stack of pizza boxes, they momentarily lost all thought of chasing down the children. They changed directions faster than a, than a…well, faster than anything slower than a Bogwort army after some pizza and root beer. Jake dropped the “boxes” and skipped back into the woods, heading around to the far side to meet up with Ella’s group. “We have to hurry now,” he said to them all, “Those Bogworts will be really mad when they find out we tricked them.” And with that, he led the way down the path to where Julie would be waiting.
A huge roar came to them before they had gone far. “That must be the Bogworts,” exclaimed Livia, “they sound really mad!”
“Not a problem,” answered Jake as they all ran along, “as long as we get to Julie before they get to us. We may need one more plan before then. If anyone can think of something, now would be a good time.”
At that, Kaden stopped suddenly by planting his feet firmly, the way only a 16 month old child can, and dragged everyone to a stop. When they were all looking at him he carefully took his hands from Ashton and Aaron and raised one finger. With the other hand he made a peeling motion, the baby sign for “Banana”.
“Hmmm,” said Ella, thinking of the impact of a banana at that moment, “That could work, but I don’t think we have any bananas.” Kaden just looked at Aaron. Aaron got a slightly guilty look and pulled a banana from the carry bag he had on his back. “I brought one in case we got hungry.” He explained.
“Perfect,” said Jake, “anyone for a piece of banana?”
“Of course we have to come back for the peel later,” said Ella.
“Of course,” nodded Jake, “After all, we aren’t Bogworts.” And with that they all took a piece of banana and carefully placed the peel on the trail, just past a corner that the Bogworts would be running around. They ran on down the trail, just before the Bogworts rounded the corner at a run.
The sound of falling Bogworts was music to their ears as they skipped on ahead. Bogworts ran as a tight group, and when the leader slipped and fell it was a sure thing that everyone else would trip and fall over him. The children were safe with Julie and her “friend” when the Bogworts finally caught them.
As the Bogworts, now scraped up from their little banana adventure, and with dirt and leaves all over their assorted ring pops and candy bars, ran out of the forest they saw Jake and Ella, Aaron, Ashton, Livia and Kaden playing between the claws of a huge dragon while Julie sat on its head, scratching behind its ears. “Oh yeah, right there,” the dragon rumbled. “I just can’t seem to scratch that one spot.”
The dragon only had to look at the Bogworts, and all thought of treasure seemed to leave them. Sudden business elsewhere…forgot to get my homework done…big assignment due tomorrow…a thousand reasons to be heading home came to those Bogworts and they ran, not walked, to the nearest exit back into the forest.
Jake and Julie, Ella, Aaron, Ashton, Livia, and Kaden said goodbye and thank you to the dragon (and there’s another story waiting to happen) and they headed back home.
You might ask, “What about the treasure?” and so they all had one more stop to make. A beehive sat on the edge of the forest, near the grapevine. The bees had had a tough year. Jake and Julie thought it might be a really good idea to leave the treasure with them. The treasure was, in fact, a large pot of golden honey, which would mean a lot to a hive of hungry bees. It could even mean a short vacation in the near future that would be very helpful. Of course one small cup could be saved to give to mom, maybe to put on some toast at breakfast.
The next day, the bullies were at school again when Ella and Aaron were headed home. This time though, Ella and Aaron made it a point to not run quite so fast. This encouraged the bullies to chase them past the edge of the schoolyard and even past the house on the corner with the beehive. It seemed these bees had some visitors from another hive, cousins perhaps on vacation, that didn’t like bullies running past. Several stings later (just little stings, no torn stingers left in the skin), the bullies actually caught up to Ella and Aaron, sitting at the edge of the yard petting Max, their “killer” dog, terror of mailmen everywhere. Max only looked up from getting his head scratched and gave a lazy smile, which showed all his teeth. The bullies suddenly remembered important business elsewhere…homework to do…stings to take care of…maybe even some chores they could do for their mother…anything to get them out of there.
Ella and Aaron looked over to the grapevine and gave a little wink. Behind the grapes there was a little twinkle that could have been a clever elf winking back.
The End
© Roy E. Moxley 2011 All rights reserved.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
The Grapevine Elves and the End of the Rainbow (Part 2)
He took a slightly soggy fry out of the box and looked at it like you would a particularly interesting but still slimy banana slug (go to Seattle to see those). He bent it carefully and stated, “I’d guess about 3 hours from the fryer and 13 minutes since the box was dropped. They have a head start but we can beat them to the end of the rainbow.” Ella could see the rainbow ahead of them…and on the other side of the road !!
“How can we get to the end at all?” she asked, “we’d have to cross the road and Mom said we couldn’t.” Ella was very careful to obey her mother, especially on this side of the grapevine. She saw the look her mom always gave her when she said she was going for a “walk” with Jake and Julie. Grown-ups clearly didn’t believe in elves but there was always something about that look. The rule was always, “don’t cross any roads.” Ella had a pretty strong feeling about not crossing roads here.
“No worries,” broke in Julie, “we know a shortcut. We know a shortcut to everywhere.” Ella looked down the road in both directions. It seemed to go a long ways. Julie just gave her a smile and headed down a path that angled back away from the road. After three left turns Ella was sure they were going around in circles, but they never seemed to cross a path or the road. It seemed like the little ones should be getting tired, but they seemed to just be enjoying the walk. Jake was walking next to Ashton and telling outrageous stories about Bogwort habits. “You couldn’t do that!!” insisted Aaron, who had been listening, “your fingers would fall off.”
“I’ve seen it myself,” said Jake with a confident tone, “Trust me, Bogworts are about as gross as you can get and not leave a slime trail.” He paused and looked ahead, “We’ll have to be quiet now. We’re almost there.” Sure enough, Julie raised her closed fist at a right angle and then motioned all the kids to get down and they crawled under the bushes towards the edge of a wonderfully huge field of clover. The rainbow could be seen plunging down right in the middle of the field, colors as bright as the frosting on one of Aaron’s birthday cakes Grandma would make when they visited over New Year’s eve. They could also see Bogworts over to their left, just arriving at the edge of the field.
“But we can’t reach the end of the rainbow,” explained Aaron, very quietly. When we try to get close, it will just move further away. My teacher says it’s just light reflected from water drops in the air.”
“That’s right” said Julie, “We won’t get close to the rainbow. It will get close to us! Now here’s the plan,” and she whispered to Ella a simple set of instructions. “Can you do it?” she asked, looking Ella right in the eyes. Ella pressed her lips together and put her chin out (just a little. She didn’t want to look like Jay Leno). “We’ll do it,” she said, “I trust you and Jake. We’ll get away with it.” With that she took her little train of brothers and sister and cousin around the edge of the field, to the far side, just inside the trees. “OK,” she said to the group as she took a deep breath, “This is it!! Let’s go.” And she led them skipping out into the middle of the field.
It took a lot of courage, from every one of them, to skip into a field where they could see a huge bunch of Bogworts coming in on the other side. What the Bogworts saw was someone else skipping up to the end of the rainbow. The end of the rainbow that held “their” treasure! With a roar the Bogworts started running straight towards the kids.
Ella stopped where Julie had told her and kept calm while she slowly counted out loud to seven. (She counted to seven because that’s what Julie said to count to; not Ten, not Three…Seven). What was toughest was counting to seven with her eyes shut, and all the kids eyes shut.
At “Seven” the children opened their eyes to a field now filled with color. Sure enough, as the Bogworts had run towards the rainbow it had gotten further away from them. Now it surrounded the kids and there was the pot of treasure right at their feet. “Grab the pot, Aaron, and let’s get out of here,” yelled Ella, and she headed at a run, with her hand firmly holding Livia, back into the forest. She could only hope that the elves would come up with the distraction the plan needed.
{to be continued}
© Roy E. Moxley 2011 All rights reserved.
“How can we get to the end at all?” she asked, “we’d have to cross the road and Mom said we couldn’t.” Ella was very careful to obey her mother, especially on this side of the grapevine. She saw the look her mom always gave her when she said she was going for a “walk” with Jake and Julie. Grown-ups clearly didn’t believe in elves but there was always something about that look. The rule was always, “don’t cross any roads.” Ella had a pretty strong feeling about not crossing roads here.
“No worries,” broke in Julie, “we know a shortcut. We know a shortcut to everywhere.” Ella looked down the road in both directions. It seemed to go a long ways. Julie just gave her a smile and headed down a path that angled back away from the road. After three left turns Ella was sure they were going around in circles, but they never seemed to cross a path or the road. It seemed like the little ones should be getting tired, but they seemed to just be enjoying the walk. Jake was walking next to Ashton and telling outrageous stories about Bogwort habits. “You couldn’t do that!!” insisted Aaron, who had been listening, “your fingers would fall off.”
“I’ve seen it myself,” said Jake with a confident tone, “Trust me, Bogworts are about as gross as you can get and not leave a slime trail.” He paused and looked ahead, “We’ll have to be quiet now. We’re almost there.” Sure enough, Julie raised her closed fist at a right angle and then motioned all the kids to get down and they crawled under the bushes towards the edge of a wonderfully huge field of clover. The rainbow could be seen plunging down right in the middle of the field, colors as bright as the frosting on one of Aaron’s birthday cakes Grandma would make when they visited over New Year’s eve. They could also see Bogworts over to their left, just arriving at the edge of the field.
“But we can’t reach the end of the rainbow,” explained Aaron, very quietly. When we try to get close, it will just move further away. My teacher says it’s just light reflected from water drops in the air.”
“That’s right” said Julie, “We won’t get close to the rainbow. It will get close to us! Now here’s the plan,” and she whispered to Ella a simple set of instructions. “Can you do it?” she asked, looking Ella right in the eyes. Ella pressed her lips together and put her chin out (just a little. She didn’t want to look like Jay Leno). “We’ll do it,” she said, “I trust you and Jake. We’ll get away with it.” With that she took her little train of brothers and sister and cousin around the edge of the field, to the far side, just inside the trees. “OK,” she said to the group as she took a deep breath, “This is it!! Let’s go.” And she led them skipping out into the middle of the field.
It took a lot of courage, from every one of them, to skip into a field where they could see a huge bunch of Bogworts coming in on the other side. What the Bogworts saw was someone else skipping up to the end of the rainbow. The end of the rainbow that held “their” treasure! With a roar the Bogworts started running straight towards the kids.
Ella stopped where Julie had told her and kept calm while she slowly counted out loud to seven. (She counted to seven because that’s what Julie said to count to; not Ten, not Three…Seven). What was toughest was counting to seven with her eyes shut, and all the kids eyes shut.
At “Seven” the children opened their eyes to a field now filled with color. Sure enough, as the Bogworts had run towards the rainbow it had gotten further away from them. Now it surrounded the kids and there was the pot of treasure right at their feet. “Grab the pot, Aaron, and let’s get out of here,” yelled Ella, and she headed at a run, with her hand firmly holding Livia, back into the forest. She could only hope that the elves would come up with the distraction the plan needed.
{to be continued}
© Roy E. Moxley 2011 All rights reserved.
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Grapevine Elves and the End of the Rainbow (part 1)
by Roy E. Moxley
The day could only get better for Ella and Aaron. On the way home from school they accidently walked past where the 6th graders were playing. Those older kids couldn’t pass up on the chance to chase anyone smaller. Ella and Aaron didn’t know what would happen if they got caught and they didn’t want to find out. Ella ran in ‘running club’ and Aaron liked basketball so they were both really fast. They ran like the wind for home and the big kids gave up at the edge of the school ground.
Later that afternoon, Ella and her brothers Aaron and Ashton and even little Preston and Livia were playing in the backyard with their cousin Kaden. Of course the older ones were being careful with the little kids, but swings and slides and playing in the grass are for everyone. Kaden didn’t talk much but he used baby sign language very well, considering he wasn’t even two years old yet.
While Ashton and Kaden were pushing trucks around to build a play road, Kaden suddenly looked at the back fence and made the sign for “leaves”. Ella puzzled for just a minute and said, “He wants to go to the grapevine.” That made perfect sense to Aaron, who always liked to munch on grapes, and who knows who you might meet through the grapevine.
The whole bunch headed to the vine and sat down to eat grapes. Ella picked a bunch of particularly juicy looking grapes and leaned towards the vine and whispered, “Jake and Julie, are you there?” She was answered by a giggle and a small hand reached through the vine and grabbed some grapes right out of her hand.
“Of course we’re here,” said Julie, “Where else would we be?”
Again Kaden pointed and this time he made the sign of a rainbow. Sure enough a passing storm to the East had formed a beautiful double rainbow that was a glory. All the kids stared in wonder at the reds, yellows, and even greens that arced across the sky. Jake and Julie saw the rainbow too, “A rainbow means treasure,” said Jake. “And a treasure means Bogworts,” finished Julie. “Why don’t you all come along?” said Jake, “we could use your help and you could learn something about how to take care of your problem with the big kids.”
“How did you know about that?” asked Aaron, he wanted to know the why’s and how’s of everything.
“We know lots of things,” answered Julie, “hurry and ask your mom if you can come help.”
Ella knew this might get a little bit complicated because Kaden was already moving towards the grapevine. It might take a little bit of convincing to get Aunt Marla to agree to let him go wandering around out of the yard. Of course lying to mother was completely out of the question.
“Mom, and Aunt Marla,” she started as soon as she ran into the house, “Could we all go for a walk behind the back yard. We won’t cross any roads. Kaden wants to go too.” Her mother gave her a piercing look and nodded slowly, “It’s fine with me, on two conditions, first- Preston stays here with me, he’s just too heavy to carry around, and second- with the Livia and Kaden going you need to hold hands the entire time…that is if it’s OK with Marla.” She looked over at Marla, who really seemed to be enjoying the time without having to keep a constant eye on Kaden. Marla knew Ella was very responsible for an eight year old and Aaron and even Ashton would help. “It’s OK with me as long as you’re not gone too long.”
“Oh we won’t be gone long at all,” answered Ella, who knew something about how long adventures with elves ended up taking after you got home. It usually didn’t seem like you had been gone at all. So Ella ran back to the grapevine and gave everyone the rules. Then they all headed, hand in hand, through the grapevine.
The rainbow seemed even brighter from the other side of the grapevine. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Yup, they were all there, along with every other color that was even possible. “Which end do you think?” asked Julie, looking at Jake. “Hmmm,” he replied, “The index of refraction of the light in the water droplets times the cosine of the angle of the sun to the horizon…let’s go to the left end.”
“He always has to show off at least a little,” Julie whispered to Ella at the front of the chain of children. “It doesn’t matter which end of the rainbow we go to, there’s a treasure there and that means Bogworts will be after it too. If we get there before them we have to figure out a way to keep it. If we get there after them we have to figure out a way to take it.”
“Who does the treasure belong to?” asked Ashton, who was holding on to both Livia and Kaden’s hand. He was a good one to keep in the middle and Ella knew it. He was strong enough to hold on to the little one’s hands and it kept both his hands out of trouble. Aaron took up the end of the line. He was quick enough to head off trouble and his free hand could pick up (and throw) a pinecone faster than you could say, “That pinecone would really hurt if it hit a Bogwort’s nose.”
“You’ll see,” answered Julie, “What we need now is a plan.”
“A plan with a find and pickup,” said Jake.
“And of course a distraction,” went on Julie.
“And an escape,” said Jake with a twinkle in his eye and excitement in his voice.
“And a dragon,” finished Julie.
Ella had been following that pretty well until the dragon part. She couldn’t claim to be an expert, of course, but her idea of dragons was that they were big and dangerous and mean. “Ummm,” she started, “don’t you think a dragon might be a little scary for the little ones?” Livia and Kaden had been following the conversation on their own. You could just tell that if Kaden had a hand free he would be trying to make the sign for “bird” which for him meant anything from a penguin to an eagle, or apparently a dragon. Livia just got a concerned look on her face and said, “Do dragons eat princesses?”
“No, not a mean dragon” said Julie, “Dragons come in all types, just like people. There are dragons that would have fun helping us deal with Bogworts. We just need one of those dragons.”
Just then Jake, who was in front of the group, came to a sudden halt at the edge of a small road through the forest. “Bogwort tracks,” he said, pointing down.
Aaron looked for some sign in the damp earth next to the road. He didn’t see any footprints of any kind. “What would a Bogwort footprint look like?” he asked with a puzzled look, as he stared down at an empty patch.
“Not footprints,” explained Jake, pointing at all the trash next to the road, “tracks.” There were beer cans, cigarette butts, soda bottles, fast food bags, and generally garbage of every kind strewn along the road. “They’re headed for the end of the rainbow too,” he went on. The rainbow’s bright colors were clearer than ever and seemed to be just ahead. Jake bent down and picked up an almost empty box of French fries.
{To be continued}
© Roy E. Moxley 2011 All rights reserved.
The day could only get better for Ella and Aaron. On the way home from school they accidently walked past where the 6th graders were playing. Those older kids couldn’t pass up on the chance to chase anyone smaller. Ella and Aaron didn’t know what would happen if they got caught and they didn’t want to find out. Ella ran in ‘running club’ and Aaron liked basketball so they were both really fast. They ran like the wind for home and the big kids gave up at the edge of the school ground.
Later that afternoon, Ella and her brothers Aaron and Ashton and even little Preston and Livia were playing in the backyard with their cousin Kaden. Of course the older ones were being careful with the little kids, but swings and slides and playing in the grass are for everyone. Kaden didn’t talk much but he used baby sign language very well, considering he wasn’t even two years old yet.
While Ashton and Kaden were pushing trucks around to build a play road, Kaden suddenly looked at the back fence and made the sign for “leaves”. Ella puzzled for just a minute and said, “He wants to go to the grapevine.” That made perfect sense to Aaron, who always liked to munch on grapes, and who knows who you might meet through the grapevine.
The whole bunch headed to the vine and sat down to eat grapes. Ella picked a bunch of particularly juicy looking grapes and leaned towards the vine and whispered, “Jake and Julie, are you there?” She was answered by a giggle and a small hand reached through the vine and grabbed some grapes right out of her hand.
“Of course we’re here,” said Julie, “Where else would we be?”
Again Kaden pointed and this time he made the sign of a rainbow. Sure enough a passing storm to the East had formed a beautiful double rainbow that was a glory. All the kids stared in wonder at the reds, yellows, and even greens that arced across the sky. Jake and Julie saw the rainbow too, “A rainbow means treasure,” said Jake. “And a treasure means Bogworts,” finished Julie. “Why don’t you all come along?” said Jake, “we could use your help and you could learn something about how to take care of your problem with the big kids.”
“How did you know about that?” asked Aaron, he wanted to know the why’s and how’s of everything.
“We know lots of things,” answered Julie, “hurry and ask your mom if you can come help.”
Ella knew this might get a little bit complicated because Kaden was already moving towards the grapevine. It might take a little bit of convincing to get Aunt Marla to agree to let him go wandering around out of the yard. Of course lying to mother was completely out of the question.
“Mom, and Aunt Marla,” she started as soon as she ran into the house, “Could we all go for a walk behind the back yard. We won’t cross any roads. Kaden wants to go too.” Her mother gave her a piercing look and nodded slowly, “It’s fine with me, on two conditions, first- Preston stays here with me, he’s just too heavy to carry around, and second- with the Livia and Kaden going you need to hold hands the entire time…that is if it’s OK with Marla.” She looked over at Marla, who really seemed to be enjoying the time without having to keep a constant eye on Kaden. Marla knew Ella was very responsible for an eight year old and Aaron and even Ashton would help. “It’s OK with me as long as you’re not gone too long.”
“Oh we won’t be gone long at all,” answered Ella, who knew something about how long adventures with elves ended up taking after you got home. It usually didn’t seem like you had been gone at all. So Ella ran back to the grapevine and gave everyone the rules. Then they all headed, hand in hand, through the grapevine.
The rainbow seemed even brighter from the other side of the grapevine. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Yup, they were all there, along with every other color that was even possible. “Which end do you think?” asked Julie, looking at Jake. “Hmmm,” he replied, “The index of refraction of the light in the water droplets times the cosine of the angle of the sun to the horizon…let’s go to the left end.”
“He always has to show off at least a little,” Julie whispered to Ella at the front of the chain of children. “It doesn’t matter which end of the rainbow we go to, there’s a treasure there and that means Bogworts will be after it too. If we get there before them we have to figure out a way to keep it. If we get there after them we have to figure out a way to take it.”
“Who does the treasure belong to?” asked Ashton, who was holding on to both Livia and Kaden’s hand. He was a good one to keep in the middle and Ella knew it. He was strong enough to hold on to the little one’s hands and it kept both his hands out of trouble. Aaron took up the end of the line. He was quick enough to head off trouble and his free hand could pick up (and throw) a pinecone faster than you could say, “That pinecone would really hurt if it hit a Bogwort’s nose.”
“You’ll see,” answered Julie, “What we need now is a plan.”
“A plan with a find and pickup,” said Jake.
“And of course a distraction,” went on Julie.
“And an escape,” said Jake with a twinkle in his eye and excitement in his voice.
“And a dragon,” finished Julie.
Ella had been following that pretty well until the dragon part. She couldn’t claim to be an expert, of course, but her idea of dragons was that they were big and dangerous and mean. “Ummm,” she started, “don’t you think a dragon might be a little scary for the little ones?” Livia and Kaden had been following the conversation on their own. You could just tell that if Kaden had a hand free he would be trying to make the sign for “bird” which for him meant anything from a penguin to an eagle, or apparently a dragon. Livia just got a concerned look on her face and said, “Do dragons eat princesses?”
“No, not a mean dragon” said Julie, “Dragons come in all types, just like people. There are dragons that would have fun helping us deal with Bogworts. We just need one of those dragons.”
Just then Jake, who was in front of the group, came to a sudden halt at the edge of a small road through the forest. “Bogwort tracks,” he said, pointing down.
Aaron looked for some sign in the damp earth next to the road. He didn’t see any footprints of any kind. “What would a Bogwort footprint look like?” he asked with a puzzled look, as he stared down at an empty patch.
“Not footprints,” explained Jake, pointing at all the trash next to the road, “tracks.” There were beer cans, cigarette butts, soda bottles, fast food bags, and generally garbage of every kind strewn along the road. “They’re headed for the end of the rainbow too,” he went on. The rainbow’s bright colors were clearer than ever and seemed to be just ahead. Jake bent down and picked up an almost empty box of French fries.
{To be continued}
© Roy E. Moxley 2011 All rights reserved.
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