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.