The Grapevine Elves and the End of the Rainbow (Part 3, conclusion)

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.