|
a new classic by Edward Summer |
rom
the bedroom, the children could hear another cracking sound as the
demons widened the hole in the basement door. Then the popping of first
one light bulb, the another and another.
"I wish I knew what to do," Ginger said. She squeezed the amulet so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
"Me, too." Tony shook his head.
"Listen to me," said a voice.
Surprised, everyone turned to see who was speaking.
It was the frog. He sat placidly in the center of the little pond in the terrarium just where Tony's father had placed him. Above him, the rose - now in full bloom and a rich scarlet red hung heavily and swayed gently.
"I'm so glad you got away!" Teddy said.
The frog croaked an acknowledgment.
"What can we do?" Ginger asked.
"It
is quite simple, but very difficult. And it must be done before
sunrise. I will give you the tools, but you must supply the method." The
frog paused to breathe. Its throat pumped in and out. Its eyes swung back
and forth.
Fred and Ginger and Tony stared as they listened, trying to figure out what the frog was talking about. Tony shot Ginger a puzzled glance, but she was so absorbed that she didn't see it.
"Your forces are all around you," the frog said at last, "the never born and the deathless."
Tony looked around the bedroom. It was the same messy, crowded, cluttered bedroom it had been for as long as he could remember.
"Whatever that means," Tony muttered. "I wish they'd help."
The frog made a deep, rolling croaking sound that bubbled up through the water of the terrarium. Little waves splashed against the glass sides. The sound seemed to spread through the room, echoing off the walls and ceiling, rattling the window glass. Then it faded slowly, and a heavy silence filled the room as the frog's voice had a moment before.
The silence, in turn, gave way to a new sound: A rhythmic, ratcheted clicking, like a softer version of an old-fashioned alarm clock's spring being tightened. Then, a whirr, a click, a jingle, a tinkle, and another series of fast clicks. Then quiet once again.
Ginger scanned the room, trying to find the source of the sounds, but they seemed to come from everywhere in general and nowhere in particular.
The frog's eyes swiveled back and forth. The frog blinked and blinked again. Then the eyes stopped moving and stared.
Fred stared, too. He nudged Teddy and pointed. Teddy turned to look.
In the center of the bedroom floor, a nine inch tall plastic soldier in wrinkled green fatigues was slowly standing up. Wobbling slightly, the soldier made it to his feet, turned toward the children and saluted smartly.
Ginger noticed and, finally, Tony noticed, too.
"That's it!" Tony cried. Then a look of puzzlement came over him. "How do we do it?"
"It is already done," The frog replied.
All around the room, toys began to move. Action figures stirred, a stuff cow stood up, tanks began to roll into formation. Wooden airplanes taxied over next to plastic space shuttles. Clowns jingled their bells. All the animals from a wooden Noah's ark rearranged themselves into two neat rows. Cars and trucks and Star Wars figures rolled, chugged and marched into formation.
Ginger was ecstatic. She ran to the terrarium as best she could without stepping on any toys. She slid back the glass lid, reached in and picked up the frog.
"Oh, thank you, Teefr!" She kissed the frog on top of its head. "Thank you! This is wonderful! Oh, I love you!" She kissed the frog twice more and set it back down into the terrarium.
The frog blinked its eyes and made a gentle croaking noise. Ginger turned back to the center of the room to watch what was happening.
The frog kept blinking, however. Its eyes seemed wetter, shinier than usual. As the frog blinked, its eyes gleamed and caught the light more than ever. They glowed like polished moonstones. With a gentle leap, the frog sprang into the pool of water and sank to the bottom, eyes half in, half out of the water.
Silently, Tony counted the toys and dolls. Ten, two dozen, a hundred, nearly two hundred! Suddenly, the expression of joy on Tony's face disappeared.
"It'll never be enough. There must be a zillion demons downstairs. We don't stand a chance." Tony shook his head. "How did we ever get into this mess."
"You wished for it," the frog said.
"You're right." Tony admitted. "I thought it would be neat to have some real excitement for a change. It was pretty boring around here. But anyway, now what?"
No one had an answer. They sat and pondered the problem as the toys stood patiently on the floor looking up at them.
"The library!" Ginger said suddenly. "You father's collection of soldiers!"
"Wow! Perfect!" Fred added.
"Dad would kill me!" Tony shook his head.
"But it's an emergency!" Ginger pleaded.
"Well…. I don't know…." Tony was thinking.
"We've got to!" Ginger was almost shouting.
"We've got to!" Fred agreed. Teddy and Dunkey nodded as well.
"Even if we did," said Tony, "how are we gonna get down there? Just walk down the stairs?"
"We could fight out way down!" Teddy said with great enthusiasm.
"We'll just get creamed." Tony rested his chin on his hands again.
A sharp evening breeze rattled the windows. Dunkey looked up to see what had made the noise.
"The window!" Dunkey realized out loud. "The library window!"
"Huh?" Tony said.
"Go out the bedroom window and in through the library window. Sneak up behind them and have a two-pronged attack!"
"Great!" Teddy agreed..
Tony and Ginger started to smile. Even the frog croaked his approval.
"Yeah, great! Great way to…." Fred started to say. He stopped when he noticed Tony and Ginger staring at him. "Oh, no!" Fred said. "No, way! I'm not doing it! There's a whole cliff out that window! It's a million feet up! No way!"
"Fred. It'll be okay," Tony coaxed. "We'll send Teddy down first to reconnoiter. Right, Teddy?"
Uh, well…." Teddy began.
"See? If Teddy goes, you'll go, too, right?"
"Come on. It's late, and I want to go to sleep." Fred began to curl up on the corner of the bed.
"But you've got to do it, Fred. You wouldn't want anyone to think you were chicken, would ya?"
Fred didn't answer.
"What can we use for a rope?" Tony began to look around the room.
"Bed sheets!" Ginger suggested. "That's what Tom Sawyer used. Get up, Fred." She pushed her brother out of the way and began to strip the sheets off her bed.
Tony pulled the sheets from the upper and lower bunks. He rolled up each one and tied the ends together in bulky knots. Ginger brought her two sheets over and tied them onto the ends of Tony's. Finally, they knotted the end of the sheet-rope onto the leg of Ginger's bed which was much heavier than the bunk bed.
"Okay, ready." Tony grabbed Teddy out of Fred's arms. He wrapped the end of the sheet around Teddy's tummy and made a knot.
Carrying Teddy in his left hand, Tony walked over to the window and opened it.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Teddy protested. "I'm not sure that I like this. If they see my feet coming, my head might not get there!"
"Hmmm. You're right," Tony said, thinking. "Wait! We can fix that!"
He untied the sheet - much to Teddy's momentary relief - turned the bear upside-down, and re-knotted the sheet around Teddy's middle.
Tony leaned out the window, staring down at the ocean waves breaking against the rocks at the base of the cliff below. Then he lifted Teddy over the window sill and prepared to lower him.
"All set, Teddy?"
"Do I have a choice?
Tony didn't answer. He let out the sheet a few inches at a time.
Teddy
dropped closer and closer to the French windows of the library, which were
about ten feet below him. The roaring breakers were about sixty feet below
that. The wind and spray from the waves buffeted the tiny bear back and
forth.
Fred and Ginger and Dunkey leaned over the window sill to watch.
Slowly Teddy's head approached the top edge of the library windows.
"Slow down!" Teddy called up against the wind. "A little more… a little more… stop!"
Teddy's eyes were just below the edge of the uppermost window. He stared into the dark library. The heavy door to the living room was partly open, so Teddy could see beyond the library as well.
Lights were still on in the rest of the house, so the demons had not yet reached the library. As Teddy watched, a black, flying thing tried to swoop in from the back hall. But the lights were too bright. It disintegrated in the air just a few feet from a bulb. It was followed immediately by another hideous black creature, but that to exploded into a puff of dust. When a third, larger, flying demon finally collided with the lamp and put it out, Teddy decided that it was time to leave.
"Pull me up!" Teddy called.
Hand over hand, Tony rapidly hauled up the sheet-rope. It seconds that seemed to Teddy like hours, he was brought back up to the bedroom. Before the bear could catch his breath, Fred picked him up and hugged him.
"Not so tight!" Teddy said. "I've got to report in." Fred set his bear down on the window sill. "They're in the living room, at least part way. They seem to be having trouble putting out the lights. Too far for them to fly from the basement. But they're not in the library at all."
"Yesss!" Tony whooped.
"But the library door is open," Teddy continued, "They'll see us if we go down."
"We'll have to chance it," Tony said.
"WE?" said Fred. "What do you mean, 'we'? Why don't you go?"
"'Cause you're the lightest. Ginger and me are too heavy." This time, Tony was sincere. "We need you to do it." Tony paused. "Please, Fred, will you?"
Fred stared at Tony, but didn't say no.
"Just be real quiet," Tony instructed, "and close the door to the living room quick before they spot you."
"Great!" said Fred, sounding frightened, "Just great!"
Ginger began to tie the sheet around Fred's waist, pulling and testing to make sure that it was tight.
"You sure these won't break?" Fred asked.
"Positive," Ginger said. "It worked for Huckleberry Finn, too. I think."
Teddy walked over to Fred and sat down on his lap. Fred put his right arm around Teddy.
"Excuse me," Dunkey murdered, 'but can I go, too? I think I'd like to help, maybe."
"Sure," Fred said cheerily, glad of a little extra company. He picked Dunkey up under his left arm. Fred looked uneasily over his shoulder. "It's so dark outside…."
"It'll make it harder for you to see straight down," Tony suggested. "Ready?"
"I guess…." Fred swum his legs over the window sill. He started to look at the cliff below, but decided against it.
Tony and Ginger both grabbed the sheets, sat down on the floor, and braced themselves.
"Well, here goes nothing!" Tony said.
"Thanks a lot!" Fred shot back.
"I didn't mean…."
"Good luck!" Ginger said. She stood up and kissed her brother on the cheek. Then she sat down once again.
"Yuck!" Fred tried to wipe the kiss off with his sleeve.
"Hey! Careful! Don't drop me!" Teddy said as Fred raised his arm.
"Sorry." Fred paused. "You guys all set?"
"Yup!" Tony pulled back against the sheet.
Fred closed his eyes tightly, held his breath and slipped over the edge of the window sill. All at once, the sheet slipped up from Fred's waist. This is it! Fred thought. But the sheet stopped sliding at Fred's armpits, and he hung safely from the end.
"Bye," Fred said softly. His head and neck were still above the window ledge, but the word was lost in the wind that gusted up from the cliff.
The frog, however, seemed to have heard it and gave a reassuring basso croak. Fred smiled when he heard the sound. The frog continued to watch quietly as Fred's face and tousled, sandy hair sank slowly below the window sill.
(c)1980,1981,1996,1997,2006
Edward Summer, All Rights Reserved, Teefr TM R, All Characters TM, R In
any form whatsoever
Mrs. Seel, Theadore Rosebear,
Dunkey Hotie, Tony Calder, Ginger Stephens, Fred Stephens, Teefr, Reon
are all (TM) (R)
created 5/25/97
revised 6/11/97, 10/23/99,
7/5/2006
