by David Lewman
The Stingerbugs gasped! The Trolls cheered!
“Yeah, Smidge!” said Poppy. “Way to show them!”
Smidge gently set the throne down. “Is this your biggest throne, queenie?” she asked. “The way Buzzer was grunting, I thought it’d be a lot heavier.”
The queen was amazed. But she was true to her word. “You’ve won,” she said, “and you may go.” She signaled to her guards, who opened the door to the cage again. The Trolls filed out.
Smidge looked at the large column on the floor. “Why is this big thing here?”
“It fell ages ago,” the queen said, “and it’s too heavy to lift back into place.”
“Really?” Smidge said. “Let’s see!”
The tiny Troll slid her hair under one end of the massive column and wrapped it all the way around. She braced her feet and pulled, lifting the column and wedging it between the floor and the ceiling. She gave the column a final tug and it locked into place. CHONK!
The Stingerbugs were silent for a moment, too astonished to say anything. Then they broke into loud, buzzy cheers!
The queen jumped off her throne and stared at the column. When she turned to the Trolls, they noticed a tear in her cape.
“Um, Your Majesty,” DJ Suki said. “You’ve got a rip in your royal cape.”
The queen twisted around, looking at the tear. “Yes,” she sighed. “That’s one of the problems with having a razor-sharp stinger. My cape’s been like this for a long time.”
“We can take care of that!” Satin and Chenille said. The twins whipped out their handy portable sewing kits and went to work sewing up the tear. In no time at all, the cape looked as good as new.
“Wonderful!” the queen cried. “What a day this has been! I wish I could remember it forever!”
“Perhaps this will help,” Poppy said, stepping forward and handing the queen a scrapbook she’d put together in the time it took the twins to fix the cape. “Luckily, I never go anywhere without my scrapbooking materials.”
The queen turned the pages, admiring Poppy’s pictures of Smidge lifting the queen, Smidge putting the column back, and the twins repairing the royal cape. “Marvelous!” she cried. “We are in your debt! If there is anything we can do for you, Queen Poppy, please let us know!”
“Well, there is one little thing,” Poppy said with a smile.
Each of the six Trolls had her own personal Stingerbug to fly her back to Troll Village. On this journey, as ordered by the queen, there would be no falling twigs, or dropping nuts, or rushing streams, or screeching mushrooms, or springy Spring Plants, or greasy Tickle Marshes, or mini tornadoes. And with the swiftly flying Stingerbugs carrying them the whole way, the Trolls would make it back home in time for the big party!
The Stingerbugs set them down at the edge of the village. “Thanks for the ride!” Satin and Chenille chimed.
“Yes, thank you so much!” Poppy said. “We really appreciate it.”
“It was our pleasure,” said the Stingerbug who had dive-bombed them in the flower field. “Enjoy your party!”
He started to fly off, but then returned. “I almost forgot. The queen asked me to give this to you.” He handed Karma one of the beautiful flowers from the forbidden field.
“Thank you!” she exclaimed. “I love it!” She stuck the flower in her piled-up hair, right between a twig and a leaf. “It’s perfect!”
The Stingerbugs flew off, buzzing as they went. The Trolls waved goodbye. Then they turned and ran straight to Maddy’s Hair in the Air Salon.
“Look who we found!” Poppy sang as they rushed through the door.
“Karma!” Maddy cried, delighted. She ran to her friend and gave her a big hug. “I was so worried. What happened? Did you get lost?”
Karma shook her head. “Not lost. Taken.”
“Taken!” Maddy asked. “By whom?”
“There’ll be plenty of time to tell you the whole story later,” Poppy promised. “But right now we have a party to get ready for! Can you help us with our hair?”
Maddy shook her head sadly. “Sorry, but there’s no time! The party’s already started. Poppy, they’re expecting you to light the party torch! DJ Suki, they need you to get the music going! You all have to hurry over to the party right now! Everyone’s waiting for you!”
“But,” Satin protested, “our hair!”
Maddy pushed them out the door. “Go! Go! Go!”
The six Trolls stood outside the salon. “What are we going to do?” Chenille asked. “Our hair looks terrible!”
They looked at each other. Their hair was greasy from the marsh. It was twisted and matted from the mini tornadoes. It had gotten wet from the stream and the waterfall spray, and then had dried without being combed or brushed. Nuts were lodged in it. And it was still full of twigs!
“I think you look fine!” Karma said brightly. She thought a Troll could never have too much nature in her hair.
Poppy sighed. “Well, I guess the important thing is that we’re here, not what we look like. Let’s just go to the party and try to have a good time. I’ll light the party torch, DJ Suki will spin some tunes, and everything’ll be fine.”
She said it, though she didn’t really believe it. Poppy was always positive and optimistic, seeing the bright side of things, but even she had her limits. A Troll’s hair was very important, and Poppy always wanted hers to look good. Especially at a big party!
Smidge said, “Poppy’s right. We found Karma and rescued her from the Stingerbugs. We should go to the party and celebrate, no matter how stupid or crazy our hair looks!”
Poppy stood up straight, threw back her shoulders, and picked a twig out of her hair. “Let’s do this!”
She strode off toward the party in the center of Troll Village, followed by her five friends.
At the party, Trolls milled around. Without the party torch and the music, it didn’t really seem like a party.
Biggie looked around anxiously. “Where’s Poppy?” he kept asking everyone. “And Smidge? And Satin? And Chenille? And DJ Suki? And Karma?”
“You’ve already asked me that—like, a hundred times!” Branch complained. He looked splendid with the new hairstyle Maddy had given him. “I keep telling you, I don’t know! But I’m sure Poppy will be here. Why are you so worried?”
“I’m not worried,” Biggie lied. “But Mr. Dinkles is.” He stroked his pet worm’s back reassuringly.
Then Cooper spotted the six Trolls walking toward the party. “Here they come!” he announced, pointing. Everyone turned to look at Poppy and the others.
They walked up with their wild hair, and everyone stared.
“Hi!” Poppy said a little nervously. “Come on! Let’s get this party started!”
The other Trolls just stood there, gawking.
“Look at their hair!” Guy Diamond said.
“That’s…unbelievable!” Harper sputtered.
“UNG GUH MMMNN!” Fuzzbert added.
“It’s…INCREDIBLE!” Cooper said. “I LOVE IT!”
“It’s the new look!” Guy Diamond announced.
Everybody loved their hair! They all crowded around Poppy and her friends, asking how they’d gotten their hair to look like that.
Maddy walked up. She’d finally closed her salon and was ready for the big party.
“Maddy!” Guy Diamond said, running over to her. “Can you make my hair look like theirs? Please?”
“And mine?” “And mine, too?” asked lots of other Trolls, running up to Maddy.
Maddy looked puzzled. “Uh, sure,” she said. “I just need some grease, twigs, and nuts.”
Just then, Poppy lit the party torch, and DJ Suki dropped the beat on a pounding dance tune.
“LET’S PARTY!” Poppy yelled, holding the burning torch high in the air. Everyone cheered!
The Trolls partied and danced and laughed long into the night.
The next day, Maddy’s Hair in the Air Salon was crowded with customers. Carrying buckets of greas
e, twigs, and nuts, Maddy ran from Troll to Troll, giving each of them the new look.
Thanks to Poppy and her friends, the salon had never been busier. And there had never been a more popular hairstyle in Troll Village!
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