by W Kangas
Back at Happilyeverafter, the girls were working two at a time in turns to try to reach water under the fountain. “Have you noticed just how cold it’s getting out here?” asked Charming. “I’m shivering even when I’m shoveling. This is unnaturally cold, and I think it has to do with the magical stream. This valley is in a cold place, high in the mountains that would be a barren wasteland without the stream.”
“Would the stream be able to heat the whole atmosphere?” asked Star, disagreeing with Charming.
“Let’s go get the professor and see what he thinks,” said Charming.
“You go get him if you want, but it’s just a cold snap,” said Star.
Charming knew where the professor was being held and found that his guards were just as the rest of Happilyeverafter—almost in a coma.
“Professor, can you hear me? This is Charming, calling at the cave entrance where I think you are being held.”
“I do hear you, but I’m in jail for conducting my experiments.”
“There is nobody out here who could stop you leaving. We want you to come look at the weather and see why it’s getting so cold.”
The professor came to the cave opening and found Charming was being truthful and said, “It is very cold, now that you mention it. If I can get to my computer, we can check whether this is a local disturbance.”
“Good, Professor, come with me, but let me make sure you’re not breaking the rules again.”
“Now what could I do to cause harm?” asked the professor.
“You could signal the paparazzi and have them fly in here or something.”
“I guess I could do that and destroy everything, but I’m not that way, so just ease your mind, please. Come with me, and watch my every move.”
“I wouldn’t leave you alone with that computer of yours, so don’t try to act innocent.”
“What has happened to all these people?” asked the professor.
“The magical stream has stopped flowing, and they blame you.”
“I didn’t do this. Why would I do this?”
“It might be a result of your other meddling that brought us here. Everyone thinks you’re tricky and conniving.”
They walked to the coffee shop, with the professor looking at the sight of all the citizens lying in the square. “I didn’t do this, but I did send Star to get money for my lab. That is as far as things went.”
“That’s not all; you were working on their subconscious minds to manipulate them in a way that I don’t understand.”
“I was just trying to get access to the water for Star, so I made a little disturbance to throw them off the scent.”
“A little disturbance! The mayor is livid with you, not to mention Cinderella and the Grinch. I think you were about to get a knuckle sandwich from Popeye for showing pictures of Pluto to Olive.”
“I didn’t think they would go so crazy. How was I to know they would go nuts?”
“You shouldn’t have done that, and now you have a life sentence here like the rest of us.”
“What do you mean? I could walk right out of here with my guards going flat on the ground.”
“The path was destroyed along with the access cave.”
“No, I don’t believe you.”
“You can check that out without me after we see what’s wrong with the weather.”
“The weather gets cold every once in a while. You know that, Charming, my naïve girl.”
“But I’ve heard that the weather here does not fluctuate this much. It was only after you came.”
“You’re just like the rest, wanting a scapegoat. I haven’t been here in the winter, so I couldn’t tell you. But I will say this. If the stream kept it warm here, it will affect weather everywhere.”
“That is not good, and you were the one who started all this.”
“I don’t see how you can say that.”
“It’s easy. You started unrest with the people, and it grew into this.”
“You’re just as twitty as the cartoons,” said the professor. “But you know you were here for the water too.”
“I’m going to closely watch what you do on the computer, so all I want is for you to check the weather on the Weather Channel.”
“Okay, Charming, that shouldn’t take long.”
When they got to the coffee shop, the professor turned on his computer and was able to access the Weather Channel. “Oh my gosh,” said the professor, “it is snowing in Miami Beach. This just can’t be.”
He turned up the sound.
“We have no explanation for the cold snap that has encompassed the world,” said the meteorologist. “It looks very much like the earth is going into another ice age. We have our theories on what caused the ice ages in the past, but evidently it can happen without a major incident. Nothing unusual has happened, but the temperatures around the world have dropped by twenty degrees so far. I’m not sure what things are going to look like tomorrow.”
“Charming, this is bad. That stream is the lifeblood of the earth, and it has to be restarted. Do you have someone in the cave to try to fix it?”
“Yes, we have a teenage girl going down in the cave with a fairy that can’t move very much or make any spells for the lack of energy.”
“Why did you choose her?”
“Because she is the granddaughter of Alice, who went underground back in the day.”
“We are probably doomed, you idiot. You probably could have gotten Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
“How can you call me an idiot when you are the one who caused all this?”
“Where is Star? I want to speak with her.”
“She’s digging up the fountain on the other side of the square.”
“What! Is she twitty too?”
“I’m going to see her. Are you coming?”
“I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
They walked across the square and sure enough, Star was taking her turn shoveling at the base of the fountain.
“Star, what would digging prove?” asked the professor.
“We are trying to find some more water that has kept the populous alive to this point,” she exclaimed with a touch of anger in her voice.
“You don’t blame me for this too, do you?”
“If the shoe fits, wear it,” said Star.
“You ignorant twits.”
“Star,” said Charming, “the earth is drastically cooling for some reason. The Weather Channel has predicted the beginning of an ice age. The meteorologist said there is no explanation. The stream had to be warming the whole earth. Everyone is in trouble, and it’s the professor’s fault. Don’t you agree?”
“It is your fault, Honeydew. This place has gone on through the ages just fine until what was introduced? You, melonhead.”
“Were you here to get the water, Star?” asked the professor, showing that she also had a part in this.
“I didn’t alter anything except buy some land in Hawaii.”
“You got the land, Star?”
“Forget the land; that deal is over. Let’s go look at the weather again, Professor. I want to see this for myself.”
The professor, disgruntled, went with the girls and turned on his computer that was already online with the Weather Channel.
“We have no explanation for this drastic shift in temperature,” said Stephanie Abrams of the Weather Channel. “We have a report that it’s cold enough to snow in Australia during its summer season. We are now issuing an advisory to fill your heating oil and propane tanks. It wouldn’t hurt to get some very good cold-weather gear and some extra food rations.”
“How can this happen, professor?”
“All I can think of is the stream must have been the lifeblood of the earth, and you can see how unscientific that sounds.”
“We need to cover these poor people who are mostly still alive, and I really can’t see why. You’d better get to helping us, if you know what’s good for you, Professor.”
“I wil
l help, but quit blaming me.”
“Get yourself down to the fountain and start digging.”
“I object. I am a man who uses his wit.”
“Get to the fountain, Professor, and start shoveling,” ordered Star.
They walked to the fountain with the professor ceasing to complain. He grabbed the shovel out of Giggles’s hands and jumped down into the crater the ladies had already dug.
He took several shovelfuls out of the hole, and then said, “I believe you might be right—that I am the catalyst for all this trouble, but I didn’t want this to happen, so I will dig ’til I am blue in the face to show you where my heart lies.”
“We would like you proving you’re really good inside, Professor,” said Giggles.
“I will dig here until I reach water or die doing it,” said Honeydew, being suddenly macho.
Alisia had entered the cave with the licking lizards and was still following directions from her fairy. “I can see them all around us, but they haven’t made one move to lick you.” Right then a tongue darted up toward Bella but stopped short by an inch.
Bella felt the air hit her as the tongue just missed. “Wait!” yelled Alisia to the lizards. “You don’t want to harm my fairy. She is helping me try to save the magical stream.”
Soon another tongue swished by Bella, who heard it coming and ducked into Alisia’s hair.
Alisia said, “You can’t harm my fairy, or I will harm you. But you can lick me, if you are gentle.”
Slap came a tongue against her left leg. The lizard that licked her began to glow slightly and said, “She is coated with delicious salt, potbellies.”
“Lick her,” called another potbelly.
Alisia complained of the raspy tongue. “Go easier, lizards.”
They seemed to understand Alisia and didn’t force their tongues so.
“That is better,” she proclaimed, as several lizards were now glowing in her sight. “Can you help us?”
“What are you trying to do?”
“We want to restart the magical stream so it keeps everything warm and lets everyone feel the energy.”
“Is that what is wrong with the cave? We’ve been so very cold this last day. So, if we can help, we surely will,” said one of the lizards.
“It took us hours just to get enough energy to look for some food. We like bugs and most of the time nobody cares if we eat them all, except the bugs themselves, of course.”
“We would love to help you, because we are all freezing,” said another lizard.
“Which way are you going?” asked a third lizard.
“We go that way,” said Alisia, pointing in the green light from the glowing lizards.
“We can’t go into the next room. It’s full of very large spiders that love us for food. If you change your mind and go a different way, we’ll go with you,” said a group in unison. They continued licking Alisia’s legs and arms where they could aim their tongues under or around her clothing.
“Easy now, lizards, you’re licking a little too hard again.” The lizards eased up.
“Have you seen anyone else come this way?” asked Alisia.
“Two humans like yourself, one tall male and a female. The males and females have different-tasting salt, you know. Then came some half-baked cartoons. At least that is what they called themselves. You don’t want to make them aggressive, you know. They can smash you in seconds. Then sometime after the cartoons a dragonette came flying by when there was still a glow to the cave. But the glow went away, and we haven’t seen any bugs or strange creatures since. The glow seemed to make it much warmer, and it put the bugs on the move, doing what bugs do.”
One lizard asked, “That’s not a bug in your hair, is it?”
“No, it’s a fairy that’s going to help me start the magical stream.”
“We’ve never seen the glow go out before, and it sure is getting cold. We will surely leave your fairy alone in hopes she can help get the glow back.”
“That is our intention, so why don’t you come with us?” suggested Alisia, trying to sound like her mother, a great boss who inspired everyone in the bakery, including the customers.
Arthur Coin
“The giant spiders will eat those that go with you. The whole room is black with them, and their poisonous bites will drop you in seconds. We wish you well, but we are betting on whether you make it, and the odds are stacked way against you right now.”
“I will go with them,” said a potbellied lizard.
“Leaping Lizard, why would you take a chance like that?”
“Because I want to help her start the magical stream. It’s getting very cold down here, and if I can help, I will go.”
“I’m going too,” said another lizard.
“Why would you go, Ducker Lizard? You are usually timid.”
“I just want to go where Leaping Lizard goes.”
“Okay, you’re free to go with them, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The potbellied lizards lit the way to the next room, and the brave explorers went inside.
It was very dark indeed with nothing showing and no contact except a scurrying sound. “They are all around us aren’t they?” asked Alisia.
“They are; I can sense them. But if I look as intensely as I can, they look like shadows by the hundreds. They’re just moving with us and parting to let us walk. I think they’re excited to have a meal walk right to them.”
“Before we drink you,” said one of the spiders, “we want to know why you have come. If your story is good enough, maybe we’ll let you go on with what you were doing.”
“Are you starting to get cold?” asked Alisia.
“We are. Is this your fault?”
“No, we are here to fix the problem, which I think was caused by aliens.” Alisia was in the process of making up a good story that would stun the spiders. “Now I have another question. Was there a nice, warm glow in your cave before this blackness set upon you?”
“Were you the one who stole the glow?”
“I am the one trying to bring back your glow.”
“Why would you help spiders?”
“Because the glow is for everyone, and if I can start it for the licking potbellied lizards, it will also start for you.”
“What makes you think I would believe you?”
“Because you want the glow, and I’m the only one with a plan.”
“You are saying that if we let you go, you will continue through the caverns to find why the glow is no more.”
“If we don’t start the glow, you will all freeze down here.”
“How do you know this?”
“Can’t you tell how cold it’s getting?”
“We need to see you in the light to believe you, and that is not possible without the glow.”
“I have two friends with me that can light up this room, but there will be no warmth with the light. You must promise to respect all of us if we pass your test.”
“We make the promise; now show us.”
“Lick the salt, my good lizards, and light the room.”
“We are hungry for lizards and were just about to move into their cave and eat them all.”
“You would have full bellies and then freeze to death,” said Alisia. “First, tell me what is hanging from the ceiling.”
“They are humans like yourself and not very good to drink. They are greasy, pulpy, and foul-tasting.”
“Let them go then, and I will believe more of what you say.”
“There is not much food around, and we are getting desperate.”
“Don’t you eat bugs?”
“We love bugs but the half-baked cartoons keep us from looking where there are many. You still have not shown us how you expect to stop the aliens. You don’t seem to have any special powers. Show us now or join your kind on the ceiling. And as for your fat little lizards, we will feast.”
“Okay, stand back, and make a circle around us,” said Alisia thinking the
y could understand. “I’m going to teach you a magic dance that can stop aliens in their tracks, but you should agree never to use it unless your world is about to fall apart. Do you agree?”
“You have the agreement.”
“Now, pay close attention, as I probably won’t be around to call out the dance for you. You, the leader, will have to make the calls after I leave to fix the glow for you and the rest of the living things in this cave.”
“Show us; we grow impatient.”
“First, say this: You put your right foot in; you take your right foot out; you put your right foot in and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around; that’s what it’s all about.”
“Wait a minute. We don’t understand foot.”
“Okay, you should have stopped me. Down by the lower part of your body or your butt you have legs. On the end of your legs, you have feet or a foot on each leg.”
“We’ve got it; start and we can keep up now.”
“Okay, here it is again: You put your right foot in and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around; that’s what it’s all about.”
“Now what are you doing when you turn yourself around?”
“I’m clapping my hands.”
“What are hands?” asked the lead spider.
“Your eyes and mouth are on your head. The legs next to your head would be your arms, and on the end of the arms are your hands.”
The spider said, “Okay, I got it.”
Alisia continued, “Let’s start from there. You put your left hand in; you take your left hand out; you put your left hand in and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around; that’s what it’s all about. Clap, clap.”
Alisia stopped to give directions. “Now, walk a quarter wheel left like I do.”
She continued. “You put your right hand in; you take your right hand out; you put your right hand in and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around; that’s what it’s all about. Clap, clap.
