"Is it?"
"Indeed so! Ms. Allidap, you were selected out of the five hundred billion applicants to receive a prize of twenty-seven million dollars and thirteen cents! And, since you were home when I arrived, you may be eligible for more prizes!" He turned around and whistled through his teeth. "Oh, boys! She"s here. Bring in the cameras." A small, horse-like creature and a young man with a television camera in place of a head came running up. "Oh, good. You"re here. Mr. Camerahead, let"s get some good footage of our lucky winner in her home. Let"s go inside. It will look more natural if our winner is in a comfortable place on her sofa."
"But ..." began the Witch. "But ... I didn"t even know there was a TV station in Oz."
"Well, of course there is," said the horse. "Where else would Ozites turn to see their favorite Rankin-Ba.s.s Oz cartoon episodes?
We are broadcasting from the peak of Some Summit. Now, come on, let"s be lively about this. We haven"t got all day. We have a commercial to shoot for _The Ozmapolitan_ newspaper at ten after three."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
"Why don"t you stand here in front of your television set?" suggested the camera man. "But we"ll have to unchain it from this thing here. This won"t look pleasing to our television audience."
"No!" raged the fake Allidap. "Leave that alone!"
But the camera man, who had come equipped with some heavy-duty metal clippers, had Telly freed in no time at all. "Now, my dear Ms. Allidap,"
said the centaur. "Please stand still and try to look surprised. If this all goes well, you may be eligible for an all expense paid trip to Walt Disney World in Tampa, Florida. That"s in the United States, you know.
So it may be possible for you to meet the President and give him any advice you might have for him."
"But.... Hey...." stuttered the Witch.
"You want him to b.u.t.t some hay?" said the horse. "I think I"d rather eat it than b.u.t.t it. But to each his own. I think we need some extra color in this place. It looks too gloomy." She picked up a bucket (which had been carried in by the centaur) in her teeth and began to splash some rainbow-colored paint all about the room, some of which went directly into the Witch"s eyes. Allidap tried to cry out in rage, but she only got some paint in her mouth.
"This looks great!" said the camera man. "The color really adds a lot.
The people watching will be happier to see it than the gloominess that used to be here. Now, let me see... Let"s have some creative banter. Ms.
Allidap, can you look excited and happy? Come on, let"s see that beautiful smile."
"Yes," added the centaur. "And hop up and down screaming, "I won! I won!" if you think you can handle it."
The Witch was having trouble following all of this--especially with the paint in her eyes that made it impossible to see anything around her.
But she did like the thought of having won something, so she did her best to do as they asked. When they seemed satisfied with their TV footage, they bid her a fond adieu and scurried out the door.
Once a good distance from the Witch"s home, the camera man took off his mask. Of course, as you may have already guessed, it was actually Graham in disguise. And with him were MacDonald Lindsay and Jeanne-Marie. The plan had worked, and they had rescued not only Telly, but also the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger as well.
"I want to thank you," said Telly, "for coming to our rescue that way.
That was a clever trick, making the Witch think you were there to put her on television. I wouldn"t have actually wanted to televise an image of her, as it might damage my picture tube, but it worked."
The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger thanked them as well.
"I think we should be looking for the real Ozma," said Graham. "The Witch will eventually be out hunting me down again."
"A good thought," agreed the Hungry Tiger. "We shall go and find her straightaway."
The centaur looked solemn. "I would so love to meet our dear ruler," he said. "But I fear I may be in for a rude visit from those wartfrogs, and I think I should be there when it comes to pa.s.s. However, I will join you in the Emerald City as soon as I have sent the wartfrogs away for good. I will be sorry to be apart from this dear unicorn, however. We have been talking, and we agree that we belong together. I will be anxiously looking forward to seeing her again very soon."
"No," replied Jeanne-Marie. "I shall come back to the farm and help you to rid yourself of those former employees of yours. Then we shall travel together to the Emerald City."
This was a sad parting for all, after all of the adventures they had shared together. But it was as it had to be. So they all said their good-byes and parted, and the two equine-type creatures headed in one direction and the four mismatched friends in the other.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
A STORY WITH A HAPPY ENDING
The four friends had reached a clearing behind which a clump of trees partially camouflaged a quaint little cottage. By this time Graham was feeling quite thirsty and thought it would be a good idea to knock on the cottage door and see if he could obtain a nice drink of water. The cottage was surrounded by a garden full of flowers and a white picket fence, and it was all so pretty it could have come right out of a fairy tale. Graham knew full well that no evil person could possibly reside in such a picturesque place, so he boldly opened the gate and walked along the little winding path to the front door, where he knocked loudly.
A minute went by with no response, whereupon Graham knocked again, but this time quite a bit louder.
"Why don"t you just knock my door down?" said a voice behind him. Graham about jumped out of his skin as he spun around to see a very kindly lady with a twinkle in her eyes approaching from the back of the house. "I was pruning my roses in the back garden," she continued, "when I heard what I thought must be a very rude person banging on my front door. I gather you must be here on a very urgent matter."
"Well ... not exactly," Graham said rather sheepishly. "I was feeling very thirsty and thought that perhaps I might be able to obtain a drink of water"
"Hmmm, I think that can be arranged," replied the lady. "And what about your friends?" she asked, looking rather curiously at Telly and a little nervously at the Lion and Tiger.
"Oh, Telly here is an electrical-mechanical person and is not very partial to water. But if you could wipe his face with a damp cloth, he"ll not only look better and be able to see better, but I"ll be able to see his television programs better. Would you like to watch one now?"
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The lady was more than a little confused by this invitation, but she obliged by spraying some gla.s.s cleaning liquid on Telly"s screen and wiping it with a dry cloth. "Ouch! That stuff stings my eyes!" Telly protested loudly. But he was happy that all of the dust had been removed from his screen.
"How about the lion and tiger?" asked the lady. "Would they like a drink? They don"t bite, do they?" Without waiting for an answer, the lady led them to the back of the house, where a well was located. She hauled up a bucket of ice-cold, crystal clear water, which Graham took a long drink of from a ladle which she handed to him. The Lion and Tiger said they were not thirsty, but the Tiger asked politely if there were any fat babies residing with her. Graham coughed and choked as the water went down the wrong way. Fortunately, the noise drowned out the Tiger"s question, and the lady did not hear him ...
With his thirst more than satisfied, Graham proceeded to introduce himself and did his best to explain his current situation and Telly"s unique abilities. The lady replied that her name was Dore and that she was both an artist and a storyteller. She then went into the house and brought out several unique pen and ink drawings, as well as some beautiful watercolors, which everyone greatly admired. She looked intently at the Hungry Tiger and said he was a magnificent animal and that she would like to sketch him. The Tiger could not resist smirking at the Lion, who just rolled his eyes.
"Now," continued Dore as she sketched away, "I"ll tell you one of my stories if you like."
Graham and his friends nodded vigorously. After all, they all loved to hear stories. Everyone sat down on the soft velvety gra.s.s by the well as Dore proceeded to tell the story. She had no sooner started when lots of little animals appeared as if from nowhere and gathered around to listen. They somehow knew that there was nothing to fear from the Lion or the Tiger.
"The t.i.tle of my story," said Dore, "is "Helen"s Smile." I hope you like it:
Today was a special day. Not only because the sun was shining, but because he felt good. It had been a long time since he had felt so good.
He sat in his chair on the porch as he had done every single day throughout winter, summer, fall, and (his favorite time of the year) spring.
He was a people-watcher all right. No question about that. And almost everyone in town had to pa.s.s his house on the way to the train station.
He liked that. He knew who worked in the city, who was late, and who went in early. You could tell a lot about people by the schedules they kept. This was a particularly beautiful day. Fall nipped the air, and it felt crisp to the skin. The leaves were just hinting at the change in colors. He liked this time of the year almost as much as he liked spring. The heat of the summer had a way of sapping a man"s strength.
Fall was different; there was something about the cool air that made his blood surge through his body. Food seemed to taste better, and the air smelted especially clean. The women seemed to look prettier than ever.
Yes, sir! This was a good time of the year. His name was Clive, and he was only twenty-seven years old. He had never really lived in the usual sense of the word, but he was wise beyond his years. People always waved and said "Hi" to him, but few approached him. They knew he was a handicapped person because he was always in his wheelchair, and you would think people would want to chat and be cheerful around him so he would feel good, but few ever did. It was his face that bothered them.
It was deformed. This was a source of great pain to his mother, who always carried a cloak of guilt about her. His eyes were set very far apart and bulged. Many of the children on their way to school called him "Frog." They"d shout, "Hey, Froggy-Froggy! Hey, Mr. Frog!" and make loud croaking sounds. They never knew the pain it caused him. A few children, however, were far more sensitive and loving and would wave and smile and sometimes come right up to him and say, "Hi, Clive. How are you today?"
This made him feel happy again.
Clive"s mouth was large and hung loosely at the ends. Somehow nature had forgotten to give him all his facial muscles. For all his many emotions, his face only reflected one. To watch him try to smile was painful. His shriveled body was even sadder to observe. This day, Clive sat and watched Helen pa.s.s by. He thought she had to be the most beautiful person in the world. Surely a prettier girl could not exist. He watched her intently, as he had done for the past six years. She walked by and did not look his way, as usual. She always knew he was there. She had sneaked a peak at him once and was so repulsed that she could not bring herself to look again. Yet she knew how he felt about her. She could feel it as she walked by. At first she felt afraid pa.s.sing by. She even tried taking a different route to the station. But after a while she felt silly. So she pa.s.sed his house with her head held high and her eyes straight ahead.
As the years pa.s.sed, she found out about the "cripple" who sat on his porch all day. It was a sad story: Apparently, the father couldn"t cope with a deformed baby, so he deserted the family. The mother was a simple country-girl. She was forced to take in wash and to clean other people"s houses. But she managed to support herself and her deformed child. She was a quiet woman who minded her own business. She rarely spoke. But she could polish silver and furniture like no other person and so she had plenty of work. In time, she was able to afford her own house. They had lived in that house on Mulberry Street for twenty years. It was always clean and neat. On rare occasions, Helen saw the mother shopping. The mother was so thin and gaunt. How did she manage to lift that son of hers?
As Helen pa.s.sed the house that bright fall morning, she wondered if the man could stand up or walk. "Helen! Helen! You look so pretty today!"
The young woman stopped dead in her tracks. Who spoke? She looked around her. No one that she could see was there--except the person on the porch. Was it him? No ... It couldn"t be. She had heard that he knew how to speak, but that he was very difficult to understand. But this voice was pleasant and articulate. Very masculine, too. _Is someone hiding behind a bush? No. I"m being silly_, she thought. _I must have imagined it._ She looked around one more time, yet carefully avoiding looking at the figure on the porch.