The Witch looked at her prisoner. "What is this machine up to, boy? And you"d best not lie to me again!"
"Oh, no!" replied Graham. "I have learned my lesson, to be sure. I wouldn"t think of telling another lie."
"Then what is this clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk babbling about?" she sneered.
"I"m truly relishing your magnificent beauty!" repeated Telly.
"My friend is simply admiring your beauty, like he said," answered Graham, not sure why Telly was acting this way, but deciding it would be best to play along. "I think he is quite smitten with you!"
"Really?" said the Witch. "Tell me more."
"You are truly a vision of loveliness!" charmed Telly in a most dramatic manner. "My heartstrings are all going ZING!"
"They are?" the Witch said, somewhat perplexed. "Maybe the spell worked after all. I guess it was a delayed reaction. Give me a mirror! I want to see how I look!"
"Er... You don"t want to do that," said Graham. "You... er... You are so gorgeous that no mirror could possibly capture your true image."
"That"s altogether silly and utterly foolish, young man! Now that I am pretty, I want to look upon myself." The Witch took her foot off his chest and let him stand up. "Now fetch me a mirror, or I will turn mean!"
"Such beauty could never do harm to anyone," said Telly. "You are only meant to be worshipped!"
"Thank you," the Witch said. Then, realizing that she had actually said something polite, she added, "You bizarre jumble of soup cans and gigabytes."
She saw that Graham had made no move to obtain a mirror, so she pushed him over again. "Okay, slime-twirp. I"ll get my own mirror!" She switched off Telly"s picture in order to catch her reflection in the blank screen. Telly, thinking quickly, distracted her for a moment and switched the screen back on while at the same time calling up an image of Eva Gabor from his archives.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
When Graham saw what had happened, he held his teeth tightly together and clenched his fists in anxiety. How would the crone react?
"My ... My ... My goodness!" she said. "I really am something, aren"t I?" She smiled a hideous grin. "Just looky there! I am beautiful!"
Graham"s anxiety quickly subsided. Telly"s clever ploy had worked. "You are a vision of loveliness," said the boy.
"I am, aren"t I? I"m gorgeous!" She then began to dance and flitted around like a young girl as she broke into a rendering of a song from the musical play _West Side Story_:
"_I feel pretty ... Oh so pretty I feel pretty and witty and gay And I pity Any girl who isn"t me today I feel charming Oh so charming It"s alarming how charming I feel And so pretty That I hardly can believe I"m real!_"
After she finished the song, she closed her eyes in sheer ecstasy and heaved a long, contented sigh. She stood there like that for the longest time. Graham and Telly quickly seized the moment and tiptoed behind a hedgerow and, as soon as they were out of earshot, they ran like the wind as far as they could go. As soon as they felt they were safe, they collapsed in a heap in uncontrollable laughter.
CHAPTER TEN:
A MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
It had been quite some time since escaping from the Witch again, and the two friends walked along the road lost in thought. Well, that is to say, Graham was lost in thought, whereas Telly was absent-mindedly playing an old commercial:
_Double your pleasure, double your fun, Get double ev"rything rolled into one, Oh, double your pleasure, double your fun, with double good, double good, Double-mint gum_.
Suddenly, the pair came across a sign at the side of the road which read:
_OZ INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT DEPARTURES UPPER LEVEL ARRIVALS LOWER LEVEL FOLLOW THE BLUE SIGNS FOR THE UPPER LEVEL FOLLOW THE RED SIGNS FOR THE LOWER LEVEL_
"Telly!" cried Graham. "Telly! I can"t believe it! An airport in Oz? Why didn"t you tell me? Now I can go home. All I have to do is buy a ticket.
They can call my dad and get his credit card number."
"Now wait a minute!" Telly exclaimed. "Not so fast, my young friend.
There is no airport in Oz. Never was, and never will be. It"s just not possible for airplanes to fly here from anywhere. Queen Ozma herself saw to that after a certain incident with a little girl and a pet monkey.
No, this cannot be for real. Must be some kind of trick."
Graham was crestfallen. He was just not prepared to accept such a dismal opinion. "Oh, no! I"m sure you"re mistaken. They wouldn"t have a sign like that if there was no airport there."
"Well, I hate to say I told you so. But you"ll see when we get there that there"s nothing there," Telly said emphatically. "At least, not an airport ..." He suddenly stopped in his tracks. "I can"t believe what I"m seeing!" he shouted incredulously as the sight of a huge airport (the size of L.A. International) loomed up ahead.
"SEE! I told you so!" shouted Graham with obvious delight as he ran forward. "Home sweet home, here I come!"
"Not so fast!" warned Telly. "Not so fast! It has to be a trick. Maybe the Wicked Witch has created an illusion and ... and it"s really her castle...."
But Graham was already out of earshot. Before him loomed a giant 747 glistening in the sun, its huge jet engines screaming with impatience for full power to be applied, and the pa.s.senger door was open at the top of the stairs with a smiling flight attendant beckoning Graham aboard.
"Hurry up!" she called. "We"re ready to take off, and you"re running late."
Graham scurried up the stairs as fast as his little legs would carry him.... The flight attendant checked his name off a list, and the door closed quickly, leaving Graham with no time to say goodbye to Telly, who was at that moment looking up at the plane forlornly as it taxied forward toward the runway. Meanwhile, Graham was being bundled into his seat and buckled into his seatbelt by the pretty flight attendant. It was only then that he remembered that he had not purchased a ticket, nor had he had a chance to say goodbye to Telly. He was seated alone by the window and quickly looked out to see if he could catch a glimpse of his friend. But it was too late; the plane was already at the end of the runway and several feet into the air with the countryside whizzing past and getting smaller and smaller as the plane quickly ascended.
The captain"s voice came over the intercom loud and clear. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We have departed Oz International Airport and will be cruising at twenty thousand feet. We should be arriving at our destination in about three hours. You may remove your seatbelts and make yourselves comfortable.
Refreshments will be served shortly, and you may watch our in-flight movie if you wish."
Graham looked around to see who else was sharing his flight. He was astonished to see that there were no other pa.s.sengers at all. Now he began to get frightened. Why would a great big airplane take off with no pa.s.sengers except himself? And who was that captain addressing when he said "ladies and gentlemen"? He was beginning to feel that he had been caught up in an episode of Telly"s _Twilight Zone_. Just then, he caught a glimpse of a portly gentleman approaching him from the front of the plane. He a.s.sumed there was another pa.s.senger after all, one who must have been sitting in the front seat, and too low for his head to be visible. However, as the gentleman approached closer to where Graham was seated, the boy became even more perplexed. The gentleman in question was none other than William Shakespeare! Oh, there was no mistaking such an historical figure. Graham had seen paintings and drawings of him many times. And his clothes and features were an exact replica of those portrayals. Not only that, but he was carrying a great big book ent.i.tled _The Complete Works of William Shakespeare_. Suddenly Graham flushed with embarra.s.sment. How could he think for one moment that this was William Shakespeare? The fellow was obviously an actor, perhaps on his way home from making a movie and so late for his flight that he did not have time to change his clothes or remove his makeup. At that moment the gentleman spoke ... "Good day, my dear fellow. My name is William Shakespeare. Do you mind if I sit here? The plane"s rather crowded and I see that you have the whole aisle to yourself."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
"Okay! That"s it," thought Graham. "The guy"s a definite nut case. Must have escaped from the looney bin and somehow got to Oz. The plane"s crowded indeed! He and I are the only pa.s.sengers! Every single seat is empty." However, "Mr. Shakespeare" seated himself next to Graham without waiting for a reply. "I know that you don"t believe I"m who I say I am,"
he said. "But I can a.s.sure you, I am he who is often referred to as The Bard of Avon. All I"d like you to do is to tell earth"s disbelievers who don"t accept that I wrote my works that I did indeed write them."
Without waiting for Graham to respond, he then proceeded to break into verse in a gentle, melodic voice:
"_I am he who wrote my verse, My dramas, sonnets, quibbles, rhyme, I"m Shakespeare still--dear England"s Bard-- And shall ever be, throughout time.
I wrote, "tis true, some sonnets, plays, To make a living, pa.s.s the time In merriment or jest and glee-- I turned out many a ribaled rhyme.
To set the world right, And make snivelers agree As to who wrote Shakespeare, If "twere BACON or He,
Or Marlowe or Pitt, Or scribes ages old, I say to them all-- The truth is now told.
When a man among kings (I was knighted by one) Where a handle or wheel makes a favorite son Distinguished through time for something he"s done, For a knight in his day must his laurels have won.
With a band of king"s players by Bill Shakespeare led, I played many roles, e"en recalled the dead To piece out my plot or to string out my rhyme, Nor considered it theft, more an honor that time, To borrow a plot for a queen or a king, And watch their amuse as my poor muse would sing.
So each time I needed a plot or a play I searched o"er the tomes where musty plots lay Bulging out with ideas from craniums dust, Whose shades may have helped as I now know and trust.