A Grandpa's Notebook Part 11

Chug steps forward. He draws himself up to his full height, raises one spaghetti-thin arm to point upward, and speaks with a deep voice.

'It shall be my honor and my pleasure,' he says, 'to show you all the wonders of the Great Super-Rock Midway, and then to bring you back here in time to return to your s.p.a.ce liner. I, Chug-a-lug the Hooten- Nanny, will be your guide.'

He proudly points at the brilliant, many-colored lights of the Super-Rock Midway.

'We're off to the Midway with a fanfare, and in our finery and frippery,' his voice booms like a drum, 'to see a galaxy of games which give everyone gales of galloping giggles. If you wish, you can gulp gallons of grape juice, and gaze and even gawk at glittering gold goblets and gargantuan gemstones. You can also buy gewgaws, gimmicks, gizmos, and glamorous gifts to give to your friends.'

Chug starts across the parking block, taking long steps.

'Hold on, there, Chug,' Stobey calls after him. 'Slow down. Your long legs take such big steps we can't keep up with you.'

Chug turns and looks back. He waits until Stobey, s.l.u.tter, Suzanne and Roger catch up. They form a line across, Chug in the middle, Stobey and Suzanne on one side and s.l.u.tter and Roger on the other. The two children on each side of Chug link arms. Chug's arms are so long that they reach down to where his hands can be held by whoever is next to him. With Chug's booming voice describing what they will see, they head for the gate into the Midway of Super-Rock Playground.

Overhead, the great s.p.a.ce liner from Planet Earth waits silently.

Sir Lumpalot and Kick-Pow.

Our friends, Stobey and s.l.u.tter, Suzanne and Roger and, of course, Chug-a-lug, the Hooten-Nanny are all walking side-by-side across the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p parking block. They are close to the entrance to the Midway. The gate is just ahead. Lights are flas.h.i.+ng. Children and grown-ups, of many sizes and shapes, are moving in all directions.

'Halt! Halt, I say. Stay right where you are!'

The order bursts up at them from right under their feet. Stobey jumps aside. s.l.u.tter leaps straight up. Suzanne and Roger stand still, shocked. Chug doesn't move, and says nothing. He looks down and points.

A hole forms in the ground where they were standing a moment before. At first they don't see the hole because it's as small as a pinhead. It spreads quickly until it's as big as the hole in the center of a doughnut. That's when they see it. The hole grows to the size of a basketball. It stops expanding for a couple of seconds as if to catch its breath; then with a s.h.i.+ver and a shake it's as big as a bulldozer tire. That's when it stops.

A clatter and a rumble wells up like hooves pounding hard-packed earth. The clatter grows louder and closer. The ground shakes. By this time Stobey and s.l.u.tter are holding on to each other. Suzanne and Roger stand close by, confused by what's happening. They feel themselves to be strangers, and don't know what to expect. And Chug? Well, he just stands there.

A cloud of dust suddenly puffs up out from the hole. It forms into a cloud and drifts away. Another cloud of dust rises in which floats a long smooth shaft. The shaft is smooth and rises up out of the hole. The other end is attached to a head. The head is that of a small white animal that looks like a horse.

Another cloud of dust. The animal leaps up out from the hole. It's a unicorn, and on its back is a saddle, and in the saddle is a knight in pure white armor, and in the knight's grip is a lance pointing straight at where our friends are standing.

The front of the knight's helmet is open. In the middle of his face is a pudgy nose, above the nose are fierce eyes, and under the nose a long, bristly, handlebar mustache that ends with three twirling loops on each side.

'Who are you?' he roars. 'What do you want here?'

Stobey steps forward until she is right under the unicorn's head. Looking up, she shakes her finger at the knight.

'Before we go any further,' she says, 'you point that lance somewhere else.'

The knight in white armor stares at Stobey for a five seconds. 'Umm.. ah...,' he says as he lowers the lance until it points at the ground. 'OK. Is that better?'

'Yes, that's better,' Stobey says. 'Now, I'm Stobey and...' pointing... 'this is my friend s.l.u.tter, and these are our new friends from Planet Earth, Suzanne and Roger.'

She points up at Chug. 'Do you know Chug-a-lug?'

'Um.. ah...,' the knight mumbles. 'I know Chug. We're old friends.'

'Ah, so,' Stobey said, 'and who are you?'

'Um ah me? Ah, yes. I'm Sir Lumpalot. This is my unicorn Kick- Pow.'

Kick-Pow nods and paws at the ground. He is pleased to be introduced.

'And where are you from, Sir Lumpalot?' asked s.l.u.tter.

Sir Lumpalot looks at s.l.u.tter and straightens in his saddle. 'I'm Sir Lumpalot, and I come from the Land of Lumps, of course,' he says. 'Where else would I be from?'

'And what do you do in the Land of the Lumps?' Stobey asks.

The knight turns fierce eyes to glare at Stobey.

'I am a knight,' he says, 'and I have a very responsible job. I keep order among all the b.u.mps, Clumps, Stumps, Grumps, and especially Chumps, that live in the Land of Lumps. That's why I'm named Sir Lumpalot.'

'What else do you do?' Stobey asks.

'Well, I also guard the Palace of the King,' Sir Lumpalot drew himself up proudly and harrumphed his mustache into another curl.

'And where would that be?' s.l.u.tter cut into the harrumphing.

'Where? Why, in the Royal Square, that's where.' Another harrumph.

'Tell them how you guard it,' Chug says.

'Well, twice a day I circle the Square.'

Stobey giggles, and so does s.l.u.tter. Suzanne and Roger are politely silent.

'I see. You circle the Square. Well, what do you do if you see someone who doesn't belong?' Stobey asks.

'Chase them around the nearest corner away from there, of course.'

'Isn't it strange for a grown knight and a unicorn to spend their time circling a Square?' Roger is polite with his question.

'That's my job,' says Sir Lumpalot.

'Well, if that's your job,' says s.l.u.tter, 'what are you doing here?'

'Oh, I got a message that all of you were heading this way,' Sir Lumpalot replies with a grin so wide it adds two more loops in his mustache and they curl up so tight that the tips disappear back into the helmet. 'Kick- Pow and I just thought we'd startle you, just for the fun of it. It worked, didn't it?'

Sir Lumpalot laughs and pats Kick-Pow's silky smooth neck. Kick-Pow snorts and paws the ground.

'Hmph. OK, Sir Lumpalot,' says Stobey, 'now that you're here, would you and Kick-Pow like to join us in our visit to the Midway?'

Sir Lumpalot gives a whoop. Kick-Pow bucks. A short one, so as not to jolt his rider.

'We sure would.'

'Then let's go!'

Through the gate they all troop.

The Midway is spread out before them. Bright and blinking lights, twisting and colored streamers, rainbow colored b.a.l.l.s, all flas.h.i.+ng, floating and bouncing hither and yon. s.l.u.tter dashes to a little stall and picks up three darts. One at a time, he aims them carefully at a red balloon on the far wall. He throws the darts. The third dart strikes and breaks the balloon. A robot pops up from behind the counter and hands s.l.u.tter a tiny toy s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p.

'What's this,' s.l.u.tter laughs. 'I don't need a toy s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. I have a real one, all my own.'

He puts the toy s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p into his pocket for his baby brother, and joins his friends again. On they go.

They try different games of skill and take rides in models of pilot's seats on s.p.a.ce racers. Time pa.s.ses quickly.

As they turn a corner out of the gate from one ride, they hear a hollow booming sound followed immediately by a piercing screech. The sounds fill the air. Sir Lumpalot, who is in the lead, reins in Kick-Pow and halts. He raises his hand in warning. Everyone stops where they are. They stare ahead.

They see nothing but flas.h.i.+ng lights, bouncing b.a.l.l.s, and waving ribbons.

The booming gets louder.

'There, over there,' Sir Lumpalot shouts, pointing ahead.

'Where?' Chug-a-lug stares in the direction Sir Lumpalot is pointing.

'The strange sounds are coming from that house,' the knight replies.

They see a dark, gray, gloomy-looking house. It has many windows, all dark except for one, and that one shows green and blue lights flas.h.i.+ng off and on. The heavy booming sound is coming from inside.

'What's in that house?' Stobey asks.

'I don't know,' says Chug. This time he isn't being sly. He really doesn't know.

'Do you, Sir Lumpalot?'

'No, I don't.' Sir Lumpalot's voice lowers to a whisper, a loud whisper so that they can all hear him. 'Neither does anyone else. It's the Strangers House.'

'Let's explore it,' says Stobey.

'Yes, let's do that now,' s.l.u.tter adds.

'Oh, no, not that house.' Chug waves his long arms about.

'Yes,' says Stobey, 'that house.'

'And what's more,' says s.l.u.tter, 'right now.'

'Stobey,' Suzanne says, 'You know we do have to be back at our s.p.a.ce liner soon. Do you think we should explore the Stranger's House, too. Will there be time?'

'We can't disappoint our uncle on Europa,' says Roger. 'We mustn't delay departure of the s.p.a.ce liner.'

's.l.u.tter and I must also leave for our homes soon,' says Stobey. 'Let's do a fast exploration and then head back to the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p parking block.'

Stobey points to Sir Lumpalot, then to Chug-a-lug.

'We'll form a line,' she says. 'Sir Lumpalot, you lead the way. I'll follow. Suzanne and Roger, you walk behind me, and s.l.u.tter, you watch over our friends from Planet Earth. Chug, you bring up the rear. We must all stay together.'

A shadow crosses one of the windows. A creaking sound comes from the house, like that of rusty hinges, followed by still another boom and a screech. A thin wisp of smoke goes down, I mean 'down' the chimney. The exploration of the Stranger's House is starting out mysteriously indeed.

Into the Stranger's House.

As our friends approach the house, they hear more creaking noises from inside. The weird screech is heard again. The wisp of smoke that went down the chimney shoots up out again with a whoosh. The smoke twists into a spiral above the house, straightens, darts away and disappears over a low hill.

'What's going on,' Stobey demands, looking at Chug-a-lug.

'I don't know, Stobey,' Chug replies.

'Well,' s.l.u.tter says, 'we're here and we may as well check this place out. I think we should go ahead.' He turns to Suzanne and Roger. 'What do you think?' he asks.

Suzanne shrugs. Roger nods.

'OK with us,' Suzanne says, 'we're game. Let's go, as long as we get back to our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p in time.'

Stobey opens the door leading into the house, pokes her head in and looks about. She sees a large room with lots of heavy furniture scattered about. The furniture is covered with white sheets, and the floor and corners of the room are filled with s.p.a.ce dust.

Chug leans in over Stobey and his head swivels in all directions, examining the dusty room.

'Kind of weird looking, isn't it?' he says.

The words are hardly out of his mouth when the spine-chilling screech cuts across the room.

Chug jumps with alarm. 'What's that,' he shrieks. He leaps so high his head strikes the top of the doorway and he let out another howl. Rubbing the top of his spaghetti-thin head he scowls and glowers at the top of the doorway.

'What's happening? What's happening?' Sir Lumpalot yells from behind. s.l.u.tter, Suzanne and Roger crowd forward to see better.

'I can't tell yet,' Stobey calls back over her shoulder, pointing. 'The sound came from that corner. Let's see what's there.'

Stobey steps carefully over the sill, and is followed close behind by Chug and the others. They tighten into a knot and, peering in all directions, tiptoe toward the middle of the huge, shadowy dust-laden room.

Without warning, another screech. Our friends grab each other. They look around, then quickly up and down. They can't see anything that might be causing the strange noise.

s.l.u.tter points. There, in the floor, near one of the walls, is a trap door.

'There's a cellar under this house,' he says, 'and that's where the booming and the screeching must be coming from. Do you think we should go down?'

Stobey thinks for a moment. 'Well,' she answers, 'it's the only way to find out who, or what, is making that noise. Also, what about the shadows that crossed the window, and what about that crazy smoke that went down and back up out of the chimney, and then twisted and curled and raced away? I'd like to find out what's going on.'

s.l.u.tter walks to the trap door and lifts it. A staircase stretches down into darkness. Stobey stands beside s.l.u.tter and looks; nothing but darkness.

'Let's go,' Stobey starts down the narrow stairway.

s.l.u.tter is close behind her, followed by Chug, Suzanne and Roger, and at the end Sir Lumpalot on Kick-Pow. Being a unicorn, Kick-Pow has no trouble at all going up and down stairways. He does have to be careful, though, so that his horn doesn't sc.r.a.pe the walls or b.u.mp into the overhead.

The stairway takes one turn and then another. The turns explain why Stobey and s.l.u.tter couldn't see much from the top. At the bottom is a small square s.p.a.ce lighted by a tiny lamp. Leading off from the s.p.a.ce is an opening to a narrow pa.s.sageway.