Grum!

by Robyn Hill

  One of the boys said, "Good work ninnies, now you can have one peanut and a glass of water and then its off to the slugs with ya."

  Jordan began to speak, "One peanut, that is it?! We have worked all day and that is all we get to eat?!"

  Although I was starving, I was more concerned about sleeping with the slugs.

  "You complainin?" asked one of the boys, "Cuz if you is complainin, you can go to bed with no supper at all!"

  Jordan looked exhausted. "No", she said weakly, "One peanut is just fine."

  When we finished one peanut each and drank a small glass of water, the boys grabbed us by the shoulders and began to lead us to the wooden shack where the slugs lived.

  "Please, I begged, “this is a huge mistake, please don't make us go in there."

  "You just zip yer lip ninny girl, you two should be happy Gertie is even givin you a place to rest!"

  With that, the two boys shoved us into the room.

  As we fell forward, I grabbed a hold of Jordan to prevent her from falling on top of the large wet slugs.

  "Ooh this is absolutely disgusting!" she cried "How did this happen to us? All we did was chewed on a piece of stupid gum!"

  There was a shuffle from a dark corner of the room and I could see a crumpled figure writhe about in the moonlight.

  "What is that?" Jordan screamed.

  I cautiously inched forward toward the strange shadow,

  "Whatever you are, reveal yourself!" I shouted over to the moving figure.

  The figure let out a small moan, "Gum? You mentioned gum?" the figure asked.

  It was a man's voice and as I moved closer toward him, I noticed he was frail and withered and sat in the corner wearing an old tattered business suit.

  "What about the gum?" I asked the man.

  "Gum is what led me here." he spoke softly with exhaustion in his voice.

  "I don't understand," I said to the man, "how is it you are here because of gum too?"

  The man peered out from a small beam of moonlight, "I once was a very happy successful business man. I owned an amazing gum factory and was working on a new revolutionary gum. I called it Grum because of the secret "rare" ingredient I added. Unfortunately, my invention turned out to be my demise. The rare ingredients I put in it mixed with the d.n.a. from my saliva, somehow transferred me here to this place."

  He let out a sigh, "When I was captured, I was forced to dig during the day, and sleep with the slugs at night and have been here for what seems a very long time.”

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Sir, I think we chewed the same messed up gum you did!"

  I crouched closer towards him, "You see, my aunt and Jordan's grandfather bought an old broken down gum factory where the owner had disappeared! We also ate from a package of gum that had the name 'Grum' on the label!"

  The man was hunched over and slowly looked at us with a gleam of hope in his eyes for the first time.

  "Do you still have the gum?" he asked.

  I hadn't even thought about the gum since the whole nightmare began. I slowly reached into my pocket and wrapped my fingers around what appeared to be an open pack of gum with exactly three pieces left. I took the shiny pack of gum out of my pocket and all three of us stared at it in the light of the moon.

  Moments later, the door swung open and the two boys barged forward.

  "You stupid ninnies, we heard everything, now you hand over that there magical gum!"

  Jordan stood up to defend us by kicking at the boys and hollered, "No, you can't take it, it is our only hope to return home!"

  The two dirty boys looked at each other then suddenly one of them lunged toward me and grabbed the gum from my hand. He tossed it over to the other boy who fumbled and dropped it on the back of a giant slug. Another slug wiggled forward and was about to eat it up when suddenly it was snatched up again by the boys. The two hurried out the door and locked it leaving us behind in the room of slugs.

  "I am so dreadfully sorry," the man said, "Do try and get some rest and we will come up with a plan in the morning. Now that you girls are here, we can work together to escape this place.

  He looked around the room, “As for the slugs, well they may not be pretty to look at but they will not harm you. Just curl up and you will hardly notice they are here."

  I looked at Jordan and in a tired voice I said, "We really don't have a choice and we are going to need our rest if we are going to get out of here."

  I turned toward the wall, grabbed my knees in the fetal position, and closed my eyes hoping to catch a bit of sleep.

  Chapter 4

 

  I awoke to the sun shining through the barred windows. I glanced over and noticed the man was awake and Jordan was still sound asleep, snoring against the wall. The slugs had pretty much kept to themselves all night and thankfully, I was able to get some rest.

  "What is your name, sir?" I asked the man who was rubbing his eyes.

  "My name is Mr. Dooley. I know this is an awful experience for you and your friend but I must admit I am very happy to meet you and quite grateful you and your friend are here."

  I pushed a slug out of the way with my tennis shoe. "How do you suppose we should get out of here? And even if we do, those awful boys have the Grum now."

  Mr. Dooley rubbed his chin, "I am not sure yet, but I know, with the three of us, we can escape this place. When we do, we will have to find those boys."

  Just then, Jordan sat up and rubbed her eyes. "I think I have an idea that might work."

  "Well, what is it Jordan, what is your idea?" I asked her.

  She looked thoughtfully at Mr. Dooley and me and said, "We all know how important it is to Gertie that she is the first to dig a tunnel to China. Well, what if one of us, while digging in the hole, acts like we have found something, while the other two push her down and bury her inside of the hole?!"

  Mr. Dooley thought for a moment, "That is as good an idea as any," he said, "Now we will just have to wait."

  After waiting for about an hour, we heard someone fumbling to open the door with a loud, clanking key.

  Gertie burst through the door, "What have you done with my boys?" she screamed while pointing at us with a dried, pointed, claw of a nail.

  "We have done nothing, ma'am, they stole something from us and have probably ran away!" Jordan told the woman.

  "Lies, more lies from you rotten brats!" Gertie screamed.

  "Now all three of you will work twice as hard today and will not stop until dusk!" She handed us our shovels and we walked out towards the giant hole.

  While Gertie was distracted I whispered, "Mr. Dooley, you are probably the strongest, so perhaps you and Jordan should get ready to push Gertie down the hole while I pretend to find something."

  Mr. Dooley agreed.

  I pretended to dig for a few moments more than hollered at the top of my lungs, "I can't believe it, Gertie was right, I think I may have just hit a tunnel which leads to China!"

  Gertie came running up from behind Jordan and Mr. Dooley, "Outta my way, fools, I knew there was a way, I knew there was a way!"

  Mr. Dooley grabbed at Gertie and went to push her into the hole. Gertie began to struggle. Suddenly, she grabbed a shovel, and smacked Mr. Dooley in the head. Mr. Dooley's eyes rolled back and he landed with a thud out side of the hole.

  "Outta my way brat," Gertie shouted to Jordan, "Or you'll get clobbered next!"

  Gertie turned to face me, "And as for you ninny, say goodbye forever!"

  With that, Gertie began shoveling mounds and mounds of dirt on top of me. Soon I was covered with dirt and couldn't move an inch.

  I had to lay perfectly still in the earth. If I moved at all, dirt would go into my mouth and nose. I did have a small breathing hole but was afraid if I shifted, it would collapse. I lay there thinking about my life. What would Dad do now if both Mom and me w
ere gone? It didn't seem fair that I would die at such a young age. I began to slow my breathing and decided it would be better to go in a calm manner rather than in a state of panic. Just as I started to doze off, I felt a sharp pain in my thigh.

  "Oh no!," I thought,

  "Gertie is back to finish me off!"

  I started kicking as hard as I could and was able to move some dirt. Seconds later, my arms were thrashing about as I tried to protect myself from Gertie's awful wrath.

  "Carol, Carol, stop moving about!" Jordan stared down at me. "It is me, Jordan, I am here to get you out of this awful hole!"

  I stood up and brushed the soil and grime from my clothes.

  "What has happened? Where is Gertie? Where is Mr. Dooley?"

  Jordan grabbed my hand and quickly led me to the wooden slug shack where Mr. Dooley stood at the door with a smile on his face and a key in his hand.

  "After Gertie hit Mr. Dooley over the head, she started to drag me over to throw me back in with the slugs," Jordan told me.

  "But luckily, Mr. Dooley came to, came up behind her, and shoved her inside with her beloved slugs!" Jordan smiled a triumphant smile.

  "Now she is locked in there and we have the key!"

  I put my ear up to the door and listened closely.

  "Let me out of here you rotten, ungracious little ninnies! You will be sorry!" I heard Gertie yell.

  Jordan, Mr. Dooley and I walked away from the shed. We needed to plan what we were going to do next.

  Behind the shed, was a small pebbled path that meandered off into a massive desert area. It was all desert as far as the eye could see.

  "Well, I have no idea where we are, and don't have any idea where we are going" I admitted to Mr. Dooley and Jordan.

  Mr. Dooley looked at both Jordan and me,

  "Our only hope is to find those boys and it looks like this is the only available path that I can see, so, all we can do is journey forward and hope to somehow find them."

  Before we left, we looked around a bit and found an old run down house. It was covered with spider webs and we believed it to be Gertie's. We walked inside and opened a few dusted cupboards. We found some stale crackers, a cracked jar full of peanuts and two carrying packs. There was no running water to be found anywhere. Mr. Dooley filled the packs with the supplies and we decided it was time to head up the trail in hopes of finding the two boys.

  Chapter 5

  Following the trail wasn't too difficult at first. For a couple of hours we talked about the Grum, and how Mr. Dooley invented it. Mr. Dooley explained that it was quite by accident that he invented Grum. He had been cleaning up the shop and accidentally dangled a dustpan with rubbish from the floor over top of his usual gum recipe. A small amount of it fell in. The recipe suddenly seemed to react. It made a slight hissing sound. He discovered that there was the smallest petal of rhododendron in the dustpan, and it was this that made the Grum and its peculiar powers.

  After a while the conversation slowed as we all became very thirsty on the dusty trail. Looking around, there seemed to be nothing but desert. There were cacti, lizards and flowers with stripes and zigzags unlike any I had ever seen before, but no water.

  "I sure am thirsty," Jordan said, "Do you suppose those cactuses have any water like they do in the movies?"

  Mr. Dooley headed toward a cactus and said, "It's cacti, and the only way to find out is to break the top off one and look inside."

  Mr. Dooley carefully reached over and uprooted a cactus. He slowly twisted the top off of it, he did this very gently as to not cut his hands on the quills. He showed us the contents of the cactus. It had liquid in it but instead of water, it was a cool pink liquid.

  "Do you suppose it is ok?" I asked Mr. Dooley?

  "To be honest, I don't know, but I would be willing to take the first drink."

  Mr. Dooley slowly brought the upper cactus half to his lips and drank some of the strange cactus juice. "It seems to be ok," Mr. Dooley licked his lips, "It even has a slightly sweet taste to it."

  Jordan grabbed the cactus out of Mr. Dooley's hands, "Hand it over, I am dying of thirst!" Jordan took a huge gulp from the cactus.

  Just moments later, Mr. Dooley suddenly fell to the ground. He clutched his stomach, and began laughing uncontrollably. "You have such funny ears, Carol!" He squeaked through fits of giggles and pointed to my head.

  I thought this was very strange behavior and not at all like Mr. Dooley. A moment later, Jordan looked at me and then, she too, fell to the ground. She began rolling from side to side, laughing and pointing at my head.

  "Your ears ARE so, so, so, funny!" she screamed while shaking so hard with laughter that tears began streaming from her eyes.

  Jordan looked at Mr. Dooley, "You have a strange dose, Mr. Nooley!" Mr. Dooley continued laughing so hard that I could barely make out what he was saying.

  "Jordan just said I, Mr. Nooley, have a strange dose!"

  I stood and stared at the two of them rolling around like a couple hyenas on the desert earth. I grabbed the cactus and poked my finger into the liquid. It tasted ok but quite obviously, it was not. Whatever was in the cactus had put both Mr. Dooley and Jordan into a laughing frenzy.

  I looked at the two of them and put on my most serious face.

  "Alright you two, I am not going to be able to drink the cactus right now since I need to be able to watch the both of you! Get up, we don't have time to piddle around. I will be right behind you."

  Jordan looked at me with a strange smirk on her face, "Did you hear her, Mr. Nooley? Carol just said... she was a behind!" Jordan shrieked to Mr. Dooley, and slapped his shoulder like an old war buddy.

  "Oh dear me," Mr. Dooley said as he wiped his watering eyes with his dirty shirt sleeve. "She said piddle too!"

  With that the two of them fell onto the ground into a helpless pile of shaking skin and bones. I gave them both disgusted looks, "I guess I shall have to build a fire for the time being since you two are in no shape to walk anywhere. I will roast up some of those peanuts."

  Jordan grinned at me "Yes, yes, build a fire," she shouted in between laughs. "We will help you because we... have... gas!" With that, she belched very loudly and they both fell down again, shuttering with fits of more hysterics.

  We ate some of the cooked peanuts and after a while the two began to settle down and the giggling subsided.

  "So, do you two kindergartners feel you can collect yourselves and move forward now?" I asked them.

  Mr. Dooley looked at me with apology in his eyes, "I am not sure what was in that cactus, but it certainly caused us to break into fits of laughter. We shall have to be much more careful about what we eat and drink, after all, we really have no idea where we are."

  Jordan looked over at me "Gosh, sorry Carol, I had no idea!"

  I could tell they were both sorry and ready to move on. "It's ok, it's not your fault. Let's get going. Before we go, fill up a baggie with that laughing liquid and tie a knot in it. You never know, maybe we can use it to our advantage."

  We gathered our supplies, put out the fire, and started up the path.

  Chapter 6

  We walked further up the hot, sandy trail and soon the heat was unbearable. I stopped, "We have to find a shaded area to rest or we are going to become too exhausted to move any further." I looked at Mr. Dooley and Jordan, and shrugged my shoulders, "Any suggestions?"

  Jordan covered her eyes, using her hand as a sun shield, and looked across the desert. "There" she pointed.

  We looked over to where she was pointing and there appeared to be a dark hole within the granite rock wall. We walked towards it and Mr. Dooley turned to face us,

  "It looks like a cave. We will go inside and rest for a bit. We can at least find relief from this blazing sun.”

  We cautiously entered the cave and began looking around. It appeared to be empty and was quite cool and roomy.

>   Jordan took off her pack and looked at the both of us, "We just must find food and water! We simply cannot survive on only peanuts and crackers and nothing to drink! I don't know how much more of this I can take!"

  Jordan began sobbing so I reached over and gave her a hug.

  "We'll be alright Jordan, now that we have found this cave, we can search around a bit for some food."

  "Food? did I hear someone mention they needed food?" A sweet little old lady dressed in an apron stepped out from behind a large boulder.

  Jordan gave a startled jump but then walked over to the lady, "You have food? We are starving! We would love to eat if you could only spare us something."

  The lady threw up her arms and spoke in a kind voice, "Well yes, come in, come in and have a seat, I am just cooking up some dinner. You kids sit down and I will bring you some plates."

  Mr. Dooley and Jordan looked around for someplace to sit. We walked behind the boulder and saw a clean tidy room that had been lived in. There were no chairs so we decided to clear a spot on the cave floor.

  "We just can't thank you enough" Mr. Dooley told her, "We have been walking for hours trying to find two young thieves and we haven't had a thing to eat."

  The little old lady smiled at us, "Oh dear, well it is a good thing you came here because I have just cooked up a delicious roast with red potatoes and baby carrots and it is almost ready!"

  The kind woman handed us all napkins and plates and went over to what looked to be a stove of sorts. It was made with large rocks and a small fire crackled inside of it. She grabbed a large copper kettle from on top of one of the rocks and looked inside.

  "Mmmm..." she inhaled, "Nothing like the scent of a warm home cooked meal." Her eyes lit up as she brought the kettle towards us. "Now don't be shy, there is more than enough to fill yourselves up."

  She put a large soup ladle into the pot. "Put out your plates, quickly now, before the roast gets cold."

  She then began ladling out the contents of the kettle onto our plates. The three of us stared as she scooped a large amount of rocks and sticks onto each of our plates.