by W. D. Newman
CHAPTER 2
AN OVERNIGHT TRIP
The chickens scampered out of the way as Louise pulled her old Galaxy under the shade of the magnolia tree in the side yard. Charles and Carol had gone into town to eat lunch at the Siesta Grill and would not be back for at least an hour. George, who was anxious to begin his spring plowing, needed some new points for his cultivator. He left earlier for Bingham’s Tractor Supply in Seneca and would not be back for several hours. They had been hoping to sneak out earlier, but this was the very first chance they had to enter the bamboo unnoticed. Ben got the cooler off the back seat and Casey grabbed the three large white paper bags off the front seat.
“Boy, they are gonna be surprised,” said Ben.
“I don’t know,” said Louise. “You may be starting something you’ll regret. You know how Hob, Gob, and Nob are.”
“Yeah, but I can’t wait to see their faces.”
“Do you think we have enough for Amos,” asked Casey.
“Dear, it’s not Amos I’m worried about. Come, let’s hurry up and get there before this stuff gets cold.”
“Oh, wait! Let me grab the staff!” Ben exclaimed. He set the cooler down and ran into the house. A moment later, he came bounding down the steps with a gnarled and twisted stick that was longer than he was tall. The stick was the staff of Merlin, the famous wizard who had created the magical trees that acted as portals, connecting Earth and Faerie to Camelot. The staff came into Ben’s possession over the Christmas holidays. Venus, one of the twelve immortals, repaired the staff after Hob had broken it and then gave it to Ben. Since a big stick with a large green jewel fastened on the end would be very difficult to conceal at home, Louise wrapped it and “gave” it to Ben as “hiking staff” for a Christmas present. No one ever suspected that the green jewel on the end of the staff was a real emerald. Marcus, the elfin ruler known to all as The Keeper, had also placed an enchantment on the staff. He bound a spell within the emerald, or spell catcher as they were called in Camelot, which would allow Ben to teleport from anywhere, straight to Castle Twilight.
Ben gave the staff to Louise and then picked up the cooler. Getting through the bamboo was already difficult. Getting through the bamboo with a cooler was almost impossible, but they finally made it. The Merlin tree hadn’t changed any; it still looked old, twisted, and very much dead. Casey followed her Grandma through the opening in the tree and Ben watched in amazement as they disappeared into thin air. He was so excited that he hurried through the tree with the cooler and ran straight into Casey, who was standing in front of the opening on the other side. Casey was excited too and no cross words were exchanged between them. Louise smiled. It was going to be a nice, enjoyable visit.
Unfortunately, they once more had a difficult time getting through the bamboo with the cooler. Louise told them they were not even going to attempt to bring the cooler back; they’d just let Amos keep it. When they were finally out of the bamboo, Ben sat the cooler down and shaded his eyes from the bright noon time sunshine. The golden meadow was tinged with new green growth and birds were busy flying about, gathering grasses with which to build their nests. A cool breeze brushed the tops of the grasses and sent ripples across the prairie, causing it to look more like a vast expanse of water rather than earth. A pathway wound up the knoll in front of them and disappeared into the tall pines that crowned the hill top. Just inside those pines was where Amos lived and Hob, Gob, and Nob were there visiting too!
“Come on,” said Ben. “Let’s hurry and get there!”
“Race you!” Casey challenged.
“Yeah, like that would be fair. I’m carrying the cooler and you’re only carrying three small paper bags.”
“These bags are huge,” Casey countered.
“Well, they’re not heavy,” Ben pointed out. “I’ll race you on the way back though.”
“Deal!”
Since his last visit here, Ben had taken an interest in running and was actually becoming quite good at it. Casey was still a little faster, but when she won races now, it was only by a slight margin. When they entered the pines at the top of the hill, they spied Amos and the three dwarves in the small yard in front of the cabin. Dan was harnessed and hooked to a long buckboard wagon. Amos was going over all of the fittings and the three dwarves were busy checking the wagon and loading it down with packs and barrels.
“Look at the barn!” Casey exclaimed. “It’s beautiful!”
“Yes, the dwarves are fine craftsman of stone and wood too,” Louise agreed. “They have the most comfortable lodging above the barn. It’s even nicer than Amos’s cabin.”
“I can’t wait to see it.”
“I’m sure the dwarves can’t wait to show it to you,” Louise smiled.
“HELLOOOOO-OOOOO!” Ben hollered as he started down the path to the cabin.
Amos turned and waved both arms over his head. Hob, Gob, and Nob put aside whatever they were doing with the wagon and lined up beside Amos to greet their dear friends Louise and Casey, and their hero Ben. Ever since Ben had defeated the witch, there was no end to the admiration the three dwarves had for him. And although he was not directly responsible for slaying Zoltan, the evil black dragon from Crag, he had stood and faced the dragon alone and that, in the eyes of dwarves who feared nothing more than dragons, made Ben larger than life.
Ben set the cooler down and Casey set the paper bags on top of it. They both hugged Amos at the same time and then greeted Hob, Gob, and Nob. After all the hugs, bows, handshakes and “at your services” were exchanged, Hob pointed at the green Coleman ice chest with the three white paper bags on top of it.
“What’s that?”
“That,” said Ben, “is some of the best food and drink you will ever taste.”
“Oh really,” said Nob. “What is it?”
“It does smell strangely delicious,” Gob noted.
“And it is mealtime too,” Hob added. “Can we eat now?”
“Absolutely,” said Louise. “We need to eat while it is still warm. Let’s go in and sit at the table.”
The dwarves hurried inside the cabin and lined up across the bench on one side, while Amos sat on the other side with Louise and Casey. Ben stood at the end of the table with the cooler and paper bags.
“Do we need plates, cups, and utensils?” asked Amos.
“Nope,” Ben answered, opening the cooler first. Everything we’ve brought, you can eat with your hands and the drinks are already in containers. He pulled ice cold cans of Coke from the cooler and showed everyone how to open the cans with the pull tabs on top.
“It fizzles!” said Gob. “What manner of drink is this?”
“It’s called a soda,” said Casey. “They are delicious.”
Amos and the three dwarves cautiously sipped from the cans.
“Hey!” Hob cried. “This is pretty good!”
“It tickles my nose,” said Nob, “but the flavor is like nothing I’ve ever tasted.
“Wait to you see what he has in the bags,” said Louise.
Ben opened the bags. The first bag had eleven Big Macs inside of it. He gave Amos and each of the dwarfs two Big Macs, leaving one for him, Casey, and Louise. The second bag had seven large, super-sized French fries in it; one apiece for everyone. In the bottom of the bag were dozens of ketchup packets. Ben dumped these onto the middle of the table while the dwarves watched with keen interest. The third bag had fourteen hot apple pies. The pies were two for one dollar, so they went ahead and bought two for everyone.
“My mouth is watering!” said Nob. “What is this food called?”
“All of this food comes from a place called McDonalds,” said Ben. “These are hamburgers and they are called Big Macs. Unwrap them like this and use the paper for your plate.
“What are those?” asked Gob, pointing at the fries.
“This,” said Ben, picking up one of the fries, “is called a French fry. They are made from potatoes. And this is
a packet of ketchup. It’s made from tomatoes. Open the packets like this and squirt it on your paper beside you Big Mac. Go ahead and open several packets.”
Everyone watched Ben and then opened several ketchup packets and squirted them onto the paper wrapper in front of them.
“Now what?” asked Hob.
“Take a French fry, dip it in the ketchup, and eat it!” Casey laughed.
“Oh my,” said Hob. “Oh my, oh my, oh my. This is good! This is really good!”
“Wait until you taste your Big Macs,” said Louise, with a smile.
“And your apple pies,” Casey added.
The lunch was a huge success and Amos and the dwarves all agreed it was the tastiest food they had ever eaten. The dwarves were especially fond of the sodas and made Louise promise to bring more the next time she came back. After eating, Ben and Casey went out to tour the barn. The bottom floor of the barn had a tack room, a feed room, a stall, and a wide open area to store the hay gathered in from the prairie. The second floor of the barn was where the dwarves stayed when they were visiting with Amos. You had to climb a ladder through a trap door in the floor to get there, but once inside you would never know you were in a barn. The area was one large room. On one side there were six beds lined up against the wall in a neat row. To the right of each bed sat a small nightstand with a tiny oil lamp on top and at the foot of each bed was a sturdy trunk.
“How come there are six beds?” Casey asked.
“We have one for you, one for Ben, and one for Louise,” Hob replied. “You are welcome to stay here anytime, but since we spend a good deal of time here ourselves; we decided that it would be best if each of you had your own bed.”
Against the back wall of the barn was a huge fireplace and in front of the fireplace were seven rocking chairs. One of the chairs was huge.
“Let me guess,” said Ben, pointing at the oversized rocker. “Amos?”
“Yes,” Hob nodded, “although he doesn’t come up here often. We didn’t make the trap door as large as we should have.”
“This is a really cool place, guys, but how do you get the firewood up here? You don’t bring that up the ladder, do you?”
“Ha!” said Nob. “There’s a secret door on this rear wall. See if you can find it.”
“I think I’ll pass,” said Ben. “The last time I tried to figure out one of your so called secrets it almost made me sick.”
“Oh yeah! The round room,” Gob laughed. “Well, there’s nothing like that here; watch.” The dwarf walked over and pushed on one of the small stones above the mantle. A door in the wall to the right of the fireplace popped open, revealing an elevator suspended from large beams protruding from the rear of the barn.
“Remember the elevators in the old slave mines? They are quite handy!”
“Awesome,” said Ben. “Can we ride it?”
“Maybe when we get back,” Hob answered. “We were hoping you would get here earlier this morning and then we could have left right after breakfast.”
“Where are you guys going,” asked Casey.
“We are going to our cabin,” said Nob, “and you are going with us. That’s why we are hitching up the wagon and loading it with some supplies. We have a surprise back at our cabin for you guys.”
“Does Grandma know this?”
“She probably does by now. I’m sure Amos has told her. As a matter of fact, let’s get our cloaks and bedrolls and get back down there. Dan is hitched and ready to go, I’m certain.”
“We didn’t bring anything for an overnight trip.”
“We’ve got all of that taken care of,” said Hob. “Look at the trunks at the end of the beds. Your names are on the lids and inside of them are all kinds of goodies.”
“What kind of goodies?” Ben asked.
“Things you might need whenever you are staying here. Grab the cloak and bedroll. This is a short trip and that’s all we’ll need. Be sure to grab Louise’s too.”
An hour later, they were rolling across the meadows. Dan was in fine spirits and seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be out stretching his powerful muscles. Amos guided the big draft horse through the tall prairie grasses and conversed quietly with Louise, who sat up front with him, while Ben and Casey sat in the back of the wagon with the three Dwarves. With all of the creaking and squeaking coming from the buckboard, Amos and Louise could not hear what the children and dwarves were talking about behind them, but they soon found out.
Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony
He stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni
Yankee Doodle, keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and the step
and with the girls be handy!
“Oh no!” Amos cried, handing the reins to Louise and turning around to speak directly to Ben and Casey. “Please do not teach those dwarves any new songs. Do you have any idea how long I have had to listen to them singing Jingle Bells?”
Ben and Casey tried not to laugh. They tried really hard to keep a straight face, because Amos was so serious, but Hob burst out with the second verse and Gob and Nob joined in, singing even louder than before.
Father and I went down to camp
Along with Captain Gooding
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.
Yankee Doodle, keep it up…
Amos took the reins from Louise. “How many verses are in that song?”
“Actually, there are quite a few verses, but I doubt the kids know them all.”
“Oh well, it started out as a nice ride.”
*****