Starring Wicked Queen Squippache, Snow Waz, and the 7 Dweebs.  And, introducing for the first time in decades, the return of  Mirror! Mirror! On the Wall (as himself).

Featuring Sleazy, Slumpy, Dumb (as a rock) Doc, Dumber, Gumpy (who loves shrimp), Bonehead, and Dumpy - also known as the Seven Dweebs.

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CHAPTER NINE

Twinkle was squeezing her head through the carriage's slightly rolled down window next to Snow Waz.  She came through headfirst because, of course, she couldn't have gotten her wings through first.  Her flimsy wings would have snapped off if she had tried tried using the wings as leverage.  Plus, coming through headfirst she could keep her eye on her intended - the fly.

When Snow had been captured, Twinkle followed the carriage, finally catching up with it and hanging on desperately to the door handle.  She inched her way up to the crack in the window.  Her original intentions were to make it back to Snow's cheek because she knew what her job was - Snow would definitely lose her twinkle again if they locked her up in the castle.  

No butterflies were allowed anywhere near the castle's security tower, so she would need to hide in Snow's hair, pretending to be a butterfly bow - a fake one.  It was going to be hard for Twinkle to pretend to be something she wasn't - especially, to be a fake butterfly.  Twinkle, you see, was the real thing.  Who would ever believe that she was a phony?  What if she wanted to smile (and sooner or later she would have to smile - twinkles are like that) and someone saw the fake butterfly in Snow's hair smile?

Well, all that would have to wait.  She had something more pressing on her agenda for the moment.

Just as she reached the crack in the window, she noticed the spider's web behind a big, thin, mousey looking character.  She made a note to keep away from that web because she knew that for every fly (even a butterfly) caught in a web, there was a spider with intentions.

That is when she saw the fly.  Her heart skipped a beat.  Two beats, actually.  One skipped-beat was for the terror that was about to come upon that poor fly, the other skipped-beat was the realization that the fly was quite charming, in an innocent and about-to-be-eaten kind of way.  

It was pure instinct for Twinkle to be diverted from seeking Snow's cheek to wanting to help save the life of a fellow-flyer, especially one as smashingly charming as the fly she had her eyes upon.  It was the right thing to do.  She never even considered that she might somehow get caught in the web herself.  Butterflies hardly ever think about themselves.  Well, if they are in love, they do tend to go a little crazy.  But, as most male flyers agreed, a butterfly going crazy is a good thing.

There had already been too much injustice in the world, Twinkle had decided.  She had spent too many days just being Snow Waz's twinkle.  There must be more to life.  She knew that she probably couldn't do anything to help Snow.  But, by the God Jolly, she was going to help that poor fly - that poor, innocent, elderly, yet handsomely rugged, fly - the fly with the cutest little wings she had ever seen.  The fly who, if she successfully rescued him, would be eternally grateful to her.  Maybe she would be somebody's heroine, instead of just being somebody's twinkle.  Not that she was ungrateful to Snow, because she had enjoyed her time sleeping on Snow's cheek.  It would be hard getting that kind of a job these days.  But, she wanted more.  She wanted the fly.  So, it was easy for her to feel heroic at this very moment.  A little crazy, if you will.

Once she got her head through the crack and pulled the rest of her body through, careful to not scrape her wings against the rough edges of the glass, she made a beeline (pun intended) for the fly - Much to Snow's disappointment.  Twinkle flew in front of the fly who was en route to the spider's web.  The fly, of course, was paying no attention to Twinkle's fast wagging wings.  He had already been mesmerized, hypnotized, by the spider's winks and whistles.  I suppose that you know there is a great difference between the winks and whistles of a spider and the twinkle of a butterfly!  It is like the difference between one angel who is from heaven and another angel who comes disguised as angel in order to . . . well, who knows why they come.

Twinkle flew directly into the path of the hypnotized fly.  He didn't slow or change direction.  Twinkle allowed her wings to lift her above the path of the oncoming fly, and as he flew under her she reached down with her tiny feet (she wore a type of ballet-shoe that allowed her little claws to grab) and started flapping her wings as quickly as she knew how.  The fly's forward momentum was stronger than she had anticipated and she began to lose her grip.  At the same time, she felt her forward speed slow down as they were now heading directly toward the spider's web - she was flying backwards and thought to try a re-grip, but she knew that would be futile.  

Her only choice was to let go of the fly - but, she couldn't do that.  The thought entered in her brain, then left as quickly because she could never let a fellow-flyer perish like that.  She had heard of such things in the animal kingdom.  Especially, the larger creatures.  She had heard tales of how they would let each other die from what they called "wars" and other things that butterflies just couldn't quite figure out.  She had heard of the lonely man who lost all of his friends because one of them said some things that weren't true and they let him fall into the spider's web.  She had never seen a web that big, but she believed the story anyway.

With that in mind, Twinkle was a little disappointed that she had so quickly risked her life for a fly that she had not even been properly introduced to, yet.  But, that was her risk.  She had been willing to take it - and, now she was willing to die for someone she hardly knew at all.  Good for you, Twinkle!

Just as the two of them were about to hit the web, just as the fly managed to snap out of the trance, just as he looked up to see what a beautiful creature had such a firm grip on his head, just as Twinkle said her last butterfly prayer, a strong breeze blew them away from the web.  They hit the back wall of the carriage causing Twinkle, of course, to lose her grip and they tumbled down the wall, landing on the floor behind the seat.  The hard floor was a rough landing, but they were alright.  They lay there, unable to move, waiting for the scurrying spider to drop down upon them.  

She never came.  You did know that the spider was a female spider, didn't you?  Well, what happened was this (I didn't really want to explain the gory details):  The pirate noticed that the spider had weaved the web a little too close to his head.  He turned toward the mousey character, showed him the web, and Mr. Mouse smashed the web with his newspaper.  Goodbye, Miss Spider!  

It was the breeze from the newspaper that blew Twinkle and Fly away from the web.  Never had a fly, or a butterfly for that matter, been so thankful to a mouse.

They knew it couldn't last - Twinkle and Fly's romance.  She had been widowed once before, having lost her first mate in the dark forest.  In the fly kingdom, second marriages had less than a twenty per cent chance of surviving the first year.  And fly was pretty tight-lipped about his past.  Yet, there on the floor of the Sheriff's carriage, they committed themselves to each other - forever!

Come to find out, much to Twinkle's surprise, Fly had a ton of money.  Well, flies don't actually have money, per say, but the point is that Twinkle would be well taken care of upon the fly's demise.

The moral of this story is that, although sometimes our Twinkle can get us into trouble, sometimes, with the right Twinkle at the right time, who knows what good can come out of it.

So, now, once again, Snow must carry on without her Twinkle.  

The carriage stopped at a resting area and Sheriff Sadie ran inside for a Slurpy.  Then, the carriage pulled back out onto the highway that lead quietly around the forest.  All that Snow could think about, since her twinkle was gone, was her remembrance of that time, now so long ago, when Mirror! Mirror! instructed her to "Run Waz!  Runaway, Waz!  Run far away, Snow Waz!"  

As the forest passed on her right side, she felt compelled to swing open the door and make a break for it.  If she could get to the edge of the forest she knew she could hide there forever.  She missed Fuzzy the most and knew he would put her up if she came knocking on his door, even if it was hibernating season. 

Sheriff Sadie slurped her Slurpy, looked over at Snow and (somehow she knew what Snow was thinking) said to Snow, "Don't even think about it, lady!"

Snow let her head fall back against the head cushion and, moments later, dozed off into a wild dream (I will tell you about it in the next chapter) as the carriage lightly bounced its way along the Squippache Turnpike.  A yellow-gray glow of depression hovered over the distant Kingdom like the smog that smothered the lost city of Angeles on a chilly April morning.

-----to be continued-----

end of Chapter NINE (click here to go to Chapter TEN)- if link is not active, the chapter is not yet ready.  Check back later, please.

Please let me know if you have read (and enjoyed) this chapter by sending me a quick email to:  ehylandmaze@aol.com

bless you.....................................Eugene H. Maze

This chapter and all chapters related to this website book entitled "Other Shorts" (copyright 1995, 2005) was written and published by Eugene H. Maze.  No portion of this book may be copied, sold or distributed either by electronic or other means in any fashion whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author.  Permission for distribution may be obtained by contacting the author at ehylandmaze@aol.com.  Links to this and all previous and subsequent pages of this book entitled "Other Shorts" may be distributed freely without permission.

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