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Thursday, May 21, 2020

Max Downstairs: Episode 6


“Stay here,” Arty whispered to Keisha. Then he leapt away from Max way over to the other side of the fissure in the ground. “Down here! There’s a hand in the fissure.”

"A hand in the fissure?" Tilley Tartmore raced over, dropped to her knees and peered in.

"A hand in the fissure?” The troll flopped to his belly, practically shoved his whole head inside. Pieces of the rubble tumbled way, way down.

Keisha had a few precious seconds to see what Max needed. Ever so gently, he placed a stone about the size and shape of a cardboard toilet paper core on the ground. He put a finger to his lips. “Shh.” Then he disappeared back into the tunnel.

Tilley Tartmore harrumphed. “There is no hand here.” 

“There is no hand here.” The enormous troll rose back up, his vibrations toppling Max’s secret stone. Even worse, Tilley Tartmore had regained her composure and was stomping over to the tunnel entrance, her feet flapping too close to the stone. No! Would she kick it into the fissure?. Or... had she seen Max? Was she going to claim the stone for herself?

“Arty,” Keisha whispered. “Play along.” She slapped her neck. Then her shoulder. “Ahh! The hand! It wasn’t a hand. It was super mosquitoes!”

Arty followed her lead. He started shrieking and swatting away fake mosquitoes, giving Keisha the distraction she needed to grab up the stone and slip it into her pocket. 

“Ow!” Arty stumbled toward Tilley Tartmore, hitting himself all over. “Ow! Ow!”

Tilley Tartmore spun back, slapping her own self, and skittered right into the arms of the larger, hairier troll. She shrieked the loudest yet, ran to the stairs, and ran up them, two at a time. “Just you wait! Just you wait!” she yelled.

The commotion and barking quieted upstairs.

The large troll sniffed the air. “Don’t know exactly where those killer mosquitoes came from or where they went, though I do know this. That woman, though human, has been to the Underside. She has the smell of fresh wormworts and clamsuckle clover about her.”

“Who are you?” Keisha asked. “And why are you here?”

“Permit me to introduce myself. Max sent for me. I am Malvin, Max’s bigger brother.”

“Bigger?” said Arty. “I’ll say.”

“Tell me about it. I had 17 growth spurts instead of the usual 14.”

The kitten scratched her back against Malvin’s ankle.

“And this is Rascal. Say hello, Rascal.”

“Mew!”

The dogs started howling again.

“Don’t mind them,” Malvin said. “Max sent them here to keep the police at bay.”

Keisha and Arty sighed in relief.

“However,” Malvin said, “that doesn’t lessen the dangers we are facing. First, I understand that Max is no longer safe here, which means neither am I. We must clean up this disaster area before the authorities see it.”

“But Tilly Tartmore already saw it,” said Arty. “She’s probably on her way to summon someone now.”

“Can you imagine, though?” said Malvin. “If everything looks normal when they arrive, they’ll think she’s gone loony. Which she has anyway. She believes one of us killed her father many years ago. She’s wrong, of course, but she wants her revenge. And if she gets it, trolls like me are doomed. You can already see what I’ve been through. My skin, my clothes.”

They got to work, Keisha and Arty moving the stones against the far wall while Malvin somehow knit the fissure closed.

“But how will you be able to leave? And how will Max come back?”

“The way he always has,” Malvin said. “The trap door to the tunnel.” Malvin let out a deep rumble, which was probably his version of a laugh. "Moving on, we took care of the first problem, clean-up. But that’s just the beginning of your troubles. They catch wind of any troll living here, and you’ll have more than your human authorities to deal with. They’ll be after you, the same way they are after me.”

“Who are they?” said Keisha.

“The Underside Patrol,” Malvin said. “Far worse than anything you’ve ever seen.” He gave a shiver. “That said, may I ask for a modicum of personal assistance? I haven’t eaten in two days.” On cue, his stomach made a noise like Mom’s drill. “I could use some sustenance before I begin to manage all your trouble.”

Keisha and Arty stirred up a double-sized portion of Extra Fine Troll Slop. Malvin licked his lips, leaned over, dipped a finger into his food, and sampled it. “This is fine; fine, indeed. Stand back. I’m going in. Then I’ll tell you my plan.”

“Wait,” said Keisha. “Aren’t you gonna sing your grateful song?”

“In all the commotion I forgot.” Malvin took a deep breath. “Grateful! I’m grateful, grateful, grateful, grateful...for youuuuuu!” He dug in and started shoveling the slop into his mouth.

Keisha looked at Arty. Arty looked at Keisha. They moved part way up the stairs. “That’s not Max’s family grateful song,” he whispered. “And Mrs. Patterson said she has only one son. He’s not Max’s brother.”

“Then we can’t show him this.” Keisha took the single stone from her pocket.

And the dogs started howling again.

     —Jody (with help from story ingredients provided by Fiona, Anonymous, and Unknown ... Thanks!) 

Ingredients needed for the next scene: Who or what is The Underside Patrol, and are they related to the barking dogs? Why is Malvin pretending to be Max’s brother? What is his plan?

Bonus question: Who is the real villain in this story: Tilley Tartmore, Malvin, The Underside Patrol, the human authorities, or Max himself?

The Recipe: In the comments to THIS EPISODE, give us your best ideas to answer our questions. We’ll collect your answers Tuesday at 11 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) and will use as many as we can to write the next scene. If you'd like, sign your first name so we can give you credit for your idea.

NOTE: This is a double-long episode because we are taking Memorial Day off. Come back next Thursday to see what we wrote!

P.S. If we don’t take your suggestion this time, be sure to keep playing—we need your help to cook up a good story!






5 comments:

  1. it will be tilleys dad and tilley is actually a troll how wants to ruin maxs life cause he ruined hers 2 years back and she wanted revenge and to discipline maxs family.

    ReplyDelete