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Ewetopia, A Land Far From Normal - Chapter 12
By Marie Ellen Pacha
Cell phones don't work in Whimsey. It must be something about the magical interference. Shepherd managed to get word back to us that he had arrived safely and that he was taking the misplaced sheep to a safe pasture the other side of Normal. Lamby merely nodded when she heard the news. She appeared to be keeping herself safely occupied during the days. For the first time since her arrival she was not the headline story of the newspaper, which actually made the paper rather dull.
But that was about to change. A messenger came from Whimsey. General Wolff was seen heading in the direction of Ewetopia. Lamby's ears lifted in alarm at the news, and she trotted off in the direction of the closet. She stayed in her area of the closet (we checked), and so our concern was not too great. The hamlet called a meeting to determine what we should do if we were invaded by the General and his band of marauders. The general consensus was that we had nothing here to interest him, save perhaps Lamby, and we thought we would just send her off to Whimsey if he came too close. We knew she was terrified of wolves, so we thought she would comply easily with our plan.
She had other ideas.
Ewetopia was her home now. And in her eyes and heart, she would guard it with her life for her Shepherd and the rest of us. Foolish, noble little creature that she was, she prepared to mount a full attack on the General if he set foot in our hamlet. Looking back on it now, I realize General Wolff didn't stand a chance against our hardheaded little lamb.
She was subtle, still took the time to play in the cement pond, and still ate like a whole flock of sheep all the while making her plans.
We were all in Jack's restaurant having supper when news came that the General was just outside the hamlet. Sisy immediately sent a bat to Whimsey to fetch a dragon to carry Lamby away, and while we were busy deciding who should hide her till the dragon arrived, Lamby and Butterscotch vanished. Eddie and Mumm immediately headed for the plywood palace, and the rest of searched the rest of town, but the ladies had the right idea.
They arrived just in time to hear a loud engine roaring from the closet and then saw Lamby (head peeking out the top) emerge in her hot pink tank. General Wolff was only thinking of a lamb dinner, not one served on a tank, but he was hungry and not easily dissuaded.
But his men were another matter. Lamby let loose with a barrage upon them all, not real bullets of course...but paint balls, pastel multicolored paint balls. Soon they were battered, slightly bruised and totally covered with paint. Most of them feared the wrath of their wives more than the power of the intrepid little lamb facing them, and to boot General Wolff hadn't been paying them very well, and one by one they deserted him.
But the General moved forward. By now he could see that Lamby was the plumpest lamb he had seen in a very long time, and the battle had made him hungrier still. Lamby was relieved to see that she now had only one foe, and she had a contingency plan for his stubbornness. She drove her tank back to the outside entrance of the closet, jumped out and headed inside. Once there she paused by the door of the black hole and took off her bell. She opened that door from behind (it faced the direction the general was entering from), and tossed her bell on the floor in his sight. And then she peered through the crack of the door and held her breath.
The General moved forward slowly and deliberately. Occasionally he paused for so long Lamby was tempted to peek, but continued holding motionless and his footsteps resumed their steady pace in her direction.
Oh she was terrified. She knew that if he caught her next meal would be as the main course with mint jelly on the side. But more than for her life, she was fighting for her home.
All she could in the closet was black...solid, somehow thick black. Its very presence frightened her too, but she knew somehow that it was her only chance. Through the crack she saw the General's hand reach for her bell, and pick it. Then he peered into the closet. He reached his hand past the door frame as if to reach for a light switch. And almost faster than her eyes could follow his arm seemed to stretch out, and then the rest of his body, until with a swoosh he was sucked inside.
With that Lamby slammed the door shut, and threw the lock back in place. That was where we found her, trembling in terror just minutes later. Jack picked her up and carried her to the living room where she told us the story. No one doubted her, her emotions were too bare for her to be making it up. She had locked Butterscotch in her room while she implemented her plan, and she had ONE MAD and relieved pup on her hands, not to mention the rest of us.
When we asked her why she would take that risk, she looked up at us with those big eyes of hers and said, "What else could I do, families take care of each other."
There we were...a lamb, a lady cow, men and women, flamingoes, and everyone and everything else...a family, and Ewetopia was our home.
We nodded.
A message was sent immediately to Shepherd that the danger was past. And by return messenger came word that he was on his way home as well. But until that time, every night a little lamb made sure the flame was still burning.
The End.
This article is © copyrighted by Marie Ellen Pacha. Any use of this article, in full or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission from Marie Ellen Pacha.
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