Saturday, August 14, 2010

The Sweetest Trolls #4: A Fine Meal -- #FridayFlash


This is the fourth installment of the Troll Serial. To read from the beginning, or to find past and future installments click here.

*

Hiding behind old oaks Kratan and Kutril surveyed the village’s surroundings. All was dark and silent; the only window with a light lit was of its largest house.


"What is this smell?" asked Kratan.


They both frowned and pinched their noses. Kutril shrugged.


"It's horrible. Let's get out of here," said Kratan pointing to his left. "The goats are in that direction."


"Wait," said Kutril through his fingers, "what's that at the window?"


"I don't care. I'm gonna puke my brain out if I stay here."


Kutril squinted to understand the cooling pie at the window. He coughed and choked when his nostrils opened in search of air. Kratan's cadenced beating on his back made such a clamor that Kutril had to wave him away hurriedly.


When he managed to compose himself, Kratan was sat with crossed arms, forgetting even to hold his nose.


"It's human food at the window," said Kutril, "that's where the stench comes from."


"The what?"


"The stinky smell," explained Kutril.


"Where did you take that word from?"


"Err, humans?"


Kratan glared, Kutril shrugged, palms facing his friend.


"We could take the human food to the girl," suggested Kutril and added apologetically, "after all, she's human."


“But it smells so bad!”

This time it was Kutril who glared.

“Surely she likes goats,” said Kratan, “humans have so many of them, and goats are so tasty.” He licked his lips and caressed his flat belly.

“We can take a goat for her too, a small one.”

Kratan nodded to his feet. “Ok, you get the smelly food then.”

“Why me?” asked Kutril with a disgusted face.

“Your idea.”

They stared at each other for a moment.

“All right,” Kutril sighed, “but you better find us some big goats. And real ones.”

Kratan pressed his lips together and didn’t reply to Kutril’s remark. Instead, he spat in his right hand licked his palm and extended it to Kutril, who did the same and clasped it.

“I’ll get the goats, you get the human food and we meet at the first safe clearing,” said Kratan.

“Don’t forget to get the girl’s goat too.”

They both nodded, released their hands and hit their own foreheads with them, and then the other’s forehead.

“Uh,” said Kratan, “not so hard. I tell you every time to be gentle.”

Kutril rolled his eyes and motioned him to the direction where the goats were kept. He hunched as low as his massive body would allow, observing his pray. Everything was too silent so he hesitated approaching the mayor’s house.

At one point he couldn’t bear the smell, so he crossed the back garden as fast and as silently as he could, crouched with his back against the wall beside the window, and spread his ears wide. He could hear an alternated snoring and wheezing coming from the upper floor, but no other sound. He peered into the kitchen, holding his breath. There was a single lit candle, forgotten over the table.

He sighed heavily, took the warm pie from the window and sprinted uphill to the meeting point.


A tiny star shone to his right. He paused, thinking of getting rid of the pie as soon as possible, but the curiosity took hold of him. He turned in that direction finding a pink slipper, its delicate lacework all ripped off and a pending jingle on its top. Thinking that Kratan would take a while to capture three goats, he put the pie down and surveyed the area. It took him a while, but he managed to rescue Aimee's basket and collect some berries on his way back. 


Swiping the ants from the pie, he arrived to find Kratan pacing with a live goat under his arm.

"What are you doing?" asked the puzzled Kutril.

"What took you so long?" was his friend's reply.

"I think I found the girl's shoe."

"Oh, it's so tiny!"

"Why is your goat alive?" asked Kutril peering at the terrified animal. "And why there's only one?"

"This one is for the girl," replied Kratan, switching it to the other arm. "I don't know how they eat their goats, so I thought of bringing one alive. Ours are there," he finished pointing over his shoulder to two round shapes.


"Not stones, are they?" asked Kutril, a grin forming in his lips.
 
"No."

"Well, it's late already," said Kutril dropping the subject, "we should get going." He didn't want to repeat last night's scene.

They arrived to find the wood consumed by the fire and Aimee still asleep. After renewing it once more they put the pie, the fruit filled basket and the single slipper beside her.

Not knowing what to do with the trembling goat, Kratan put it down to think on how to prevent its escape. With a shrilling cry it skipped through his hungry fingers and hopped downhill with striking speed. Its shriek startled both the trolls and Aimee, who woke up to find herself before a warm fire and no stone trolls at all.


24 comments:

  1. I've had some computer problems this week, hence my delay, so please forgive any typos you might catch. Also, if you care to point out any problems (or good sutff) on this or other installments I'd appreciate very much. :)

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  2. This is a great episode, Mari! Just love these guys. Too funny that they try to bring her a live goat.

    And now I can't wait to see her reaction to the big, live trolls.

    Excellent work!

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  3. --Gracie: Thanks dear!

    I hope her delicate heart holds itself to this encounter, heh. :P

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  4. Ugh...the ants. That was a fine touch, Mari-girl. I hope they don't recapture the goat for her. :)

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  5. oh no, imagine if they had left a dead goat for her to find? *lol* these must be the most thoughtful trolls in history! :)

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  6. Well for not knowing much about human food, it sounds like they got her a lovely dinner (except for the goat).

    Cute story. Loved it.

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  7. Mmm... pie. Can't wait to hear the continued tales of the world's first girl raised by trolls. She'll be quite the Mowgli. ;-)

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  8. I really enjoy the banter between the trolls. It really shows a lot of character, Mari. I was wondering how she was going to eat her goat...

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  9. --Laura: I don't think they'd be able to, even if they wanted. Besides, they're too hungry to let go of their own meals, heh.

    --Angie (techtigger): That would be hilarious! Why didn't *I* think of it? lol

    --Catherine (ganymeder): These guys are very industrious, heh. Glad you're enjoying the story. :)

    --Valerie: *bwahahaha* Love the analogy! But they first need to meet in person, and Aimee must be strong to face one of her greatest fears. Let's see where this pie thing will lead them. ;)

    --Alan: Oh, me too! I'm glad the poor thing escaped, otherwise it'd suffer and cause pain to Aimee. I don't think she'd like to see Kratan twisting its neck to help her out with her food, heh.

    Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate the feedback. :)

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  10. Another great installment. Damn goat! But at least there'll be pie.

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  11. --Maria: Oh, yeah, Aimee won't find that pie smelly at all! heh ;)

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  12. I love the fact that everything human is so repulsive to them - we usually only ever think of THEM as being repulsive to US! Lovely to get their point of view! And they actually seem quite thoughtful, in their own clumsy way.

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  13. I just caught up with the adventures of these guys. Priceless. The back and forth between the two is so much fun.

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  14. --Icy: The funny thing is that although many human things are repulsive to them, they're attracted to all that is human, heh. You're right, they're really nice guys. ;)

    --Laurita: Thanks for reading! Their exchange is even more fun to write. ;D

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  15. Haha these guys are making me smile more on Fridays! Great episode Mari and as always, great dialog, very realistic and gripping! :)
    Ah but the goat got away… After all the that work, the damn goat got away! :)

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  16. --Lua: If they're making you smile, my job is done. :D

    Yeah, this goat is trouble, I'll tell you. heh

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  17. Good one! These trolls are great! So much humor, innocence, and naivety. Looking forward to seeing how Aimee reacts.

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  18. When asked what grown-ups talk about, my son Sam always says, "Pie." Now I can tell him they also write about pie.
    And why wouldn't you? My personal favourite subject.
    "Don't forget to get the girl's goat." Heh.
    Nice story, Mari!

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  19. Considerate trolls, but still creepy- I enjoy the creative dialogue between the two of them, and the goat is great mix, because they're just about as much trouble as trolls!

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  20. --Eric: Thanks! Aimee is up to a great surprise, heh.

    --Cathy: It seems you guys make lots of pies at home. Do you have pecan pie by chance? heh :P Glad you liked the story. :)

    --Erin: You really think they're creepy even being so sweet? Cool!

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  21. Laughed so much that the stinky smell was pie, and not emanating from the trolls. ;)

    Run, little goat, run!

    Great last sentence. Can't wait to see whether Aimee shrieks in fear or not.

    Keep up the good work, Mari-girl!

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  22. I love it. Let's bring her a live goat to eat. :) It's a good thing they brought the pie too.

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  23. --Marisa: Err, they do stink. Except for this now since they've just cleaned themselves (yuk). The thing is that their smell is pleasant on their view, and really difficult to bear on on ours. :P

    --Melissa: Too bad the goat was smart enough to get away, heh.

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  24. This reminds me of how cats will bring their owners things-birds, mice, etc- they have killed and leave them on the doorstep. Same with Trolls and goats I guess. Seems like Amy got a pretty good meal anyway. Cute story.

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