The following morning Fergis awoke to find something outside his window but this time the girls could see it as well. The lad went back to pressing his face against the window and the object followed his lead, squashing its face flat against the pane to meet his. The three of them giggled and Fergis pointed out to his companions when he stepped back to notice his latest distraction, “Look at its big bum!” That lead to even more laughter and the girls joined Fergis in his entertainment of the day.
Veronica pointed to the ghost head and remarked, “It’s head looks like an ice cream cone and it must be a boy.” As she finished her remark, a green and mouldy-looking cloud began oozing from the being outside the window.
“Why do you say that? Fergis inquired. He was puzzled because he could not tell the difference and he was one.
She rolled her eyes as she pointed out that it, “Has a look of shock and surprise on its face . . . I can smell how wretched it is from in here. It’s like you when you eat stinky cabbage leaves. Ewwww.”
Fergis took her remark as a compliment and shrugged as he and the ghost went back to their face distortion machinations and the girls went back to the black piece of paper that the barn owl had dropped the night before. Veronica was attempting to decipher the symbols on it, thinking that it might be a secret code. There was a big eye at the top of the paper, then the second object was smudged. The third picture on the paper was hard to see with all the dirt, but Veronica decided it was a wand or a broom, she wasn’t sure which. She told Vergilia that the paper must have been brought to them from a wizard. Of course the younger girl just looked wide-eyed at her companion, having no clue what Veronica was on about.
While the odd little girl wasn’t a genius or anything even slightly resembling one, the idea of a wizard appealed to her. She spent a few moments thinking what a wizard would be like although it never would have occured to her to wonder that she knew what a wizard was but not a dog which left her free to ponder what it would be like to meet one. All of a sudden a strange idea took hold of her and she inquired of her companions, “Do you think a wizard could make us some parents?”
“What brought that up?” Fergis did not understand since he was not privy to the objects on the black paper as he was distracted momentarily from his antics with the ghost who also lost interest and disappeared.
“This paper thing. I think maybe it belonged to a witch or a wizard and if they can do magic, mayhap they could make us some parents.”
Fergis tilted his head and looked at her strangely before puzzling aloud, “But why would we want them?”
“Why, I dunno. I think everyone should have parents, don’t you?”
“Well, no. They might make me take a bath or go to school. Ewww.”
Virgilia, in an rare moment of clarity asked, “What is school?”
“I dunno, but I do know I don’t want to go there. I bet they eat little kids like us. Like this . . . chomp, chomp.” Fergis was determined that they should not go. He liked being able to do what he wanted without anyone telling him what to do.
Frightened by the thought, however, Virgilia hid her face in a pillow and wouldn’t come out no matter how much Veronica coaxed.
“See what you’ve done? Well, I for one, vote we go try to find the person in the note and see what he can do.” Veronica didn’t wait for a response from her two companions, she merely began gathering items she thought were necessary. She took a walking staff from the corner and attached a lantern to it, then she took a large flour sack and filled it with the two day old fruit on the table and tied it to Fergis’ belt, not thinking that he would be eating it all the way to the destination. Lastly she put cloaks on Virgilia and herself while telling Fergis to wear something warm. “There is a chill in the air and we will need to keep warm tonight.” It was strange that she thought that far ahead, but Veronica did have moments of mental acuity even if they were few in number.
grubbycupthelesser 