Our friends, Stobey and Slutter, Suzanne and Roger and, of course,
Chug-a-lug, the Hooten-Nanny are all walking side-by-side across the
spaceship parking block. They are close to the entrance to the Midway.
The gate is just ahead. Lights are flashing. Children and grown-ups, of
many sizes and shapes, are moving in all directions.
'Halt! Halt, I say. Stay right where you are!'
The order bursts up at them from right under their feet. Stobey jumps
aside. Slutter leaps straight up. Suzanne and Roger stand still, shocked.
Chug doesn't move, and says nothing. He looks down and points.
A hole forms in the ground where they were standing a moment before.
At first they don't see the hole because it's as small as a pinhead. It
spreads quickly until it's as big as the hole in the center of a doughnut.
That's when they see it. The hole grows to the size of a basketball. It
stops expanding for a couple of seconds as if to catch its breath; then
with a shiver and a shake it's as big as a bulldozer tire. That's when it
stops.
A clatter and a rumble wells up like hooves pounding hard-packed earth.
The clatter grows louder and closer. The ground shakes. By this time
Stobey and Slutter are holding on to each other. Suzanne and Roger
stand close by, confused by what's happening. They feel themselves to
be strangers, and don't know what to expect. And Chug? Well, he just
stands there.
A cloud of dust suddenly puffs up out from the hole. It forms into a
cloud and drifts away. Another cloud of dust rises in which floats a long
smooth shaft. The shaft is smooth and rises up out of the hole. The
other end is attached to a head. The head is that of a small white animal
that looks like a horse.
Another cloud of dust. The animal leaps up out from the hole. It's a
unicorn, and on its back is a saddle, and in the saddle is a knight in pure
white armor, and in the knight's grip is a lance pointing straight at where
our friends are standing.
The front of the knight's helmet is open. In the middle of his face is a
pudgy nose, above the nose are fierce eyes, and under the nose a long,
bristly, handlebar mustache that ends with three twirling loops on each
side.
'Who are you?' he roars. 'What do you want here?'
Stobey steps forward until she is right under the unicorn's head.
Looking up, she shakes her finger at the knight.
'Before we go any further,' she says, 'you point that lance somewhere
else.'
The knight in white armor stares at Stobey for a five seconds.
'Umm.. ah...,' he says as he lowers the lance until it points at the ground.
'OK. Is that better?'
'Yes, that's better,' Stobey says. 'Now, I'm Stobey and...' pointing... 'this
is my friend Slutter, and these are our new friends from Planet Earth,
Suzanne and Roger.'