A cold, wet nose poked her. Attached to the nose was the fuzzy blue head of her pollidog, Mortimer. Mortimer panted happily and wagged his bushy blue tail. He danced in a circle on his twenty tippy-toes.
Amethyst smiled,"Want to go outside, Morty?" The creature yipped excitedly. Amethyst got down from her ledge and slipped into a yellow silk jumper with little dark blue ruffles, beads, and gemstones arranged to look like a flower. She put on her green raincoat and fetched her black, star-shaped umbrella. Then she and Mortimer went out into the rain.
They skipped and tripped over mint green puddles and purple pools and gold-streaked gutters. Morty laughed barkingly at Amethyst's little jokes, and they stopped at a Nutty Nut stand for cashews and pecans. The Nut Vendor, Mrs. Jennison, laughed at the jokes, too. Amethyst and Morty headed for the edge of town with their little bag of treats.
At the edge of town was the school that Amethyst's parents attended. She stood up on tiptoes and peered through the window of the black-brick building. She saw her mother doodling in a notebook at her desk. She saw her father passing a note to her mother. She saw the teacher walk over to them and put her hands on her hips. Amethyst turned to Mortimer and whispered in a sing-song voice, " I think Mom and Dad are in trou--ble!" Morty chuckled. Amethyst clambered down and splashed into a puddle the color of honeydew melon. She and Morty walked away from the dreary building.
Just then, Mortimer gave a YIP! and ran off. Amethyst scurried after him as fast as she could. He ran up to a big, red iron gate. He yowled after a yellow critter that had slipped through the bars. Amethyst read the sign next to the gate. It read,"Evil Banana Factory, Established 1990." Amethyst giggled and turned to Mortimer.
"Evil banana factory? That's soooo funny!" She laughed harder, clutched her belly, and doubled over in mirth. But then, she noticed that Mortimer was not also laughing. He was staring straight ahead, through the bars of the gate. Amethyst followed his gaze and her mouth dropped wide open.
Poised in the center of a cement courtyard were three bananas. They looked like ordinary bananas, except they had angled, red eyes and mouths grinning to reveal large, needlelike teeth. And those red eyes pointed straight at Amethyst and Mortimer! They all stood there for a while, staring at each other. Then the bananas began to glide slowly backwards, towards the big purple door to the big red factory. When they reached the door, they disappeared.
Amethyst and Mortimer jumped! Then they looked at each other.
"Did you see that?" Amethyst asked her pollidog, "They just disappeared! Just like that! The door didn't open or anything! Ahhhhh!" she screamed. Morty became upset. He huffed and whimpered. Amethyst decided to leave. "Let's get out of here!" she said. They slowly turned to walk away. Then they heard a sound.
Amethyst twirled to face the factory again. "Did you hear that?" she asked Mortimer. Mortimer perked up his ears and tilted his head. She crouched beside him. "It sounded like…. laughter," she whispered. Then they heard it again, louder this time. The friends stood there, frozen. Finally, they heard a big booming voice yelling, "WHY ARE YOU STILL STANDING THERE? GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Amethyst and Mortimer didn't need to be told twice. They turned tail and ran all the way home.
***
When Amethyst's parents came home from school that day, she told them about the Evil Banana Factory, the laughter, and the dismissive imperative. Her parents, Arabelle and Tim, looked at each other knowingly. Then they said, "Don't worry about that factory, Amethyst. It's just a big joke. The bananas aren't really evil. Our teacher said so just last week."
Amethyst looked at them with wide eyes, "Really? Because they had BIG red eyes and BIG needly teeth and they yelled REALLY REALLY LOUD! Just ask Mortimer!" Mortimer looked up from where he was licking one of his many paws. He yipped in agreement.
Tim drew himself up to his full height, "Now listen to me, Amethyst. You and Morty stay away from that factory, you hear? And tomorrow, I'm going to need for you to scrub the rain residue off of the house. It looks like a unicorn threw up all over the place."
Amethyst stifled a giggle. "Oh, Daddy, I like the rainbow colors of our house! Can't we leave it up like everyone else does? It will wash away with the next regular rain anyway."
"No," her father commanded, "Clean up the house and stay away from that factory!"
Amethyst sulked and went over to play with Morty until dinner time. She knew that her father meant well. But she had different plans. Plans involving a certain curved yellow fruit….. dun dun DUN!
***
The next day, after her parents left for school, Amethyst went outside and admired her rainbow house. Mortimer followed. After a little while, he looked up at her and made a dog noise as if to say, "Well?" And Amethyst nodded. She went back into the house and got her elephant backpack. She filled the backpack with the following:
1. Three peanut butter sandwiches
2. Two squirt guns filled with orange juice
3. A package of snap firecrackers
4. Seven sticks of bubblegum
5. Rope
6. A penny whistle
Then she dressed in dark purple, and wore a dark purple cap. She and Morty set out, straight for the Evil Banana Factory.
When they were about one hundred feet away, she examined the factory from all sides, looking for a back way in. She found a back door. It had a sign that said "Receiving" on it. She tried the handle. It turned. She took a moment to scan the immediate area for evil bananas. None in sight. She opened the door.
The back room had white tile floor, white walls, and white counters. They were sparkling clean. She closed the door behind her. There was another door at the other end of the room. She and Morty crossed the room and opened the door.
This door opened to a bright white hallway. There were many doors on either side, but the hallway was empty. Amethyst and Mortimer entered the hallway, closing the door behind them. They walked not ten feet before she saw it. A single banana appeared at the end of the hallway, thirty feet away.
The banana looked at them with its red, red eyes. The red eyes seemed to pulse with some kind of rhythm, turning brighter red and then dark red again. The banana was completely still, except for its pulsing eyes. Its mouth was frozen in a needly grin.
Amethyst and Morty stopped moving when they saw the banana. They waited, but nothing happened. They waited a little longer, and then began to walk towards one of the doors to their right. The banana did not move, but Amethyst paused. She thought she could hear the laughter again. Silence. She began to move again, and then she and Morty both heard the laughter, louder this time. Two more bananas appeared on either side of the first, pulsing their eyes and not moving. The laughter did not stop. It grew louder and louder. In a panic, Amethyst flung open the door to her right and ran into the room, Morty following close behind and slammed the door tight.
They had entered a completely black room. No light, but there was sound. The sound of machines. Then someone turned the light on.
"WELCOME!" boomed a loud voice. Amethyst and Morty looked around at the large room. It was filled with black machines of all sorts, moving and chugging and popping and zapping and churning and steaming and whizzing about. It looked like a factory. A banana, Amethyst's height but otherwise looking exactly like the others with evil, pulsing red eyes, appeared beside them.
"WELCOME TO THE EVIL BANANA FACTORY," came a voice from the banana. Its mouth did not move. Only the eyes. Pulsing with a rhythm that echoed in the sounds of the machine. "YOU WILL NOW ENJOY THE TOUR," said the banana voice.
The banana opened its enormous mouth, as wide as it was tall, and Amethyst and Morty were pulled inside.
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment