She ran out the door and arrived to the bus stop. Heather was already standing near the sidewalk. Her purple plaid backpack was tossed aside, a casualty to a haphazard tossing on the green, green grass.
Heather's hair was tied back in a neat ponytail today and she was wearing a Red Sox baseball cap. Dad bought it for her last week for a birthday present. "Hey, I almost thought you wasn't going to make it out in time. So, did the money tree start growing yet?"
"No. Last I checked I didn't see anything and then Mrs. Severence got in the car accident yesterday. I haven't checked on it today. But I did get to talk to Flavia and Judabelle last night."
"You met Judabelle the song fairy Mrs. Lacey as telling us about?"
"Yes. She rescued me from Gilly Gilly Goblin!"
"No blistery way! What was he going to do to you? Eat you up?"
"I'm so glad I didn't find out. Judabelle started to sing her song and he disappeared into the woods. The song is his curse."
"Ooh... you better watch out or he might try to curse you like he tried to do with your mother. You better hang some garlic on your window!!"
"Heather! OMG! Vampires don't like garlic, not goblins!"
"I wonder what scares him away besides that song. I mean, what if she's not there to sing her song? I couldn't bear for him to take away my best friend!"
"They said I can never wear socks to bed because they can smell stinky socks a mile away and they will melt away if they get anywhere near them and that means if they can't come, then Gilly Gilly Goblin can come get me. He loves stinky socks!"
"Look out Ronny and those smelly socks of his. We should ask him if Gilly Gilly Goblin has paid him a visit yet. Those things must stinkola like a sun of a gun!" Sally laughed as she liked it when Heather would come up with funny expressions. She sure was a fun friend.
"Do you suppose he has to take his socks off at bedtime? We know he's going for the Guinness Book of World Records, but really. Think about it, Heather. Wouldn't you think Ronny would turn up missing if he went to bed with his socks on? The fairies know to stay away so who is to stop Gilly Gilly Goblin from chomping him up?"
"Yeah! I wonder if he carries a dinner plate, fork and knife with him. Maybe it's even a Spongebob Squarepants set to entice him into welcoming him into his bedroom."
"Ha. Ha. And he's the one that has that game that Ronny wants and Gilly Gilly Goblin knows his mother won't buy it for him because it's going to make his brain turn to mush."
"Fer sure. Fer sure. Grody to the max!"
"Totally." They started laughing some more. Heather had gotten that expression from her mother and was told back in the day it was a popular expression. It just kind of clicked with Heather and it was one of her new favorite things to say. But that would perhaps change in a few weeks when she'd be saying something like, Tristan Hines is a big bid brain. All beak and no contents inside the thinking cap."
"That's why Mamma hasn't gotten me a laptop or a PS3 game station yet. She told me she doesn't want my brain to turn to mush. She said it's not good to be playing those games all the time."
"I want a PS3 for Christmas. All the other girls have those Little Big Planet Games and it's no fair that I don't even have a PS3 to play any games. I wish Santa was in the phone book because I would tell him my parents are mean."
"I like your parents. They are cool. I like it when you invite me over to play Monopoly with them. That's a lot of fun. Although I hate it when your mom thinks she can buy up Boardwalk and Park Place."
"I think she cheats and sneaks in an extra space. You ever see her laughing after?"
"No. I missed it."
"She does. But you don't know them like I do. They're fighting and I don't like it. You know what I do at night?"
"What?"
"I put my head under my pink polka dot pillow and I cry my tears of pain. I wish they would be really happy like your parents."
"Here comes Mrs. Lacey."
The bus stopped and the girls piled in and they kept quiet about their parents. No kid wants to tell all their peers that their parents are fighting as it hurts, hits close to home and they are so embarrassed that perhaps things aren't perfect like they may be on another child's pasture.
The girls sat down next to Ronny as the bus picks him up a few blocks before his house. "Hey, there Ronny. Does your mom take off your socks at night?"
"Oh no! She's tried, but I kick and scream bloody murder for her not to take them. I'm going on day 37 and these socks are going to remain on my feet forever!"
"Ronny," said Tara, a little girl with dusty brown hair and brown eyes. She turned around and everyone laughed yet again at the clothespin attached to her nose. She was wearing a lime green tank top and pink shorts. In her altered voice, she said, "Ronny, your feet smell like cow terd, and I don't wear this for nothing." She turned her head back to the front of the bus.
"Has Gilly Gilly Goblin come into your bedroom?"
"Why yes he has! I finally met him a few nights ago."
"You're pulling my leg, there isn't no Gilly Gilly Goblin," retorted Tristan Hines.
"There is so, Tristan! He's real!"
"Na ah! That's a fish story."
"Just watch out because he might decide to eat a bully faster than you can say no!" yelled Heather.
"Keep your voices down back there, or someones getting written up and I'm telling your parents. Just because it's the last day of school doesn't mean I won't let your parents know. So no more yelling from anyone." said Mrs. Lacey.
Upfront, Mrs. Lacey was fuming and could hardly wait for a summer break. Just one more day of class and then she was going to relax near her pool with that new novel, 50 Shades of Grey. She wanted a juicy novel to occupy her mind. At least for a little bit of sweet thoughts and more.
But truth be told, she didn't like writing them up, but when they did things they weren't supposed to do, it was her job to call attention to it so that they would learn not to do it again. She hated it when some of the kids kept doing it over and over again. Thank God for assigned seats. It made her wonder if a few of the parents didn't bother to talk to the kids about the issue. Or maybe some did, but it didn't sink into the child.
Mrs. Lacey was just so used to hearing everything on the bus. She refrained a laugh though when that Tara girl would put a clothespin on her nose every time she entered the bus. Mrs. Lacey watched her for the last 30 days when that silly pincher remained on her petite nose. She never took it off until she got off the bus and breathed in the fresh air. Was Ronny's socks really that bad or was she smelling another kid fart? Who is to say.
"So Ronny, what happened with Gilly Gilly Goblin?" They all tried their best to ignore Tristan who was busy making silly faces at them.
"He came in and we played cards. He likes boys."
"Watch out that he doesn't eat you!" cried Sally. She didn't want Gilly Gilly Goblin to eat up Ronny! She didn't want to tell him but she had a secret crush on him."
"Don't worry, Sally. He won't do that because we have too much fun! He loves to play War, Slap Jack and Old Maids. He told me why he likes playing Old Maids is because whenever one of us ends up getting the Old Maid, he shrieks out in his hilarious laughter and says, "Ha ha. You got Judabelle!"
"Oh, that's not funny!" cried Sally. "Judabelle isn't an old maid! She's too beautiful to be one."
"But that's what Gilly Gilly Goblin said. He told me he wanted to do something to her, but then he decided not to tell me what it was. Then he got upset, threw down the cards on my carpet and stormed through my wall and was gone."
"Ronny! Ronny! You know what this means? If he comes back and tells you what his plans are, you need to tell me immediately so I can warn Judabelle of his thoughts. I don't know if she can read his mind. Promise me you will tell me or I will yell to the money tree not to let you have the new Spongebob Squarepants game!" Hit it where it counts, that's right, Sally thought of her quick spur of the moment thinking and hoped it was going to work.
"Okay! Okay! I promise!"
Ronny turned around and remained quiet for the rest of the bus ride. Sally sure was pretty, but sometimes she could really be persistent. Talking about being wrapped around her little finger. The one in between her thumb and middle finger. And he wondered why it always had that little pink yarn string she had tied around it as if it was a ring. All the other boys talked about it in private and wondered who she liked.
One day, Tristan popped into their conversation and said it was probably some stupid ghost with a clown wig whom she liked.
Finally all the kids piled out of the bus ready to take on the last day of school and when the bus was child free, Mrs. Lacey breathed a silent relief.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted September 8, 2012
