CHAPTER ONE Just A Bad DreamDorothy Returns To Oz
By
Sera Alexia
CHAPTER ONE Just A Bad Dream
But it is real, that's just the trouble. I tried to come back for days and days. Yes, it was true at the time. All I wanted was to go home from the beginning. Funny, because I wanted to see big oceans and mountains just like Professor Marvel said I did. I dreamed of more, so much more I felt I had more than I bargained for. It was strange because as soon as I got to where I had wanted to be all I thought of was that I wanted to go home and be with the people who loved me as much as I loved all of them.
My Aunt Em told me it was all a bad dream but it couldn't have been could it? I don't see how? I admit I missed my aunt and uncle something fierce. But, when I woke up in my own bed next to her and Uncle Henry and I saw my friends again Hunk, Zeke, and Hickory I felt so much better. Even Professor Marvel came to see if I was doing well too. I felt so happy to be home again. Yes, I was home. Home is where the heart is, and there's no place like it. But, as I sit here right now I feel foolish enough to say now that I miss my friends in Oz. And so very strange I fear I do not know who my friends are anymore. Hunk looks so much like my dear lovable Scarecrow. I wonder if he still is in charge of the Emerald City? It was very nice of the humbug Wizard to let the Scarecrow rule the Land of Oz. It is such a scary thought now. Does the Scarecrow even know how to rule a magical land like Oz? I wonder. But even still, The Tin Man, who looked a great deal like Hickory must be assisting the Scarecrow as is the Cowardly Lion, it seems now that the lion isn't so cowardly anymore and he too also resembled Zeke. After the Wizard gave them what they wanted he abandoned me as he floated away in his balloon, not intentionally anyway.
It is in the past now, my very distant past. I miss my friends in Oz. Sometimes I do see the Scarecrow in Hunk, he's so clumsy! And he's funny too at times. Zeke is always messing with the chickens and pigs. He calls them hogs and makes noises so he can hear them squeal. Zeke is good with the animals. But, Hickory is Hunk's best friend. They get long best and both of them poke fun at Zeke all the time. It's typical here in Kansas. I've gotten used to it here in this gray land I live in, it's home. And my friends are a part of my family with Aunt Em and my uncle. I just wish that there was a way, a way to get into the land of Oz again. I feel like I am beginning to forget my friends there sometimes. Other times, I can remember them so vividly what I went through. Why do I put myself through this? I keep telling myself what Aunt Em told me. It was only a bad dream, only a dream. How do you dream up ruby slippers? And a good witch named Glinda? Had my house really landed on the Witch of the East? I couldn't have I woke up in my very own bed, in the exact same house. Aunt Em wants me to go see someone and talk. What about? All about my adventures in Oz? That's silly. I wish I still had my parents with me so I could figure this one out! I miss my friends very much.
I sat by the window of my bed still dreaming of everything as Aunt Em came to my bedroom doorway.
"Dorothy, it's your turn to help Zeke feed the chickens," she slightly smiled to me as I dazed out the window. Perhaps today would be the day I'd see a rainbow in the sky. Uncle Henry told me you can find a rainbow when it rains on a sunny day.
"Do I have to? Hunk will help him," I sighed not wanting to do my share of the housework.
"Hunk is having his own troubles. Look, Dorothy he's trying to put the Scarecrow on the pole outside in the cornfield."
I went to the front window and with Aunt Em laughed so terribly hard at the site. How queer, Hunk and a scarecrow. I opened the door and followed the path he paved so I could help him. Of course the Scarecrow Hunk created looked nothing like the one in Oz. But, it was funny an uncanny.
"You should stuff him with more straw in its shirt, Hunk. Then give him a hat."
"And you know this because?"
I panicked, he also knew about my crazy dream. Oz wasn't a dream it was a place. Was it? All I could see on Hunk's face was the face of the Scarecrow, my scarecrow from Oz.
"Because of the wonderful things it does!" I smiled to him.
"That rhymed," he said to me, "Here, you hold him up and I'll tie him."
I did just that as I remembered talking to my friend the Scarecrow as I helped him get off of his pole in the cornfield.
"It's tedious being stuck up here all day long with a pole up your back!"
"Dear, Can't you get down?" I smiled to him.
"No, you see I'm, well, I'm" he stumbled on his words to me.
"Dorothy?" Hunk brought me back to reality "You seem faraway, in Oz?"
"Stop it, Hunk. You're making fun of me. Oh I'll go help Zeke with the chickens."
When I reached the back of the house Zeke was there talking to Hickory about something I couldn't make out. I listened carefully not letting them see nor hear me.
"So, Emily is just going to bring her to a doctor? Dorothy doesn't need a doctor. She needs someone to talk to. She believes this place is so real! Zeke, we can't let her take Dorothy."
"What can we do, Hick? Maybe if we sent her message, from the beyond?"
"You mean from Oz, Zeke? She already thinks you're a lion. Lie to her? And make Dorothy feel better?"
"It was only an idea Hickory," Zeke turned to the hungry chickens "Keep your shirts on you fluffy pheasants," He said to the chickens behind him as he fed them.
No one believed in Oz more than I did, I walked back up toward the side of the road. Why was it that I was the only person who ever heard of this place. Wasn't there anyone else? Uncle Henry didn't even believe in me.
"Hey, Dorothy!" someone yelled to me. After I looked to the dirt path I watched a boy I knew from school named David wave to me, "Dorothy! You should have seen Old Mean Gulch today. She mentioned you! That wretched girl and her dog, one day they'll see my lawyer!"
"David, I don't go to school now, Aunt Em gives lessons at home. Arithmetic all day long, then English. I read books and report what I have learned from them to her. Science is a struggle, but Professor Marvel likes to come to our house and help me with that and learning agriculture now that he has gotten a more permanent place here in Topeka. I don't deal with Miss Gulch anymore." I looked to the ground to get away from the stare in his eyes, "I have to go David. I'll probably see you at the fair on Saturday."
"That's tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow then, bye David." I walked into the house and Aunt Em gave me that scolding look like she did the day she told me to find a place where there wasn't any trouble.
"I warned you Dorothy, I told you to help Zeke with those chickens!"
"It was my fault Mrs. Gale, I was a foolin' with Hick near the stables and- and it won't happen again ma'am."
I was suspicious to Zeke as he turned away to milk the cows.
"Oh hogwash, Dorothy find out what's wrong with Zeke, we can't lose another farmhand again. Losing Isaiah was bad enough! Talk to Zeke, Henry needs me in the storm cellar, winds are blowin' again. We can't afford another twister to come and take the house again!" Em ran off to her husband.
My mouth had dropped wide open, "Again! Aunt Em!" But it had been too late, my aunt had to help my uncle arrange things in the storm cellar in case another tornado swept up, yes we needed the room since we hired more farmhands to help us in the new cornfield and vegetable garden out back. Hickory helped Uncle Henry make it beautiful, almost as nice and colorful as Munchkinland used to be, almost. The colors of the red onions, and carrots, red, yellow and green peppers, potatoes and others ell entwined in the new garden Uncle Henry built. Sometimes I steal an onion and put it into my sandwich when I am hungry. Uncle Henry finally smiles at me, he never did smile much. But, since the last tornado hit the house drastically things have been different.
I walked back to the stables and noticed Zeke finally feeding the chickens.
"Can I help you, Zeke?" I offered.
"I can do it, sugar" he smiled to me with a smirk, "We're going fishin' later wanna come with Hick, Hunk and me?"
"Sure!"
"And Toto can come too, I love that mutt!" he declared.
I was reminded suddenly of my friend the Cowardly Lion and his first encounter with Toto.
"I'll get you anyway, Pee Wee!" The lion ran, chasing my dog around a tree as the Scarecrow and Tin Man watched as I confronted him and hit his nose.
"Oh! Shame on you!
"What did you do that for? I didn't bite him!"
"No, but you tried to!"
"Dorothy? Yoohoo? Are you here?" Zeke brought me back to life.
"Where did you think I was, in Oz?" Sarcastically I asked him, I'll just stay home tonight, Zeke."
CHAPTER 2 At The Fair
"David, Did you see Miss Gulch?" I ran to my red headed friend who had greeted me with a smile at the fair.
"Yes, it seems she's angry about something."
I put my head down to him almost as if in shame, "I wanted to apologize to her."
"What for?"
"Because of Toto, he just ran after her cat again and tried to bite her. I wanted to apologize in person before she came to my house this time. Aunt Em already thinks dreadful thoughts about me anyway."
"No more dreadful than anyone else in this world, Dorothy."
"I know you're trying to be nice, David but" Aunt Em interrupted him by calling me.
"Dorothy, you stay with me now. We don't want that woman to come after you anymore. Show everyone what a wonderful girl you are." She almost smiled.
We were at the annual fair walking around talking to townsfolk and friends very cordially with Toto by my side. I wore my nice blue gingham dress so I could be presentable to people. It was the best one I had, and all the townsfolk talked about my dress and I behind my back as they were walking away. Everyone would talk to us and they were all very polite, we hadn't seen them in a while and they heard what had happened to our farm and me, asking if I was doing well since the tornado swept over our farm and tried to pick up our house. But as they left I saw their faces and how they would stare at me, in my dress, as if they knew something I didn't. They figured it was the same dress I had gotten hurt in when the storm hit nearly 4 months ago, I happened to be in the Topeka Newspaper in that same dress 2 days after the tornado hit us. I almost felt silly in that thing.
"Can't I get a new dress Aunt Em? Everyone is staring at me so."
"All they're thinking is how pretty you are my dear," she smiled as we walked on with Aunt Em in her small yellow cotton dress.
In the distance I could see a hot dog stand Zeke was standing at, he was waiting for one.
"Aunt Em, may I have a hot dog? Zeke is there and I won't leave his side. I promise!"
"Let him alone Dorothy, we'll stop later," she ignored my plea, "Don't you like the breeze, Dorothy? It's picking up nicely and you can smell the dew from last night's rainfall."
I tried to change the subject, "I know we don't have much money anymore Auntie. And the farmhands practically work for free, you feeding them dinner and all. But, don't we have any money so we could do something nice?"
"Like what sweetheart? We do try the best and do whatever we can for the farm."
"Maybe - a vacation?"
Aunt Em pressed her hand against her heart, "What I'd be able to if we could afford that!"
"Oh Auntie, could a cotton candy be good instead? I know how much you like them!" I smiled to her thinking of a way to distract her.
"We'll share it, Dorothy," she smiled back.
She reached her small black purse when the meanest person to ever walk this earth approached us in the middle of the fair with her arms crossed around her chest. Everyone just stared as we were abruptly stopped in front of a Balloon Exhibitionist. I was able to take my eyes off of her as I reached down to pick up my little dog Toto from harm. She reminded me so much of the Wicked Witch of the West it was ridiculous. I remembered her cackle so well.
"I see she's doing well since the twister," Miss Gulch looked to Aunt Em but directed her words to me, "Well, her dog came after me again, Emily. Here, at the fair of all places!"
"He didn't hurt you! Toto didn't do anything wrong, your cat did, Miss Gulch! And you know it," I was angry and shocked at the site of this woman.
"Dorothy," Aunt Em scolded me with that look again. Only that look could make me feel so guilty. Aunt Em changed the subject, "I see you're doing well Elmira," she smiled to her sweetly, "Has your ankle gotten better since that dreadful twister hit your farm too?"
"You already know what happened to my farm! It's gone. Nothing is left. That's as much as I can say about your house!"
"Now don't bring that up Elmira. Please, people in glass houses shouldn't cast stones!"
Miss Gulch stared at me for the longest time, "She doesn't know," Miss Gulch just stared at me "Do you Dorothy?"
"Know what?" I asked.
Aunt Em gave her a look to stop talking, and I couldn't understand why.
"Tell her Emily."
Aunt Em fretted as she told me what needed to be said, "Sweetie, I didn't think it particular to tell you. But, since the cat has already been leaked out of the bag" Aunt Em looked accusingly to Miss Gulch.
"Now don't go blaming this on me!" Miss Gulch interrupted, "If you don't tell her, I will"
Aunt Em simply blurted out what had to be said.
"You were declared missing for a month, Dorothy. You and our first house."
"First house? Aunt Em!"
"Now wait just a gosh darn minute Em!" Uncle Henry trotted to us from the rifle range. "What are you doing tell Dorothy what happened? We agreed - oh it's you," Uncle Henry smirked in disgust at the site of the Witch of the West look a like.
"But, Aunt Em, the house"
"Isn't your concern Dorothy," Uncle Henry interrupted.
"No, Henry she should know. We shouldn't be lying to Dorothy what month it is anymore."
"This here is your fault, Gulch!"
"Now don't take that tone with me!" Miss Gulch said to
Uncle Henry.
"Well, you started it, Elvira," he snarled.
"Elmira! And you should be lucky I'm nice to you at all!"
"You call standin' here insultin' my niece nice?"
"Henry, stop it. Dorothy, Dorothy!" Aunt Em yelled for me but it was too late I turned around and walked faster than I ever could to get away from them still holding my dog, Toto in my arms. Tears welled in my eyes as they fell down my cheeks.
"What's Dorothy doin' alone out there?" Hickory asked Hunk as they were trying to impress some pretty girls.
"We better go to her before her aunt and uncle worry!" Hunk replied.
"Dorothy!" they ran to me half smiling.
"Are you alright?" Hunk asked me.
"How could you? All of you deceived me! Making me believe I was wrong about what happened. Uncle Henry said I was unconscious for a few days. But, to find out I was missing? For one month? That's how long it took to build a duplicate of my aunt's house?"
Zeke's face was guilty as sin, "Using Old Mean Gulch's farmhands the job was better than expected."
"We're sorry Dorothy," Hickory tried to explain to me.
"It was you're uncle who told us not to mention it to you." Hunk shuffled his feet.
"And your aunt too. They were worried. We all were. We never thought we'd ever see you again," Hickory said.
"It's true then, I DID go to OZ! And you know it too!"
"You can't go tellin' that story to everyone. People are gonna think you're crazy," Hunk tried to warn me.
"Here! Here! What's all this yelling I'm hearing? Would anyone like to go up in my balloon good Gentlemen? You can see for miles here in my balloon. It's a good ride! You'll enjoy it. On this very windy day," the balloon exhibitionist laughed as the wind began to pick up even more than before as dark clouds rolled overhead.
My friends suddenly looked to the ground as I looked at him closely.
"The Wizard!" I whispered out loudly, "How did 'you' get to Kansas?"
"Dorothy? Oh, my dear how wonderful to see you again! How do you happen to be here? Wonderful! Wonderful! And who are these good chaps?" the once Wizard smiled from ear to ear.
"It's good to see you again! These are my friends Hunk, Hickory and Zeke," all 3 men waved sheepishly to him, " How did you get to Kansas?"
"Dear men have I seen you somewhere before?" he asked them.
"No, these are the farmhands that work at my aunt's house. But they do look like the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion, don't they?" I smiled to him.
"Yes, well uh, they uh, do. Dorothy, try not to mention that in a normal civilized conversation. Will ya?"
"You see Hunk, the Wizard is proof I went there!"
"Humbug, remember I'm a humbug, not a real wizard!"
"Dorothy, it's Professor Marvel acting. Don't you see?" Hickory pointed out.
"Who is Professor Marvel? Oh, you mean my cousin from Omaha! Johnathan Marvel. He travels Kansas and state borders. Pretends to be psychic and such, but he's, uh, he's not. He too started as a Balloon Exhibitionist like me!" he adjusted his jacket to the gusty wind.
"You're cousin?"
"How dare you leave our conversation, Dorothy! I mean to talk to you about your dog, Miss Gale!" Miss Gulch approached me more rudely than before.
Zeke finally let her have it, "Shut up you old hag! And leave her dog alone!"
"I'll get my lawyer!"
"Do it! See if I care, you witch!"
"Yes, yes! She does resemble that witch from the west," the wizard said to him self aloud.
"Witch? That'll be the day I look like a witch you old goat!" she told off the humbug wizard.
"No I wasn't a goat. I was a-a wizard. And a bad one at that," he lowered his tone.
"Excuse me, but does anybody remember that day the tornado swept over Kansas?" Hickory asked shaking.
The ex-wizard spoke, "No, why?"
Chapter Three It's a Twister!
"Because there it is!" he pointed to the vicious sky.
There, in the sky another huge, monster like tornado rumbled through, directly heading toward us.
"Not again!" Miss Gulch gasped in terror.
"To the wagons!" people shouted.
"Dorothy!" Aunt Em called, "Dorothy!"
"Where do we go? What do we do?" Zeke panicked.
"It's open field! Hope we don't get caught in the twister! Help!" Hunk ran towards Aunt Em as did all of us including the Wizard and Miss Gulch.
"My basket!!" Miss Gulch yelled as it was sucked into the mighty winds of the tornado.
"Forget about you're basket, my balloon!" The wizard ran for it.
Hickory grabbed him, "What are you doing? You'll be killed!"
"It's my trademark! I have to take it down!" he broke free.
After loosening 3 ropes, the balloon was slowly moving toward him but was still in the path of the suction of the dynamic twister that was still getting closer to us with every moment.
"What shall we do?" I yelled in horror.
"We can't help him, we'll all be killed!" Hunk yelled over the thunder, "Dorothy run faster!"
"I can't leave him!" I turned around.
"Dorothy, Run!" Hickory yelled as he grabbed my arm.
"That old goat chose his fate, get into the wagon, now!" Miss Gulch demanded.
Dorothy couldn't leave him behind he was essential to her life. If he didn't leave in his balloon to get out of Oz Dorothy probably wouldn't have seen Glinda again and have gotten home with her ruby red shoes. She could have been stuck with him in his balloon anywhere in the world.
"Someone! Somebody, Help me!" he raged to the wind. I heard him scream.
I ran to the Wizard to try and save him and his balloon as Miss Gulch and the others stared at me in disbelief.
"She'll kill herself! Dorothy, you get back here this minute!" She yelled to me, "She's a damn fool!" Miss Gulch added.
"We gotta help, Dorothy!" Hickory panicked as he watched the heavy twister coming closer and closer to us.
"I ain't goin' out there!" Zeke cried in terror.
"Stop bein' a coward! Dorothy and her friend are in trouble!" Hunk screamed to him.
Hickory, Hunk and Zeke all rushed out from underneath the nailed down canvas that covered Miss Gulch's wagon.
"We're gonna die," Elmira said to herself. She too carefully stepped out leaving Emily and Henry inside the covered canvassed wagon.
"Grab, the rope!" the wizard yelled to me to be heard over the sharp, howling winds.
As I did I looked up to see a fierce whirlwind headed straight for me at full speed. It's dark glooming spinning put me in a trance. I hadn't seen a tornado so close since the time my aunt's house lifted me into it, going higher and higher into the darkened clouds.
The balloon was stuck as it continued to rock back and forth. I was sure I was to perish. I was so frightened for my life. Before me there wasn't a choice left. Either I got into the balloon and sailed away or I would be doomed for certain death in the twister's path of destruction. I watched Hunk, Zeke and Hickory tell the wizard to go back to the wagon and stay there. Miss Gulch's wagon was free from its path of destruction. I watched my friends stand by me as I helped my friend the wizard. But, it was Miss Gulch to tried to pull me back.
"Dorothy, we leave now!" she screamed in my ear rudely.
I was determined to free the wizard's balloon from damage. Hickory tried to help me untie the rope as Zeke tried to stop the balloon from moving back and forth.
"No! You aren't my aunt or uncle, you can't tell me what to do! Let me alone!"
"What are we to do? Help!" Hunk screamed, "Let's get out of here!"
Suddenly a change in wind drastically shook and another whirlwind unearthed from the side of the other whirlwind twisting and turning beside the first one. We watched two tornados bend down from the sky and pick up the earth beneath them practically killing and destroying life here on the prairie. All felt lost. I dragged Old Mean Gulch, as everyone called her and shoved her into the wizard's balloon as I followed in after her. When I turned around for my friends they were gone!
"Dorothy!" I heard.
An empty wagon flew around my head from the other tornado. I saw three faces staring back at me as I pulled what was left of the rope up. All at once the balloon sailed directly into the devastatingly horrid tornado. Winds continued to howl like high- pitched wolves as winds tried tipping us violently. Miss Gulch had never been in a whirlwind like this before. Last time she lost her house. The last tornado smashed her home to pieces. Miss Gulch had to stop at her cousin's house to escape the twister and go into the storm cellar. This time circumstances were different, being inside of the tornado made her fear for her life as she screamed her head off as we fell to the bottom of the balloon in panic.
Then I suddenly heard a voice calling for me.
"Dorothy?"
"Where are you?"
"Scarecrow?" I yelled back as I sat up, was it really him?
"Lay down! Can't you see we're gonna die? That's Hickory, Hickory! Hunk! Zeke! Help!" she screamed in terror.
Miss Gulch grabbed me and forced me beside her near the bottom of the basket of the balloon.
"Help!" she screamed again.
Shrieking noises took over everything else around us. Suddenly a dull yellow dusted covered brick hit Miss Gulch squarely on her head. She was out cold. As we continued to shake and rattle inside of the balloon's basket, which was inside of the twister, my hand reached for the strange object that hit my enemy. Was she my enemy? She had tried to help me. As I picked up the brick I was brought back to where I was about 4 or 5 months ago.
'A yellow brick?' I thought to myself. "Oz! Oh, Maybe we'll land in Oz!" I smiled at the thought, but how? We still were twisting, entwined with the wind. I found myself closing my eyes gently as I fell to sleep beside my dog, Toto.
When I woke up I found I was falling from the sky!
"OUCH!" Miss Gulch landed in a huge, green bucket of foaming hot water.
"Where are we?" I asked her, as I rubbed my backside.
"It's the Wizard's balloon!" someone yelled.
"He's here! The Wizard of Oz is back!" another shouted.
"What a world! I'm wet! And it's burning my skin!" awkwardly, yet quite funny Miss Gulch nearly bolted out of the tub drenched from head to foot.
"Where is the Wizard of Oz?" people shouted from outside.
"His balloon is here but he isn't!"
On the side of the bucket Miss Gulch landed in read The Wash and Brush Up Company Of Oz.
I forgot about how I fell from the sky and landed on my backside through the green roof onto the stuffing machine that was used to restuff the Scarecrow when I first came to the Emerald City in Oz.
"Look what did u do to me? Dorothy, this is your fault!"
"I-I'm sorry Miss Gulch. It's not my fault the tornado brought us here."
"The roof is broken! Maybe the Wizard fell into in Wash and Brush Up Company!" A citizen of the Emerald City exclaimed.
"Maybe we can get out, Miss Gulch. I can show all the places and where I went if I could only unlock this door! Oh, it won't budge."
I heard what sounded like keys from the other side of the door, "Mr. Wizard, sir are you - Miss Dorothy Gale!" the guard of the gate opened the locked door to quite a surprise, "How did you get here?"
"We fell! And I'm gonna sue you!" Miss Gulch saw red before her eyes in rage, "Why is everything so 'green'?"
"It's the Emerald City!" I told her as we walked out of the front of the Wash and Brush Up Company. All the citizens of the Emerald City happened to rush up to us and inquire about what happened.
"Did you come in the balloon?"
"Where is the Wizard of Oz?"
"Dorothy, who is this menacing person beside you?"
"Your friends will be outraged when they hear what has happened to the Emerald City!"
I was shocked first of all to be back in Oz inside of the Emerald City. At least this time I didn't kill anybody!
"Who are you?" Miss Gulch demanded.
"Miss Gulch, please I know them very well. The last time I was here they tried to help the Wizard get me back to Kansas!"
"Last time? Wizard? Dorothy, what's going on? I demand an explanation to why I am drenched in water, of all things. This place all so 'green.' Well, I don't like it!"
"Don't you dare say anything about the Emerald City! These people are my friends!"
Toto suddenly came barking out the front door all drenched in water too, his dark fur sagged.
"Oh, Toto!" I went to him "I thought the fall would have hurt you dreadfully!"
"I'll take him Miss Dorothy, I'll make sure he is bathed nicely and polished up to the bow that matches your dress!"
"Thank you!"
"And can I help you Ma'am?" a man asked Miss Gulch.
"Oh! I'll ma'am you!" Miss Gulch quipped to him.
"We only aim to satisfy our customers who come to the Emerald City at the Wash And Brush Up Company," a woman said to her.
"Well, I never! Special service to me?"
"Yes, let us help you. Come back inside."
Miss Gulch, Toto and I walked back into the Wash and Brush Up Company with the staff from the Emerald City to make the both of us look more presentable and decent.
CHAPTER 4 The Comeuppance of Miss Gulch
Over the rainbow we were, and Miss Gulch and I landed squarely in the Emerald City with Toto. We were lucky to be found at all with such a nasty storm we could have been taken anywhere. But, I can't say as much for my friends Hickory, Zeke and Hunk. At least they were fortunate enough to land in Oz at all.
"Hunk, Where we at?" Zeke asked as he knelt on his hands and knees. He too was covered in water, with a big green leaf on his head as he looked around at one of the most wonderful site around him. Zeke could have been doubled as the Lion himself!
"Zeke, are you alright?" Hickory inquired, as he lay motionless in the water beside him staring at the most wonderful sky above him.
"At least I'm not wet!" Hunk chuckled and told them as his body flipped into the pond from the bushes.
Zeke pointed, "Look at ya, you're all wet."
"Now, Zeke don't start that again!" Suddenly all three men looked around more curiously, full of wonder and surprise. Hunk, Hickory and Zeke stood up, as their eyes grew bigger. Slowly, the men walked out of the pond.
"Hunk that's Dorothy's house!" Hickory stared.
"The first house? Wait, it's been here the whole time? Hickory, where are we?"
"In a place that's B-E-A-UTIFUL!" Zeke pointed out, "Guys, look at those little houses, and look, there's a path, a yellow path, maybe we should follow it! Or maybe we should follow the red one! Look at Dorothy's house. What's Dorothy's house doing in this place?" Everyone stared at the house closely, wondering how it got here the first time.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Hunk asked.
"We can't be?"
"But, we are!"
"Oz?" All asked each other, incredulously.
"Nah!" Zeke didn't believe it.
"We're dreaming," Hunk said to them.
"Hey, Hunk. I don't like my dream. I wanna dream what you're dreaming! Ha Ha!" Zeke teased in fun and wonder.
"Where's Dorothy?" Hickory asked.
"Dorothy landed in the Emerald City!" A small voice was heard, "Who are you?"
The three men turned around. No one was there.
"Who said that?" Hunk asked, still standing drenched in water next to his water logged friends.
"Look!" another squeaky voice was heard.
Above them a light, pink bubble slowly and softly fell to the ground. Then emerged a woman dressed all in light pink beautiful gown."
"Excuse me, this dress is suppose to be dry cleaning!" A wave of her wand and her pink dress became a light robin's egg blue.
"Magic!" Hickory exclaimed.
"I get it, we're in Oz, right?" Zeke said to the woman.
"Be respectful, Zeke," Hickory said to him.
"Who might you be?" Glinda inquired, "Are you a witch too?"
Hickory took off his hat, My lady I, my name is Hickory and these are my friends Zeke and Hunk," he smiled.
"What's a hunk?"
"That's what my friends call me ma'am." Hunk also took his hat off, "My real name is Henry, but my parents call me Hank. When I started working at the Gale farm my friends called me Hunk," he awkwardly smiled to her.
She smiled back, "I'm Glinda, the Witch of the North."
"You're a witch? Hunk, she's witch," Zeke repeated, "And we're in Oz!"
Glinda stared curiously at the 3 men. She silently nodded and smiled.
Hunk questioned her, "Have you seen our friend Dorothy? Do you know of her?"
"Dorothy Gale is at the city of emeralds which is at the end of the Yellow Brick Road! Did you bring a broomstick so you can get there?"
Zeke was beginning to become paranoid, "Broomstick?" he panicked, "We're gonna die. We're gonna die here in Oz! What am I saying? 'Oz'?"
"Yes, you have landed in Munchkinland, a distinct country within the Land of Oz."
"What's a Munchkin, Glinda? Can you eat it?" Hunk asked. A loud gasped was heard throughout Munchkinland.
"Oh, Dear no! You can't, uh, Hunk. I must say you all look very familiar. Didn't you once ask for a brain?"
Zeke laughed, and laughed hard he did, "Hunk's always lookin' for his brain! Ha!"
"You cut it out, Zeke!" Hunk turned to him with a funny face.
"Do you always act like this?" Glinda gave a quizzical look to them.
"Not all the time," Hickory looked at Zeke warningly to shut his mouth.
"I must say you wanted a heart, did you not?" She asked Hickory.
"What do you think he is? Made of tin?" Zeke laughed at his own joke.
"Speak for yourself," Hunk said to him.
"And you're the cowardly Lion, who wanted courage!" Glinda smirked and smiled to Zeke.
Hunk and Hickory laughed at the thought of a lion with no courage and Zeke's face where the lion's face would be. Zeke got his comeuppance.
"If we are in the land of the Munchkins, where are they?" Hickory asked.
"Hiding. You three had such a nasty fall! And look, the duckling pond is now ruined. If only we had the red ruby shoes. We wouldn't need for this mess to be cleaned up at all.
"We must have hit our heads harder than we thought," Hunk said, "Ruby shoes?" he inquired.
"They once were owned by the witch of the East. Last time Dorothy's house fell on the witch."
"Ouch!" Zeke said in disgust.
"Then Dorothy brought them to the Emerald city after a frightful adventure before she returned to her homeland of Kansas."
"Well, we have to get there too!" Hickory said to her.
"But, we have to bring Dorothy back with us. She's our friend too! And her Aunt and Uncle would have a cow if she never came back," Hunk told her.
Glinda thought for a moment, then spoke, "You can come out, they won't harm you! These men are friends of Dorothy, your savior!"
"Hail For Dorothy! The Wicked Witch of the East is Dead!" a little Munchkin girl yelled to the farmhands.
The Munchkin Mayor came up to the three men.
"Welcome to the land of the Munchkins, anyone who is a friend of our savior is a friend to us!"
The Coroner followed the Mayor to Glinda's lily pad, to where Hunk, Hickory and Zeke stood. "We graciously invite you to stay in Munchkinland. Because the witch is no longer alive, we have our freedom to invite anyone we wish!"
"No, thank you. We need to find Dorothy and go back to Kansas!" Hunk said to them.
"You're Midgets?" Zeke asked them curiously.
"Little People, if you please. Most commonly known here as Munchkins," The green Munchkin from the Lollipop Guild said to them with a big smile. A crowd of Munchkins gathered bigger and bigger.
"It's a standing ovation!" Zeke noticed all the Munchkins coming closer before them.
Hickory questioned the Glinda and the Munchkins, "Please tell me, who would ask for brains, a heart and courage?"
"Dorothy's Gale's friends she met in Oz asked for them. The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion should be following down the
Yellow Brick Road to get the Emerald City as we speak."
"All we have to do is follow the Yellow Brick Road?" Zeke pointed.
"The Munchkins shall see you off to the border of Munchkinland. Good Luck finding Dorothy and her friends. They may of service to you! And Follow The Yellow Brick Road." Glinda floated away in her round, pink bubble toward the sky.
"She's peculiar, ain't she?" Zeke asked them.
"Stop bein' a wiseacre, Zeke!" Hunk said to him.
"Maybe we should find Dorothy?" Hickory suggested, "She could be in the Emerald City?"
"Let's find Dorothy!" Zeke agreed.
"Yes!" Hunk smiled at the thought, "To Oz?"
"To Oz!" Hunk, Hickory and Zeke walked through the crowd of Munchkins as they smiled and waved to the citizens of Munchkinland. They followed the Yellow Brick Road directly toward the Emerald City as they waved goodbye to their new friends.
Back in the Emerald City there was slight chaos. The Quadling Cleaners had to come and fix the damage Miss Gulch and I had caused to the Emerald City. I felt so guilty to my friends of the Emerald City after what had happened. Still, I wonder how I got here again after everything that has lead up to this moment. Yes, I had longed to come back and see my friends the Scarecrow and Tin Man, and yes my dear friend the Cowardly Lion. I missed them so.
After speaking to the guard who had stood before the throne room I learned that my friends had gone on a trip to Munchkinland to commemorate the deaths of the Wicked Witches of the East and West in honor of me, Dorothy Gale. Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, who isn't so cowardly anymore, had honored me as savior of Oz in Munchkinland. Any day soon they would be back to the Emerald City and continue to reign over Oz.
Miss Gulch however, believes in none of this tomfoolery. She says she will wake up in her own bed beside her cousin in Kansas very soon! And she totally hates the color green. "It's the color of grass," she explained to the citizens. Before sunset she had looked out over to the open window near the front of the Emerald City. Softly she began to yawn and close her eyes.
"Miss Gulch what are you doing? Stay away from the window!" I yelled to her.
"Why?" she asked so rudely back to me.
"Because of the smell of the poppies! You will fall to sleep and never wake up like I have the last I was here with my friends."
"Dorothy, the day I believe you were here will be the day I eat liver!"
"David told me you liked liver!"
"David who? Oh, that boy again. Well, you'll never see him, or your aunt and uncle again. And I'll never see Gladys. Sweet cousin, Gladys!" she smiled. I was shocked at the site of Miss Gulch with a smile on her face for once.
"What's that?" She pointed out the window in shock.
"Why it's a flying monkey! They belonged to the witch of the west. But, after I melted her with a bucket of water they went free. I guess that fly all over Oz now."
" A monkey that flies? Do you honestly think I'm going to believe that story?"
"You have to it's the truth! Why don't you ever believe me, Miss Gulch? I've been here before. And these clothes they gave us, don't you see? We're here in Oz! It's real! And it's green too," I teased her.
"How I loathe this color! It' distasteful! It's horrible! It"
"Looks good on you" I said to her.
"Ewww!" She screamed to me as she walked away toward a guard, "Can I use your phone?"
"Phone?"
"Yes, a machine to call my cousin! And get me out of here!"
"We do not have phones in Oz madam" Miss Gulch pursed her lips. "How do we get out of here?" she croaked.
"We could sail away," I said, as I looked out the window myself as I yawned and thought to myself.
"Well, we're not using that balloon again, I can assure you of that!"
"Last time I used my ruby red shoes. I clicked them three times and said there's no place like home! Then I woke up at home!"
"You were missing Dorothy. Missing for good month at that! If it weren't for me you'd still be"
Miss Gulch turned toward the door and stopped talking.
I sat upright, "Still be where?"
Miss Gulch stared at me hard, "You'd still be thrown near the
Remains of my old house, near the river. Lord knows how you got there!"
"You saved me?"
"Well, I wasn't gonna let you die. I'd punish you before I'd let that happen to you!"
"Why you do like me!"
"Don't let it go to your head, we still have to find a way how to get out of here!" Miss Gulch looked out again out of the window of the palace of the Emerald City. "Is that a yellow road?"
"It's the Yellow Brick Road madam," a citizen of Oz said to her. "It will lead you all the way to Munchkinland."
"What's a Munchkin? Can ya eat it?"
"Certainly not!"
"Miss Gulch listen to me again, I landed in Munchkinland once before when I landed on the Witch of the East whose ruby red shoes I had used to go home!"
Miss Gulch only rolled her eyes.
I went over to the guard of the gate to the throne room. "How can I find a way to get back to Kansas? I don't have the shoes like before?"
Suddenly from up above the open sky light in the Emerald City dropped down a light pink ray, which looked like Glinda the Good Witch's bubble. Slowly it reached the ground and Glinda emerged from it.
"Glinda! It's you! Oh, Can you help me find my friends and get me back to Kansas? This is a friend of mine from Kansas too."
"There are other friends Dorothy." She said to me, smiling as I remembered the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. However she was thinking of Hunk, Hickory and Zeke whom she had just seen.
"I know, I would like to see them again if I could, Glinda."
"Certainly," with a waved slowly from her wand she cast a spell. Instantly Hunk, Hickory and Zeke stood before us.
"Hickory, Zeke, Oh Hunk, it's you!" I went to them.
"It's her!" Hunk jumped a mile as he saw Glinda.
"It's magic!" Zeke jumped, looking around the green palace.
"What did u do to us?" Hickory frightened had asked her.
"I granted Dorothy's wish!"
"Why didn't you help us when we asked you to?" Hunk stared at her.
"I had to give you test! Would you have gone on an adventure to see your friend again? Some people do! And some people don't. I did.
But, that was decades ago. This is about you, and Dorothy and some woman who resembles the Witch of the West most horribly!"
"Stay out of this, Glinda!" Miss Gulch reprimanded her.
"And how do you know my name?"
Miss Gulch was taken aback, how did she know her name? No one told her who Glinda was at all.
"Gladys?"
"Should I know you?"
"Gladys? It's, it's me. Elmira. Gladys?"
"Whom, are you referring to?" Glinda was a bit agitated at the site of Miss Gulch and her attitude.
"Gladys is my cousin! You are Gladys, aren't you?"
"Miss Gulch, you better be careful. Things aren't as cut and dry as they are in Kansas!" Hunk said to her.
"I know no one of that name! Be Gone!"
"Gladys!"
"I said, be gone!"
Suddenly from out of nowhere a flying monkey from high above the skylight of the Emerald City came down and swooped up Miss Gulch in one sweep and carried her away.
"Oh! Come back you horrid monkey! Bring Miss Gulch back!" I cried.
"Glinda, what did you do?" Hickory asked her.
"I gave that woman a taste of her own medicine. Let's see what happens to her now!"
"But, how can we help her now? Glinda, Good Witch of the North, let us find her and help her. Then we can find a way to get back home!" Hunk said.
"All you can do is wait for friends and journey to the west. You will see, my dear," Glinda had an odd look on her face with a crooked smile.
Glinda went back to her bubble and flew away.
Chapter 5 – You Are Me, Marvelous Marvel
"Well, what do we do now?" Hunk asked me.
"Dorothy, are we really in the Land of Oz?" Hickory asked, "It's not real, is it kid?"
"And how will we get Mean Old Gulch back?" Zeke asked.
"We should wait for the Scarecrow, he'll know what to do." I assured them.
"Dorothy this isn't like the time you and I hung a scarecrow in the cornfield. Scarecrows aren't real, are they?" Hunk asked not believing me.
"Neither was Oz. Oz wasn't real until you came here,! Now who's telling the truth? Come with me, all of you."
As I held my dog Toto, I walked my friends out to the front of the Emerald City. As we stepped out I could see my friends eyes get bigger and bigger from what they saw.
"What's that?" Zeke asked. I told him we were inside of the Emerald City.
"What's that?" Hickory asked, I told him that, that was where I fell asleep when the Wicked Witch of the West enchanted the poppy field, then Glinda the Good made the snowflakes fall to lull the scent of the poppies so we could continue on our journey to the Emerald City to get the Scarecrow a brain, the Tin Man a heart and the Lion his courage and me back home.
"What's that?" Hunk asked, looking down to what he saw was the end of the Yellow Brick Road that met the beginning of the Emerald City. He remembered what Glinda had told him in Munchkinland. The end of the Yellow Brick Road would lead to the where the Emerald City would be. But, he didn't want to believe it. They all still rejected the notion of an actual Land of Oz but everything pointed to the fact that there really was a beautiful land and it was real.
"Oh! Look! It's my friends!" Dorothy ran towards the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion.
"Who's that? The Lion asked the Scarecrow. All three friends saw in the distance a blue gingham dress running towards them.
"It's Dorothy!" The Tin Man smiled with tears of happiness, "And just in time."
The Scarecrow jumped gleefully, "She's in Oz! She's back! Don't you start crying again, Tin Man. Your oilcan is back inside the Emerald City! Go around the Poppy Field now."
I watched my special friends come closer and closer to me as I did in my dreams every night. Finally after all this time I would be able to hug the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. Oh, how I've missed them so much! Because he was so light on his feet the Scarecrow reached me first. I hugged him so close to my heart as I kissed his burlapped face, every smart move we made was because he of him.
"Dorothy," he said my name so lovingly, "it's so good to see you again!"
"Oh, Scarecrow! I missed you so much!"
"Lion, oh I've missed your incessant whining," I admitted to him with tears falling down my cheeks. He too was crying as he kissed my two cheeks.
I simply held the Tim Man in my arms in fear of ever leaving him. I missed his jointed squeaks as he walked.
"It's so wonderful to see you, Dorothy!" he said.
"Don't cry. I don't know where your oil can is!" I said to him with more tears. It felt as if they were the same tears I left them with so many months before, "I've missed you all so dreadfully!"
"Who? Who are they?" Tin Man asked as he looked beyond me.
Three men stood in shock as they saw an actual Scarecrow walk and talk, and at the site of a man made of tin. Still they were a bit confused about the lion. He stood on his hind legs and walked while he actually talked and cried to a naïve Dorothy.
Hunk walked up carefully to me, "Excuse me, Dorothy, d-don't you think you should be careful about talking to a l-lion?"
"It's alright Hunk, he found his courage, didn't you?" I said to him.
"I'm King of the Forest! And Oz," he foolishly admitted as Zeke walked up to him staring ridiculously.
"H-hey!" Zeke almost shyly continually went up to the Lion, "Glinda said you look like me!"
"Aren't you a bit too much like me?" the Lion sized him up and down.
"You aren't me, are ya?" Zeke quizzically looked at the Lion.
"How can I be you if you're me?"
"How can I be me, if I am you?"
Scarecrow intervened, "How can any of you be each other if the other already exists?"
"That's a trick question!" both answered.
Zeke smiled from ear to ear and laughed, "Hey, I like this guy! He's a lot like me!" He pats the Lion on his back nicely, "Ya gotta name?"
"Never had one, I got courage! The Wizard gave it to me personally, he's a humbug, yea," he smiled to Zeke.
"He gave me a heart," admitted the Tin Man.
"And he gave me a brain!" The Scarecrow added.
Zeke walked up to Hickory, "Hick, I was right. Your altar ago is made of tin! I told Glinda remember? Tin? Yeah? A heart? Come on, I'll show ya around!" Zeke was permanently in wonder and awe of the sights and people around him. He totally was in touch with his inner self to feel comfortable around them and Dorothy.
Hunk commented to Dorothy, "I think Zeke is has lost it! This isn't real, Dorothy? Where are we?"
"You're in the Emerald City," The Scarecrow said to Hunk as both Hunk and the Scarecrow did a double take.
"You're me!" Hunk said to him.
"Don't start that again!" The Tin Man said to them as he approached a conversation with Hickory, " So if the Lion is Zeke and he is the Scarecrow does that make me, you?"
"My name is Hickory," he smiled to the Tin Man right before he passed out to the ground, flat.
"Oh, Hickory!" I ran to him with all my friends behind me.
"Is he alright?" The Scarecrow asked.
"It's because he saw himself, isn't it?" the Lion said.
"Hickory, you've got to get up!" Hunk said as he helped him.
"Let me help," the Tin Man said to him. As he helped him up Hickory saw the tin figure again and fell once more to the ground in a heap.
"It's shock! It's shock!" Zeke pointed out.
Hickory mumbled to himself half sleeping, "It's a dream, it's only a dream, and it's a dream."
"Oh, Hickory," I held his head in my lap, "It's alright, they won't hurt you. I promise."
Hunk went over to talk to me, "Dorothy, Hickory has never been passed Elmira's house, that's the end of the county in Kansas. He's never been on a trip anywhere."
"Yea, all this is scarin' him, Zeke admitted.
"How do you know this?" the Scarecrow asked them.
"He's been our friend since we were young," Hunk said to him, "I should know! Hickory, get up!"
"Zeke? Hunk? Oh, Dorothy!" Hickory finally came to, "For a moment I thought I was back at home, in bed. And I dreamed I was far away."
"You're really far away from Kansas, Hickory. Remember Oz?"
"Oh, Lion, stop it. He's never been away from home, have you Hickory?" I asked him.
The Scarecrow spoke, "If we go back inside of the Emerald City maybe we can help you."
"Yes, lets!" Tin Man agreed.
"Come on!" Zeke lead the way back inside the Emerald City.
In the West of the Emerald City stood a castle. A castle that had been forgotten months ago for a wicked witch was melted and all the Winkie Guards who worked for the Witch of the West were set free, as were the flying monkeys who were also prisoners to the witch. All that was left of the Wicked Witch of the West was her hat and broom. Her broom, be as it may was mantled in the middle of the Emerald City's wall in honor of Dorothy who had killed her, alongside her friends in self-defense.
There a monkey who had been set free found an unlikely person down in the middle of the Emerald City. The leader of the Flying Monkeys noticed a person similar in appearance to the dead green witch.
Could it be? Nikko, the flying monkey thought to himself.
In panic to his possibility he swooped down into the clutches of the Emerald City and picked up the odd looking woman who squealed and yelled all the way as she traveled to the west. There she was dropped on a balcony of where the witch once stood. Nikko dropped her on her backside as she yelled to the monkey in fear. She stood up and shook in panic. Closer and carefully the monkey with wings watchfully approached her, peering into her eyes slowly.
"What do you want? Don't eat me!" she screamed to him.
Miss Gulch heard a voice, "So it is you, my love?"
"Who's that?" She heard from what had almost sounded like the wind whispering to her.
In the shadows she saw a figure standing. It couldn't be could it? No, it couldn't be. But, yes it was.
"Johnathan?" She stared back at the winged monkey then back at him.
"Now we can be together, and rule this land as King and Queen as it will rightly be in Oz!"
"How in the world did you get here? And who is this monkey?"
"This monkey is no fool, it knows power. My powers now."
"Johnathan, is it true? Can we be together? Is it so? Oh, Let it be!"
Johnathan Marvel went closer to Elmira, whom he loved dearly with all his heart, "My love, now that you are here, be watchful. We will live happily ever after," he kissed her lips tenderly.
"Oh, Johanthan. I can't believe you are here, in all places to be. That twister was horrid. And so is that Monkey!"
"But you got here, didn't you Mira?"
"But, how did you?"
"Aha!" with a mischievous smile Professor Johnathan Marvel uncovered his cloaked clothes to reveal his secret beneath him.
"I found them!" he sinfully laughed.
Miss Gulch looked to the floor near his feet and saw a deep red sparkling that glistened. She got down to her knees in awe to look closer and touched them.
"Does Dorothy know?" Elmira marveled in their beauty.
"Is there a truer ruler of Oz, Mira?"
"How do they work?"
"As Dorothy put it, you click the heels three times and POOF!"
Elmira looked up to him, "You're not a fake anymore," she sighed deeply, "You are marvelous! Marvelous Marvel," she smiled to him.
"Get up my love, let me show you something."
CHAPTER 6