A/N- I started this story last Easter, and it took on a bizzare life of it's own. I'd love to hear what you think, especially any lines that caught your eye or made you laugh, so please review! Allyp
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Scary munched her toast, thinking about what she would do today. It was Easter and the standard basket of chocolate and jelly beans sat on the table in front of her. Inside the basket was a more unusual gift however, and Scary sat contemplating it as she followed the toast with chocolate.
Her brother Brian flipped her braids as he went by. "A jump rope, huh squirt? What does he think you are, like five?"
"Tuh," she snorted, eating a jelly bean. "I like jump roping. Can I have your black jelly beans?"
"Goin' to Granma's later?" Brian poured himself some oj into Scary's mug.
"Yeah." Scary smoothed the layer of candy in the bottom of her basket and started standing Pixy-Stix upright in a circle around the jump rope. "Look, Pixy-Stonehenge."
"Cool. Are you going to sacrifice the jump rope to the Pixy-Stix gods?" He peered over her shoulder at the basket, sipping his oj.
"Only after the dancing and the pounding of drums. You working today?"
"Yup. Double pay, 'cause it's a holiday. I wonder if you can snort Pixy-Stix?"
"I'm sure the guys at work could tell you."
He laughed. "Probably. You can bring Granma my jelly beans. Tell her and Dad I said happy Easter." He tugged her braids one last time, then strolled out to the truck with his mug of oj and a bagel, whistling The Lumberjack Song.
After Scary had showered, changed, eaten an egg and some more toast, her Father came yawning downstairs. "Morning sweetie. Are you raiding your brother's candy?"
"He said I could have his black jelly beans. Happy Easter."
"Going over to Granma's then? Happy Easter to you, too."
"Yup. Brian went to the lumberyard already; he says happy Easter. Are you going to eat your black jelly beans?" Scary watched her Father rummage in a cupboard.
"I never eat black jelly beans. You and Granma are the only weirdos I know who do. Enjoy. Make sure you're back in time for dinner, okay? I'm going to attempt a roast again this year, if Granma brings her rolls and cake." He flipped one of her braids and sat down at the table with a sigh. "So I suppose this means you'll disappear into the woods the second you're finished and I won't see you again until tonight? And are those my old pants you're wearing?"
"Yes. And no, they're Rob's old pants. The 'chemical resistant' ones." She tugged the green fabric. "They have the best pockets."
"If they're chemical resistant, does that mean they will repel any boys you run into?"
Scary grinned. "Hopefully." She stacked Pixy-Stix and a bag of mostly-black jelly beans into her biggest pocket and shoved the jump rope into another. "Bye Dad, happy Easter."
"See you tonight!" he called after her.
Grabbing her jacket, Scary closed the door and wound down the path to the woods. The air was still and fresh, warm in the places the sun shone through the trees. Once Scary hit the wide section of the path, she unwound her jump rope. Blue rope arcs whizzed over her head as she skipped through the woods. Pausing on the stone bridge over the brook, she tried a few tricks. Skipping backwards, looping the rope, hopping on one foot. She could feel the candy in her pocket bouncing as the rope thwapped on the bridge at each jump. She had just started going backwards on one foot when a loud voice from under her feet interrupted her.
"Shaddup already, Gawd! I'm tryin' ta sleep here!"
Complete shock stopped Scary in her tracks. "Huh?"
"Doncha have better things ta do than jump around on somebody's roof? Gawd! The manners these days!"
Hesitantly, Scary leaned over the side of the bridge to peer underneath. "Hello?"
Two yellow eyes squinted up at her from the shadows beneath the stones. " 'Hello'? Izzat all you have ta say, after wakin' me up like that?"
Scary frowned. "I didn't know you were under there. And nobody's supposed to be under there, this is my Grandmother's land!"
"Tch," snorted the voice. "I've lived here longer than she has, an' she doesn' care. You can even ask her, once y' quit makin' a ruckus on my roof!" The eyes narrowed even more, to make the point, then vanished.
Scary harrumphed, waiting to see if the eyes would reappear. When they didn't, she saw no choice other than to keep going. Glancing back every few steps to make sure no one was following, Scary walked silently off the bridge. Once the brook was out of sight, she shrugged and continued jumping rope.
She wasn't more than ten minutes' jumping from her Granma's house when she met the wolf.
He was leaning casually against a tree, smoking a cigarette, black leather coat looking odd against his sleek fur.
"Oh boy," Scary muttered.
The wolf opened his eyes and spotted her. Grinning, he pulled the headphones from his ears. "Heya sweetheart, where ya headed?"
"Either to insanity or a Neil Gaiman book," Scary answered, glancing around her. "Uh...whatcha listening to, Duran Duran?"
He snorted. "Oh, very clever. Actually, I'm listening to Beethoven."
"Of course...any minute now I'm gonna see Delirium walking towards me, or nice doctors in white coats."
"Riiiight." He raised an eyebrow at her. Until now Scary hadn't even thought wolves had eyebrows. "So, where are you going with your pockets full of jelly beans, your Grandmother's?"
Then again, Scary hadn't thought wolves talked, either. "How did you know..."
"You think this nose is for looks?" He sniffed carefully. "Black jelly beans? Eww. Do you know what they put in those things?" He made a face, a bit like a snarl on a dog, but with the tongue sticking out.
Scary coughed quickly to hide a laugh.
The wolf scowled at her. "Go on then, get off to your Grandmother's, and stop bothering people. Dunno what kind of weirdos eat black jelly beans anyway."
Scary was tempted to stick out her tongue at him, but after the exceptional number of sharp white teeth she had just seen, she thought better of it. Instead she just sighed and continued on down the path.
"Hey!" he called after her. "What kind of name is Scary, anyhow?"
She turned to look at him, jump rope over her shoulder. "I never told you my name."
"I told you this nose wasn't just for looks, didn't I?"
This gave her pause. "You can smell my name?"
"Noo," he said with exaggerated patience, "just what you're called. If I could smell your name, I wouldn't have asked, would I?"
Scary tapped her fingers against the jelly beans in her pocket, thinking. "My name's Scarlet. My brothers called me 'Scary' for short when I was little and the name stuck. Why can you smell nicknames but not names?"
"Names are more powerful." He snorted again, as though this should have been obvious. "And if I were you, I wouldn't give the Troll my name." He jerked a paw back towards the brook. "She'll hex you a good one. Trolls always get pissy this time of year. Flooding, you know."
"Oh..." Scary managed. "Of course. Thanks."
The wolf grinned at her and put his headphones back on, closing his eyes.
Scary had only gone a few steps more when something occurred to her. "Hey! What's your name?" she called back.
"I'm not telling!" he replied, not deigning to open his eyes again.
This time Scary did stick her tongue out, before turning and high-tailing it up the path.
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A/N-- Man, this is weird to break into chapters! So, how many of you got the Duran, Duran reference? C'mon, honestly now? I love the Wolf. He's so cool. ;)