Edd attempted to climb up the wall after Ed. "Ed, you hurry down right now! I mean it!"

"Sorry, guys." Ed trudged back down grabbed Eddy and Edd, and hurried back up. "I should not leave my best friends!"

Eddy struggled to escape his friend's grip. "Get me down! I hate going to church!"

Edd was also struggling. "Ed, you must use some reason! Admittedly, we've traveled back in time, but be realistic! There's no deformed hunchback up here!"

Ed entered the belltower and ran right into a huge shadowy figure. Its' back was hunched over, and it slumped away. A glimpse of its' face showed a sad-looking deformed man.

"Oh my!" gasped Edd.

The hunchback hid his face in shame and fear. "Please! Go away and...and don't look at me!"

Edd approached it. "Birth defects are a sad thing."

"Check this freak out!" laughed Eddy.

The hunchback sadly nodded. "Nothing but a freak..."

Suddenly, three stone gargoyles came to life. The first one was a fat piglike creature. "You heard the man! Go away!"

"Intruders!" added a muscular one with angel wings.

"Brats!" snapped the last one, with a monkeylike face.

Edd was taken aback. "Talking...gargoyles?"

"The kid can hear us?" said the piglike gargoyle, who was just as surprised.

"We sure can!" said Eddy, getting an idea. "This could be the scam of a lifetime!"

"How odd," mused the muscular one. "Only Quasimoto can hear us..."

Ed was dancing around the hunchback, Quasimoto. "You are so weird and gross, it is so cool! I love you!"

Quasi looked up. 'You love me?"

Edd smiled weakly. "Forgive dear Ed, here. Lovable oaf. I'm Edd with two D's, so everyone calls me Double D. This is Eddy."

"I can't get over the talking gargoyle part," said Eddy.

The piglike gargoyle began to warm up to the kids. "I'm Hugo. The ugly one's Victor," he said motioning to the muscular gargoyle, and then pointed to the monkeylike figure, "and that's Laverne."

"Ugly!" growled Victor.

"I'm..." the hunchback began.

"Quasimoto," finished Edd.

"Some wacko down there was singing about you," informed Eddy. "I mean, he was freakin' SINGING! Who does that?"

Quasi brightened up. "I'm happy to have someone up here with me...but the gargoyles usually keep me company."

"Well, you gotta have friends like us!" grinned Hugo.

Edd looked around the belltower, which was surprisingly big. "You have a delightful home! Did you make this model village? Fascinating!"

"What's going on down there, anyway?" asked Eddy, motioning to the village square.

Hugo hopped over to the balcony (none of the gargoyles had feat). "Glad you asked, kid! Only the best thing that ever happened to us! The Festival of Fools!"

Laverne joined them. "Every year, the gypsies throw a party in that square and we always watch from up here!"

"It would be a lot better down there, though," grumbled Hugo.

"Much better," agreed Quasi.

"But we are still safe up here," said Victor.

Quasi agreed with Victor. "Safe, there's that."

"Stop confusing the boy!" cried Laverne. "I've always told him to just do what makes him happy and I think that's what matters!"

"The festival sounds fun!" smiled Edd. "Who goes?"

"Everyone," said Quasi.

EVERYONE!" exploded Eddy. "That means one thing! Pigeons ripe for scamming!"

Quasi was confused. "Scamming?"

"Eddy is the man with the plan!" said Ed.

"Yes," sighed Edd. "He means he wants to go down and ruin the festival by tricking everyone out of their money!"

"My master says only gypsies do that," said Quasimoto. "Your friend doesn't look like a gypsy."

"My dear Quasimoto," Edd said gently and slightly surprised, "this master of yours must be wrong! Nowadays, that would qualify as full racism! Pray tell, who is you master?"

"A distinguished man," Victor said proudly, "though far from pleasant."

"In other words, he's evil!" added Hugo.

"Always bossing Quasi around and saying he's ugly..." said Laverne.

"He is," Eddy pointed out.

"No one asked you, kid!" glared Hugo.

"What's worse is that all the guards are on his side!" continued Victor. "It's awful!"

Quasimoto heard footsteps. "He's coming!"

Laverne pushed the Eds farther into the belltower. "You guys! Hide now!"

"I promise I won't tell you're here!" whispered Quasi.

The Eds scampered to the bells and hid up in the biggest one. Ed smiled his typical blank grin. "This place rings a bell!"

Edd struggled to keep still. "No one...move!"

They heard Quasimoto's master talking below. "Dear boy," he said in a deep voice, "whomever were you talking to?"

"My...friends," Quasimoto said slowly. Edd gasped, wondering if they would be revealed.

"I see. And what are your friends made of, Quasimoto?"

"Stone."

Edd gave a sigh of relief, realizing they were only talking about the gargoyles.

"And can stone talk?" asked the master.

"No."

"That's right. You're a smart lad."

"'A smart lad?'" hissed Eddy in annoyance. "Even I know stone can't talk! At least, till those guys started talking to me. I'm confused."

"As am I," Edd whispered back. "This man frightens me, and if he finds us..."

Hugo peered up at them. "Yeah, Frollo's never a nice guy."

"Frollo!" cried Edd, trying to keep his voice down. "Not Judge Claud Frollo!"

"Ah, you've heard of him?" asked Victor.

"Who hasn't?" said Laverne.

"I've got no strings to hold me down!" Ed informed everyone for no reason.

"Wait..." whispered Eddy, "I hear something."

Frollo: You are deformed

Quasi: I am deformed
Frollo: And you are ugly
Quasi: And I am ugly...

Frollo: And these are crimes
For which the world
Shows little pity
You do not comprehend

Quasi: You are my one defender

"Are they SINGING!" yelled Eddy.

"My, what a rich cultural land we are in!" marveled Edd. "If I wasn't afraid of getting killed, I might sing along!"

Victor sighed wearily. "Ah, but the words of the song matter, and Quasi has been hearing them for his whole life. He must go out there."

"Out there," repeated Hugo and Laverne.

Frollo left the room. The Eds and Gargoyles crept out to join Quasimoto who was gazing up at a piece of stained glass.

Quasi: Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone
Gazing at the people down below me
All my life I watch them as I hide up here alone
Hungry for the histories they show me


All my life I memorize their faces
Knowing them as they will never know me
All my life I wonder how it feels to pass a day
Not above them
But part of them

"What's with this stupid singing!" complained Eddy. "I hate these songs!"

Edd was trying to listen to Quasi sing. "Really, Eddy, they're moving the story forward, aren't they?"

"I am free as a bird, guys!" called Ed. He flapped his arms and boucned around while Quasi burst out onto the balcony, dancing through the various towers, glancing down at the city.

And out thereLiving in the sun
Give me one day out there
All I ask is one
To hold forever

As Quasimoto continued singing, Hugo talked to Edd and Eddy. "See, Quasi's been singing this song for a while, too. Before you guys crashed in, we were just convincing him to go down to the festival."

"Poor hunchback..." sighed Edd.

Quasi jumped down next to them. "I know I can't. What if someone sees me?"

Laverne shrugged. "So they'll see you. Doesn't matter."

"Yeah," agreed Eddy, "there are worse looking guys from where we come from!"

Quasi smiled. "Frollo would hate it there..."

Out there
Strolling by the Seine
Taste a morning out there
Like ordinary men
Who freely walk about there

Just one day and then
I swear I'll be content
With my share
Won't resent
Won't despair
Old and bent
I won't care
I'll have spent
One day
Out there!

Edd stood proudly with Quasimoto on the balcony. "Ah, what a finish...good lord! Everyone can see us!"

They all ducked back into the belltower.

"Yeah, we've always gotta watch out for that finale," said Hugo. "I tell ya, it comes out of nowhere!"

"Let's sing a song!" yelled Ed.

"Ed, we just had a song," Edd said patiently.

"If you could call it that," grumbled Eddy.

Edd turned to the hucnback. "Quasimoto, we'll stay up here with you and watch the festival."

Eddy started to climb down. "Watch nothing! I'm going down there and scamming some villagers!"

"Eddy..."

"No," said Quasi. "He's right. Go down there and at least tell me about how wonderful it really is."

"Frollo always says it's an abomination, but I know he's wrong!" said Hugo. "According to Victor here, I'm the abomination and proud of it!"

Edd joined Eddy in climbing down. "Well then, we'll see you when we get back! Au revior, mon ami!"

"See ya!" called Eddy.

"Some enchanted evening!" added Ed.

I'm a little embarassed to admit this...but the gargoyles are my favorite characters. There. I said it.