Disclaimer, you know.
Dorothy awoke a few hours later to find both Betsy and Trot gone, but Mrs. Teak, her aunt and uncle, Annabella, Aislynn, and the sheriff Officer Grey sitting around the dining room table.
"Officer grey, what are you doing here?" Dorothy asked stretching as she had fallen asleep in an odd position.
"Oh, I was wondering when you were going to wake up, hello dorothy." Officer Grey said.
"Dorothy, the school, is flooding." Aislynn said.
"how?" dorothy asked.
"no one is sure quite yet, but the night janitors arrived to the school with an inch of water in some classrooms, the library, surprisingly is still dry, the men and I have been going from house to house telling people rather than starting a chain phone call, your aunt invited me in to look at some pictures." Officer Grey said.
Dorothy smiled and walked over, looking at some pictures she couldn't help but laugh. There was a chubby looking boy in some of them. He had a smile on his face as looked to be playing a game of baseball with her parents, and aunt and uncle.
"is that you?" Dorothy asked placing her hand against her mouth.
"Yes, and it's alright to laugh, I don't mind." He said.
"so, you aren't much older than my aunt and uncle?" Dorothy asked.
"about a year younger I think." Officer grey said.
"Dorothy, you were out cold, why didn't you say you were tired?" Em asked.
"because it happened so suddenly." Dorothy replied.
"Okay." Em said as the phone started ringing.
"I'll get it." Dorothy said walking over to the phone and taking it off the hook, "Gale residence." She said into the receiver.
"oh, dorothy." Came Alex's voice.
"Alex! How are you?" Dorothy asked.
"feeling like a military academy, bits of me keep passing out." Came Alex's reply.
"take a nap then." Dorothy said.
"I've been trying to, eventually I went back into the warehouse and called you up." Was his response.
"such a trooper." Dorothy said giggling.
"I miss you." He said
"I've missed you too, it's been so, dull without you, even though it's only been a day." Dorothy said
"Mom, and Annabella haven't been giving you any hassle, have they?" he asked curiously.
"no they've been fine, I actually sort of passed out in the middle of the story time, now I'm awake and officer grey is here." Dorothy said.
"oh boy, what's wrong now?" he asked.
"School's flooded." Dorothy said.
"How?" was his shocked response.
"not a clue, apparently, the library is the only room that hasn't flooded." Dorothy said.
"so, no school for a couple of weeks while they make sure it's safe, that'll be fun." Alex said.
"It'll be dull." Dorothy replied.
"hey you could go to Oz, I don't know, take Annabella with you, maybe bring trot and Betsy." Alex said.
"oh, I don't know, do you think I should?" dorothy asked.
"I'm sure trot would love it." Alex said
"I'll think it over alex, but I feel like I should ease them into it." Dorothy said.
"it's your choice, anyways, I should get going before dad notices that I'm not there." alex said.
"Love you." Dorothy said.
"Miss you, call you again if you're still home at the same time tomorrow." Alex said.
"alright." Dorothy said as she heard the receiver click.
"How is he?" Toto asked.
"tired." Dorothy said walking back over to the table with a sigh.
"Dorothy, are you alright?" Annabella asked jumping off her chair and walking over to her.
"it's only been a day and I miss him so much." Dorothy said looking at some of the pictures on the table.
Annabella sighed and hugged dorothy. The triplets toddled over and joined causing a collective awe by everyone in the room. However, Em picked up a set of pictures and burst into laughter.
"What's so funny Em?" Henry asked walking around and looking over her shoulder.
Immediately henry went red, and tried to take the pictures from Em.
"Come on henry, it's funny." Em said.
Dorothy smiled and looked at her aunt. She immediately placed the pictures on the table and slid them over to dorothy. Picking them up dorothy flipped through them. She saw her father playing the fiddle at a square dance. Things appeared to be going well until her uncle approached her father and the rest of the pictures were them going to fisticuffs over something. The final picture was both of them with a black eye and standing side by side, smiling. Dorothy couldn't help but chuckle.
"what were you two fighting over?" Dorothy asked.
"it was a stupid argument; I was telling him that he was playing too fast." Henry said.
"ah, that was funny, I remember that." Mrs. Teak said.
"who took the pictures anyways?" Dorothy asked giggling.
"your mother, your father asked her to hold the camera and take pictures of everyone, your mother wasn't one for square dances." Em said.
Dorothy smiled and set the pictures on the table. She didn't know her father knew how to play the fiddle, but she knew her mother had skill in playing the violin. However, her attention was drawn to a picture of her parents, and her mother holding a baby that she could only assume was herself. Turning it over she found written ink a small note to her aunt.
"Dear Emily, this is a picture of Frank and I just got dorothy settled into the new house, I hope you two can visit us rather than the other way around, give my regards to the old gang, yours truly, Madeline." She said.
"You know, I visited Frank many times, Em, and you know, I miss that old knucklehead." Henry said sighing.
Dorothy sighed and set the picture down. Walking out of the living room she went back to her bedroom and shut the door. Walking over to her bed she laid down and sighed again. however, her attention was drawn to the sound of Glinda's voice emanating from the mirror next to her.
"Dorothy are you alright?" Glinda asked.
"I guess, why?" Dorothy asked.
"ellie contacted me saying there was a bit of a flood, wanted to make sure you and your family were alright." Glinda said.
"only the school is flooded, I don't know how long it will be closed for." Dorothy said sighing.
"Oh, I see, something on your mind?" Glinda asked curiously.
"No, not really, Auntie Em, Uncle Henry, Mrs. Teak, Annabella and officer grey are going through some old photos with the triplets and ace." Dorothy said.
"ah, so your memories then?" Glinda asked.
"yea, Glinda, did ellie tell you about our new friends?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"yes, I've looked in on them, your friend Mayre, seems well enough, but Betsy might be a little bit more difficult to acclimate." Glinda said.
"did she tell you about alex?" Dorothy asked.
"yes, she said you might be a bit bored, and lonely, I looked in on him as well, he seems to be in the same state you are, moderately bored, and slightly depressed." Glinda said.
"he called a few minutes ago, saying he was having trouble trying to at least get a nap in." Dorothy said.
"at present he's lying down on the top bunk of a bunk bed in the trailer, shuffling a deck of cards." Glinda said looking behind her.
"keeping himself amused." Dorothy said.
"yea, oh, he also found some things that belonged to your parents, and is having them brought to the Johnson's." Glinda said.
"smart, I bet one of his relatives asked if it would be better to bring them here to me?" Dorothy asked.
"how'd you guess?" Glinda asked.
"intuition." Dorothy replied.
"Dorothy, I've got an idea, since you've got some time freed up, why not come to Oz, I know Ozma has been eagerly awaiting a visit from you." Glinda said smiling.
"have you heard from any of the others?" Dorothy asked.
"oh your other friends want to see you again as well, but Ozma expresses it more often." Glinda said.
"Oh." Dorothy replied.
"anyways, I'm thinking about setting myself back up in the emerald city here, sure I have servants, but they aren't much for conversation." Glinda said sighing.
"it's your choice." Dorothy said.
"Glinda is as Glinda does, that's what dad used to say, never understood what it meant, but I think I'm going back to the city, and being the Glinda I like being." Glinda said.
"Glinda, you just made my brain hurt." Dorothy said.
"Sorry." Glinda said giggling.
"it's alright, I've had a long day, that's all." Dorothy replied.
"I can imagine, anyways, you seem tired, I'll let you be now, can I expect to see you tomorrow?" Glinda asked.
"we'll see." Dorothy replied suddenly feeling drowsy again and yawning.
"rainy days often make me feel drowsy too dear, enjoy your rest." Glinda said as her image faded from the mirror.
Dorothy sighed and closed her eyes again. soon she had once more, nodded off.
So, will dorothy go back to Oz? when will she introduce Betsy and trot to it? how will alex manage to cope with the situation he is in? read on to find out.
