Chapter 10
The Quadriplegic Pony
The
Blobbits arrived at the gates of Brie, soaking wet due to reasons
unknown. They paused and sniffed the air again. "Yeah!" Pimple
shouted.
Lardo socked Pimple in the gut and knocked on the gates.
A small peep hole opened high above them, then slammed shut. Another
opens, still high above their heads. Another opened nearer their eye
level, but not wide enough to see all the fat people. The guy behind
the peepholes got fed up with it and opened the door.
The old
guy had a nametag on that read: "Scram, my name is Chubby
Goatleaf." "What in the heck do you want?" Goatleaf asked,
bitterly.
Lardo looked Goatleaf in the eyes and said sincerely,
"You!"
Goatleaf slapped a hand to his eyes and turned his
head to the sky, "Gosh! Kids! Just say please and I'll let you
in!"
Spam shoved Goatleaf, "We gonna stay at the inn foo! Our
business is our own, sucka!"
"Whatever… I hate this
job." He waved them past.
The Blobbits walked beside one
another and took up the whole road. People glared at them. A man who
looked similar the creator of the known universe chewed on a carrot.
Three men jumped out from an alley way. They were dressed in
pinstripes, straw hats, and moustaches. They readied themselves for a
song.
We are the men of Brie.
Not one, not two but three!
We'll
sing you a song, you can sing it along,
if you know the words."
Pimple smiled as he ran to join them. The four sang.
We love to eat and eat and sleep.
We'll drink 'til we're
a mindless heap.
Then we go to work, don't be a jerk,
in
this land called Brie!
Pimple through out his arms in a flourish, "Ooooooh!"
Everyone loves Brie, everyone loves Brie,
everyone loves you,
The guy eating a carrot sang sadly, "Nobody loves me."
But that's the way it goes in the land of Brie.
Everyone
loves Brie, I think we all should drink!
Spam
applauded loudly, but it slowly petered out once he noticed he was
the only one clapping.
Pimple cam back to the group as the men
went back to doing what they were doing.
Lardo looked up and
spotted the sign of the Quadrepeligic Pony. The four Blobbits entered
the Inn. Inside, it was crowded, smelly, noisy, smelly, and smelly.
Lardo walked up to the front desk and tried to look over it, but it
was too tall for such a short, fat guy. "Hey!" Lardo shouted
loudly.
The Innkeeper leaned over the desk. He had a nametag that
said "Scram, please, my name is Barliman Butterball." "Good
evening, fat masters. If you're looking for a place to stay we've
got some nice 'cozy' Blobbit sized rooms available, Mr…"
Lardo's
face brightened. "Underwear! My name's underwear!"
Butterball
looked at him queerly. "Underwear. Yes…"
"We sorta know
Spandalf the Grey. Would you let him know we're here?"
"Spandalf?"
Butterball tasted the name in his mouth. "Spandalf. Oh yes! I
remember: fat old chap, big tall stomach, big grey beard." Lardo's
face brightened again, "Not seen him in six decades." Butterball
smiled, "What a marvelous six decades!"
Spam huddled closer
to Lardo, "What do we do now?"
Lardo looked around. "Let's
pants that guy over there!"
Three
of the Blobbits were seated at a table near the fireplace, watching a
man pull his pants back up. Lardo patted Spam on the shoulder, "Don't
worry. He'll come. I think."
Hairy came back to the table,
holding a huge mug. Pimple gazed at it lovingly. "What's
that?!"
Hairy stared at the liquid inside, "This my friend,
is a two-liter!"
Pimple almost choked on the words, "It comes
in two-liters? I'm getting one!"
Spam nudged Lardo and
pointed to a man in the corner. "That freak's been doing nothing
but stare at us since we arrived."
Lardo looked. The man was
smoking a pipe which occasionally lit his otherwise shadowed face.
Lardo stabbed Butterball in the leg with a butter knife. Butterball
fell to a knee, "Hey! That guy in the corner. Who is
he?"
Butterball cringed and took a look. He quickly looked back
to Lardo, "He's one of them Rangers. Dangerous folk they are,
wandering the wilds. What his real name is I've never heard, but
'round here, he's known as Walker: Texas Ranger."
Lardo
looked up to see Chuck Norris sitting by the guy. Chuck Norris
cracked his knuckles into a fist and kissed his biceps. He had
embroidered pants that read Law and Order on each legs.
Lardo
shook his head. "No! Not that guy! Him!"
Butterball looked
over to the other man. "Oh, him? That's just Cheesecakeman. Don't
mind him." He put a hand to his mouth and spoke over it to keep
himself from being heard to anyone buy Lardo, "He's
craaaazy!"
Lardo looked back to Cheesecakeman. He was putting
his feet into a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Lardo thought to
himself, "Cheesecakeman… Well, I don't care anymore." Lardo
whipped out his doughnut and started to play with it, "I'm a
doughnut!" he said in a weird voice as he knocked salt shakers and
various items off the table with the doughnut.
The doughnut got
angry so it started chanting Lardo's last name for a while.
"Bacons… Bacons… Bacons… Bacons! Bacons!"
"Bacons?"
Pimple said to a bad guy at the bar, "Course I know a Bacons! Lardo
Bacons. L-A-R-D-O B-A-C-O-N-S! He's got a nice shiny dough-" he
was roundhousekickedinthefaced by Chuck Norris.
"Chuck!"
Chuck yelled as he roundhousekickedinthefaced Pimple in the face.
Lardo stood up and his head almost exploded out of sheer
amazement, but he just fell over backwards and the doughnut flew out
of his hand.
"Hi Lardo!" Pimple said as Lardo landed next to
him.
The doughnut flipped through the air and landed right on
Lardo's finger.
"Bye Lardo!" Pimple said as Lardo
disappeared.
Lardo
was in the Inn, but it looked like everything was covered in
chocolate. "What the heck? Where am I?"
"Peek-a-boo!"
Lardo heard from behind him.
Lardo turned around and saw a big
eye floating in the sky. It was surrounded by fire shaped frosting.
"I see you!"
"I see you too!" Lardo said.
"There
is no sugar in the void. Only unsweetened baking
chocolate!"
"Really?" Lardo bent over and scooped some
chocolate from the ground into his mouth. It tasted like gauze inside
his mouth. It hardened and made a nasty tasting shell around his
tongue. "OH GOSH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Lardo grasped at the
doughnut on his finger.
Lardo
reappeared at a staircase. He breathed heavily, trying to get the
taste out of his mouth. A hand grabbed him by his shoulder and spun
him around.
Cheesecakeman stared him in the eyes. "You draw
far too much attention to yourself, Mr. Underwear!" He then let go
of Lardo and ran around the bar, "POOOOOOOOODLE!" He yelled as he
ran.
"Go home, ya queer!" some guy in the distance screamed
back at him.
Cheesecakeman ran back to Lardo and pulled him up
the stairs. Cheesecakeman's stomach jumped up and down as he moved.
He pushed Lardo into a room and slammed the door.
"What do you
want?" Lardo asked, almost crying.
"What do you think?"
"My
money?"
"May-bay…"
Cheesecakeman walked over to the
window and put out the candles with his tongue. "I can avoid
being noticed if I wish. But to call yourself underwear, now that is
a rare gift."
Lardo was confused, "Who are you?"
"Do
I look like a distant relative of yours?"
"Sorta."
"Not
nearly frightened enough, I know what hunts you!"
After a
moment of consideration Lardo yelled, "What?!"
The door burst
open and Cheesecakeman spun around and drew a sausage from a scabbard
at his side. Spam, Hairy and Pimple rushed in, Spam with fists
clenched and ready to fight. Hairy had a candellabra. Pimple had a
chair.
"Let him go! Or I'll have you Mr.
Crazyhead!"
Cheesecakeman jumped to Lardo and grabbed him by
the back of his head, "You will not have this boys head today!"
He placed his sausage on Lardo's neck and quickly drew it away as
if cutting off his head.
The Blobbits looked at each other.
Pimple hit Hairy with his chair.
"Anyway," Cheesecakeman
said, "I'm not really this crazy… I actually know some junk
about junk."
Hairy stood up slowly, hand on his back. "I have
a question."
"Shoot."
There was a silence.
"Oh,
sorry," Cheesecakeman said, "I forgot that that word went extinct
a couple years ago. Ask your question."
Silence.
Hairy went
to the window where he saw some of those Black Riders that had
followed them somehow. "What are those things?"
Cheesecakeman
looked out the window. "They were Men, once. Great kings of Men.
Then Moron the Detheever gave to them nine Doughnuts of Power.
Blinded by their greed, and some crazy looking glasses, they took
them without question. One by one falling into darkness. Now they are
slaves to his will. They are the Dougûl, Doughnutwraiths,
neither living nor dead, and they're not zombies either. At all
times they feel the presence of the Doughnut. Drawn to the power of
the One. They will never stop hunting you. Unless you die. Then
they'll dump on your body."
