Disclaimer: By now you know the drill. I don't own it. I wish I owned it. I make no money, this is just something I do for fun.
A/N: First of all thank you to those who have read and continue to read this fun little plot bunny that latched onto me. For those who have favorited and followed this story you make me smile. I still love getting feedback and look forward to your comments. Last chapter the comments were about the grand theft alcohol. This is just a mystery that is not solved, but kind of gives you an idea of unexpected problems when you have goblins staying with you.
For this chapter, I delved into Sarah and Karen's relationship. I too have a stepmother, well technically two. One of them I have a very strained relationship with at the moment. I guess this is my way of hoping for something to change. It was something that I just felt that needed to happen. Also, you get to see Toby and the goblins have some fun.
Please read and review.
Sarah woke up with the sun. Or more accurately she woke because of the sun. She had not closed the drapes completely and a beam of sun shot through the space between the panels and flowed across her bed and directly into her face. She moaned and turned over trying to recapture the sleep that was now fleeing. After five minutes she realized that she was not going to be getting any more sleep this morning. She yawned, rolled over, opened her eyes, and had a pair of beady black ones staring back at her.
"Arrrhhh!" she screamed and fell out of the bed with a thump, nearly landing on the goblin who had been standing beside the bed.
"Sarah, my goodness what's wrong?" called Karen, she sounded like she was moving quickly toward her door which Sarah could now see was cracked. Sarah bounded to her feet and slammed it the rest of the way closed before Karen could see that she was not alone in the room.
"Nothing, Karen, I woke up and saw a big spider. It startled me, that's all," Sarah replied quickly. She stood still listening for feet on the other side of the door. When all she heard was silence she let go of the breath she was holding.
"That was close," she muttered to herself. "I can only imagine the reaction she would have finding Glunk in here. It would make the time that Danny was caught in my room at home seem tame." She laughed at the memory of Karen walking in on her and her then-boyfriend kissing in her room when she was sixteen.
"Lady ok?" Glunk looked worriedly at her. "No kick Glunk. Glunk no mean to make lady fall."
"No Glunk," Sarah said smiling to let him know everything was ok. "I'm fine. I wouldn't kick you. What are you doing in here?" she asked the goblin, moving to sit on the floor so she was more on his level.
"Glunk want to see Lady. Glunk miss Lady." Glunk looked at her with hopeful eyes.
Sarah hugged the goblin, who always tried to look tough. "I miss you guys too. Go on back to Toby's room and I will get dressed and meet you guys there." She cracked the door and looked around for her Dad or Karen. When she saw the coast was clear she shooed Glunk down the hall to Toby's room. Once she saw him go in and the door closed she closed her own and grabbed clothes for the day.
Sarah carried her clothes to the bathroom she shared with Toby and locked the door. After showering and taking care of her morning abolitions Sarah dressed quickly. She went back to her room, stowed her nightshirt, brushed her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, and put on a little mascara and lipstick. Considering herself as ready as she could be she left the solitude of her room to see what was going on in Casa de Goblin.
She gave the door their knock to let Toby know it was her, and he pulled her in immediately. "It's about time Sleeping Beauty decided to grace us with her presence," Toby said dryly. He was sitting on his made bed with the goblins around him.
"It's like 7:30, Toby. What do you want from me?" Sarah shrugged him off.
"Yeah you don't share your room with five other people…" Toby's voice trailed off. "Well, you know what I mean."
"Well, you were short one roomie. I woke up with Glunk in my room." Sarah gave him the eye.
Toby had the decency to look sheepish. "They wondered where you were. I just mentioned that you were probably in your room, and I may have given accurate directions on how to get there."
Sarah shook her head at her brother. "Of course you did." Sarah turned her attention to the goblins on the bed. "Ok guys. You need to keep yourselves hidden here. If our parents see you they might not react well, and then we will have to call the king to pick you up." Sarah knew that would get them.
"No Lady no Kingy." Moxie shook his head. "We be good." The others nodded emphatically. Sarah doubted about the being good part, but she knew they would try.
"Great. Now Toby and I have to go eat breakfast with our parents. You guys stay here, in this room. I will bring you some breakfast in a bit." Sarah hoped that the promise of aboveground food would keep them put.
"Awesome. Let's go, Tobes." Sarah grabbed Toby's arm and dragged him from the room pulling the door closed behind her. She let him go into the hall and they walked into the kitchen. Karen was making pancakes. These were some of Sarah's favorite. She asked for a stack with blueberries and strawberries. Toby loaded his plain pancakes with butter and maple syrup.
"Toby." Sarah eyed his stack. "That is so sweet it makes my teeth hurt looking at it. How can you eat that?"
"Easily," came the reply around a mouth full of pancake and sugar. "Well, I guess it's a good thing you don't need to eat it." Toby shoved another huge bite into his mouth, syrup dripping from his lips.
"Tobias Williams!" Karen fumed. "I don't care if you are on vacation; you know how to eat among normal people, do it."
Toby quickly wiped his mouth with a napkin and started taking regular-sized bites. Sarah smiled. It was rare that Karen ragged on Toby for anything when she was there to draw her ire. She was startled out of her thoughts when she heard her name.
"What did you say, Karen? I'm sorry my mind was somewhere else." Sarah apologized.
"I was saying, Sarah dear," Karen repeated. "That it was a lovely day and maybe we should take advantage and do some shopping, and have a girls' day." Karen looked hopeful which surprised Sarah.
"Sure, Karen, but are you sure you don't want to stick close to Toby?" Sarah was not sure she wanted to be too far away from the goblins.
"Sarah, honestly your father and Toby will be fine for a few hours. They are big boys." Karen laughed.
Sarah agreed. She knew it would look really strange for her not to go along with the plan. She stared at Toby. Trying to communicate with him with her eyes, to be careful and keep the goblins out of sight.
As breakfast wound down, Sarah volunteered to help put away things in the pantry while Karen started the dishes. When she was putting away things in the pantry she slipped a box of cereal out and surreptitiously passed it to Toby. He in turn took it and headed down the hall to his room.
Sarah finished and agreed to a time to leave with Karen to start their shopping extravaganza. The shops opened in just over an hour, so they decided to go in an hour and a half. Once the kitchen was put back together Sarah followed her brother to his room.
Once in Toby's room, Sarah watched the goblins attack the cereal with gusto. She did not know what they ate in Goblin City or the Castle, but they always went crazy for food in the Above. They hung out and talked, Sarah on a beanbag chair on the floor with the goblins, and Toby on his bed. Once they were done Moxie crawled over to Sarah and climbed up to sit snuggled up on her shoulder, and Glunk sat on her lap. The others chose to sit on the bed with Toby.
Sarah loved to hear their stories of the castle and Goblin City. Sarah was giggling through their retelling about cleaning up the throne room. Apparently, the Goblin King decided that the floors of the throne room were filthy and commanded the goblins to clean them. He did not give direction on how they should clean them. He simply conjured them a bucket of soapy water and sponges.
The goblins remembered visiting Toby and Sarah, and going skateboarding and skating at the vacant lot not far from their house that wasn't used much. They thought that was as good a way to clean the floors as any so they tied the sponges to their feet and proceeded to slide all around the throne room floor. They were doing well until several lost control at the same time and crashed into the pit in the middle of the room. That noise was enough to draw the king's attention. He appeared in the room to see what was going on. At that time several other goblins were also "skating" over to see if those in the pit were ok. The sudden appearance of the king startled the goblins and they could not stop or turn. Four goblins crashed into the Goblin King and sent him tumbling into the pit falling on top of the goblins already in the pit. The king was followed by his assailants.
Sarah laughed so hard thinking about the high and mighty goblin king in a pit tangled up with several goblins that she rolled off the beanbag chair. This sent Moxie jumping off her shoulder and Glunk landed on the floor next to a laughing Sarah.
"Kingy no find it funny Lady. Kingy yell and kick and bog everybody," Squib called from the bed.
The goblins were a little worried because Sarah was still rolling on the floor holding her stomach gasping for air around her laughter. Snatches of words and phrases falling amid the laughter. "Can just see…pompous peacock…covered with suds…goblin pile pit." After a few minutes, Sarah got herself together and wiped her eyes.
"Lady ok?" Scoots looked at her with concerned eyes.
"I'm fine." Sarah assured them, "In fact, you guys just made my week." Sarah looked at her watch and saw the time. "I've got to go. Listen to Toby guys he is in charge. " She looked at Toby. "Please keep them away from dad." With that, she left the room.
Sarah walked to her room, grabbed a small purse, checked that her wallet was inside, and dropped in a lipstick and notebook, and pencil. She then went to join Karen and take the sedan into town.
There were several shops on one street not far from each other, so Karen parked the car and she and Sarah decided to walk between these shops. Karen locked the car and the women set off into the largest shop. Sarah knew that Karen had a penchant for antiques and exquisite taste. They may not always get along, but she had to be honest about the obvious.
Walking through the shop with Karen was an interesting experience. She was very knowledgeable. When Sarah asked about how she knew so much, Karen looked at her surprised. "You knew my mother ran an antique shop, I grew up around these things. I even went to school for art history thinking of becoming an appraiser and taking over the shop."
"I never knew that," Sarah said thinking that she did not know much about Karen's mom since she had died before she knew Karen. "How did you end up working as a secretary in my dad's law firm after that?"
"Well, honey, you never asked about my life before I met your father and joined your family," Karen reminded her, but not unkindly. "But since you asked after my mother passed, my father sold the shop, he did not think I could run it, without the shop, I wanted a change. Working in a law firm seemed as far removed from appraising art, so I started at the firm. I found I was good at it and enjoyed it. I met your father and you know the rest."
Sarah blushed a little; she never did try to find out about Karen. She was too busy resenting her. Then after her attitude changed after her adventure in the Underground, she still felt that Karen did not approve of her. "You're right, Karen. I didn't try to get to know you. If it is not too late I would like to now." Sarah was slightly surprised that she was honest in wanting to get to know Karen.
The women walked around together for the next two hours. Karen selected a few small pieces for their house in Connecticut, and a pair of end tables for their master bedroom at the bungalow. Sarah found a necklace and earring set she liked. Karen tried to get Sarah to find something for her apartment in New York, but Sarah insisted that her place was too small for anything else.
After arranging for the delivery of the tables, Sarah and Karen walked to a nearby café for lunch. They continued chatting over salads and sandwiches. Sarah was enjoying herself and later realized that she spent hours with Karen without being criticized by her or throwing thinly veiled insults at her.
After lunch, they got back into the car and drove to another area of town. They then went into some other cute shops and boutiques. There they spent the rest of the afternoon trying on dresses and sun hats. Sarah found that she actually took some of Karen's advice about the outfits she was choosing. She wanted to feel guilty about Toby being alone on goblin duty, but she honestly didn't. This did not mean that she didn't worry about him, or wonder what was going on in the house during their absence.
Toby hung out with the goblins for a little while. He tried to clean up the cereal mess the best he could. He looked around afterward and knew that Sarah would complain that he did a crappy job but hey he was a thirteen-year-old boy, not Suzy Homemaker. He could handle it if his mom got annoyed with food in his room. It wouldn't be the first time.
He carried the last of the cereal in the box back to the kitchen. He didn't try to sneak in; his dad was the only one in the house and he was "working." When he was focused Toby could parade the goblins themselves through the living room and he wouldn't realize it. After putting the box back in the pantry and throwing the trash from his room away he looked out the back window at the ocean and the beach. He let out a low sigh.
"I'm surprised you aren't out there." His dad's voice broke through his thoughts. "Why don't you grab your trunks and head out to the beach?"
"I thought you were working," Toby explained.
"You're thirteen. As long as you stay on the beach near the house I think you can handle yourself." Toby was shocked. No way would his mom let that happen, but his mom wasn't here. Toby quickly ran to his room, his thoughts turning.
He went into his room and sized up the goblins. "Hey, guys. Would you like to hang out at the beach today?" he asked them.
Well of course the goblins wanted to hang out at the beach. Anything to get them out of the room they were in. They started jumping around and dancing. Toby looked at them and thought about how he could disguise them because he could not take them out the way that they looked now. Then suddenly inspiration struck him.
"I'm not the brother of Sarah Williams for nothing," he muttered under his breath heading for the small chest of drawers in the room.
After years of coming to the shore, one thing that happened constantly was that Toby invariably left stuff each trip. Packing was not something he enjoyed and did it as quickly as possible. Karen eventually gave up and just laundered the clothes and left them here in his room. Toby just hoped that his mom had not gone through them to weed out things that would not fit him anymore.
"Jackpot!" Toby called out thrilled with what he found in the dresser. He began pulling out pieces of clothing. T-shirts, shorts, pants, and hoodies all came flying from various drawers in the chest. After a couple of minutes, Toby stopped throwing clothes out of the dresser and looked at what he had found.
He started to pair up the clothes to make outfits. When he had several getups he began looking at the goblins critically. Scoots and Squib were the shortest so he tried putting some of his old shorts and t-shirts on them. The shorts hung low on their legs hiding most of them. The shirts did the same for their arms. The others were taller so he used long pants and hoodies for them. They may look weird all covered up on the beach, but it was Jersey and he was sure that the beach had seen weirder things than goblins.
When he had them dressed he got big pairs of Oakley sunglasses for each of them and baseball hats for Scoots and Squib to cover their green and purple hair and help to hide their faces. He checked his work to see how they looked. Sarah and all her dress-up, when she was younger, would be proud. They didn't look normal, but they didn't look like goblins either.
The goblins were not used to wearing clothes, well not more than colanders and pots on their heads. They loved Toby and wanted to spend time with him. So that meant they had to wear these things than wear them they would.
Toby changed quickly into board shorts and a t-shirt. He grabbed a beach bag and put some old shovels and pails in it. The goblins might like to make a sandcastle. Then the problem of getting them out of the house past his dad occurred to him. They could get out the front door easily enough, but his dad would wonder why he would go out the front to get to the beach in the back. To go out the back door they would have to parade through the living room right past his dad. Toby paced for a bit. Then inspiration struck. For this to work they had to move fast.
"Ok guys. When I give you the signal you need to run out the door I open," Toby told the goblins
"Got it.
What signal?" Zot wanted to know.
Toby sighed and waved his arm to demonstrate. "When I do this guys," he said. The goblins nodded, not sure at all.
Toby left the room. He went to the bathroom and grabbed the sunscreen. He smeared some on himself, then shrugged and lathered up the goblins. He did not know if the goblins got sunburned, but he did not want to find out on this trip.
He then led them out to the hallway. "Ok guys. Stay here until I signal you. Don't move until then." Toby prayed this would work.
Toby walked into the living room. "Hey, dad. I can't find the sunscreen. Mom won't like it if I get burned." He made sure the container was tucked into the bag.
"Ok, Toby." Robert Williams got up from the chair still holding the file in his hand just like Toby expected. He walked past the hall where the goblins were without seeing them.
Toby raced and gave them the signal. Thankfully the goblins remembered what they were supposed to do and followed Toby into the kitchen and through the back door. "It's ok, dad. I found some here in the kitchen. Bye." Toby called quickly and shut the door.
Breathing a sigh of relief he gathered up the goblins and led them to the path that led to the beach. They found a spot that wasn't too populated. He took a couple of towels out of the bag and put them on the sand. He grabbed the large umbrella his mom kept on the back porch and put that up. He thought it could be more cover for the goblins. Then he dumped out the beach toys.
"Ok, guys you can dig. We can build a castle or just relax in the sun or shade. Just stay here ok," Toby explained to the goblins.
Obviously, the goblins had never been to a beach before. The sand and the sound of the water thrilled them. The only dicey part was when they saw the seagulls. For some reason, they thought that they were deformed chickens. Toby forgot about their love of poultry. After spending twenty minutes chasing after the goblins who were chasing after the seagulls, Toby finally convinced them that they were not chickens and did not need cuddles or attention.
Returning to the blankets Toby was hit with the realization that the goblins did not send anyone into a panic with their loving pursuit of the gulls. In fact, no one batted an eye. He looked around and saw several other young children chasing the gulls.
"I guess you guys pass for regular kids," Toby said out loud. "Boy, that's scary," he said to himself. But it stopped him from worrying so much. The rest of the afternoon they dug in the sand and built a sandcastle. Most people gave them space, because who wanted to be near a group with five little kids. Obviously no one on this beach.
Toby had to do some fast talking when his dad came around with a picnic basket for lunch. Toby just told him that the group was kids he met and they were hanging out. The goblins all waved and said hi, and his dad gave them an odd look but didn't say anything so Toby felt he was safe, especially after his dad left about an hour later to go back to the house.
Later he snuck them back to the house. This time he took a page from his sisters' book. He led them to the window to his room on the side of the house. He told them to wait there for him. He went into the house and ran to his room. He opened his window, took out the screen as Sarah had done, leaned out the window, and pulled each goblin up and into his room. He couldn't wait for Sarah to come home and gloat about how he handled things.
Sarah and Karen came home talking and laughing like friends. This caused Toby to wonder if he wandered into the Twilight Zone and that was why things went so well with the goblins. He was sure that Sarah and his mom would come home, ticked at each other. They could never stand being alone together for that long a time.
When Sarah excused herself to go to her room to rest before dinner, she detoured to Toby's room. "How was your day Tobes?" she asked and then her jaw dropped. She just stared at the group of goblins still dressed in their "beachwear." "Ok what the hell is going on?" she said when her power of speech returned.
"We went to the beach. It was great," Toby replied. He then proceeded to tell Sarah about their day. Sarah was impressed with how he had handled it, but also told him he was lucky he didn't get caught.
The goblins were worn out after their day and crashed after eating leftover cold pizza that Sarah brought from the kitchen. The Williams' ate the dinner that Karen cooked. The Williams children cleaned up, and everyone settled down for the evening. Sarah couldn't believe that they got through another day without the goblins being caught. She was sure their luck would not last. Unfortunately, she was right.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this. I am having fun with this story. Please review it keeps me going.