Little My was walking through the woods, walking on a random path. She was enjoying the late spring warmth and the quiet of the day. She listened to the distant sound of birds whistling and the trees rustling their branches with the wind and the sound of her feet stomping on the dirt path. She was quietly humming the song, All Small Beasts Should Have Bows in Their Tails. A sudden strong breeze from the ocean made its way through the trees and Little My breathed it in. A piece of paper then smacked her in the middle of her face.
Little My flailed for a couple of seconds before pulling the paper off her face.
"The heck!" She said as she looked at the paper.
Human Artifacts Museum
Location: Sniff's House
Curated by Sniff
10$ Entry
Little My shrugged then threw the paper back into the wind. After her walk Little My headed home so she could eat those cookies that she's hidden. They're her favorite kind in the whole world, butter cookies.
Little My snuck into the kitchen, making sure that no one else was around, then she climbed to the top of the tallest cabinet, and opened a decorative cookie jar. Little My found it empty.
"What happened to my cookies," Little My screeched.
Sam walked into the kitchen.
"What's wrong?"
Little My showed her the empty cookie jar.
"Oh. I ate those," Sam said, "I've been trying to find my stuff and I've been searching all morning. Have you seen my things?"
Little My was still hung up on the cookies as she glared at Sam, "You ate my cookies."
"Yes. They were really good. Now about my stuff, like my phone, wallet, car keys and my clothes. Have you seen them?" Sam asked.
Little My had an idea as to where her stuff may be, and it gave her an awfully wonderful idea for her revenge.
"No. You probably just can't remember where you last left them," Little My said, "Let's go for a walk then come back to it."
Sam sighed, then said, "Sure."
They went out for a walk, but Little My was leading Sam to Sniff's house. The two of them came upon a large hill and at the base of the hill was a doorway that was roped off by a velvet rope. Standing in line, in front of the rope, was a line of about two dozen different people. Little My looked up at Sam to see if she'd take the bait.
"What do you think that's all about," Sam asked.
A devious smile crossed Little My's face as she said, "I don't know. Let's check it out."
The two of them walked up to the line and asked what was going on.
The Police Inspector said, "There's a new Human Museum exhibit. It's very exciting. These things are usually in big towns outside the valley."
"You know what. I wonder what humans here were like in this universe," Sam said then she looked down at Little My and asked, "Do you want to check it out too?"
"Yah. Sounds fun," Little My said with a shrug.
They got in the back of the line and waited around for ten minutes before they heard Sniff come out of his home with a slew of people walking out behind him. Sniff looks like a giant kangaroo, but without the long tail and without his legs doing the weird thing that kangaroos have. He's round, with short light brown fur. Sniff told them all thank you for their visit and for their ten-dollar entry fees that will help support the museum. Sniff then got out a box and started ushering people into his home and people dropped money into his box.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, you gave me extra, mighty kind of you Ma'am. Thank you. Thank –Ah!" He screamed as he immediately picked up the velvet rope to block Sam and Little My from entering.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked.
"N-nothing," Sniff said.
"Then why can't we enter," Sam asked.
"Uh, um. I only have so much room in my home," Sniff said.
"I see. Then we'll just wait a little longer," Sam said.
Little My was smiling at Sniff's discomfort as well as what will happen next.
"No! Uh. I mean. I'll be closing after these people are done with their looking around," Sniff said.
"Oh? Then when will you be open," Little My asked.
"Yah? I want to see what a human fossil looks like from here," Sam said.
"Ooooh, uh, my schedule is just soooo inconsistent," Sniff said, "I'm not sure when I'll be open again."
Little My looked up at Sam and she was glaring down at Sniff.
"What are you hiding Sniff," Little My asked.
"I'm not hiding anything," Sniff said as he moved to stand in front of his doorway.
"I don't believe you," Sam said.
"Neither do I," Little My agreed, then said, "We're going in there."
Sam walked over the velvet rope and Little My walked under it. Sniff tried to stop them, but a striking glare from Sam made him hesitate, for a couple of seconds, before he continued to try and stop them from entering.
They saw Sniff's living room was full of Sam's stuff. Her items were neatly displayed on podiums and behind glass cases. Little My spotted a plaque that was sitting under a hanging pair of Sam's underwear and bra and she read through it, it saying that humans used items like these to catch fish and frogs. Little My scoffed at the hilarious inaccuracy.
The sound of glass shattering made Little My look towards Sam who was angrily gathering her wallet and other items that were previously behind a glass case.
The Police Inspector immediately came over.
"What are you doing," He asked, bewildered.
"He—"
"Help me officer, she's stealing from my museum!" Sniff interrupted.
"Your "museum" is full of my stuff," Sam furiously yelled.
Little My watched with smug satisfaction as Sam argued with The Police Inspector and Sniff and watched as Sam was eventually arrested. Little My then walked home by herself.
As Little My was warming up some leftovers on the stove, Moominmamma came into the kitchen asking if she's seen Sam.
"Oh, Sam got arrested like an hour ago or something," Little My said, "She damaged public property."
"Oh, dear, I better go bail her out," Moominmamma said before leaving the kitchen to grab her handbag.
The next day Little My was lured to the kitchen by the smell of baked goods. She saw Sam furiously hand mixing batter in a bowl while fresh butter cookies were cooling on the kitchen table. Without asking, Little My was already stealing the warm cookies off the table.
"Oh, good. You're here," Sam growled, then she yelled, "Moomintroll! You can have some now!"
As Sam went back to heatedly mixing the batter, Little My heard Moomintroll run inside from the backyard, then burst through the back door, then stomp into the kitchen.
"I was looking everywhere for you," Moomintroll said as he gathered a handful of butter cookies from the table.
Through a mouthful of cookies, she asked, "What's it to you?"
"Sam wouldn't let any of us have any of her cookies until you got to have them first," Moomintroll said, then as he walked out of the kitchen, he was mumbling about how good the cookies were.
Still stuffing her mouth, Little My looked to Sam who wasn't looking at anyone or anything as she continued to mix. Little My decided that her revenge plan has come to an end. She even got cookies out of it, though, she didn't know if Sam planned on making cookies to begin with or if she just tends to bake when angry. Either way, the fun was over for her and she decided to help Sam get her stuff back.
"So, I take it that Sniff convinced The Police Inspector that your stuff didn't belong to you," Little My asked.
Sam slammed the bowl on the counter and said, "He didn't believe that I was human! I am though! I don't know when Sniff came over to steal my things, but I will wring his little neck for taking my stuff!"
Little My walked around the table to stand in front of Sam as she said, "Mmm. I like the energy. And I'm always down for murder, but you don't really want to kill Sniff, right?"
Sam fell to her knees so that she could rest her head on the counter comfortably and sighed.
"We'll just have to sneak into his house and steal it," Little My said, "Hardly anyone locks their doors here, so it'll be easy enough to break into his house."
"You'll help me," Sam asked.
"Sure," Little My said, "It'll be fun."
Later that night, when the entire valley was asleep, with only the light of the stars gleaming down on them through the dark branches of the trees, Little My and Sam walked over to Sniff's little hill house. Just like all the other houses that they passed by to get to Sniff's place, the lights were out, and it appeared that no one else was around.
The two of them walked up to the hill house and tried the front door. It was locked. Little My then pulled out a bobby pin from her hair and tried to pick the lock. Instead, she managed to get the bobby pin stuck in the keyhole. Sam sighed, exasperated. Little My then rapped on Sam's knee and had her follow her to the back of the hill. The back door was also locked. Little My gestured to Sam to see if she could do better than herself. With a shrug Sam grabbed the door handle then violently turned it, easily breaking the door. Little My was mildly impressed. The two of them stood around, listening for any rustling sounds in the house that might indicate that Sniff is awake and heard his back door breaking.
Once the two of them were sure that all was well, they walked through his dark house. Little My pulled out a flashlight, that she had stored in the back of her dress and turned it on. They walked through his kitchen of expensive looking items and looked through the different hallways, lined with rare looking items hanging on the walls and sitting on fancy hallway tables. It wasn't long before they found the living room. Little My noticed that Sniff already put a new glass case over the wallet and car keys that Sam busted out previously.
Holding the flashlight steady, Little My watched Sam carefully collect her things. Once she double checked that she had everything, the two of them unlocked the front door and started walking home. Little My turned off her flashlight and put it back into her dress, the starlight being bright enough for them to walk home.
In a soft voice, Sam said, "Thanks for helping me get my stuff back. These are the only things I have left from my universe and I'd like to keep them for as long as I can."
"Sure," Little My said.
The nice moment was cut short by both of them slipping on a solid sheet of ice. Sam dropped everything as she fell on her face and Little My now knows what it feels like to have the weird nubbly thing on a flashlight be jabbed into the back of her neck. They groan as they get back up on their feet, slowly.
"Is this ice? It's late spring. Almost summer, yah? Why is there ice here?" Sam said as she gathered her things.
"The Groke," Little My said as she helped Sam gather her things, "Come on. We need to get home."
Little My lead the way, running fast for someone with such tiny legs, and the two of them made it home safe and sound, if not a bit frazzled. The two of them caught their breath in the darkness of the living room.
"I didn't think Mr. Moomin's story on The Groke was so literal about the ice thing. I thought he was taking artistic liberty," Sam panted.
"Yah. I guess you wouldn't know Moominpappa's tall tales from his actual stories," Little My said. She sighed, then said, "Welp. Good night. Try and keep your stuff this time, okay?"
Little My then walked upstairs to Moomintroll's room to sleep in the knitting basket that is her bed.
The next morning, as she was walking down the stairs, Little My found her family, Sam, and Snufkin all staring out the windows that were looking out the front lawn.
"What's going on," Little My asked.
"It's The Groke," Snufkin said.
Little My walked through the living room and climbed up the windowsill to look out the window. Standing in the middle of the dirt path that crossed the lawn towards the bridge, sat the Groke. Her black, ghostly, hill-shaped body had ice forming a ten-foot circle around herself and beyond the ice, three feet of dead plants circled her as well.
"She can talk, right," Sam asked.
"No one knows," Moominpappa said, "She exudes such a terrible arura that no one wants to get close to her. It's why she lives alone on top of the tallest mountain in Moominvalley."
"I promise that Snufkin and I have been nowhere near anything that can be considered valuable to The Groke," Moomintroll said.
"Oh. She's just so wretched. I wish I could invite her in for tea," Moominmamma said.
"That's so sweet," Sam said, "You remind me so much of my Dad, Mrs. Moomin."
As the family continued to discuss what to do, Little My noticed that The Groke seemed to have her eyes on something.
"Sam. Will you come over here," Little My asked.
Little My watched as The Groke's eye's followed Sam to where Little My was seated.
"What is it," Sam asked.
"I think I know why The Groke is here," Little My said, "and I think it's you."
Sam looked out at The Groke saying, "Psssh, nooo. What?"
Then she moved from window to window and everyone in the house could see that The Groke was following Sam with her eyes.
Now hiding behind the door, Sam groaned, "Why is she here for me!"
"It could be possible that she's heard the stories of you being a human," Snufkin said, "A lot of people in the valley may not believe it, but a living human is a rarity that even The Groke would take interest in."
Sam groaned pitifully.
"Well, I have an idea as to how to get rid of her, but it depends," Little My said.
"On what," Sam asked.
"How attached are you to your hair," Little My asked.
Sam grabbed her long hair and said, "I'm pretty attached actually. Metaphorically and literally."
"Well, she's taken things in replacement of other things before," Little My said.
"That's right. Like when she took Thingumy's hat after the giant ruby was broken," Moominmamma remembered aloud.
"And I thought that we could cut off your hair and turn it into a bracelet or necklace for her to keep instead of her trying to keep you," Little My said.
Sam sighed, resigned to the idea, then she asked, "Do we have any glass beads or some colorful string?"
"There's probably some up in the attic," Moominmamma said.
"Why do you want any," Little My asked, "Let's just braid it together, lop it off, then give it to her."
"No. If we're going to make jewelry, then I'm going to make my grandmother proud with this jewelry," Sam said.
Sam followed Moominmamma up the stairs and Moomintroll decided to follow them upstairs, leaving Little My, Moominpappa, and Snufkin in the living room.
"So, do you two feel like playing Redbeard?" Moominpappa asked them.
Snufkin and Little My shrugged.
Moominpappa then went to the kitchen to grab a deck of cards from the junk drawer so the three of them could play at the kitchen table. Soon Moominmamma and Moomintroll joined them in the kitchen. As they sat down to join in the card game, they informed them that Sam was in the living room working on her bracelet.
Little My sighed, then said, "She's making this too difficult. What's wrong with just throwing her hair at The Groke and being done with it?"
"It's important to her, Little My," Moominmamma said, "Just let her do her thing."
She sighed but continued to play the card game with everyone else.
As the day rolled by, The Groke continued to sit outside their house, while everyone else stayed inside to keep their distance. Little My even saw Sniff storming his way towards their house, until he spotted The Groke, then he turned tail and ran. Sam kept diligently braiding her freshly cut hair through the beads and strings, creating an intricate pattern like she was weaving a basket. It was tied by blue string and was accented by white, yellow, and green beads. She finished it by late afternoon.
"Took you long enough," Little My said, impressed by how pretty it looked.
"I know," Sam said, "Grandma would have finished this within two hours instead of taking all day, but in my defense, she used metal wires and had tools, while I didn't really have that much to assist me."
Sam stood up from the living room coffee table, and stretched, popping her back.
"I hope this fits her," Sam said as she strode towards the door.
"Good luck. Don't die," Little My said she followed her to the door to watch her from the entrance.
As Sam walked up to The Groke, her stride losing confidence with each step, the rest of the family gathered around the living room windows and to stand by the open door to watch what will happen next.
"Hello, Miss Groke, Ma'am," They heard Sam say, "I made this for you, since I don't really want to be all that close to you. If you stick out one of your hands, I'll clasp it around your wrist."
The Groke stared as Sam with her large yellow eyes. Then she lifted a stumpy arm towards Sam. Sam tied the bracelet around her wrist. Then, as she slowly backed away, Sam said, "So, that's made from my hair and I designed it the way that I remember my Grandma making her jewelry. And now you have a permanent part of me, and a part of my heritage so please leave."
When Sam's feet touched the front porch, The Groke turned around, then walked away. Leaving only ice and dead plants in her wake.
Sam then turned towards them and said, "Can I have some tea or coffee? I'm freezing."
Snufkin walked out of the Moomin household and patted Sam on the shoulder, saying, "Good luck with that." Then he went straight for his tent, having exceeded his social interaction meter.
"Come on to the kitchen, Dear," Moominmamma said, "I'll make you a nice cup of tea."
"Thanks," Sam said.
"I'm telling you," Little My said, "You should have just thrown your hair at her and be done with it."
"I didn't feel right about that," Sam said with a shiver, "Plus, I wanted to make jewelry. It's been a while since I've done it. I might pick it up again."
Little My shrugged. Then she went outside to hang out by herself before it became too dark to be in the woods by herself.