"Ooh, that woman!" fumed JJ as we all cleaned up the kitchen near the end of the day. "That...that...that..."
"Witch?" guessed Flynn.
"Yeah, who the hell* does she think is working for whom?" added JJ.
"Heck!" I said, correcting him.
JJ just stared at me coldy and went on wiping the counters.
"I've dealt with worse." I added while sweeping the floor.
"You have?" asked Serene, one of the newer chefs-in-training.
"You've dealt with someone worse than Gothel?" asked Big D.
"Despicably worse, actually." I said. "No offense, Gru."
Gru just groaned and went on cleaning.
"In fact," I went on. "If my friends and I hadn't stopped them, Freddie Fabulous, Milady de Winter and the Crust Cousins^ would've taken over Foster City School and Bowditch respectively."
Flynn let out a scoff. "You sure have one vivid imagination, kid."
"Hey, at least we got rid of them." I said.
"Well, good luck trying to do the same for Gothel." said Krishna. "She's a toughie."
"Yeah, we noticed." replied Flynn, who, then, saw that Bob drew a sketch of Gothel while Stuart wrote...
"Boma kay meanie."
...which was how they said "big fat meanie."
As the Minions snickered at what they drew, Rapunzel snatched the picture, looked at it and frowned at them.
"As if she really looks like this!"
As she tossed the drawing away, Stuart groaned. "Blumock."
"You said it...again." said Flynn.
I groaned too. "There's gotta be something Gothel's hiding from us."
That was when Flynn and I heard the cartoony bumps of the Stooges, who, upon seeing us, ducked down slowly.
"Oh, no you don't." said Flynn, pulling them back up.
"You know something about Rapunzel that we don't, do you?" I asked.
Moe, Larry and Curly looked at each other and knew there was no keeping it a secret from me and Flynn.
"Ok, we'll tell you." said Curly.
Before he could speak, Larry put his hand over his mouth and added. "But not out here."
The Stooges slowly ducked down again...and reappeared by the fridge, which they motioned for me and Flynn to come to.
As we went over there, the Minions noticed the broom I was sweeping and toyed around with it like they were witches.
As Flynn and I took notice, Moe said. "Come on, come on! Quit slacking around!"
"OK, OK! Sheesh." said Flynn as we walked inside.
At the same time, Gru was telling his Minions. "Hey, guys! Brooms are meant for cleaning, not for playing."
As he shook them off the broom, Rapunzel came up to Gru, asking. "Hey, Gru. Have you seen Pascal?"
Little did she realize Pascal had turned invisible as he caught up with me and Flynn inside the fridge, where Flynn asked. "Seriously? In the one place where you found me?"
"Well, anywhere's better than out there." replied Larry.
"Unless you want Blondie or the Wicked Witch to hear what we're saying." added Moe.
Flynn and I looked at each other and sat down.
"Ay yi yi." said Flynn, who plucked the exact apple I was about to grab.
Surprisingly, another apple landed on my lap.
"Now, from we gathered." began Moe. "It all started way before any of us was born.
"A long, long, long...long time ago, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens."
"And what came from this tiny drop of sun?" asked Flynn.
"A magic golden flower." replied Moe.
"Rumor says it has the ability to heal the sick and injured." added Larry.
"Can it also bring back the dead?" I asked.
"What?" said Flynn, Moe, Larry, and Curly.
"I'm just asking." I said.
"Well, centuries passed," Curly went on. "And before you could say 'whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop,' the ginormous kingdom of Corona grew, where the King and Queen were going to have a baby."
"Yeah, but one day," Larry went on. "The Queen got so sick, she didn't have long to live."
"Was there any way to save her?" I asked.
"In this case, Nate," said Moe. "There is; the Sundrop Flower."
"Ah, but Gothel wasn't willing to give it up so easily." added Larry, who was cut off by Flynn, who said. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. How does Gothel fit into this story?"
"You want the full scoop or not?" asked Moe.
Flynn sat back down and said. "OK, proceed."
"As I was about to say," Larry went on. "Instead of sharing the sun's gift, that greedy woman kept its' healing power to herself, using it to stay young for hundreds of years."
"Yeah, and all she had to do..." Moe went on. "...was sing a special song."
"How does it go?" I asked.
"Like this." said Curly, who cleared his throat and began to sing. "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine..."
"Make the clock reverse," A withering Gothel sang to the flower as its healing powers made her young again. "Bring back what once was mine, what once was mine."
"So it's like the Fountain of Youth in a flower, right?" asked Flynn.
"Well, that does explain why Gothel hasn't aged a day." replied Larry.
"You mean she's really that old?" I asked.
"Well, you wouldn't like her if she's all haggish, Nate." said Moe.
After regiaing her youth, Gothel quickly placed a makeshift bush on top of the Sundrop Flower and rushed away, unknowingly knocking the bush, revealing the flower.
"We found it!" she heard someone call out.
Gothel could only watch in rage as her prized possession was being uprooted.
"So, the magic of that flower healed the queen." Larry went on.
"And it wasn't long until a princess was born...with long golden hair." Moe went on before being cut off by Flynn, who said. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Wait a minute. You're saying that long golden-haired baby was..."
"Yep, you guessed it." said Larry.
"So, if that's true, then..."
I stopped myself short, gasping with realization.
"You stole from..."
"Well, I didn't even know." confessed Flynn.
"Well, you do now, pretty boy." said Moe.
"OK, go ahead." I said.
"Well, to celebrate her birth," Larry went on. "The King and Queen launched a floating satellite into the sky."
"That wasn't a satellite." said Flynn. "It was a lantern, nest-for-brains!"
"Lantern, satellite, what's the difference?" asked Larry.
"Well, whatever you call it." said Curly. "That moment was perfect."
"Yeah, too bad it was nice while it lasted." said Moe.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
As the royal family slept, Gothel snuck into the nursery and approached the slumbering Rapunzel.
"Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine,"
As Gothel sang, Rapunzel's hair started to glow.
Realizing it contained the healing magic of the Sundrop Flower, Gothel cut a lock of Rapunzel's hair to take with her.
But as she did so, the hair stopped glowing and turned brown.
Upon seeing this, Gothel knew what she had to do.
"You see," Larry went on. "Gothel was so upset about her flower being stolen, she had got to extreme measures to get it back...even if it means kidnapping the princess!"
"The entire county was searched," Moe went on. "But the little squirt was nowhere to be found."
"Luckily for us, even before we came here," Larry added. "Gothel raised the kid as her own on top of the JobTrain tower."
"I always wondered what was up there." I said.
"...save what was lost," sang a young Rapunzel as Gothel brushed her hair, regaining her youth. "Bring back what once was mine, what once was mine."
"Now that Gothel got her new treasure," Larry went on. "She was more determined than ever to keep it hidden."
"Why can't I go outside?" asked Rapunzel as she stared at the fireplace
"The outside world is a dangerous place, filled with horrible, selfish people." lied Gothel as she kept brushing her hair. "You are to stay here, where you're safe. Do you understand, flower?"
"Yes, Mommy."
"Thankfully, those walls didn't hide everything." said Larry.
"Each year, on her birthday," Moe concluded. "The King and Queen released thousands of lanterns into the sky, in hope that someday, their lost princess would return."
"Wow!" exclaimed Flynn. "Now that's a lot to take in."
"Especially the fact that Gothel's not her actual mother!" I added.
"Yeah, we already knew there was something wicked inside JobTrain." said Moe. "But now that you know, you can't tell anyone, especially..."
Just then, the fridge door was swung open by Rapunzel, who called for...
"Pascal!"
...who then reappeared to our surprise.
"Pascal?!"
"Don't scare me like that. You really had me worried" Rapunzel said to Pascal as she walked away from the fridge, which Vickie looked into and asked."What were you boys up to?"
Flynn was about to tell Vickie what we learned. "Oh, we were just...uh..."
But upon seeing Moe's sneering face, he quickly changed the subject.
"...trying to think of a way to get back at Gothel!"
"Really?" asked Vickie.
"Really?" Moe and I repeated.
"Uh, yes, really." said Flynn.
"Oh!" said Vickie. "Well, let's hear it."
Author's Note:
*When I was in the Culinary Arts Program, there were some words of profanity heard while working in the kitchen, which would explain why this is the first story to use at least one of those profanity words.
^Also, Freddie Fabulous from "You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown," Milady de Winter from "The Three Musketeers," and the Crust Ccousins, Brit & Tiff, from "My Life as a Teenage Robot" were one of the many villains I encountered, from "Nathan Rosenberg: 4th Grader" to "Nathan Rosenberg: 6th Grader," both part of "The School Years," due to be published starting in the fall of 2021, as previously mentioned.