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Ghosts: Chapter two&-->
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Invisible Girl &--> By Sailor Lum&-->
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Disclaimer: The characters from Babar belong to Jean and Laurent De Brunhoff andNelvana. Any other characters are mine and may be used for other nonprofit fanfic (Just
note that they're mine if you use them.)
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Continuity note: This story takes place after "Regarding Rataxes."
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Flora rode her bike home from Rhinoland thinking of the story Rataxes had told her, momentarily forgetting her own problems. Unfortunately, her problems came crashing back in on her almost as soon as she reached the palace, where Alexander and Pom were talking excitedly about the picnic they had gone on with Babar.
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"Can you believe that story Dad told us!?" Alexander exclaimed.
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"Yeah, tell me about it! That was pretty wild!" Pom replied.
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"Hi guys!" Flora said cheerily but softly. "What story did father tell you?"
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"We'll have to tell Victor about it when he comes over with William," Alexander said, totally oblivious to Flora's presence.
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"Yeah," agreed Pom, also oblivious to Flora.
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"Hello…guys…" Flora said meekly but with aggravation.
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The boys continued to ignore her and jabbered on, completely absorbed in their conversation. Flora sighed as it became apparent that they were too absorbed to notice her. What am I…invisible or something!? she thought. She climbed up the palace stairs feeling slightly dejected. As she opened the front door to the palace and entered the foyer, she heard her father talking with Pompadour and Cornelius.
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"Sire, the situation at the bridge between Rhinoland and Celesteville is becoming inflammatory!" Pompadour exclaimed, his voice slightly panicked. "We almost had a fist fight break out the other day between some of Rataxes' workers and ours!"
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"What in the world set them off like that?" Babar asked.
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"Well, it seems that some of our workers were complaining about the laziness of the rhino workers and then the rhino workers became quite hostile and insulting!" Pompadour replied.
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"My tusks!" Cornelius exclaimed. "What can be done about this, Babar? We don't want the situation to escalate!"
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"No, we certainly don't," Babar replied. "But there must be more to it than just a few comments and insults," after thinking for a moment he added "Let's monitor the situation for now and I'll talk to the parties involved to see if I can find out anymore details. I'll also try and speak with Rataxes about it."
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"Yes, your majesty," Pompadour and Cornelius replied.
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"Oh, by the way, how is the actual reconstruction of the bridge coming?" Babar asked. "I know Rataxes is anxious to have it done and it would be good to have some progress to report when I meet with him tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll never hear the end of it. He's becoming quite obnoxious about it."
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"Becoming?" Pompadour queried incredulously.
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Babar and his advisers continued to talk as Flora watched on. She wanted to talk with Babar a bit, but it seemed he was busy with important business so she thought better of asking. It's not like he'll notice me anyway, she thought.
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"Why don't people notice me!" she exclaimed, talking to herself. "Maybe I'm just one of those people who fade into the background". She stood around thinking for a moment. "I suppose that could be useful if I wanted to become a spy or something. …Hmmm… actually… that sounds like fun. Kind of like being an undercover reporter that reports only to a select few." Flora ran up to her room to see if she had any good spy outfits.
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Pom, Alexander, Victor and William are all seated in a circle in the playroom. Victor is stuffing cookies into his mouth as if he were starving.
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"Gee Vic! Leave a little for the rest of us, OK," said Alexander.
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"Sorry," he replied, with a mouth full of cookie. "So what's this big story you've got to tell us?"
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"Yeah!" chimed in William, their hippopotamus friend.
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"It's about how Rhinoland and Celesteville almost got into a big war. For real!" said Pom and Alexander simultaneously.
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"Ooo, my dad never talks about that," exclaimed Victor. "Except to say that 'the elephants would have never survived a full scale Rhino invasion,'" he finished, mimicking his father to the best of his ability.
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"Oh, I bet Dad would have found some way to win," said Pom confidently.
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"Well, I don't think so!" replied Victor, equally confident.
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"Well anyway, let's hear the story," said William.
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"Okay," said Pom as he began to tell the tale. "A long time ago, a little bit before we were born, Rhinoland and Celesteville were really, really not getting along. Dad said the real problem started when there was an explosion at one of the Rhino watch posts near the borders of Rhinoland and Celesteville. No one is sure what caused the explosion, but the Rhinos blamed Celesteville. General Pomire, who wasn't a general at the time because Rataxes had fired him years earlier, was stirring up all kinds of anti-Celesteville sentiments and telling everyone that it must have been the elephants. The people of Celesteville and Rhinoland began fighting in the streets and riots and war rallies were held in both countries.
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Dad tried to talk to Rataxes, but Rataxes refused to even give him and audience. Then Rataxes hired back General Pomire and started planning on ways to sneak attack the elephants."
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"Like building the underground tunnel that we all got lost in," Alexander chimed in.
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"Right," replied Pom.
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"Why did Rataxes hire General Pomire back after he fired him?" asked William.
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"Dad said it must have been because Rataxes was worried and none of his other generals were as good," replied Pom. "Anyway, this went on for about a year and then Rataxes finally let Dad talk with him and then Dad convinced Rataxes not to go to war. Although, Rataxes said he was just taking pity on us because we would be beaten so easily."
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"Well you would have been," retorted Victor.
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"Would not!" yelled both Pom and Alexander.
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"Would too!" said Victor.
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Flora watched the continuing argument in the corner, where she had been for the last half hour, unnoticed and dressed in a pink trench coat and hat. She shook her head, rolled her eyes and left the room deciding that no more useful information could be gathered here.
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"Hi! This is Linda Stern with the 5 o'clock news!" blared the chirpy reporter on the TV Pompadour and Cornelius were watching. "Today a fight broke out between rhino and elephant bridge workers. No one was seriously injured but two men were treated for minor cuts and abrasions. Our man on the street Wally Broncite, is live at the Celesteville palace to ask King Babar some questions."
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"What!" Pompadour shrieked. "No one called me to schedule…"
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"Shh!" said Cornelius.
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The screen switched to the palace garden where Babar had been watering the plants. Wally shoved a microphone in his face and asked, "Do you have any comments on what happened at the bridge this morning King Babar?"
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Babar was momentarily taken aback but recovered quickly. "We are monitoring the situation. I think it's too early to jump to any conclusions," he replied.
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"Do you think this could lead to a situation…?"
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"No more questions," said Cornelius, who had bolted from the living room shortly after shushing Pompadour. "King Babar has a lot of paper work to sign."
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"Indeed!" huffed Pompadour indignantly, "And all press conferences should be properly scheduled according to palace protocol!"
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"Come on Pompadour…" said Cornelius grabbing his fellow advisor by the arm and practically dragging him into the palace. Pompadour continued to babble on about palace protocol and procedures.
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Once inside the palace, Babar thanked Cornelius for rescuing him. He wasn't in the mood to deal with the press. So much so, that even paperwork was looking good.
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Flora had been watching behind a bush and wished she had brought her camera. She thought this would have been a good piece for her newspaper. Her spy game forgotten, she began to think of asking the boys to start working on the paper again. They hadn't worked on it in quite a while.
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"Hey Flora! Whatcha' doing?" Victor asked, startling a small scream out of Flora. Victor had been on his way home when he noticed Flora in the bushes.
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"Oh, nothing," Flora said innocently.
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"What's with the spy outfit?"
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"I'm just playing," she said, rather glad that someone was paying attention to her.
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"Oh, yeah? Where's your notebook?" he asked.
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"My notebook? I don't have one."
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"What's the point of spying on people if you don't write it down?" Victor asked rhetorically.
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Flora rolled her eyes and replied, "I'mjust playing, Victor."
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"I know. I just think if you play, you ought to play right, that's all," he said.
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Flora sighed with amused exasperation.
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"Well, see you later. I don't want to be late for supper."
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"Bye Victor," she said as she waved him off. Flora took off her hat and went inside. All the sudden she had a craving to watch "Harriet the Spy."
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--- End of Chapter Two
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