"Hey! What'd you say?!", Shock yelped.
Sally remained cuddled in her fetal position.
Shock tried again. "Wake up, Sally! Wake up!" The
queen stretched and rolled back to
face her inquisitor. Shock sat up again and folded her
arms. "You can't just say
something like that, then not talk anymore! That was the most
interesting thing you've
said all night, maybe ever! You poisoned the old man?!"
"Poison isn't the correct word, even though
that is what he called it. 'Sedate' is
more accurate. It was never my intention to do away with him,
or even make him ill. I
just wanted to get out. He kept me locked up. I hated that."
"Wow, Sal. You used the 'H' word.",
said Shock. "Amazing. How'd you poison
him? Did he gag, and turn purple and blue, then pass out?
I want to know."
"Shock, I - "
Again, Sally was interrupted by a screaming baby. She got up
without hesitation, clearly
operating on automatic.
"Come baaack!", Shock hollered after her.
Sally stuck her head back into the
bedroom.
"Shhhh... I'll be right back, Shock."
Shock rolled onto her stomach in frustration. She waited several
minutes, heaved an
exasperated groan and slid out of the bed. There was no way she
was going to let Sally
out of this conversation. Shock padded into the hallway and approached
the nursery
door. She took another step closer when she heard an almost inaudible,
growl.
Zero stared at her, his little doggy brow pinched. He was trying
to look like a ferocious
guard dog.
"Zero, stop. It's alright.", Sally whispered
from inside. "You can come in if you
would like Shock."
"I didn't know Zero ever growled. I've
never heard him growl before.", Shock
said, looking at the little dog who resembled a diaphanous table cloth.
Zero stared a
second longer, as if to say 'you've been warned.' He floated
away and wrapped himself
around his mistress's feet.
"Jack was afraid Zero might be jealous of
the babies, but he loves them and
always wants to make sure they're safe.", Sally explained.
Shock took a tentative step closer and spoke in a whisper.
"Sally, it's almost three o'clock. Why're
they still awake?"
Sally giggled softly.
"Babies don't care what time it is, Shock.
They only know when they're hungry,
wet, or lonely. Until they get a little older, they'll wake up
all night long."
"Well, I need to talk to you! You were
in the middle of a story!", Shock whined.
"I hadn't begun
a story yet, Shock. I'll tell you everything, just give us a
minute, okay?"
Shock turned on her heel and stomped back to the bedroom. Soon,
Sally rejoined her.
"Alright then, Shock. No, I did not
make the doctor turn any colors or gag. He
just went to sleep for awhile. While he was asleep, I was able
to leave the house and do
what I wanted. If he had let me leave the house in the first
place, I would never have
done anything like poisoning him."
Shock digested this.
"What'd you do when you snuck away?
Did you get into trouble?"
Sally shook her head.
"No. I would usually just take long
walks around town. I liked to see everything
that was happening for the holiday. If I could, I would linger
somewhere close to Jack so
that I could watch him. The one time I snuck out I went to the
town meeting, and that
was very interesting."
Shock appeared incredulous.
"Wait, you went to all the trouble of knocking
Dr. F out, sneaking away, and you
went to a town meeting? I think I'd poison someone so that I
WOULDN'T have to go to
a town meeting!"
"Yes, but...Jack was speaking.", Sally explained.
Shock made a face. This
"love" thing made people act freaky. Sally continued. She
spoke more quickly. "Of
course, after I had done this several times, the doctor was very angry,
so he locked me up
in my room. That's when I jumped out the window and left for
good. Although, I did go
back into the house just once. I crept back on Christmas Eve
to get my bottle of fog
juice. Remember that thick fog that rolled in? It almost
stopped Jack from leaving?
That was mine."
Shock was aghast. She laughed outloud. Sally shushed her,
motioning toward the
babies' room.
"Does Jack know you tried to mess up his whole
Christmas with that fog?!",
Shock asked. Sally nodded emphatically. She went on, speaking
rapidly like a child
unraveling a lengthy drama.
"Yes, I confessed everything. He wasn't
angry, because he realized what I had
been trying to do. Besides, I told him later that very night...close
to sunrise. We were
back here at his house. You see, after everything had happened,
after Oogie was
defeated, we all returned to town. I was sad so I walked to cemetery
to be by myself, but
Jack followed me! We sat together for a long time and talked
about everything, then we
came back here to his home. I've been here ever since."
Shock laughed again, covering her mouth. This was GREAT!
"Ohmigosh! You're a big ho, Sally!
You and Jack came right back here and you
stayed over, even though you two had been together, for what?
Like, five minutes?!"
Sally opened her mouth wide in surprise, but then said quietly.
"Love is very, very...overpowering...sometimes,
Shock. Besides, Jack and I had
both been through so very much..."
Shock grew contemplative. Sally seemed to epitomize the saying:
"still waters run
deep."
"Sally, didn't you worry about people talking
about you? Saying bad stuff?"
Sally slid into the quilts.
"Jack is a consummate gentleman. I never
had to worry for a moment that he
would talk about anything, or make light of us. I'm sure people
made assumptions, but
they never knew for certain."
The two were silent for a short while. Sally absently twirled
a lock of hair around
her fingers. Shock's arms remained folded tightly across her
chest. She stared off at
nothing in particular. When she began speaking again, her voice
was very tiny. She
sounded less like a member of the infamous trio of terrors and more
like a girl trying very
hard to grow-up.
"Sorry Sal, if I assumed stuff. You
know. I was wrong, you have done alot of
bad stuff."
It was now Sally's turn to laugh.
"I'll take that as a compliment, shall I?
It's alright Shock. I am a bit of a
goody-goody I guess, but I do have my moments. What about you?
All night you've
been asking me questions, but I don't know anything more about you."
The little girl pulled her knees up to her chest.
"Aw, there isn't alot to know about me.
I'm just a bad kid. Me and the boys used
to work for Oogie. It was alot of fun, but kinda scary sometimes
because you had to be
real careful not to make him angry. When Jack got rid of Oogie,
we kinda moved on.
We do stuff for ourselves now. We makes messes, or fight, or
eat as much candy as we
can without tossing it... Life's pretty good I guess. I've
just been feeling weird lately.
Stuff isn't as fun as it should be, ya know? I've been thinking
about stuff that never even
mattered before. I know it still doesn't matter, but for some
reason I get all upset about it
now, and the boys don't know why I've changed! Neither do I,
really."
"You're growing up I think, Shock."
Sally said thoughtfully. "That's what it
sounds like to me. True, I may not be the best judge of such
things, because I have never
gone through that process. Not in the same way at least.
I was created as I am now,
speaking physically. My mind had to grow and learn things, and
that was hard. Still, it
isn't the same as with other girls."
Shock was encouraged. She released more preteen angst.
"That's the worst part of it all though, Sally.
I feel like I don't fit in with the boys
anymore, but I don't fit in with girls either!"
"There are not many girls in Halloweentown,
Shock. No others who are your age
from what I know. You don't have much to judge yourself against.
You yourself pointed
out that I am very young in many ways. I hope that we can continue
talking after
tonight."
"Yeah, we will I guess... I just wish
I knew when I was gonna stop looking like
one of the boys."
Sally frowned. "I wish I had more to tell you Shock.
I don't know much about
how long it takes. If it means anything, I don't think you look
like a boy at all."
"I feel like I do. In any case, I don't
look like you for example, that's for sure. It
makes me mad sometimes when I'll be talking to Lock. I'm in the
middle of telling him
a great scheme, then you'll walk by, and he'll practically snap his
head off lookin' at you!
He never used to be like that."
"Boys mature more slowly from what I understand,
Shock. Lock must be
growing up too I suppose."
"Yeah, there's that... Plus the fact
that you've gone all 'top-heavy' recently
doesn't help ME any.", Shock huffed. Sally looked unsure.
Shock rolled her eyes and
cupped her hands, palms facing her chest. The universe-wide gesture
for large breasts.
Sally suddenly understood, and her cheeks flushed purple.
"I-I-I....I have twins!", she said helplessly.
"Yep!
You sure do!", laughed Shock.
"You are
a rotten little girl, Shock.", Sally said with an
embarrassed grin.
Shock grinned back proudly.
