Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Following the Jewish tradition, a dispenser of schmaltz (liquid chicken fat) is kept on the table to give the vampires heartburn if they get through the garlic defense. Calvin Trillin
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. Voltaire
The short words are best, and the old words are the best of all. Winston Churchill
Jareth woke up irritable. He didn't sleep well during the night and snatches of dreams remained. Climbing out of bed the first word he said was, "Damn" when his bare feet touched the cold stone floor. He padded over to his wardrobe and selected a pair of black form fitting leggings. As he methodically started to dress unbidden images from the dreams wouldn't seem to leave him alone. Pictures flashed through his mind of spinning torches, roses and Sarah.
"Ah yes Sarah," Jareth said to himself sardonically, "The little whining ingrate who made my subjects sappy, especially Higgle who totally lost his head over the girl." That's when things really started to go bad.
Because of his cranky state the pants he selected seemed to fight going on every inch of the way. Jareth unreasonably blamed the garment and not the abrupt manner in which he was putting it on. With Sarah still on his mind he was in no mood to calm down as he snatched his white ruffled shirt out of the wardrobe and dropped it. Retrieving it he sneered, "Marking up the Labyrinth with lipstick, how quaint" Then he struggled to get his boots on, "Solving riddles...oops, oh do look out for the trapdoor." Jareth smirked.
When he dropped his gloves he realized thinking of her made his hackles raise. He wanted desperately not to think of her, to banish all thoughts of her from his mind but it seemed the harder he tried the worse it got. Unable to gain control and frustrated he snatched his gloves from the floor and stalked out of the room.
In a foul mood and still fighting thoughts of "the destroyer" Jareth entered the throne room. Distracted, he was half way to the dais before he noticed something peculiar and stopped. He had clearly heard the clacking sound of his boots echo off the stonewalls. Could he even remember a time when he could hear anything above goblin clatter in this room?
Without tilting his head his eyes shot up to the nesting vulture, even it was silent. He proceeded to the throne, twirled gracefully and sat down with a flourish. Drumming his gloved fingers Jareth impassively surveyed the clean deserted room. Like a man waking up from a fogged state he realized the goblins were avoiding him out of fear. How long had it been this way? And where in the hell were the chickens?
Sarah smiled as she truthfully told her parents she was going to visit some out of state friends for a few days. If everything went right she might get a chance to see Ludo and Sir Didymus ...if everything went right. The gravity of the situation struck her again full force. Self-doubt reared its ugly head as she questioned why in the world would she think she could say anything to Jareth that might make the slightest bit of difference?
Actually the whole situation seemed ridiculous. "Ok, lets see if I have this right. I am going off with a dwarf to talk a cruel Goblin King out of marrying a very nasty witch. To get there I have to transport to my ring in a perhaps haunted labyrinth. Oh, but fear not, for I am being protected by a jester." She looked at herself in the vanity mirror and with a sigh deadpanned, "It could happen to anybody."
Feeling more in control of herself she focused her attention on packing. "Let's get this show on the road. Hmmm, what do I wear to a let's vanquish the witch party?" She chose a forest green pantsuit and gold knit shirt. "Yes, festive but not too restrictive in case I have to knock her off her broom."
Next on the list was her traveling ensemble. With her pinky up she sashayed over to the closet. "Underworld travel...fashion sense dictates tasteful but comfortable clothing that can be transformed in route if climatic changes occur." Sarah pulled out black slacks, a white short-sleeved shirt and hound's-tooth jacket. "And last but not least, multifunctional comfortable clothing for visiting friends, tourism or a return trip to the bog of eternal stench. One never knows." Walking to her drawers she picked out a couple of pairs of jeans and sport shirts.
Finally packed she called Hoggle and was glad he appeared before she lost her nerve. "Yous got everything? Yous ready?" Hoggle asked, obviously a little nervous himself. Sarah calmly took her suitcase in hand and nodded. Then Hoggle said, "Ok, say the right words." Sarah looked at him dumbly, "What?"
Hoggle waved at her impatiently, "Yous know, the right words." Sarah rolled her eyes because she knew this was going to be a go around the mulberry bush again. "Hoggle, I don't know what you're talking about." Hoggle was now spinning his arms, "Sures you do, everyone knows you haves to.... ", He slapped his forehead and said," Sorry Sarah I forgot, yous don't knows the rules." Sarah growled at him through gritted teeth, "No, I don't know the rules, but when I find whoever made the rules I will kill them very slowly."
Sarah sat back on her bed and listened to yet another sets of rules. As far as she could understand Hoggle's explanation it went something like this; To wish yourself to an object in the Underground you had to say the "right words." The new owner of the object always gave the words to you. There were also a different set of rules if you dropped something in the Labyrinth, but since she didn't it wasn't necessary to explain those.
Sarah took the lead, "So the Wiseman gave me the right words when he took my ring, that's why they didn't seem to make a lot of sense at the time." Hoggle nodded "and I thought yous shouldn't give him your ring cause he gave you nothing since yous wouldn't want to come back."
Sarah questioned, "But he gave me the words before I gave him the ring, why would he do that?" Hoggle shook his head, "I don't try to guess what the Wiseman does." Sarah decided to table the mystery for now and get on with immediate program." What about getting home, what are the words for your jewels?" Hoggle replied, "Thems officially your jewels now, so you make up the words. But yous have to remember em exact and not say em by accident or you will be back here."
Playfully Sarah couldn't help but call up a vision of tapping her ruby slippers and saying, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home." Seriously thinking now she wanted to make the phrase simple so she'd remember it, "What about, "I want to go back to where I belong."" Hoggle nodded, "Sounds good to me, are yous ready to go now?"
Sarah stood up and took hold of her suitcase in one hand and rested the other on Hoggle's shoulder. Not sure what to expect she closed her eyes and said, "The way forward is sometimes the way back."