Disclaimer, the usual
As they arrived at the farmhouse the first thing that would catch anyone's eye would be the table piled high with sandwiches, some even wrapped in wax paper, so she knew Mrs. Teak had intended on there being a little picnic type of gathering. She then saw Mr. and Mrs. Teak. Annabella, she could hear running after toto trying to catch him. She then noticed her aunt and uncle chatting with the Bobbins, and a woman she could only assume was Mrs. Griffiths, though not seeing a Mr. Griffiths she grew slightly concerned. She saw Mr. And Mrs. Bobbin, now dressed in more suitable clothing for the weather, enjoying some of the food.
"Pumpkin?" Madeline asked still listing off pet names.
Dorothy shook her head both to clear it and to tell Madeline to try again. taking Alex's hand tightly she braced herself for the meeting with the new kids in town.
"um, Sister?" Madeline asked.
"not much of a nickname." Dorothy said.
"I'm working with what you put out doll." Madeline said.
"don't call me doll ever again." Dorothy said.
"yes your majesty." Madeline said.
"not in public." Dorothy said.
"fraidy cat." Ellie said.
"so what?" Dorothy asked.
"fraidy cat it is then." Madeline said.
"not what I meant." Dorothy replied.
"I know, oh there's Betsy, and that must be her friend, chatting with Aislynn, I thought I saw them at the library earlier." Madeline said thinking about it.
"why would the library be the first place they went?" Dorothy asked.
"search me." Madeline said shrugging as they reached the table
"ah, yes, Mrs. Griffiths, this is my niece dorothy." Em said.
Dorothy curtsied.
"Hello, hm, my daughter was saying that we would meet a pretty girl, and she was right." Mrs. Griffith said.
Dorothy giggled and blushed and then turned to alex, who had wandered off to talk to his dad, Mom, and younger sister.
"Mayre! Come over her please." Mrs. Griffiths shouted.
Immediately Mayre and Betsy turned to look at them. Aislynn waved them over and the two girls walked over.
Betsy was a girl who looked as though she couldn't be more than a year older than dorothy. She was a little bit taller than dorothy, but not by much. She had dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, and an expression that was showing signs of nervousness. Looking at her, it was noticed that she was holding Mayre's hand incredibly tight, she was obviously more of the shy type. She was wearing an orange gingham dress which had white stripes going up the sleeves.
Mayre however couldn't have been much older than Aislynn, who was about a year or two younger than dorothy. She had big, solemn looking blue eyes, her hair was hidden by a sun bonnet but there were strands of brown sticking out from the front. She looked at dorothy as if she were looking at an old friend. She was wearing a white dress with red trim.
"Hello." Dorothy said.
"hi, I'm Mayre, but I prefer to be called trot." Mayre said, her voice soft and sweet.
"why?" Madeline asked causing dorothy to glare at her.
"I dunno, I've never really liked being called Mayre, it's the nickname Betsy came up with for me." Mayre said.
"Betsy, say hello, it's only kind to greet a new neighbor." Mrs. Bobbin said.
"hello." Betsy said meekly
"It's a pleasure to meet you both, I'm dorothy, this is one of my best friends, Ellie, and this is Maddie, she and I are really close." Dorothy said.
"and that boy over there who you were with?" Mayre asked.
"that's alex, he's my, well, my boyfriend." Dorothy said
"you two seem perfect for each other." Mayre said.
"thank you, I know." Dorothy said.
"now, Betsy, don't be shy, she won't bite" Mrs. Bobbin said.
Betsy turned to look at her mother. Inching closer to Mayre, she sighed.
"we were at the library, we heard you telling the children your stories." Betsy said
"I liked them, they remind me of mommy telling me that I was marked on the forehead by fairies at birth." Mayre said.
Dorothy couldn't help but giggle at this, Betsy however gave Mayre a stern look.
"Trot, I thought you said you wouldn't mention that, that's why people at home made fun of you." Betsy said.
"hey, the kids got imagination, nothing wrong with that." Ellie said.
"maybe more than that." Dorothy heard Madeline mumble under her breath.
"beg pardon?" Mayre asked.
"oh, nothing, just me rambling to myself, I do that sometimes." Madeline said.
"Dorothy, the way you told your story at the library, it was like you really saw it first-hand." Mayre said.
Dorothy looked at the girl and smiled.
"some stories are best left for another day." Dorothy said
"Anyways trot, places like that only exist in fairytales." Betsy said
"oh Betsy, why do you always have to be such a downer?" Mr. Bobbin asked.
"because, I care about her, she's the only friend I have." Betsy replied.
"well, we'll be your friends, if you'd like." Dorothy said.
Mayre immediately looked at Betsy with large, hopeful eyes. Betsy smiled and immediately her face began to light up.
"I think we'd like that." Betsy said.
"well, that's good then." Madeline said turning to look at alex.
"But dad!" they heard him shout.
Immediately everyone turned to look at them.
"No buts. Your uncle will be coming with us well." They all heard Mr. Teak said.
"But why do I have to come, remember last time we helped with Donna's parents?" Alex asked.
"yes, and you're older now, much more capable, and a strong young man, and don't go pulling that dorothy needs you card, she can last a few weeks without your presence." Mr. Teak said.
"Daddy, I want to come too." Annabella said.
"Annabella, it's too dangerous for you to be doing heavy lifting, but I promise we'll bring you something back." Mr. teak said.
"but dad, you said we could be gone for up to a month, we'll be several counties away, and." That was as far as alex got before dorothy ran over and clapped a hand on his mouth.
"alex, hush, explain to me what's happening." Dorothy said.
"Donna's parents need some help moving some of the stuff they're stock piling, they called before we left to come here, they asked if I could help them, and I told them alex and I would come, when they asked me which alex, I said my son, but I would call my brother in law and see if he was willing to take time off from being a school principle to help his sister and brother in law, he is." Mr. Teak said.
"but what about my education?" alex asked pulling Dorothy's hand from his mouth.
"Your uncle has already seen to that; he's created a packet for you to do when you're not helping us." Mr. Teak said.
Alex sighed and looked at dorothy hoping she could say something to change his father's mind. She shook her head and turned him so that they were face to face and making eye contact. She knew she wouldn't be able to win an argument like this. And she knew he needed to spend some time with his family.
"alex I'd love to try and help you, but your father seems bent on you going with him and Mr. Alistair, but I'm not going to try and argue with him, and besides, you've spent a lot of time with me recently, I think it's time you spent some time doing some bonding with your dad over something that doesn't involving making a chair or something." dorothy said.
"dorothy, the last father son bonding activity was building a table, not a chair." Alex said chuckling.
"I said, or something, didn't I?" dorothy asked smiling.
"well, yes, but, oh drat, you know, I really hate the way you manage to do this, one minute I'm trying to get you to help me get out of a family situation, you look at me with those eyes of yours, and that beautiful smile, and the next thing I know, I'm planeing a board to add to a table setup, making idle conversation with my dad." Alex said
Dorothy giggled and smiled.
"besides, if you ever get near a phone, you can call me up in the afternoons, you know how to reach me unless I'm somewhere else." Dorothy said winking.
"well, there's the library, and oh, what if you decide to go the cemetery?" alex asked as Oz also came to mind.
"then I'll leave someone with a message." Dorothy said.
"and sometimes you're at the park with toto." Annabella said walking over to dorothy.
"oh, right." Dorothy said trailing off.
"I can give alex my number, I live pretty close to the park." Ellie said.
"You know, ellie, it's just occurred to me, I've known you, and your parents for a few years, and I've never been to your apartment." Alex said.
Dorothy thought about that for a moment, she had never seen Mr. and Mrs. Upland's apartment either, she knew they had a large one however and that was about it.
"you know, I haven't been there either." Dorothy said turning to look at ellie.
"I'm trying to save you from the embarrassment that is my father." Ellie said.
"he's not embarrassing, he's funny." Mr. Teak said.
"says the one that always makes a personal remark about his silly outfits." Alex said.
"Alex, don't talk to your father like that." Mrs. Teak said.
"hey it's true." Alex said.
"I'd like to meet your father at some point, um, ellie did ya say?" Mayre asked looking at dorothy
"yes, this is Ellie, wait a second, where did Maddie go?" Dorothy asked looking around.
Everyone stopped for a moment. Looking around there was no sign of her. even Aislynn was still sitting on the steps to the back door.
"I'll go check in side, I didn't think of her as a person that would run off." Ellie said turning to walk away.
"really?" Dorothy asked.
"I thought I saw her walking 'round to the front of the house." Mrs. Bobbin said.
Dorothy checked her pockets to see if Madeline had somehow slipped her another note without her noticing but found nothing. Toto however walked over, sat down at her feet and barked. Dorothy looked down at him.
"Yes boy?" dorothy asked picking him up.
"can we go inside and get some water? All this running has made me thirsty and tired." He said panting.
"the poor thing must be tired; Annabella has been chasing him around the field since we got here." Mrs. Teak said.
"I'll bring him inside, Auntie Em, did you feed the cats this morning?" dorothy asked.
"yes, but I guess they can have a can of tuna if they wish." Em said.
"I'll go feed them, and get toto some fresh water, alex, you can keep these two company." Dorothy said.
"yes ma'am." He said.
"don't do that." She said smiling and running back to the farmhouse
as she entered she found Madeline, pacing back and forth, her wand twirling in her fingers like a baton, she was wearing one of her top hats now and mumbling something to herself. Ellie was sitting in a chair, just watching, not knowing what to say. Dorothy looked at her and shrugged before setting toto on the floor and going into the kitchen. Picking up Toto's water dish she emptied its contents into the sink and then rinsed it out before filling it and setting it down on the floor. She then went into one of the cabinets and pulled out a can of tuna, grabbing some plates she opened the can and dished it out into equal portions, immediately all the cats, apart from their mother, eve, came running into the kitchen. Dorothy smiled and walked back out into the living room, walking up to Madeline and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"is something wrong?" Dorothy asked.
"it's that girl, Mayre, or Trot, whichever you prefer." Madeline said.
"what about her?" Dorothy asked.
"she claimed that she was marked on the forehead by fairies at birth, it's not uncommon for such creatures to exist outside of fairylands such as Oz, but they normally don't live long, but something about her, it's just, off, but only another fairy would be able to tell if she was truly marked, if so, then she is a lucky child, and Betsy should be fortunate to have her as a friend." Madeline said.
"So, we could ask Ozma couldn't we?" Ellie asked.
"Ellie don't be crazy, if Ozma comes here, then dorothy has to go to Oz and wait for her to get back, and besides I don't think Ozma has any normal clothing that wouldn't attract stares here." Madeline said.
"neither do you, I'm just glad no one pointed out that you are an exact copy of me" Dorothy said.
"hey I'm wearing a suitable outfit, aren't I?" Madeline asked.
"yes, and it makes you look like me, except in a different color." Dorothy said.
"well, anyways, let's get back outside, we don't want to keep the others waiting, we can discuss this later." Ellie said.
Well, there's part one, is there really something truly odd about Trot? Or is Madeline just paranoid? Will more things be revealed to the two girls in part two? Well of course, otherwise it wouldn't be two parter. But what questions will they have? And will one of them eventually point out that dorothy and Madeline look exactly alike? Find out in the next chapter.
