#13 Wonderland
They were walking, around fields and such after dinner one day, when Howl had the notion to tickle Sophie just to see what would happen. He knew he shouldn't, because after all, women are evil vile creatures that you can't live without and who knows what they'll do if you incur their wrath. But still, Sophie wasn't paying to much attention to him at the moment, as she was animatedly chatting away, something about how interesting that all three Hatter sisters ended up with a wizard or something like that. So slowly he raised his hands from his sides and moved them closer to Sophie, who still hadn't noticed anything. After taking a deep breath and counting to three, his hands went in and started tickling her. There was a shriek as Sophie started to laugh uncontrollably.
"H-H-Howl," Sophie said between laughs, "Stop that!"
But did he stop?
Hehehe. Of course not.
"Howl Jenkins! Stop it!" And with that, Sophie pushed Howl away from her.
Who happened to fall backwards and started rolling down the hill they had just climbed up.
Who happened to grab her wrist as he fell, bringing her rolling down with him.
They rolled down the hill for a good three minutes and then they stopped. There were at the middle of the huge hill.
Howl lay back in the grass, content with life at the moment, he had tickled Sophie and came out alive. Just then a shadow loomed above him.
Maybe not.
Sophie's ginger hair was beyond repair and would require a good combing. Her clothes were mussed and her eyes were on fire.
"Howl Jenkins" Sophie warned. She was glaring at him, whatever had happened to the shy gray mouse he had met on May Day?
Without warning, he shot up, just missing her head, grabbed her wrist again and started rolling down the rest of the hill. He laughed at her undignified shriek, and eventually they were both laughing.
At the bottom of the hill, Howl turned his head to look at Sophie who was breathless with laughter. He lifted himself up and whispered something in her ear.
And Sophie promptly blushed red. This was edging towards those thoughts and feelings. The ones that made her blush madly and head towards the nearest broom or mop and start cleaning her surroundings like her life depended on it. Seriously, it should be illegal to make someone feel like that.
Howl seemed satisfied with her reaction and scooped her up and started walking towards the castle, which could be seen on the horizon, moving towards them.
The people of Market Chipping, many who were also taking walks after dinner, only rolled their eyes and either sighed or smiled in amusement when they heard Sophie Hatter shout, "Howl Jenkins! Put me down this instant. I can walk…!"