...Boo.

(It seems as I start to write again, I run out of ideas of what to put in author's notes...)

Chapter 5: The Eternal Scarecrow

"Tra la la la la!"

Noishe sighed. They had been following the Yellow Brick Road for miles, and Colette didn't seem to get tired. His paws were aching, he was exhausted, but she just skipped along, fresh as a daisy. Maybe it was because she didn't have to carry the same mental baggage as everyone else in the universe.

Nothing interesting happened at all during that leg of the trip, at least not until they passed a corn field.

"Hey!" shouted a mysterious voice.

Colette and Noishe stopped walking and looked around for the source of the voice.

"Who could that have been?" Colette asked Noishe when they saw no one.

"Hey! Up here!"

Colette and Noishe looked up, and saw the source of the mysterious voice.

It was a scarecrow strapped to a pole in the middle of the cornfield.

"Hey!" called the scarecrow again. "Can you get me down?"

"Le gasp!" gasped Colette. "A talking scarecrow!"

"Um... please?" the scarecrow added, hoping this would help.

"Oh, sure!" Colette said. She went over to the pole and untied the scarecrow, who fell to the ground with a thud.

"Thanks!" Thanked the scarecrow as he got to his feet.

"I'm Colette!" Introduced Colette. She waved an arm at Noishe. "And this is my dog, Noishe." Noishe barked. "Who are you?"

"Who are you to ask for my name?" Challenged the scarecrow.

"Um... Colette?"

"That works. I'm Lloyd the Scarecrow! So, where're you off to?"

"I'm going to see the Wizard of Cruxis, so he can send me home!"

"You're going to go see the Wizard?" Gasped Lloyd the Scarecrow. "Can I come too? I want to ask him if he can give me a brain."

Noishe wondered vaguely what a straw boy would do if he were handed a very delicate, wet, and above all, squishy internal organ. It wasn't as if the scarecrow had anywhere to put the thing.

Colette blinked. "Why do you need a brain?"

"You see, I'm made of straw," said the scarecrow Lloyd, poking a straw arm to illustrate his point. "So I got no brain. So I'm dumb." Then he shouted, "IF ONE SWORD EQUALS 100, THEN TWO SWORDS EQUALS 200!" He looked back at Colette. "See? There are rocks out there that are smarter than me! The only degree I'll ever have will be in Ways To Be Stupid! So I want to ask the Wizard if I can have a brain!"

Then, as if the Laws of This Universe dictated that he do so, he broke out into song:

"I'd do my multiplication, or maybe save the world... If I only had a brain!"

"Oh, of course you can come along!" said Colette, who had no fear of strangers, even straw ones. "I'm sure if the Wizard can get me home, he can get you a brain!"

"YAY!" shouted Lloyd the Scarecrow.

The two skipped off down the Yellow Brick Road, arm in arm, singing off-key all the way.

A/N: I'll update a real story next. I promise.