Chapter Four
The sun had begun to set, but only just, leaving more light than darkness, so when Sara saw the colorful glow on the horizon, just past a field of emerald green grass, she thought her tired eyes might be playing ticks on her. Rich hues of red, blue, purple and yellow highlighted the dusky sky with streaks of color. "The Neon City," Sara whispered under her breath in awe of the journeys end and the possibility of finally going home.
"We're almost there," Cool Cat announced in his smooth baritone voice.
"Is that it?" asked Straw Hat Man, excitement overtaking exhaustion.
"Yep," agreed Tin Ear Man. "That's it. It won't be long now."
"And I'll get a brain," said Straw Hat Man.
"I'll finally have some heart in my songs," said Tin Ear Man.
"I'll have some stones," said Cool Cat.
"And we," Sara said, picking up Rosanna and hugging the dog "will finally get to go home."
"Let's run," shouted Straw Hat Man, anxious to have a brain of his very own.
"Yes, lets!" agreed Sara as she set Rosanna gently back on the green bricks; they joined hands and began to scamper across the field of emerald grass, shiny with dew. Rosanna chased after them, her tail wagging furiously.
The grass was cool and soft, and Sara wished she could take off her shoes and rest her tired feet in the sweet grass, but she knew that Sophia the Wicked Witch would like nothing more than for Sara to do that. Wanting to spare her new friends from having to encounter the witch, Sara left her shoes on and continued.
"Look!" Tin Ear Man pointed toward a bevy of little flitty things that filled the sky and had begun to drift downward.
"Is it snow?" Asked Cool Cat.
"Maybe cherry blossoms," Sara guessed.
"They look like rose petals to me," offered Tin Ear Man.
"Maybe they're rocks," said Straw Hat Man at the same time the group came to the place where the flitty things were suspended just above ground.
"They're butterflies!" Exclaimed Sara, as she lifted her arms and twirled around in circles. "Beautiful butterflies!"
Butterflies of every possible color and design encompassed the small traveling group, flying up, down and all 'round, as if they were playing butterfly games.
Tin Ear Man yawned widely. "Yep, they sure are pretty all right, but so's that grass, I'm gonna lay down a spell and rest some." And so he did, curling up on the sweet cool emerald grass and snoring lightly.
"Me too," agreed Cool Cat, and he laid himself down on the ground, snuggling up with Rosanna, who had rested her snout on her paws and was sleeping peacefully.
"I suppose it has been a very long day, and a little rest couldn't hurt at all, could it?" Sara agreed, yawned and laid herself down on the grass and quickly fell asleep.
"No!" cried Straw Hat Man. "No, no time for rest, we're so close now!" A butterfly landed on his nose and he yawned himself. "Oh, the butterflies! It must be the butterflies!" He grabbed his book on how to win at blackjack and began to swing it through the air, "Shoo! Shoo!" And when only a few of the butterflies heeded him and flew away, Straw Hat Man sank to his knees with exhaustion and before he finally succumbed and fell asleep, he cried out "Help, oh please someone help us, we're so very close!!" As his eyes fluttered closed, he thought he saw a glittering bubble of pink sparkles wafting gently down through the butterflies.
"Well hell," said Catherine the Good Witch of the North. "She almost made it, didn't she? Alright then," with a sigh, she pulled her magic wand out of her cleavage and flicked it over each of them. "Ring a ding ding, time to wakie wakie."
Rosanna, being the smallest of the group was the first to stir and open her eyes, and so, was the only one to see the glittering pink bubble as it floated away. Sara woke next, and picked herself up off the ground. She shook each of her friends in turn, helping them up.
"What happened?" Asked Tin Ear Man.
"It was the butterflies, they made us fall asleep," answered Straw Hat Man.
"How'd we wake up then?"
Each looked to the others for the answer, but the only one who knew, Rosanna, wasn't talking.
zozozo
The gates to the Neon City were tall and wide and closed. Sara tried rapping, but could tell from the noise drifting from inside her knocks had been drowned out. She turned around to face her fellow travelers, exasperated and very tired. "They can't hear the knocking. I don't know how we'll get in."
"Try the knob," offered Cool Cat.
Sara looked at him like he'd just solved a big mystery. "'Course," Cool Cat shrugged off the admiration.
Sara reached out and tried the knob. It turned easily and the doors swung open revealing to them hundreds, maybe a few thousand, people playing noisy games at brightly colored tables. Clinking metal sounds joined in with laughter, everyone was having a wonderful time.
Sara stepped through the doors, and just as Straw Hat Man and Tin Ear Man were about to follow her, a man in a tuxedo abruptly stepped up to Sara, Cool Cat rushed past the other two and placed himself between Sara and the man in the tuxedo.
"Hello," said the man in the tuxedo calmly and tilted his head to one side. "Welcome to the Neon City!" His voice went up an octave and he practically pronounced the exclamation point.
"Thanks," Cool Cat said, backing off just a little.
"We're, uh," Sara began; taken aback a bit by Cool Cat's appreciated, but unnecessary over protectiveness, "we're here to see the wizard please."
"The wizard?" said the man in the tuxedo suddenly all business. "What for, may I ask?"
"Well," Sara began. "He would like courage," Cool Cat lifted his chin just a bit in acknowledgement. "And he would like some heart in his singing voice," Tin Ear Man bowed deeply. "And he would like a brain," Straw Hat Man curtseyed. "And uh," Sara cast curious glance to Straw Hat Man, "and I would like for the Wizard to send me home."
"Well, I am sorry," the man in the tuxedo clasped his hands together, and cast his eyes downward so that he didn't have to actually look them in the eye when he delivered bad news. "But…no one sees the wizard, I've never even see the Great Wizard of Las Vegas." Sara's red sneakers caught his eye. "What are those?"
Sara looked down at her feet. Cool Cat looked down at Sara's feet. Tin Ear Man and Straw Hat Man looked down at Sara's feet. None of her traveling companions had noticed the shoes during the journey, and Sara had completely forgotten about them.
"Oh," said Sara, "Catherine the Good Witch gave these to me….After I killed her cousin, the Wicked Witch of the East," she said very casually. From inside the basket, Rosanna barked once in endorsement.
The three male traveling companions glanced at each other, each wondering if the others had known. Then they glanced back at Sara in a kind of wonder.
"Yep," Sara said, no longer in the mood to play, "dropped a lab on her. She's not only 'merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead'." She paused a moment for effect. "So. Do we get in to see the wizard, or do I find out what kind of magic these shoes can do?"
"No, no. Please don't," the man in the tuxedo held up a halting hand. "We'd heard rumors that she was dead, but the stories varied so much." He spoke quickly, his nervous words tumbling over one another. "One said she'd been pushed into an oven, another said she'd turned into a dragon and had been slayed by a handsome prince." He held out his hands in a gesture of concession. "What can one do?"
"One can take us to see the Wizard." Tin Ear Man said.
"Of course, of course, please, follow me," said the man in the tuxedo with one last glance to the red sneakers.