Well I finally found time to update. It snowed about two feet yesterday in my borough of the wonderful NYC, and I was blessed with a snow day, during which time I wrote this chapter. It's a bit late, but much earlier than I was expecting to get it out. This is basically the climax of the story, so hopefully you won't find it too terribly boring. Anyways, here's chapter 6:
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Hunk came out of the kitchen and addressed the three, "Dinner is served," he said, making a dramatic gesture toward the kitchen door and bowing deeply as the women walked past. Dorothy whacked him playfully on the head as she walked by, which made him laugh and straighten back up.
Elphaba and Glinda looked at the table for a moment, which had four matching chairs and two others that had obviously been dragged over from somewhere else in the house, before slowly making their way to a seat. Glinda sat next to Zeke, while Elphaba sat down on her right. Dorothy took the seat next to Elphaba, and Hunk finished placing food on the table before he took the only remaining seat.
Elphaba wondered what she could possibly do to eat without revealing her hands and face at all. She carefully picked up a fork, keeping the back end of it in her sleeve so she would not have to show her hand. Zeke and Hickory gave her a strange look, but she ignored them. In an hour or so she'd never see these men again; she really didn't care what they thought of her.
"Sooo…" said Zeke, addressing the two strange women. One of them was dressed much too elegantly to be from around these parts and he hadn't even seen the face of the other, for she would not pull down the hood of her cloak, "You're friends of Dorothy's then. Where ya from?"
Elphaba, Glinda and Dorothy all exchanged a look. It was Elphaba who decided to take the initiative, "Umm…from a town not far from here. To the…west."
"The west huh?" said Zeke, pausing for a moment, "The next town over in the direction is pretty far away. You must have had quite a journey to get here."
"Yes, we did travel quite a ways," said Elphaba carefully.
"How'd you meet our Dorothy over here anyway?" he asked.
Elphaba didn't know what this interrogation was about, but she knew that this man didn't exactly trust her and Glinda. She thought about her response for a moment before she spoke. It had to at least sound plausible, "We, my friend Glinda and I, I mean, we were out walking and we saw her trudging down the street. She looked a bit beat up, so we asked her if she was alright. She was a bit wary at first, but she told us her story eventually, and we sort of took her in. She's been staying at my house ever since."
Zeke still looked skeptical, but the story seemed to satisfy him for the moment, "So, if you don't mind my asking, how did you even hear about this funeral if you live so far away.
Elphaba froze, as did Glinda, Dorothy and Hunk, who had all been listening to her explanations with slight apprehension. This was one question they hadn't counted on having to answer. After all, Hunk was supposed to be playing dumb about this whole thing, so how could they say they'd received a letter from him. There didn't seem to be any plausible way to answer that question.
"We uh…read it in the newspaper," said Elphaba unsurely.
"We didn't put anything about it in the paper," said Zeke, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Uh…I did. I send the obituary to the paper a couple of days ago along with the time of the funeral. Must have slipped my mind," said Hunk quickly, playing along with Elphaba's story.
"Oh really? You never told us that," said Zeke, as Hunk and the three travelers breathed an internal sigh of relief.
However, they were put on guard again as Hickory spoke up, "Why don't you take that cloak off?" he asked Elphaba, "You must be a little warm, it's awful stuffy in here."
Elphaba replied almost instantly, "That's alright, I'm a bit chilly actually. I'd rather just keep it on."
"Why don't you at least pull the hood down?" he asked. He was curious as to why this woman was so adamant about hiding her face.
"Hickory, just leave the girl alone. If she wants to keep her hood up than what's it any of your business?" said Hunk, trying to shut his friend up.
Dorothy, seeing that the meal was finished, figured this was as good a time as any to leave before things got messy, "Well, it's been wonderful to see you all again, but we really should be going before it gets too dark out. We have quite a journey ahead of us."
"You sure you want to go Dorothy? You could stay with one of us until we find you another place to go. It really wouldn't be any trouble," said Zeke, sounding concerned. He didn't know how much he liked the thought have having Dorothy going off with these two women again, no matter how much she seemed to trust them.
"Oh no, it's fine. This isn't my home anymore Zeke," said Dorothy.
"Alright, I'm just glad to see you're OK. We'll miss you 'round here," said Zeke, looking a bit more hurt by Dorothy's comment than she'd intended.
The three farm hands each gave Dorothy a hug, and finally the three women left. Dorothy felt a bit of sadness tugging at her heart as they walked away. She wondered briefly if it would be possible to send Hunk letters by carrier pigeon, since they could obviously transfer between Oz and Kansas.
The three of them passed back through the small town, which was not nearly as full as it had been the morning of their arrival. A few people walked two and fro, ambling through the square or passing in and out of the few indoor shops that lined the street on either side. The trio walked along in companionable silence, feeling a bit peaceful in the calm of early evening. They were walking along at a steady pace when Elphaba suddenly stopped moving.
Glinda and Dorothy, confused by their friend's strange behavior, turned and glanced in the direction Elphaba was facing, wondering what had caused the abrupt halt. Glinda's mouth dropped open.
There, stepping out of a small shop across the street, was the Wizard of Oz. Glinda blinked a few times, as if expecting the man to vanish from in front of her eyes. However, he simply glanced into his bag of groceries quickly stepped out of the door frame. For a moment Glinda wondered if it was simply someone who looked like the Wizard, but she knew in the back of her mind it was true. She could not mistake that face, and after all, Kansas was where the Wizard hailed from.
Dorothy too recognized the man, and wondered how often he'd been coming into town, for she'd never seen him in Kansas before. Glinda glanced over at Elphaba, but could not read her facial expression because of the dark hood still hiding her face from view. However, she could see her friend's hands balling into tight fists and decided that all three of them should get out of there before anything happened. She glanced back up at the place where the Wizard had been standing, and the two locked eyes.
Glinda's breath caught in her throat as she tore her eyes away quickly. She hoped for a moment that he'd just continue on his way, but the damage was done. A look of confusion and recognition passed over the Wizard's face, and he suddenly began to move toward them. Glinda began to frantically tug on Elphaba's sleeve, but her friend remained rooted in place. Dorothy began to worry as well, whether it was that Elphaba would be harmed or blow the Wizard up where he stood she was not yet sure.
However, they did not have long to worry about the issue, for in a matter of moments the Wizard of Oz stood before them.
The Wizard cleared his throat, clearly as surprised by the unexpected encounter as the women were, "So it is you," he said softly, sounding more as if he was mumbling to himself, "What on earth are you doing in Kansas Ms. Glinda? Miss Dorothy, I didn't expect to se you here either."
Glinda simply gaped at him, unsure how to react, and Dorothy would not look him in the eye. It was Elphaba who spoke up, "You'd better get the hell away from us before I do something you'll regret," she growled through clenched teeth.
The Wizard seemed taken aback for a moment, but a look of shock soon came to his face as he realized who the voice belonged to, "Elphaba?" he asked tentatively, sounding bewildered. They all knew why; the Wizard believed that Elphaba had been melted.
"Yes, I'm sorry to disappoint you. It must be so upsetting to the great Wizard of Oz to know he didn't succeed in his assisted homicide," she said sarcastically, but her tone was seething.
"No, no my dear, quite the contrary!" said the Wizard, now taking on a jovial air, I know we've had our differences in the past-"
Elphaba cut him off, "Differences? You turned the whole of Oz against me you bastard! You tried to have me killed,"
The Wizard continued on as if he hadn't heard her, "But you see, Miss Glinda here told me some terribly surprising news after you'd umm…well melted. You see it appears that, well, I'm actually…your father."
This statement was the last thing Elphaba was expecting to hear, and it caught her completely off guard. Her hands dropped to her side and she took an involuntary step back. "You're lying," she said, but she sounded uncertain, and all traces of venom had disappeared from her voice. She turned to Glinda, half begging, "Glinda, tell me he's lying!"
However Glinda said nothing, and had suddenly become very interested in her shoes. Elphaba didn't move for a moment, but even with the hood shrouding her face Dorothy could tell she was stricken.
The Wizard seemed to take this as his cue to continue, "Now I know you have a lot of anger, but I'd like to try to start over. I'd like to try to be a father figure to you, if you'll let me."
He smiled at Elphaba as he waited for her response, and Glinda found herself wondering exactly how deluded this man was. Elphaba was not a very forgiving person to begin with, and considering the Wizard was the one human being she despised among all others, Glinda was positive she was not going to hug him and call him 'Daddy'.
Elphaba froze in place for a moment. She was lost and confused, and she couldn't believe that Glinda had known this all along and said nothing about it. Elphaba's brain had stopped working, and so her legs took over. Turning on her heel, she turned and ran as quickly as she could in the opposite direction. Glinda and Dorothy, surprised by this rather out of character action, followed as quickly as they could.
Elphaba sprinted for all she as worth, not sure exactly where she was going, as she'd given no thought to the sudden departure. Her hood flapped back in the wind and her face was revealed, but she did not slow her sprint. Dorothy was right on her tail, with Glinda staggering behind as her high heels twisted beneath her feet in protest.
They came to dirt road where they'd first arrived. Elphaba reached inside her cloak, and suddenly froze, her face contorting into a look of horror as her hand came back empty. She suddenly as she came to a very disturbing realization.
"Sweet Oz," she breathed, her voice shaking, "I don't have the Grimmerie!"
And there we have it, the plot beginning to thicken a bit. Yes I know, I have once again ended with a cliffhanger. I'd get used to it, I'm pretty sure the next several chapters are going to end this way.
So anyways, I managed to get two chapters written, this one and the next one, so we should at least have an update next week as well. Then I'll have more time to write during Easter break, which starts March 30 for me. I'm so excited. I'm going to see RENT on Broadway on April 14, and if my luck holds I'm going to see Wicked again on May 9th. I'm one happy little theatre geek.
OK, I'll just take this time to answer a couple of reviews:
Firebolt669: We're doing Soutch Pacific and I'm a nurse, which is one of three parts of the female chorus (we lowely sophomores don't get actual roles P). We're basically Nellie's friends, which are the nurses and ensigns, the only difference being that the ensigns dance and the nurses don't. The other part is the French girls, but they're only in one scene. Then there's the male chorus. I'm sure you stopped caring about 2 sentences ago. P
The-Good-Die-Alone: Lol, me and my friend Alex went around saying things like 'sad-making' and 'bubbly' for about a month after I made her read them. Of course we both have really short attention spans, so it kind of died after a while.
I know what you mean, Uncle Henry isn't really an important character, but he serves to make Dorothy angsty. And omg, to this day Wicked is the only thing that made me actually cry. Some scenes in movies or plays make me emotional, but I never actually cry. For Good shattered me. Good thing it was dark or my brother probably would have pointed and laughed, and my aunt didn't even like the show (I still haven't forgiven her), so she certainly wasn't crying either.
Wicked Jelly: I know, I hate that joke. That's why I put it in, I figured Hickory and Zeke would be the type of goofy, slightly annoying individuals who would use it.
Yeah we have a fall musical and a talent show at my school every year (the play I'm in right now is at a different school). Me being the theatre geek I am I participate in everything the drama club does, so I did a talent act and signed up for the one acts. I like to keep myself very busy.
Please do, I'm quite disheartened by my lack of smileys. I usually use them excessively. Now…nothing. ; ;
Well, that's all for now. Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought!
Till next time S.P.
