“Attention Inkwell’s Bookstore Shoppers! It’s time for storytime in the Kids Corner with Granny Lamby! Today’s story is ‘The Three Little Pigs’. If you have a child with you, maybe they’ll like the free prize at the end of the story!” The female announcer said it with some notion, but no adult in the store could tell she was phoning it in.
All the adults with children began to make it toward the Kid's Corner of the store; all adults let the kids into the corner. The Children ran in to get a good place to sit down and cross their legs right before the small stage. One of the Bookstore Employees handed each child a paperback version of the Three Little Pigs.
Behind the small stage, one of the employees picked up Granny Lamby from her small chair and lifted her dress skirt to access the tape player in her back. The employee looked at a printed paper sheet to see when to rewind or forward the tape.
Tape 1:
Cinderella: 00:00 - 6:35
Wizard of Oz: 6:35 - 13:41
Jack and the Beanstalk: 13:41 - 19: 22
Goldilocks and the Three Bears: 19:22 - 22: 53
The Three Little Pigs: 22:53 - 26:22
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves: 26:22 - 32:55
Peter Rabbit: 32:55 - 36:06
The Raven(HALLOWEEN ONLY!!!): 36:06 - 45:00
The employee began to rewind the tape and ensure it was in the exact time slot. He then placed Granny Lamby in her chair again and walked off. As soon as he walked away from the stage, Granny Lamby shot an annoyed glare at the employee and rewinded her tape for a whole minute. These new millennium employees must learn how to handle a tape player, which shows.
When the curtains began to open, she faced forward and put on her warm smile again. It was Showtime!
“Hello Children, today’s story is The Three Little Pigs. The story tells you that taking the time to do something right will always pay off." she said in her soft, motherly, and static-filled tone.
The Children happily cheered.
“Please follow along as I read aloud.” Granny Lamby said as she opened her book.
Hank, Dorothy, and Mr. Honeybun were puzzled at Granny Lamby’s sudden tone and body language shift.
“What Gives Lamby! You were supposed to hand over the Spark of Wonder after we got you your freaking voice tabe back!” Dorothy exclaimed with outrage as she pulled out her precision knife, slightly dented from its earlier tumble in the coffee grinder.
“You LIED to us! Liars don’t get dessert!” Mr. Honeybun growled as he drew his Fighty claws once again.
Hank took a second to register the ‘dessert’ line confusingly from Mr. Honeybun. But he continued by demanding. “I thought a royal’s word is law! You made a promise, and you are supposed to honor it!”
“SILENCE!” Rainbow Bunny demanded. “Did you honestly believe we would give you Manuscript City’s most sacred treasure to a bunch of nomadic hunks of plastic, cotton, fabric, and-” Rainbow Bunny looked over Hank and looked visibly confused for a split second. “-I don’t know what in Cottontail’s name you are made of, but I'm sure you're just as worthless! The point is, Queen Granny Lamby isn't going to just hand over her storybook unless you can prove to her you can defend it with your very lives!”
The pages of the Storybook began to flip rapidly until Granny Lamby stopped the pages at the beginning of a particular story.
When Granny Lamby turned the page, one of the books flew off the shelves of the Kid’s Corner and landed right in front of the toy trio. The very book titled The Wizard of Oz. The book opens up with the first chapter, titled The Cyclone.
“Settle down, children….we are about to go on a Journey to a beautiful land of awe and astonishment! The Wonderful Land of Oz! Turn the Page!”
As the pages began to turn, the words on each page began to fly right off the pages and began to circle the trio. Each noun, adjective, verb, adverb, and even conjunction added to the circling word pile made it all spin faster until an actual cyclone began to pick up! Hank, Dorothy, and Mr. Honeybun readied themselves to prepare for anything. But that quickly went to pieces as they all got swept up in the cyclone’s current, along with wooden blocks, papers from the drawing table, and a few markers, too!
The Toy Trio was entirely at the mercy of the cyclone. Hank was getting sick from all the spinning and motion and getting hit from all sides by wooden blocks. Luckily for him, he wore a hard hat; he just wished he had one in other places, too.
Dorothy herself discovered her outfit was quickly changed into a blue and white dress with a fitted bodice and straps fixed at the front and back by two mother-of-pearl buttons with pinafore worn over a high-necked cream blouse and sometimes incongruously paired with ruby slippers.
“What the hell is this!?” Dorothy furiously asked as she tried to keep the cyclone’s winds from blowing her skirt up.
“I just couldn’t resist. The main character is Dorothy, and your name is Dorothy!” Granny Lamby cheekily remarked.
Mr. Honeybun quickly grabbed Dorothy and Hank in a tight embrace.
“Let my cuddles be your shield!” Mr. Honeybun declared as he held onto the both of them. Items repeatedly struck him, but he barely showed any pain.
“Dorothy! What do we do!?” Hank shouted over the cyclone’s powerful surge of wind!
“I don’t know! I wasn’t expecting to be swept into a paper cyclone today!” Dorothy retorted in aggravation.
Granny Lamby let out a soft giggle as she watched the trio struggle. “You three are entirely at my mercy. How can you possibly beat the one narrating the story?”
Hank paused to process what Granny Lamby had just said arrogantly. He looked in all of the chaos of the cyclone and saw one sentence floating above all the others.
‘The cyclone raged on!’
Then Hank looked at Dorothy’s quiver of sharpened colored pencils, like a switch flipping on in his head. He had an idea!
“Dorothy! Hand me a colored pencil!” He asked.
“Why?! It’s impossible to hit anything in all this!?” She retorted.
“JUST DO IT!” Hank demanded. Dorothy quickly obliged and handed him a blue colored pencil.
“Mr. Honeybun! Throw me towards that sentence!” Hank commanded as he pointed at the sentence.
“Yes Sir Mr. Hank!” Mr. Honeybun nodded and grabbed Hank in his grip! He began to wind up and spin for a few moments, and then he threw him higher into the cyclone. Hank pulls out his wrench and uses it to grip right onto the sentence! Hank shimmies towards the right word and says, “Please let this work!”
He scribbled out two words and wrote down two new ones.
‘The cyclone raged on calmed down!’
In less than a second, the cyclone died down. All the debris swept up began to cascade slowly onto the floor. Mr. Honeybun landed first and caught Hank and Dorothy, cushioning their fall with his soft, plush body.
Granny Lamby couldn’t believe her animatronic eyes. She looked at the trio in bewilderment and said, “Impossible! How in the Seven Sparks did you manage to break the narrative!”
“Seems to me like the story isn’t set in stone as you think!” Hank proclaims as he tosses the sentence near Granny Lamby.
Granny Lamby huffed in anger as she began to turn a few pages ahead, and her tape began to fast-forward through the story.
“Turn the Page! As Dorothy and friends continued their journey to the Wizard, they were suddenly under attack by the evil minions of the Wicked Witch, the Flying Monkeys!”
The Book in front of the trio rapidly flipped through the pages until it reached Chapter 12.
Flying right out of the pages and into the air of the Kid’s Corner was an entire squadron of Illustrated flying monkeys! One of them ferociously roared as they began to surround the three. Hank, Dorothy, and Mr. Honeybun readied their weapons. Dorothy looked to Granny Lamby, annoyed, and said, “Excuse me! What exactly is putting us through this whole story gauntlet supposed to prove anyway!? All you’re proving is that you’re not a toy of your word!”
“You DARE Compare her majesty to you heaving hunks of plastic!? You are irrelevant compared to her! She is still entertaining children every week!” Rainbow Bunny retorted. “ATTACK!” He shouted. The Illustrated flying monkeys started to swoop down and tried to swipe at all of them with their sharp claws.
One of the illustrated flying monkeys swiped at Mr. Honeybun, cutting at his soft exterior and causing a hole to open up. He lets out a bearlike growl in pain as his wonder begins to take over. He was enraged again!
Hank and Dorothy notice this and know to stay away from him while he’s raging. He tried to swipe at the monkeys, but since they were so high up, they just stayed in the air and laughed at Mr. Honeybun’s futility. Dorothy wouldn’t stand there and let a bunch of paper mutants bully her friend! She looks around the floating words and phrases and sees one complete sentence in the swarm.
‘The Flying Monkeys were having too much fun!’
She pulls a red pencil from her quiver and gives a determined smile.
“Hank? Think you can give me a distraction?” Dorothy asked, signaling Hank to see the target sentence in the air. Hank nodded in her direction and shouted, “Hey, Monkeys! How does it feel to be only in four or five pages of a book!?”
This insult enraged the Monkeys, who started attacking Hank in a swarm. Hank began to run toward the carpeted floor, where all the building blocks were strewn about.
“Mr. Honeybun! One of the Monkeys perched on the floor near here! Now’s your chance!” Hank shouted. Mr. Honeybun, still enraged, jumped up like an enraged cat and slammed his wonder bear claws on the ground; the resulting shockwave sent all the wooden blocks into the air. There, Dorothy made her move.
She channeled her wonder into her feet again, jumped high up, and used the mid-air wooden blocks and even a few illustrated flying monkeys as jumping-off points. One of the Monkey’s even tried to grab her ruby slipper, but she was too quick on the reflex. As soon as she made it to the floating sentence, she grabbed ahold of it and positioned her red colored pencil over it.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Time for a rewrite!” Dorothy said in a boastful manner.
But Dorothy blushed in embarrassment as she realized she was now doing one-liners, thanks to Hank. She brushed it off and simply crossed out two letters from the sentence.
‘The Flying Monkeys were having too much fun!’
The illustrated Flying monkeys stopped mid-air, began to unfold, and quickly refold themselves to take on a new form. They were no longer flying monkeys; they were now illustrated winged human men and women wearing robes and tunics, some even sporting prayer beads, and their heads wholly shaved of hair. They were no longer attacking. Fighting was the last thing that was on their minds.
“You Fools! RIP THEM ALL TO PIECES!” Rainbow Bunny commanded the newly transformed Monks.
“We refuse….we are now in a vow of pacifism.” Said one of the Illustrated Monks.
This sudden change to the story made Granny Lamby huff again in frustration. She fast-forwards her tape again, but there are clicks and pops this time. Rainbow Bunny notices these strange noises and begins to look concerned.
“Turn the Page! If Dorothy and company wanted their heart's desire, they must slay the Wicked Witch of the West! But sadly for them, the wicked witch was not leaving without a fight!” Granny Lamby’s motherly tone was now getting replaced with stern aggravation.
Hank, Dorothy, and Mr. Honeybun also noticed the sounds coming from Granny Lamnby’s tape. Mr. Honeybun even calmed down enough to say something.
“Uh….Miss Queen Lamby? Are you okay?”
“DO NOT INTERRUPT THE NARRATOR!” She shouted! The speaker in her voice gave some high-pitched feedback for a split second as she shouted. Making the trio wince at the noise.
The Booklet in front of them now began to flip towards the near end of the book. Rising from the pages was the Illustrated Wicked Witch. She began to ride around on her broom and cackling wickedly.
“I’LL GET YOU YET, MY PRETTIES, AND YOUR LITTLE BEAR TOO!” She cackled.
Her right hand started to crackle with green lightning surrounding her fingertips. She shot a bolt of her wicked power right at the feet of Dorothy. She grabbed one of her colored pencils and tried to find the right moment to throw. But the witch was simply too quick on her broom.
The Illustrated Wicked Witch sweeps down and rams right into Hank. The tip of her broom managed to snag on one of Hank’s Overall straps, forcing Hank to dangle helplessly. The Illustrated Wicked Witch was flying around like an out-of-control fruitfly.
“Look for the right sentence!” Hank shouted down to Dorothy and Mr. Honeybun as he tried to avoid motion sickness.
Dorothy and Mr. Honeybun looked up and around the swirling storm of letters, frantically trying to find the correct sentence. Until Mr. Honeybun sees a complete sentence floating lower than usual, could this mean that Granny Lamby was weakening?
‘The Wicked Witch flies rapidly on her broom!’
“I wanna try one!... Miss Dorothy, May I have a colored pencil?” the teddy bear politely asked.
She handed him a brown pencil and replied, “Yes, you may!”
Mr. Honeybun quickly ran up and began climbing up the kiddie chairs and the small table. The Illustrated Wicked Witch noticed this and started firing her lightning blasts at Mr. Honeybun. Some attacks missed, while others directly hit him, painfully tearing tiny holes in his fluffy body and lightly singing the fur.
Mr. Honeybun Didn’t have time to cry. Hank, his friend, was in trouble!
He crossed out and added a new letter when he reached the sentence.
‘The Wicked BWitch flies rapidly on her broom!”
The entire court gasped at such a vulgar change in the story.
The Illustrated Wicked Witch began to fold and get reshaped, turning from a wicked witch to a Wicked Dog. This change in form caused the broom to lose control and start its freefall. Hank quickly grabbed the broom to try to pull up, but unfortunately, without the Wicked Witch’s power, it was just a regular broom again!
Mr. Honeybun quickly began moving his stubby bear legs towards the impact site, close to where they were about to land! Then, with one dynamic long jump over a block, he stuck the landing!
The Illustrated Wicked Dog lands right on Mr. Honeybun’s soft belly, cushioning her fall, all while Hank lands on a pile of blocks. He lets out a groan in pain.
The Illustrated Wicked Dog gave a happy bark and excitedly licked Mr. Honeybun’s snout as a thank you! The court watching gave an exchange of adored cooes at the sight. As soon as the Illustrated Wicked Dog disappeared back into the book, its effect on the surrounding area wore off. Even Dorothy’s outfit changed back.
Hank groaned as he got up from his painful landing. He faced Granny Lamby and declared, “We made it to the end of your story! That means we can walk away with the Spark of Wonder, right?”
Granny Lmby huffed for the last time as she rewound her cassette tape at an alarmingly fast speed. She stood up from her small chair, stomped towards the edge of her stage, and retorted to Hank.
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Granny Lamby shouted. “I WILL NOT LET OUR SACRED TREASURE BE- BE- BEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBE-”
“Your Majesty, Are you alright!?” Rainbow Bunny asked with peaking concern.
Rainbow Bunny’s question was quickly answered as Granny Lamby ejected her story cassette from her rear tape player. The cassette fell on the floor right in front of Hank’s feet. The film was utterly strewn about and could tangle up if not careful. The whole court of Kiddie Toys and illustrations gasped.
Granny Lamby stood in shock, staring at her now ruined cassette tape. A few moments of silence had passed. Dorothy covered her mouth with her hands in shock. Mr. Honeybun looked wide-eyed as if someone had taken a cookie from the jar, and Hank was confused.
Granny Lamby finally reacted. She fell to her knees and began to cry quietly without a voice. Rainbow Bunny quickly ran to her aid and started to comfort her.
“Not to worry, your highness… it's a Big mall out there. Maybe we can find another cassette for you, one with better stories that children will adore and-” He quickly stops after seeing her face of anguish…he was only making it worse.
Hank looked down at the ruined cassette again, and his eyes glowed blue again. The Toy Handyman knew what to do. He pulled out his wrench and switched to his screwdriver tool. He gently stuck the tip of his screwdriver into the cassette's supply and twisted it counterclockwise. The tape slowly began to reel back inside the cassette. Dorothy and Mr. Honeybun quickly realized what Hank was doing and ran to help him.
Dorothy spreads the tape out on the floor so it doesn't tangle, and Mr. Honeybun clears a path to ensure no debris gets in the process. The whole court begins to watch as they perform this delicate action. As soon as Hank rewound the last bit of tape into the cassette, he stood up with the cassette in hand, walked onto the stage towards Granny Lamby, and held it out to her to hand it to her.
Granny Lamby was utterly yet quietly surprised at this act of kindness. She humbly took the tape and reinserted it into her rear tape player. Hank and Mr. Honeybun now understood and did the gentlemanly thing, looking away while she did it.
When she was sure, the cassette was working again. She spoke to Hank.
“W-why? Why did you fix it?” Granny Lamby asked, relieved to hear her own voice once again.
“Short answer. We just fought a whole legion of Pixel Block Arcadians, and I personally was almost turned into coffee grounds to get ahold of this, so leaving it broken would be a massive waste of effort. The long answer: If what Rainbow Bunny said is true, you read to kids all the time. How can you inspire any kids without a voice?” Hank answered as he clipped his screwdriver to his belt.
This answer touched Granny Lamby. She never would have thought she would meet someone who understood. At that point, Dorothy stepped forward to speak.
“Your Highness? May I ask you a question?”
Granny Lamby signals her to do so.
“Are you afraid? Are you scared of becoming irrelevant to children when you still have so much to give?” Dorothy somberly asked the animatronic toy lamb.
“Y-yes.” She woefully answered. “Do you…have any idea how long it has been since I had an authentic audience once again? I’m very sorry for putting you through the story itself. It’s unbecoming of both a Storyteller and a Queen. In truth…I don’t read to the children daily like Rainbow Bunny said; I used to. But now…I’m lucky to read to anyone once a month. I was…I was so afraid of an empty show again. I simply didn’t want it to end. Do you know what playing second fiddle to a glowing rectangle is like?”
“Glowing Rectangle?” Hank asked, puzzled.
Mr. Honeybun quickly perked up and realized what she was talking about. “Oh! Oh! She’s referring to Smartphones and Tablets. They get lost in the Lost & Found box all the time! I don’t know what they look at when they’re on…I only see them when they’re off or dead.” He puts one of his stuffed paws under his maw as he mulls over what they could be looking at.
“That’s right. But I didn’t just test you for that selfish reason…look outside the Kids Corner…” The trio of toys look and see something they didn’t call attention to on their way back. Multiple illustrations were severely injured or reduced to just the words that described themselves. They were gone.
“If an Illustration dies, they can no longer inspire or form a connection to the reader. They won't even be worth the paper their words are printed on.” She mournfully explained.
This explanation made Hank quietly realize the total weight of Greenbolt’s death. It didn’t matter if he got fixed. Because to any other kid, he was no longer Greenbolt, Leader of the Herobots. Without Wonder, He was just a hunk of plastic.
“I tested all of you to make sure the Sacred Treasure of Manuscript City was safe in your hands. This particular Spark of Wonder wields the power of the written word. If anything were to happen to it, All books would inspire no one…” She picks up the Pop-Up Book and closes it. The book now had a glowing cyan aura surrounding it.
“Perhaps you have earned it…Take it.”
Hank hesitates for a moment, thinking it was another trick. But that distrust falters when he looks at Dorothy and Mr. Honeybun; they nod at him for assurance. The Handyman walks towards Granny Lamby, gently taking the book. As soon as his gloved hands touch it, the power of Wonder begins to surge through him again, and he begins to see visions like the Chroma Sphere. But this time, the visions are different.
……………………………………………………………….
The First memory is of the Storyteller as a young boy having a book read to him by his mother. She always did the voices of all the characters and gave the book a flare appropriate to the tone. She always asked him what the takeaway was to see if he had learned a lesson from the story.
The Second memory of the Storytellers is of Christmas morning. He unwrapped the only present under the tree: a pack of yellow notepad paper, pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a few erasers. He gave his mom a loving hug.
The Third Memory was the Storyteller submitting his short story for a story contest scholarship contest. He used the same Yellow notepad paper and pencils to write the story. He won.
The Fourth Memory was the storyteller who graduated from university with high honors. His mother was sitting in the stands, clapping with a smile of happy approval.
The Fifth Memory is him submitting his Manuscript, ‘The Clockwork Dominion,’ to a major publisher. All the other major publishers rejected him, and this was his last chance.
The Sixth Memory was of the Storyteller sitting near a white table in a major New York City bookstore. His hand was getting cramped from all the autographs, but the last woman did have some notes, which intrigued him.
The 7th Memory was a happy one. It revealed that he is now happily married to the woman and welcoming his newborn daughter to the world, and his mom is glad she's finally a Grandmother.
The 8th Memory was tragic; the room was dim and quiet. The Storyteller touches the smooth, mahogany surface of the closed casket. He looks down and sees his young daughter grasping his pant leg and looking up at him. She had tears in her eyes. He picks her up and gives her a reassuring hug.
The 9th and Final Memory, The Storyteller’s now Adult Daughter, cuts the ribbon to Inkwell’s Bookstore opening. The Storyteller was so proud she found her calling in the world. He handed her a memento passed down from her Grandmother—a Pop-up Book titled ‘1’001 Tales from Across the Globe!’ She hugs her dad.
Handyman Hank was deeply moved by this whole life flashing before him. The Power of Wonder has changed The Storyteller’s life for the better. But before he faded from the vision, he heard a sound...a sound that was akin to breathing.
……………………………………………………………………
“Hank!? HANK!” Dorothy shouted, trying to get the entranced handyman to snap out of his trance. Hank quickly becomes conscious again after hearing Dorothy’s voice.
“Snap out of it!” Mr. Honeybun shouted as he slammed his plush paw onto Hank’s head. This knocked Hank onto the ground as he got his bearings again.
“.....Ouch….I’m awake….” Hank groaned as he stood back up.
“You did it again. You touched the Spark of Wonder, and you blacked out….Is this going to happen all the time?” Dorothy asked, slightly annoyed but with a hint of worry in her voice.
“Maybe the Sparks of Wonder like you?” Mr. Honeybun suggested with a shrug.
“You have been chosen…” Granny Lamby murmured.
“Sorry, your Lambyness?” Mr. Honeybunasked as the trio looked at her.
“You have been chosen to be a Keeper of Wonder! It recognized you as its protector and has bestowed on you a fraction of its power.” The Toy Lamb explained as she looked down at Hank.
“So…I’m a Guardian of some kind?” Hank asked. Unsure of this new revelation.
But Dorothy realized something about this new piece of information. It explained why Greenbolt was so strong. He was a Keeper of Wonder.
“Doesn’t Keeper of Wonder sound too words-y? Can’t we say Wonderkeeper?” Mr. Honeybun asked.
The court murmured in agreement hearing this name.
“Well then….Rainbow Bunny…My Ruler!” Granny Lamby ordered. He hopped away behind the stage and came back with a ruler covered in stickers.
“Please kneel.” She asks as she takes the ruler.
The trio kneel all on one knee.
Granny Lamby lightly taps the heads of all three trio and declares. “As Queen of Manuscript City and Keeper of the Wonder of Reading. I hereby sanctify you three…Keepers of Wonder, Or Wonderkeepers if you prefer.”
The Court cheered as paper confetti began to rain down from seemingly nowhere…But one illustration watching from the distance wasn’t so pleased at the turn of events.
He stood at the end of an illustrated zeppelin. He huffed as he walked back inside his villainous-looking illustrated airship. Each step he took made a crinkled paper sound.
“The Wonderkeeprs….Give me a break. They won’t make it to the climax of their own story…”