The little goblin escaped out of his own head to look into the glaring eyes of a disgruntled soul staring back at him. She too was a goblin. However unlike Creedences' round facial features framed with two tufts of hair, one on top of his otherwise bald green head and one on the bottom of his button chin, hers was more pointed at the bottom, much like her mothers. Her hair was as far away from Creedences' as possible. Bright, almost toxic looking, pink fringe draped down one side of her face.

"Do you mind Mudhoney? I am trying to tell my story to a captivated audience"

Mudhoney panned from her brother, sat in the mud, to his 'captivated' audience. A large pig, layed on it's side, snoozing without a care in the world whilst swampflies buzzed around its mouth and anus.

"I don't think Tia could give a shit. Even if she was awake and understood ya"

Creedence finally glanced at the sleeping pig, then sighed in defeat.

"Ya right there sis. Wonder when I lost her?"

"Probably when ya started talking 'bout the junkyard"

Creedence pocketed his pencil and journal in his duster before deciding to pick himself up off the muddy floor. It was only now that he'd finally remembered what he was meant to be doing here before losing himself in his writing. Shoveling pig dung for Ol' Mcbucket.

"Is the old gob annoyed I got distracted again?"

"Na, he figures you gotta get out whatevers in ya" Mudhoney was now finishing the last of Creedences' work, a typical situation she found herself in. It pissed her off now and then but today wasn't one of those days.

" 'sides, I finished up my work and figured we should head back for supper, Momma be cooking right about now. I ain't letting possum go cold again."

Almost in sync, both siblings bellies rumbled thinking about Mommas' cooking. Juicy chunks of the finest Possum meat combined with dripping duck-fat potatoes (Pops contribution and specialty) carrots and shrooms smothered in the thickest onion gravy any goblin could hope for. Momma really liked to make sure all went to bed with full bellies on a Sunday night.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

After some joint sweeping and shovelling the young gobs decided on a job well done and finally exited the pen. Mudhoney made sure the gate was locked after Creedence, last time he 'checked' Mcbucket screamed to high heavens about seeing piglet tracks leading down to the nearby riverbank. A gator earned a meal that day and Creedence and Mudhoney went without pay for almost two whole weeks.

"Thank ye kindly, Clay-twins!" shouted McBucket from his nearby porch, he was busy chewing on some weed whilst rocking back and forth on his chair. "I'll see ya'll bright and early tomorrow morning."

The two goblins waved goodnight and started down the path out of the McBucket farm, back towards town.

The air was surprisingly fresh that evening and the shadows of the surrounding trees was slowly creeping closer and closer as the sun went down. Creedence usually started to feel uncomfortable around this time of day so his pace picked up. Mudhoney had noticed of course, a sly grin now appearing on her face as she saw an oppotunity to slightly tease her brother.

"Say, I heard from Marychain that the gators have been getting extra frisky lately. There's been talk of them stealing goats from the gardens round back, 'pecially round nightfall."

Creedences' ears briefly shot up at that moment as he wondered how long it would take to get back into town. He quickly lowered them however as to not look like he took his sister too seriously.

"Yeah, well, Marychain once got spooked by her own shadow whilst shroomin the other night so...." he trailed off, glancing around at the woods to his right towards the waters edge.

"Hey, you weren't saying anything so I figured I would is all. 'sides I got Marybell here to look after us if owt does creep out them trees." Mudhoney tapped her right hand on her belt buckle which had a rusty grated hunting knife tucked in. Pops had advised her to always protect her and her brother on the walks back home.

"Hell if Creedence is capable" her Pops would said, "that boys' got more chance of becoming King than fightin' anything that'll come out of those waters."

Despite her teasing, the local wildlife can become unruly in the swamps surrounding Clearwater. Many goblins have fallen fowl, especially those who have a habit of drinking too much ale and go outback to pee into the waters.

"Although I'm not surprised the gators have been getting desperate, been talk of human sightings further out into the Western Wilderness."

It was like she'd hit a switch, Creedences' ears were now up and twitching, his head had now turned to the right, scanning the woods, searching for any sign of danger.

No Mother Morning would've called a town meeting. Unlike his sister Creedence put his trust in the town elders.

SLAP

AHHHHHH!!!!

Something had just hit him in the side of the face, he wasn't sure what but he wasn't sticking around to find out. That was all it had took for Mudhoney to cause her brother to now pelt it down the dirt road towards town, arms flailing about wildly, screaming as loud as he could.

"Creedence", she was now giggling to herself "I'm sorry I couldn't resist. Was just some moss"

Realising now that he was going to get her back once he'd calmed down, Mudhoney chased after him.

He gonna put spiders in my bed now. I just know it.