“Shelby what ever are these mushrooms doing inside my clean underwear I would like to know……..?” (It all started with a mushroom!...............)Shuddering, Shelby was almost afraid to venture off the bed, wondering if what she was hearing was real or still part of her dream………..(or was it a nightmare?) Was she awake or did it just seem that way? Was Brodie really talking or was he still out in the country with a flat tire or was he ever out in the country? Should she flop her feet over the side of the bed, shake herself off and get on with the day, or should she roll over, pull the covers up under her chin, get back to her dream to find out the ending to this torment? She believed there was an answer awaiting her. It would reveal itself in time if she could just hold it together long enough.
She sighed as the gnome smiled at her, this seeming to be the most rational juncture in the entire string of events. Conscious decision to stay or get up was never compelled.
Sitting on the bench outside, Shelby looked across the lush green grass into the flower beds beyond, the property that garden gnome declared for his very own little village. Looking quite innocent and stone-like, she had no way of knowing the predicament this little fellow had placed her in. Still contemplating the proceedings of the day she worried whether she would still have the motivation to prepare the evening meal for the guests she and Brodie had invited; she must; it just wouldn’t be like her to disappoint everyone; but where was Brodie?
Back inside, preliminary preparations for dinner complete, loud chatter was clearly audible from the kitchen/dining room area. Wary, she wondered if she dared investigate. As she entered through the doorway into the kitchen her mouth fell open at the scene awaiting her. Chatter having changed to authoritative booming instruction, the gnome, wearing hat and short green pants with suspenders covering a red plaid shirt, clomping around in hiking boots and no socks, shouted out orders to her in a tone demanding her submission. This was bizarre……….a few minutes ago this gnome was out in the flower beds, very much stone-like. Now he was alive in her kitchen. She fell into a chair with the bewilderment of it all.
From the chair Shelby could see Kevin swimming about in his little bowl and there appeared to be words being formed by the bubbles coming from his mouth. Good grief………….she could make out “feed him” and then “feed him peanut butter and jelly”. This was bizarre! Was her fish talking to her? She watched closely and could again make out “feed him peanut butter and jelly”.
After the events of this day ‘what did she have to lose’ she thought as she rose and began preparing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the gnome (assuming Kevin had been referring to her feeding peanut butter and jelly to the gnome). Shelby couldn’t quite believe she was making a sandwich for a garden gnome. What would be written in her epitaph? Sandwich finished she handed it to the cranky little man in her kitchen who grabbed it away from her like a bear after a fish. It was gone in a few chomps. Momentarily though there was a big cloud of purple smoke filling the kitchen. When it cleared the gnome had disappeared. No one was going to believe her story about this day. This was getting more extraordinary by the minute……………. Could it have been the gnome who had been interfering with her mushrooms but where had he gone..........and Shelby wondered for the hundredth time this day, where was Brodie?
As the last of the purple smoke dissipated and seeming to be void of her usual common sense and intelligence, Shelby could hear the happy music of what sounded like the ice cream truck that frequented her neighborhood. Being drawn by some unknown urgency, without further consideration of the recent events in her kitchen she hurried out to meet the sounds coming down her street. It was like the ice cream truck all right; playing the words loud and clear ‘Come With Me’ in a tune she didn’t recognize; square tires seemed to maneuver the vehicle quite nicely down the street; a steering wheel was outside and at the rear of the vehicle; blueberries in various depiction covered the entire truck; sitting in the driver’s seat up front without a steering wheel was…….yes it was, another garden gnome dressed from head to toe in various shades of purple, extending in invitation, his pudgy little hand towards her. Seemingly unable to resist, Shelby, reaching for the hand offered, took it and climbed inside the blueberry decorated truck. Once aboard, the truck seemed to sprout wings and quickly ascended towards the clouds. Having still not recovered her common sense and intelligence which had dissipated with the purple smoke back at the house, Shelby sat back, watching the houses, the trees, the town, disappear as she sailed over top in the blueberry-covered-ice-cream-truck-turned-flying-machine. She was in awe! How was she ever going to tell Brodie about the strange events of this day…….and again she wondered, where oh where was Brodie?
Soon the blueberry-covered-ice-cream-truck-turned-flying-machine slowed and began descending towards the ground. They were nearing a village of some kind. There was a sign. Welcome to Blueberryville it read. Everything was purple in every shade you could imagine. The houses, the streets, the signs, the clothing worn by………yes………..it appeared all the inhabitants of this place were garden gnomes, but alive! They cheered as the vehicle landed on the street. Soon there was a crowd to greet her, offering their hand to help her out of the truck, bowing with hats off as she walked among them. This all seemed very illusive yet she could reach out and touch them; she could speak with them. They urged her to follow them to their town hall in fact they insisted she come. Inside the town hall she found the Mayor who seemed to be awaiting her arrival. He wasted no time in welcoming her to Blueberryville in fact he presented her with a key to the town, explaining that she was deserving of this honor having aided the gnome in her kitchen to be released from his stone-like existence in her garden by giving him the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Shelby was speechless and before she found her voice who should come walking through the door but Brodie. She ran to him throwing her arms around his neck. She had so many things to say and so many questions to ask him but could only find the words to say “I’m so happy to see you”.
All the gnomes of the town were equally happy that Shelby had finally found her prince charming. They urged them to marry in their little town and if they settled there they would become King and Queen of the entire kingdom surrounding Blueberryville.
Well, there in the land of the gnomes, Shelby did marry her prince char
ming, Brodie, in a grand 'purple wedding' attended by the entire town, and they seriously considered staying but in the end decided they couldn’t leave behind their friends and family back home. The gnomes were very sad they weren’t going to become their King and Queen but promised they would be welcomed in Blueberryville anytime they wanted to visit and of course the offer of becoming their King and Queen would stand forever.The gnome who brought Shelby there in the blueberry-covered-ice-cream-truck-turned-flying-machine, took her and Brodie back home. There were cheers as they left and wishes for them to come back some day.
She was sure she could hear cheers. Opening her eyes Shelby rolled over and checked the time, wondering where the sound of cheers was coming from. It was time to get out of bed to meet this day, although she wasn’t quite sure if the day was really just beginning………
She quickly jumped out of bed, ran to Brodies dresser, opened the top drawer to check his underwear.
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