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| Big Blue rumbled to a stop, grabing one of the few parking spots left. The van sqealed, protesting this early morning trip. The side door groaned open as the engine turned off. WHoooooooooooooo Hooooooooooo!!! Oddball leapt out of the van, running a few laps around Big Blue. Stopping, he bounces up and down, waiting. Heather, Kai13, Lily and HunterKai piled out of the van. Oddball can barely contain himself as they walk down the street, towards the gathering crowd. Today's the day, the BIG day. The first Kaitown Community Yard Sale was about to start. Oddball wandered down the street. Lily had given him a few dollars to buy himself something. He was wondering weather to get the bag of armless green army men or a set of microwave-warped Tupperware lids when something caught his eye. It was a bottle. It was about 10 inches tall, with a wide round bottom that tapered steeply upwards and a round glass stopper. It sparkled in the sun light, swirls of blue, green and yellow winked at him. It seemed to be saying, "Buy Me!!!! Buy Me!!!" "Ooooooooo." Oddball picked it up, "Pretty." "You like it?" an elderly man, with about as many teeth in his mouth as hairs on his head, hobbled over. He had on a blindingly bright Hawaiian shirt and puke green pants. It looked like he'd taken a dead snake, painted it orange and made a cane out of it which he leaned heavily on. "Oooooo yup yup, Oddball likes. How much?" "Well," the old man scratched his chin, "I won't take a penny less then 50 cents." Oddball couldn't believe his luck. He paid the man and walked away, a BIG smile on his face. "Oddball, there you are." It was Kai13. "Been looking all over for you. Nice bottle, where'd you find that?" "Over dare." Oddball turned around and pointed at........ nothing. The old man and his table were gone. "But...??" Oddball looked around, but the garishly dressed man was no where to be seen. "Come on," Kai13 clapped Oddball on the shoulder, "We need to get the girls out of here before they buy out the whole place." "Ok." said a slightly confused Oddball. He quickly forgot about the silly man as he watches the light dance across his new pretty bottle. ***** VisionAri was having a bad day. She had woken up about 2am and couldn't get back to sleep. It wouldn't have been so bad, but Kai10 had volunteered for guard duty and had gotten the midnight shift. After an hour of trying, she had gotten up to take something to make her sleep, only to stub her toe in the dark. The rest of the day hadn't gone well either. The dress she wanted to wear had a big stain on it, "Where did THAT come from?" she had to hunt down one of her shoes, and her hair decided to do what it wanted today. She had been walking down the stairs when Misty_Cat ran between her legs. Luckily, she had been near the bottom and only feel three or four steps. She had cursed rather loudly (and colorfully). Deciding a nice walk threw the garden would help her mood, VA went outside. And it was nice, until Jade and AJ pounced her. Covered in a thick layer of dog slobber, VisionAri stalked back towards the castle, only to get caught in a sudden downpour. Heading for the kitchen, VA mumbled, "Maybe I'll just drown my sorrows in chocolate," then winced at her choice of words. Walking threw the Great Hall, (hoping the roof didn't fall on her) VisionAri spotted Oddball sitting near the fireplace. He was struggling with something. "Hi Oddball." Looking up, Oddball smiled, "HI pretty faerie lady!!" He held up his new bottle, "Lookie, pretty!" The firelight made the colors dance. Taking the bottle, VA held it up. "Oddball this is beautiful. Where did you get it?" "From silly man at yard sale." Oddball's smile disappeared, "But can't open. Is stuck." VisionAri tried to pull the round stopper out but just as Oddball said, it was stuck. "Hmmmm?" VA wiggled the stopper back and forth and felt it give a little. She pulled on it again, the stopper popped off, "Got It!" *POOF* VisionAri disappeared into a puff of white smoke. The bottle fell to the ground with a clunk, it's stopper back in place. "Faerie lady????" Oddball looked around. "Where you go???" "help!!" Oddball picked up the bottle. The sound came from inside it. Holding it to the light he saw a tiny VisionAri, pounding her fists on the glass. "Oddball, get me out of here." Her voice was muffled and distant. Oddball bite his lip, looking in at the enraged faerie. "Uh Oh!!!" ***** VisionAri watched, as in frustration, Oddball threw the butter knife in his hand. He had been trying to pry the stopper off the bottle holding VA for some time now. He looked threw his pile of odds and ends, not noticing that the knife was now sticking in the wall. After VisionAri has been sucked into the bottle, Oddball had taken it up to his room and spent the next hour pulling, twisting, wiggling and using various objects on the stubborn stopper. VA had used the time to explore the bottle. It was obvious that a genie was supposed to be in here, but they weren't here now. And VA wasn't sure she wanted to meet them. The place gave her the creeps, with it's black rugs, blood-red leather chairs and sofa and mounds upon mounds of animal print pillows. Tiger, zebra, leopard, giraffe prints abounded. Two large red parrots sat in their black metal cage, eyeing VA up like she was dinner. The larger of the two wouldn't stop squawking. |
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