Eleazar Goodenough
and the Mystery of the Scrying Inkwell
by Jerry Grimes
Chapter 10 - Picnic Plans
Eleazar was happy to see his two friends coming
in with the 11:00 AM class. Of course, all he could do was nod
and smile at them, as they said "Good morning,
Professor," but he added a private wink to each of them as
they sat down. He repeated his lesson with the pendulum gems and
was happy to see both of them do very well for their first time.
Of course, for Jolly, it was a second time, but Jolly's first
pendulum had been a very un-talkative wad of chewing gum.
When the class was over, it was time for lunch.
Jolly and Carmen had lagged behind after the other students left
so they could talk a minute with their friend, Eleazar.
"That was a great lesson!" said Jolly
with enthusiasm.
"Yes, it was excellent," agreed
Carmen. "Will you be able to have lunch with us in the
student dining hall?"
"I don't know if professors are allowed to
mingle with students during lunch," said Eleazar. "I
hope so."
"Mingle?" said a voice from the door.
It was Professor Spellbinder, back to check up on Eleazar.
"Professors never mingle with students... in
public. However I know a very private picnic spot out on the edge
of the grounds beneath the trees. Beautiful spot. I highly
recommend it. Shall we go?" He reached out his hands to
Jolly and Carmen.
"Wait!" said Carmen, even as she took
hold of Phineas' hand. "What about food? Should we bring
any?"
They were all suddenly standing on the grassy
lawn in the shade of a beautiful old tree at the edge of the
castle grounds.
"Don't worry about the food," said
Phineas. "I already had the dining staff send us a picnic
basket." He pointed to a large basket at the base of the
tree, and Jolly ran over to open it and inspect the contents.
"Fried chicken!" yelled Jolly.
"And French fries!"
"No vegetables?" asked Carmen.
"It's hardly nutritious without veggies."
Jolly held up a bag of celery sticks and
carrots. "And there's grapes for dessert," he added.
"Let's dig in, then," said Eleazar.
"I'm hungry!" He helped Carmen unfold a large red
checked table cloth and spread it out on the grassy lawn under
the tree. Jolly passed out plates and napkins to everyone.
"You young people can sit on the ground, I
suppose," said Phineas, "But I'll need a lawn
chair." He snapped his fingers and a chair appeared. He
lowered himself into it with a sigh of pleasure. "I've been
standing all morning," he explained. "I never can
sit down when I'm teaching."
When everyone had a full plate in front of them
and Jolly had passed out glasses of lemonade, Professor
Spellbinder said: "I've been thinking about the
You-Know-Which family."
"Me, too," said Eleazar. "In fact
I had You-Know-Who in my first class this morning, and I don't
think he's as bad and as tough as he pretends to be."
"You're kidding!" said Jolly.
"No, I think he actually enjoyed learning
about the pendulum. We should consider that he is an innocent
victim of his family's prejudices. If I can work on changing his
attitude, he might actually turn out to be a very nice
person," said Eleazar.
"That gives me an idea," said Carmen.
"I think the You-Know-Which family was laying a little trap
for Eleazar, and that trap is You-Know-Who."
"I like the way you think," said
Phineas. "Please, go on."
"Well, if Eleazar can bring You-Know-Who
around, and we all act more friendly towards him, maybe that will
make the You-Know-Which family really angry and they would try
more direct action. In other words, You-Know-Who could be the
bait in our trap," concluded Carmen.
"I have to try to be friends with
him?" said Jolly, with a sour look on his face.
"You can catch more flies with honey than
with vinegar," said Eleazar. "I don't know where I
heard that before, but it's true."
"So if we're all nice to him, no matter how
mean he tries to be with us, maybe we can get him to become like
a... well, a friend," said Carmen.
"It's a good plan, Carmen, but he can be
very mean and I don't want him to think he can drag you down into
the darkness of meanness that fills his heart. Yes, let's start
bringing him out of that meanness and darkness of his spirit, but
don't stand for any nonsense. If he tries to get you to act
against one another, you have to let him know you won't betray
your other friends for him."
"That's right," said Eleazar,
"but always give him a second chance. It's going to take a
lot of patience to pull him up out of that dark place his spirit
has been hiding."
Suddenly there was a chattering noise in the
tree above them. They looked up to see Hareek running back and
forth on a branch, stopping every now and then to burp fire and
burn a leaf.
"Hareek is angry about something,"
said Jolly.
"He's angry because we didn't invite him to
our picnic," said Eleazar. "Come on down, Hareek! We
saved some food for you!"
The little dragon, still snorting smoke from his
nostrils, slowly descended on his fluttering wings. He snatched
at the chicken wing Eleazar was holding out for him and flew off
with it to eat it under the tree.
"Come on back, Hareek!" said Jolly.
"Join us over here on the picnic tablecloth!"
"We're sorry we forgot to invite you,"
said Carmen.
The little dragon forgave them and dragged his
chicken wing back across the grass to the tablecloth where he sat
down and began to eat.
"Do you think Hareek will be able to make
friends with You-Know-Who?" asked Jolly.
"I think You-Know-Who will have to make
friends with Hareek," said Phineas. "That's the way
dragons usually are. They wait for you to make the first move so
they will know if you are a friend, an enemy or food."
"Surely you don't think Hareek..."
said Carmen, trailing off in shock.
"Look at it from the dragon's point of
view," said Eleazar. "He knows we are his friends. He
knows the eagle that chased him to the castle is his enemy. But
Hareek already taken a chunk out of You-Know-Who's rear
end."
"Do you know who we are talking
about?" Jolly asked Hareek.
The little dragon looked up at them, nodded his
head, then went back to gnawing on the chicken.
"Would you be willing to give him a chance
to be your friend?" asked Phineas.
Hareek stopped eating long enough to give a
shrug.
"I guess that's the best we can hope for
right now," said Eleazar. "So we have our work cut out
for us. We're going to try to be You-Know-Who's friend if it
kills us."
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