Fraggle Fic: A Wandering Heart

[The Count]

That was a nice chapter. We got the baby-naming celebration... And a scene where Janken starts to realize his potential... And he's going to stay with Cleo's clan for a while to figure things out. I'm liking the path this story's taking, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[Slackbot]

Thanks. Actually, Janken doesn't have a clue what his potential is yet, and it's starting to drive him nuts that Cantus won't give him a straight answer. A pity Jan doesn't remember what the Trash Heap told him when he was worried about his family. She gave him a great big hint, but he was too upset to file it away for future reference.

It'll be a while before Janken catches on. As Cantus might say, "All of life is a journey; do you really want to hurry toward its end?" Which probably has nothing to do with the situation, but it sounds cool.

If I ever contemplate writing a chapter with more than one song, slap me with a dead fish.

 

[Slackbot]

(A "bonus feature", posted a bit early. Jan doesn't actually doublespace between paragraphs--not enough room on a postcard for that--but I can't do indents on these boards.)

***

Dear Wembley, Gobo, Mokey, Red, Boober, Sage, Poncle, and Great-Uncle Matt:

I'm still fine, and I still haven't found a way back. But that's all right, as I'm busy and happy up here.

One interesting thing about Outer Space is the holidays and celebrations. They have lots of them, many more than we do, but nobody celebrates them all. If they did, it would be easier to name the days between holidays rather than the holidays.

The holidays here usually commemorate important events and people from the distant past rather than what's happening now. However, today's holiday is called Father's Day, and it's about doing something nice for your father. Silly as it sounds, it makes me kind of homesick. Wembley, Boober, Gobo--I love you and I miss you.

I'll find a way to come back some day. Until then I'll keep writing these postcards.

Love,

Janken

 

[The Count]

Thanks for sharing Janken's postcard with the rest of us silly creatures. With so many holidays, you'd think we'd have a major one set aside for each month. I'm drawing a blank as to what celebrations fall in either August or September and what figure/character would be best associated with them.

 

[Slackbot]

No problem. Janken doesn't mind my sharing his postcards. He figures that postcards are meant to be ready by anyone anyway. If he has anything private to say he writes a letter and sticks it in an envelope. (The first letter he sent wasn't read for weeks because nobody understood that they were supposed to tear the envelope to get at what's inside.)

 

[Slackbot]

And now for a real update...

*****

A Wandering Heart​

Part 10: Left Turn at Albuquerque​

by Kim McFarland​

*****

Fraggles bustled about in one of the many large, open caverns that surrounded the colony Janken was visiting. Unlike most caves, these were floored with dirt instead of stone, and plants grew in orderly rows in the soil rather than clinging to the walls, sprouting out of crevices, and taking root wherever else their seeds happened to land.

This Fraggle colony was deep under the earth, so deep that they had never seen the surface world. Janken had tried to describe it, but they could not believe that the stone that formed their world ended somewhere. What was on the other side? Outer space. And on the other side of that? He had tried to describe the sky. They had laughed, amused by his flight of fancy. They believed he was making it all up. After a while he had stopped trying, because, well, what right did he have to go around telling them they were wrong?

Only one Fraggle halfway believed Janken. Clio found it as outlandish a tale as the rest did, but as long as she could remember Cantus had been telling her about other, very different colonies. If Janken told her about the same things that Cantus did, there must be some truth in their stories. She could accept that there were places and people that she did not understand.

Because as far as this colony was concerned there was no surface world, there also were no Gorgs. And if there were no Gorgs to grow food, then the Fraggles had to find their own. Before Traveling Matt had discovered the path to the Gorgs' world the denizens of Fraggle Rock had lived on mushrooms and Doozer sticks. These Fraggles had found a different way to feed themselves: they had created gardens of their own.

As Janken emptied a pail of water into a cistern in the center of the cave, he thought that these gardens represented a huge amount of labor. All the soil had to be brought in from somewhere. They could not run the nearby stream through it to water the plants because that would wash the dirt away, so they had to carry water in. And the Fraggles tended the plants themselves, keeping them healthy and safe from creatures that also wanted to eat them. Because of this, everyone in this colony had at least a five-hour work week. According to Janken's count, that was; the Fraggles did not even consider this to be a job! For them it was simply a part of life: the garden fed everybody, so everybody did their part to tend it. A few days working here, weeding and watering and keeping pests away, had given Janken new respect for the Gorgs.

Time spent in the gardens was pleasant enough because there were always other Fraggles to talk to while tending the plants and fungi. Many of them liked to ask him about his home colony, even if they thought some of his tales were fiction, and they were happy to tell him about the way they lived. He often put in overtime simply because he enjoyed the company.

These Fraggles had many strange ways, but, he thought, they were not nearly as strange as they first seemed. The gardens made sense once you understood that these Fraggles couldn't just go out and gather food. He was learning about other customs, many of which made sense once you understood the logic behind them. Like the ceremony for naming babies. The beginning of life—which, here, was birth rather than the Midsummer Festival—was the most magical, precious event in their lives, so they honored every birth. They waited until a baby's eyes were open because newly-born Fraggles—and, often, their mothers—were too delicate to make such a fuss over. They dunked them in water because water was essential to all life, and, of course, because Fraggles love to swim.

He had been surprised to learn that these Fraggles didn't celebrate many of the things that his colony did. Of course they didn't greet the Fraggle Moon because they couldn't see the sky. What shocked Janken was finding out that they did not celebrate the Festival of the Bells. They treated that all-important day as any other! They found the idea of celebrating the bitterest part of winter ridiculous. He had been appalled at first. After a while he had reasoned out that his clan must have the responsibility of reawakening the Great Bell because they were closer to the heart of the Rock.

Janken finished his task—filling the cistern for those whose task it was to water the plants—and checked around to see if anyone needed help. That was rarely the case, as these Fraggles took Doozer-like pride in maintaining their gardens. They enjoyed it, so how could he criticize it? Well, okay, it did have one major shortcoming: they did not grow radishes. They had never heard of radishes! He vowed to himself that if it was in any way possible he would bring them some radish seeds. Fraggles deserved radishes.

His feet were muddy. Fortunately, the stream he had gotten the water from was also the stream that everyone swam in to wash off after gardening, and it was downstream from the colony's pool so they did not have to worry about fouling the drinking water. He took off his sweater—these Fraggles always took off their clothes to swim—and jumped in.

**

Clio looked up when Janken came in, still damp. "Hi."

"Hi. What's going on?" he asked, putting his sweater down on his bed. This was her cave; she had invited him to stay with her after the Minstrels had moved on. He'd explained to her that he was single-sexed, and not for women, and they had agreed that that would not be a problem. They had become good friends since. Life was a lot easier if you didn't complicate it with romance, Janken told himself only half-jokingly.

She said, "They're organizing a wall race. Get from one side of the Central Cavern to the other without touching the floor. I'm going to enter. How about you?"

"I'll watch," he told her.

"Fair enough. It's going to be tomorrow morning, right after the first meal. They're marking the course now so nobody comes too close to the water stalactites."

He nodded. "My Aunt Red would love a race like that. She loves any race, really. She's competitive."

"We've got a few like that."

"Yeah. I wish they could meet Red. Pit them against each other and they'd break all the records or go crazy trying," he said with a grin as he opened his backpack and took out the map he had been drawing.

She came over and looked over his shoulder. He was studying a part of the map that was only halfway drawn. She pointed to one of the exits and said, "There's a passage over here that loops around and re-enters the Central Cavern here."

"Oh? Thanks, I'll look for that."

"I don't get why you want to map this place. Everyone knows the colony," she told him.

"Yeah, but the colony's only the beginning. Who knows what's outside that?"

"Who needs to know?" she replied.

"Don't you want to know what's around you?"

"Not especially."

"Well... I guess that's just a difference between us. Um... actually, not many of the Fraggles in my colony go far from home either, but my family's always been into exploring. Sometimes you find dangers, but sometimes you find wonderful things too."

"Well, if you think it's worth the risk," she said.

He smiled. "I can take care of myself. I was trained by some pretty good explorers. And wouldn't it be funny if there was another Fraggle colony nearby and you never knew about them because neither of you ever explored far enough?"

She drew in a breath to speak, then paused to consider. "I don't think there is, but I know that there are lots of colonies in the caves. Cantus has told me about them."

"I've seen a few. There are even colonies of people who aren't Fraggles," he told her.

"That's hard to believe..."

"I guess it is," he said. These Fraggles lived alone. They had never heard of Gorgs, and no Doozers had ever been seen here either. Was it because they didn't grow radishes? The only people who weren't Fraggles that these people had seen were Balsam, Murray, Brool, and Reed of the Minstrels, and you don't tend to think of people as a species if you only ever see one of their kind. "It's really neat, meeting a new kind of people and finding out about them. It's like making a new friend."

"You do that easily enough," she said with a warm smile.

He smiled back. It was true enough. "At first I thought it was weird that you—this colony—live so differently, but, you know, it's not really so different. It's neat."

"Maybe that'll be your job," she told him. "Visiting other colonies and learning about them."

He considered. "Maybe. I'd like that. But the colonies I've visited with the Minstrels are a day's walk from each other at least, and I couldn't do that alone. I've seen creatures in the caves that could eat me in three bites."

"Maybe you'll find other Fraggles like you, then."

"How about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah," Janken said earnestly. "You're the only Fraggle here who asks me about my colony and actually believes some of what I say. Why don't you do some exploring too? See things instead of just listening to me talk about them."

She laid a hand on Janken's arm. "Jan, it's one thing to hear about exploring, and another to go out in the caves and risk being buried by cave-ins and mauled by animals and falling down bottomless pits and starving out in the middle of nowhere. You make the stories, and I'll listen to them. All right?"

"All right," he replied. He wasn't disappointed; she had declined several times before. These Fraggles never willingly left the safety of their colony, and they did not recognize anything as edible if it did not grow in their gardens. Still, she listened to his stories eagerly, and he kept hoping that someday she would change her mind.

He folded the map up and put it with some wax pencils in a waterproof outside pocket of his backpack. While chatting with Clio he packed his exploring equipment. He planned to be gone most of the day, so he packed three meals' worth of food and water, just to be safe. Exploring could be strenuous work, and it was just silly to have to turn back due to lack of fuel. He told her, "I'll be back tonight. Maybe after Last Meal."

"Be careful," she told him.

"Always am," he replied, and left.

**

Janken went to the last cave he had explored. It was a small, rough room, with lots of gravel on the ground and little in the way of plant life. From the look and smell of it, there had been a small rockslide here recently. He drew a "caution" symbol on his map.

There was only one tunnel leading out, and he took it. The passage turned and twisted like a vine, making it difficult to map, but it did not fork. He added it to the map, using the length of his steps to measure distance.

He emerged into a larger cave. The air was clean, and there were some scents that seemed familiar, but he could not identify them. They were not plant or animal smells. He paused, breathing deeply, trying to puzzle out the odors, but they were too faint.

Holding his map and pencil, he looked around the room. The ceiling was maybe three Fraggle heights at the tallest point. The walls were covered in moss and plants, and he saw no fallen dirt or gravel. The rock was stable here, then. Only one tunnel led out, and that was little more than a crack in a unusually flat cave wall. Curious, he knelt down and poked his head into the crack. It was silent; there was no animal lairing here. And there was no animal smell, but the strange odor was stronger. Instinct was not warning him about the smell, and he trusted his instinct.

Papa Gobo, I wish you could see me now, Janken thought as he crawled through the tunnelet. Gobo had explored most of Fraggle Rock. Most, but not all. He was never more excited than on those rare occasions when he found some new, unexplored region. If Gobo were here they could explore it together. Maybe someday Gobo could come here. If the Minstrels could walk this far, certainly several well-equipped explorers could make the journey. It would be worth it, he thought, to put the two colonies in contact with each other. And bring radish seeds.

It was a tight squeeze, and for a while Janken worried that he would have to back out, then take off his pack and try again, pushing the pack in front of himself. But then he hit another unnaturally flat wall, as if a block of slate had fallen in front of the tunnel mouth. It was made of the strange-smelling material, and it gave a little when he pushed against it. He pushed harder, bracing his feet against the tunnel walls for leverage, and, alert for the sounds or puffs of dust that warned of an impending rockslide, managed to move it far enough to squeeze around it. Before going out he listened for the sounds of rocks shifting, and heard nothing.

He wriggled past the obstruction and into another room. This one was almost completely dark, in contrast to the caves he had just left. He glanced back down the tunnel. He could see the light of the mossy room behind this one. And there was a straight line of light along the ground on the opposite side of the room.

The ground was perfectly flat, he noticed, and covered with something like very tough moss. He felt around, and found more of the odd-smelling, flat objects. Now he realized where he was. This was Outer Space. He had found a new link to the surface world.

He went over to the light. It was right along the ground, so he couldn't see under it. When he felt around along the wall he found a seam, then a round metal handle. Standing on tiptoes, he reached up and tried to turn the knob. It would not budge.

Sometimes doors that were fastened shut had buttons to press or turn to open them. He explored the knob with his hands. In the center was no knob, just one of those slightly-irregular slots that meant that you had to have a special piece of metal to open them. The only piece of metal he had that could open this was his pickaxe, and the creatures living in Outer Space were likely to take a dim view of him hacking through the caves they built. They weren't Doozers, after all.

Now that his eyes were adjusting to the dark, he could see that this was a small room full of squares and rectangles—boxes—on shelves and piled on top of each other. They kept things here that they weren't using at the time. He listened at the door, and heard only the faintest murmur of sound from the other side. There were no voices or other sounds he recognized.

It must be night here, he decided. He would come back later, and hopefully the Silly Creatures would open the door for him. In the meantime he would go back and mark this path to Outer Space on his map. He stuck his head into the tunnel and was about to begin crawling forward when he heard a rustling and smelled a scent that had not been there before. It was the reek of a carnivore, and it was intense. It smelled big and very near.

Quickly he pulled his head back into the room. He was not going to crawl back there, possibly into the mouth of something large and hungry! He was glad he had found this room; if the creature had followed him into the mossy room and cornered him there, he would have been in trouble. But he must be safe here, because there was no way the whaterever-it-was could fit through a passage that was snug for a Fraggle. He'd wait it out. He took off his backpack again, searched within it by touch, and found a small box. He opened the box, took out a sandwich, and began to eat.

**

Soon, despite Janken's excitement at finding this room and fear of the carnivore blocking him off from the caves, the dark began to get to him. Deprived of light, Fraggles soon fall asleep. Janken wished he had brought along his bedroll. But the room was warm and safe, so after finishing his sandwich and drinking from his canteen he lay down and, using his pack as a pillow, fell asleep.

*****

Fraggle Rock and all characters except Janken and Clio are copyright © The Jim Henson Company. All copyrighted properties are used without permission but with much respect and affection. Janken, Clio, and the overall story are copyright © Kim McFarland (negaduck9@aol.com). Permission is given by the author to copy it for personal use only.

 

[The Count]

Heh... You had me with the chapter's title. Exciting things are a foot (or a Fraggle) at the Circle of K. I'm very much liking how you present the world of Cleo's colony, wonder how the wall race will take place. Neat little references to his Papa Gobo's explorer heritage help tie Janken's current adventures with those of his family's. Thanks and as always, more please.

BTW: Where in the chronology timeline of your Fraggle fics should Coda be placed at?

 

[Slackbot]

Thanks, glad you like it. Jan's always been close to his family, and even when he's not with them they're in his thoughts. Maybe a little too much so, hence the journey.

Circle K? He didn't find a path to a convenience shop. Heh, some people may be able to guess where he is.

Coda takes place in the future of my fanfics. As of this story Cantus ain't young, but he's toughened, like those old men that seem to be made out of rawhide. It'll be a while before he begins to weaken noticeably. So, you can place it at the end, where a coda belongs anyway.

 

[Slackbot]

A Wandering Heart​

Part 11: Monstrosity​

by Kim McFarland​

*****

There was a soft creak as the door opened, letting a shaft of light into the dark storeroom. A hand reached in and flipped on the light. Janken, startled awake, glanced around in confusion. Before he remembered where he was the door slammed shut again and the doorknob clicked.

Then he remembered. He had crawled through a tunnel and found himself in Outer Space. A rather cavelike section despite all the unnaturally flat surfaces, he thought as he looked around. He put his sweater back on, then went to the door, reached up, and tried to turn the knob. It was locked. He put his ear to the door. He heard voices, raised and speaking urgently, on the other side. He could not make out what they were saying, but the general impression he got was that they were afraid of what they had found in the storage room. Afraid of him? How silly could these Silly Creatures be? He tapped on the door.

The voices cut off abruptly. Hearing footsteps approach, Janken waited calmly. The lock clicked, and the door swung open abruptly. Janken had an impression of a wall of blue, shaggy fur, and then something closed around his neck and upper body and lifted him off his feet.

Janken panicked for a moment, then he began screaming and kicking at the thing holding him. When you're alone and something has you cornered, fight back, show it you're not going to be an easy meal! It was huge and shaggy and had too many teeth and horns, and Janken didn't have claws or any other weapons, so he did his best to ruin its eardrums and bruise the arm that was holding him.

The beast glanced around the storeroom, then turned and said to someone behind itself, "There's only one of them. It doesn't look dangerous. Just noisy."

Janken stopped struggling and shrieking. He could just make out other faces beyond the big blue thing. He said, "Um. I'm a person, not an animal. Would you put me down?"

The beast looked at him, startled. He waved one hand and tried to smile. "Hi."

"How did you get in?" it wanted to know.

"I came in through the hole in the wall over there. I was exploring the caves, and wound up here. I didn't mean to upset anyone."

Another, smaller creature squeezed past the blue monster and peered at him. This one was covered in short, neat pink fur, and although it had ears and a beak it looked much more like a person. It—she, he was pretty sure—put her fists on her hips and said, "You broke in through the wall?"

"I didn't break anything! The tunnel was already there."

"A tunnel to a cave," she replied, clearly not believing him. She picked up his backpack, opened it, and dumped it out. A map, writing utensils, a small knife, a box that was now empty of food, a dry canteen, a pickaxe. She looked at the pickaxe, then at him.

"Just go look. It's right behind that box there." He pointed. "I promise I won't go anywhere."

The woman looked behind the box. She stared, then knelt to take a better look. After a minute her head rose again and she said to the blue beast, "There's a cave back here. There are offices on the other side of the wall, but I see a cave!"

"What should we do with him?" the blue monster asked.

Janken said, "That's where I came from. Um, could you put me down now? This is really uncomfortable."

The pink woman said, "He's been breaking and entering, but I don't see any damage except that hole in the wall, and it doesn't look like he was trying to steal anything. I think we've found the most inept thief in the world. Put him down, Cheryl. Even he's got to be too smart to try something while you're here."

Janken understood the implied threat. His feet touched the floor and the hand released him. He rubbed his throat. He felt as if he'd been picked up by a baby Gorg. He said, "I'm not a thief. I just found this place by mistake."

The pink creature said, "I'm going to call the police. Watch him," and left.

Janken didn't know what a police was, but from her tone of voice he wouldn't like it. When Cheryl glanced away from him he grabbed his pickaxe, darted around the box, and dove into the tunnel. He scrambled on elbows and knees, hearing shouts in the room behind himself, half expecting a huge hand to grab his tail and drag him back. When he was confident he was out of reach he paused long enough to sniff the air. He did not smell yesterday's predator, just dust. Lots of dust, making it smell musty. He continued forward, and soon emerged into the safety of the cave.

As he got to his feet and brushed the dust off himself he thought, that had been a narrow escape. He had heard that not all Silly Creatures were as friendly as Doc, but he had never expected them to attack him just for coming out of the caves! He would mark a warning on this part of the cave. Oh—he had left his map and mapping tools behind. Well, no matter, he'd make another map.

He turned to go back to the colony. After the first twist in the passage he found it blocked by fallen rocks and debris.

He frowned. So this was the source of the dust. He looked around the edges, and could not see through to the other side. Rock and gravel filled the tunnel completely. It was a good thing he'd had the presence of mind to grab his pickaxe. Using the flat end, he dug into the pile. Debris slid away, raising more clouds of dust and making him cough. Underneath the gravel was more rock. Large rocks, so big he could not get the edge of his pickaxe around them for leverage.

With rising desperation he tried digging on the other side. That was no good either. Frantically he scraped away the loose material, revealing a core of big boulders that firmly blocked the small passage. There was no way he would be able to pull them out of the way, there was debris on the other side so he couldn't push, and the stones were too hard for him to break. And there were no other passages leading out of this area. He was trapped.

Trapped between a rockfall and Outer Space, blocked off from the Fraggle colony by a pile of cold, unfeeling boulders. Alone and helpless. He put down his pickaxe, sat on one of the boulders, and did the only thing he could think to do. He lowered his face into his hands and began to cry.

It was too much for him. Why had he left home? He had been safe there! If he'd been trapped, they would have come to rescue him! He should never have left to follow Cantus because of a vague invitation and a foolish crush. He shouldn't have left the Minstrels because he was losing his nerve. He shouldn't have gone exploring alone. Why did these rocks have to fall now? It was like he was cursed!

Janken did not notice when a small, pink-furred Monster emerged from the tunnel, a can of pepper spray held out before herself. She looked all around herself, amazed. She still could not believe that this cave was here. Clearly it was possible; she was seeing the evidence with her own eyes—but how?

There was only one exit to the room, and she heard soft gasping sounds from it. Cautiously she followed it, ready to spray at the first sign of danger. She found the intruder who had broken into their office sitting on a pile of rubble and crying.

She stared, trying to understand what she was seeing. She had expected either to find that he had fled, or to pepper spray him into submission. The last thing she had anticipated was to see him crying like a child.

He glanced up, then startled and yelped when he saw her. She was holding something like a weapon. It didn't look dangerous, but Silly Creatures had all sorts of magical things. His pickaxe was on the ground, and she could use that thing on him before he reached it. Eyes wide, he begged, "Please don't hurt me!"

His cheeks, covered in rock dust, were streaked by muddy tears. He was staring fearfully at her pepper spray. She lowered it and asked, "What happened here?"

He told her, "I was trying to go home. But this rockslide had blocked the way back. I can't dig through it, and there's no other way out of here!" He wiped below his eyes with his sleeve and sniffled, trying to regain his composure.

"Your home is down here?" she asked.

He nodded, then looked at the blocked tunnel. "Down there."

Part of her mind was telling her that this was ridiculous; magical caves didn't just appear. She pushed that thought aside, because obviously it had happened, and now this...being...was in distress. She said, "My name's Lana Bea. What's yours?"

"Janken," he answered.

Softly, trying to avoid scaring him, she asked, "Janken, why did you come into our office last night?"

"I was exploring. I wanted to see what was beyond that tunnel. I didn't know it led to Outer Space."

"Outer space?"

"The surface world. We call it Outer Space because it's outside of our caves, and it's nothing but space."

"And now you're trapped," she said, looking at the rockslide.

"Nobody could move those rocks by himself," he said, trying to keep his voice from trembling.

She said, "Come back with me. Maybe we can help you."

"Someone can help me break those rocks?"

"I don't know. But you don't want to stay in here, do you?"

Mutely he nodded. She beckoned toward the hole, and nerved herself to go through. Janken considered retrieving his pickaxe, but decided not to; they might mistake it for a weapon, and what he needed right now was their goodwill. He started to kneel to go through the tunnel, but she said, "No, I should go first so I can explain what happened."

"Oh, right."

The pink woman hesitated a little longer—she was afraid, Janken realized with surprise, even though it was a stable tunnel, and not all that long—then got on her hands and knees and started crawling.

**

The rest of the office staff were waiting anxiously around the hole in the wall when Lana reemerged. She told them, "It's all right. There really is a cave back there." She looked at the hole again. Only the end of Janken's purple nose was visible. He was staring apprehensively at the collection of Silly Creatures. She beckoned to him and said, "Come on out, we won't bite."

Janken did not want to leave the safety of the tunnel, but what choice did he have? Reluctantly he crawled out, wishing he'd kept his pickaxe after all.

Lana put a hand on his shoulder and said, "This is Janken. A rockslide trapped him in a little cave on the other side of that tunnel. I know that's impossible, but I saw it myself. Anyway, he doesn't have anywhere to go now. I think we should in-process him."

The others looked at each other. This was the strangest situation they'd dealt with here, and they'd handled some strange cases in their time. It sounded ridiculous, a tunnel to a cave appearing in the wall of an office building, but they had all looked into the hole, and Lana was not gullible... Cheryl said in a low voice, "The Lord works in mysterious ways."

Nodding, Lana replied, "That's the way I see it."

**

The blue monster showed Janken a washroom where he could clean the dirt and mud off his face. It had taken him a minute to puzzle out how faucets worked. Then she led him to a desk in a larger cave—no, room, he reminded himself—with windows on one side. Janken stared at them. Streets, cars, buildings, Silly Creatures by the dozen, sky! This was Outer Space for real!

The monster said to Janken, "Did Lana tell you who we are?"

"She told me her name, and I heard her call you Cheryl." Which was, he thought, an intimidating name, perfectly appropriate for someone so huge and spiky, he thought. She was being nice to him now, but he remembered the terror he had felt when she had held him off the ground.

Cheryl folded her hands on the desk. "We call ourselves the TMI. In a nutshell, our purpose is to aid Monsters who have fallen on hard times, and who are willing to do their part to get back on their feet."

Janken said, "Monsters only?"

"Monsters, broadly defined. However, we link with other organizations to get help for other people, and they refer Monsters to us."

"Oh. Um, I'm not a Monster," Janken told her.

She tilted her head. "May I ask what you are?"

He couldn't help being a little amused at the sight of the huge, fanged beast now speaking to him so politely. "I'm a Fraggle."

Now she looked startled. "Fraggles are mythical cave fairies."

Janken patted himself as if to make sure he was all there. "I don't feel mythical."

The door opened. Janken glanced around. A pair of Silly Creatures wearing identical dark blue clothing came in. One said, "Someone reported a B and E?"

Lana intercepted them. "I'm sorry, Officer Faluci. We thought someone had broken in again, but it was a misunderstanding. I apologize for wasting your time."

"Are you sure, Lana?" the other one asked.

Lana smiled. "Yes. We're all right, I promise."

"Okay. Glad it was a false alarm this time."

"So am I."

The two Silly Creatures left. Lana, who had been listening to the interview, told Janken, "'Monster' isn't a specific kind of person. Those who people don't know the species of are often treated as Monsters, and as they have the same disadvantages, we aid them too."

He thought about that. "I guess it's relative. There's a creature we call a Hairy Monster. He visits us sometimes. We didn't find out for a long time that he was a dog, and by the time we found out we were used to calling him a Hairy Monster, so we still do. We like him."

"Do you object to being called a monster?"

Janken shrugged. "I guess not. If you've never seen a Fraggle before, I might as well be a monster to you, huh?"

She nodded and smiled. "Most of us here are Monsters."

He looked around. The other people came in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Maybe Monsters are just people who seem scary when you first see them, he thought. He said, "You can help me until I can go back home?"

"I don't know about digging through rockslides in magical caves. I don't know how we'd even get tools in there. But we can help you learn to live out here."

He paused, thoughtfully. He hated the thought of being cut off from everyone and everything he'd ever known. He wanted to go home! But he couldn't. And... a Fraggle could live on the surface world; Great-Uncle Traveling Matt had wandered Outer Space for years. He had found many bizarre, incomprehensible places and creatures, but he had survived. In fact, he had enjoyed himself. If he couldn't go home, he might as well make the best of it up here, he decided. He said, "Thanks. I'd like that very much."

*****

Fraggle Rock and all characters except Janken, Lana, Cheryl, and Officer Faluci are copyright © The Jim Henson Company. All copyrighted properties are used without permission but with much respect and affection. Janken, Lana, Cheryl, and Officer Faluci, and the overall story are copyright © Kim McFarland (negaduck9@aol.com). Permission is given by the author to copy it for personal use only.

 

[Slackbot]

Hmm. It slipped my mind when I was writing the program notes to part 9 that "Timshel," the title, is a Hebrew word that translates more or less to "thou mayest," in the sense that one is enabled to do something; rather than being commanded or destined, one may choose. It's the central point of the novel East of Eden, which explores the theme of Cain and Abel. In a memorable passage one of the characters discusses his family's sages' research into the meaning of that story, and it illuminates the whole book.

The book begins very slow, with endless biographical yadda-yadda, but the central theme of choosing one's destiny rather than being swept along by fate and events spoke to me.