After a moment of fog-headed dizziness, Fay landed with a bump on her bottom in the middle of the room. <\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cOw!\u201d cried Barnaby Hootsman from behind her. \u201cMy Dad\u2019s suing your pants off if I got all burned up!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cThis…isn\u2019t the broom closet,\u201d said Fay, looking around.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tThe Crunch & Barley green linoleum was gone; now the floor was wooden planks. It seemed more like a shed than a closet, and a dusty shed at that.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tMcCorley lay propped on his elbows, staring dazedly at the ceiling. Miss Parsnip was on foot, hands on hips, and the look on her face meant the class was in for a good talking to. Only the class wasn\u2019t here. Fay guessed that Mr. Arg, who was straightening his coat, would get the talking to instead.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cWell McCorley,\u201d said Mr. Arg calmly. \u201cYa\u2019 done it. I knew ya\u2019 could.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cGeesh,\u201d replied McCorley. \u201cGeezowhizzo…what the heck happened?.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cThe same thing as always happens with that accursed forge! That\u2019s why they call it accursed!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cMr. Arg!\u201d cut in Miss Parsnip sharply. \u201cIt is completely unacceptable that the dangerous rooms in your factory aren\u2019t plainly marked! It is not good for children to be subjected to such jolts!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cMalarkey,\u201d replied Mr. Arg, as he rummaged distractedly through his pockets. \u201cYa\u2019 can\u2019t break a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cThis field trip is over,\u201d stated Miss Parsnip. \u201cFay, Barnaby, we will return to the class at once. We\u2019re going back to school.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cNot bloody likely,\u201d said Mr. Arg, \u201cAs you can plainly see, the forge didn\u2019t come with us, but be my guest.\u201d He gestured toward the door.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tMiss Parsnip glared first at the door, then at Mr. Arg.
\n\t\t\u201cThat\u2019s not the door we came in,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cThat thar\u2019s the only door,\u201d said Mr. Arg with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t Fay shrugged, turned the handle, and looked out. The Crunch & Barley corridor was gone…in fact, the whole factory was gone. There was nothing but wind and sunlight pouring in from a shipyard. A smelly shipyard full of horse droppings and unbathed men. Fay was used to smelly babies who needed baths, but she wasn\u2019t prepared for the huge man with a pock-marked face who was grinning at her with pointy yellow teeth.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cI hope yor\u2019 not the only fing the cap\u2019n brung back wif\u2019 \u2018im,\u201d said the smelly man with a pointy-toothed leer.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tFay slammed the door.
\n\t\t\u201cTake us back,\u201d she said. \u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cYa\u2019 can\u2019t go back Missy,\u201d said Mr. Arg with a smirk. \u201cThat was a one-way trip. Do you see any other ways out?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\tFay looked toward the center of the room. Empty. No trash. No furnace.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cMy Dad\u2019s suing your pants off if I\u2019m stuck here,\u201d said Barnaby.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cWell sonny…yer\u2019 Dad\u2019s not suing me or nobody fer\u2019 now,\u201d replied Mr. Arg, \u201c\u2019cause he ain\u2019t been born yet, and neither has your grandpappy! I\u2019ll see you folks later…I\u2019m off to rejoin me crew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\tMr. Arg jingled the coins in his pocket, gave a wistful sigh as if something was missing, and left the shed. Miss Parsnip stomped after him indignantly as Fay peeked around the doorframe at the shipyard, then took a step outside.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cYou will at least,\u201d demanded Miss Parsnip, \u201cpoint us in the direction of Elbow Harbor!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\tMr. Arg smiled at Miss Parsnip as if she were a silly little girl, and pointed inland. A crooked green store, with a crooked front porch stood at the end of a very short road. On the store was a sign with the letter \u201cP\u201d and a picture of a white carrot. A few ramshackle houses were clustered around the store, and at the other end of the very short road, where Fay, Barnaby, Miss Parsnip, McCorley and Mr. Arg now stood, was the smelly shipyard, with its old boats, oily ropes, and a few odd sheds.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cWelcome to Elbow Harbor,\u201d said Mr. Arg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After a moment of fog-headed dizziness, Fay landed with a bump on her bottom in the middle of the room. \u201cOw!\u201d cried Barnaby Hootsman from behind her. \u201cMy Dad\u2019s suing your pants off if I got all burned up!\u201d \u201cThis…isn\u2019t the broom closet,\u201d said Fay, looking around. The Crunch & Barley green linoleum was gone; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}