By Julie

Scrub slept peacefully on the tiny dollar they had rescued from the wash. Scringe adjusted his eyeglasses as he flipped to the third page of the news. Drittle dunked yet another scrub brush into the bucket of soapy water they had snatched from the last wash. The three fuzzy teardrop-shaped laundry creatures jumped when a loud metal clanging interrupted them. “Another wash?” Scringe asked, amazed, in his heavy English accent. “Oh, I was just getting some rest,” Scrub, the youngest, rubbed his eyes. “The scrub brushes aren’t even completely washed yet!” Drittle announced, angrily. “Well, I guess we’ll have to.” the laundry creatures hurried to the edge of their apartment in the laundry machine and closed the door tightly, as to block the soapy water that might get in. Each laundry creature scampered into the pole in the middle of the wash machine. They peeked out from the little compartment to see what was to be washed that day. Navy soccer shorts, a blue shirt, a dark blue sun hat, and dark blue underwear were dropped into the machine. The user of the washing machine dropped in the cup full of laundry soap. The creatures quickly hurried out of the pole, dunked their scrub brushes in the blue liquid, and hurried into the pole again just in time to hear the final tick of the user setting the correct time of the wash. The whirring and the soapy water and the clothes thrashed and were swept all around the laundry machine. “All right, let’s get started,” Scringe said loudly, over the hum. “Remember, you have to do this just right!” He climbed up to the top of the pole, and suddenly lifted the lid off of it and plunged himself- on top of a floating shirt on the surface. “All right! Drittle!” Scringe called proudly, beginning to scrub the shirt free of dirt patches. “Okay! I’m coming!” Drittle said nervously, climbing to the top of the pole, he flung himself onto the hat, and began to free it of the musty dirt color. Scrub climbed to the top of the pole and, frightened, threw himself right into the soapy water (as he always did)! “Scrub, over here,” Drittle said impatiently, and Scrub blubbed toward him and pulled himself up onto the hat. They started to scrub together, occasionally leaping onto other floating clothes to scrub them clean. Finally, the soapy water retreated, the whirring stopped, and the washing creatures were standing on top of wet, washed clothes. “A job well done,” Drittle praised, as the three walked back to their apartment. “Yes, a job well done.” Scringe agreed, pleased. The three creatures climbed into the apartment and began to wash their scrub brushes, unaware that outside another user was walking toward their machine holding a white sundress, a white ball cap, a white shirt, a pair of socks, and some white jeans…

“Take the chairs away. Make sure that no one ever sees them again.” Gabriella told me firmly, looking me in the eye as she fastened her shawl. “Do you hear me? No one can ever see them. Hide them well.”
“But-”
“Lea! Hide them!” Gabriella stepped out the door and moved so quickly down the street that she seemed to vanish. There was nothing I could do but to hide the chairs.
I held my breath and muttered to myself as I pushed aside the secret door in the drawing room. “Message from Gabriella. We have to take the chairs away and hide them so no one can ever see them again.” I announced. Six pairs of eyes fixed upon me. “What?” Francis asked coldly, even though I knew she’d heard me. “Hide them? We can’t possibly hide them. Take them away? Gabriella said that? We were just about – put me on with her!”
“She’s not on the telephone.” I told Francis. “She was here.”
“Here?” Yolanda eyed me. “At the door? In this house?” I nodded.
“She still could be out on the street! She could be just down the street this very instant!” Amelia flustered, leaping from her chair.
“No, she’s not. She’s gone.” I clarified. “She stepped in just long enough to tell me to take the chairs away and hide them where no one would find them.”
“Well, what shall we do?” Minerva said, standing up from her chair.
“Hide them, I guess,” I snapped.
“We can’t possibly hide them! We were going to be world-famous! We were going to have enough money to go to bed on full stomachs and to pay the rent and get heating!” Francis argued, pacing and stamping her feet. “We can’t-”
“Yes, we can.” Savannah said calmly. Everyone jumped to their feet. “If that is what Gabriella wishes. She must be doing this for some reason.”
“Yes, yes… I suppose that she must have good reason to do this…” Yolanda muttered as she tried to collect herself. “Yes… we’ll hide the chairs, Gabriella will have a good reason… the project will be completed.”
“I think we should do it right now.” I suggested. “What?” Francis and a few others shouted shrilly. “Well, Gabriella sounded like we had to do it now. Like she meant business.”
Francis looked at me like she meant business too.
“All right, all right, we’ll do it now!” Amelia finally concluded. “Everyone in uniform, please.” The room was vacant for a moment, then everyone reappeared. Francis was dressed prim and proper as a city lady, Yolanda in the rags of a scullery maid, Amelia in a rich lady’s red dress, Minerva as a schoolteacher in uniform and a bun, Savannah as a nun, and Juanita a police lady in a navy uniform.
“Who shall take the seventh chair?” Amelia boomed. “Who shall take the place of Gabriella?”
“I’ll do it,” I volunteered.
“Of course you may not! Sending a ten year old on a trip as dangerous and as risky as this?” Francis scoffed. “Who shall do it, then?” Juanita asked. Francis didn’t have any suggestions, nor did anyone else. “All right, I believe Lea shall take the last chair.” Savannah finished.
Yolanda pulled the sliding door of the second secret chamber in the room, and in the small room I marveled at the seven chairs. Silver, but dull, they stood regally in the middle of the room. Each intricate design etched into the silver was unique, in the top half of the back of each was a unique silver object. The chairs were magnificent. “Which chair will you take, Leah?” Savannah asked me sweetly. “This one,” I said, nodding, after consideration. My favorite was small and dainty but still had a powerful, strong feel. Inside the back was a key. “Of course you may not take that one! That one is Gabriella’s chair! It is the commander of the fleet, the one with the mind of its own, the most powerful of-”
“I trust Lea with the chair,” Savannah defended me. “Do you not trust our young companion?” Francis stuttered a minute. “All right, but I shall lead the fleet. I won’t let you have responsibility of all of us. Extra power is entrusted in the leader that can outmatch yours.” Francis claimed the chair with the tiny sewing scissors in the back, Yolanda chose the one with the locket, Amelia chose one with two silver dice, Minerva with the kitchen whisk, Savannah with the spool, and Juanita with the hairpin.
“All right, everyone.” Francis commanded in a loud voice. “Ready – keep your destination in mind. The underground station in London. Chair one!” Francis vanished. Yolanda followed, then Amelia on her chair, Minerva, Savannah, and Juanita. I felt the chair and myself lift from the room with a sudden jerk. I couldn’t tell what anything around me was. I saw blurs of all the colors in the rainbow and more colors we don’t have names for, blending together into one larger color that I assumed that humans had not discovered. There is no way to describe it but that it was a mix of all the colors, just like it is impossible to describe orange but that it is a mix of yellow and red.
Then I heard Francis’ voice shrilly commanding, “No! No! Land in London! Follow my command! Land in London!” But the chairs did not obey. I am guessing from research that Francis’, the first one, ended up in Greece; Yolanda’s, the second one, ended up in Australia; Amelia’s, the third one, ended up in Russia; Minerva’s, the fourth one, ended up in Italy; Savannah’s, the fifth one, ended up in France; Juanita’s, the sixth one, ended up in Whales; and mine ended up in Ireland.
The chair plummeted to the ground more quickly than anything you can imagine, and I screamed louder than most humans would seem possible. When I awoke on the green field, the chair was already gone. It was too late for Gabriella’s warning to have taken effect. The chairs were to strong to act under our command. It was too late.

The constant buzz
A marsh secretes
On a summer afternoon

The water alive
With bugs, water striders,
Overhead flies an old mother loon

The dragonflies
Do not surprise
For their buzz is a part of the tune

A lazy lizard
Rests his pleasure
On a miniature dirt and sand dune

A furry furry
Animal laps up water
With a tongue like a spoon

A muddy minnow
Floats away
Down the muddy, marshy lagoon

All of this
In an ordinary marsh
In a lazy, hot day in June

All of this
All before
The presence of the moon

These lazy days
Will come again
When the mood is set like this, quite soon

All of this
In a lazy marsh
On a hot summer afternoon.

An old, prehistoric pond, dripping with moss and algae, stands in the middle of the forest. A constant drip sounds, of water drops falling from a low-hanging-tree into the pond. Small animals dart around it to the next pond. It seems as if this one is not even here. All that acknowledge it are a few tadpoles, swimming around the edges of the murky water. The animals all vanish from the area, going to drink from the other forest pond. Time seems to stop as a tense ripple spreads across the quiet pond. A shadow moves within the heart of the dripping pond. There is something in the pond – something alive. Glimpses of the shadow move along the pond, closer and closer each time to the surface. The creature dives down to the murky, unseen bottom of the pond, after a possible tadpole or small fish. But then the glimpses appear again, around the edges. A flipper. Part of a tail. An outline of the seal-like creature. The glimpses move closer to the surface, closer to the center. Finally, a prehistoric head rears up from the heart of the pond. Tiny, beady eyes squint at the moss and the forest through the misty air as it breathes. Then time unfreezes. The creature feels a cool breeze, and glances back towards the other pond. The crowd of animals is returning. The creature dives back into the pond and becomes again glimpses. Finally, as the first forest animal returns, the creature disappears, all but a ripple. For this creature is part of the secret pond – best left unseen.

Slowly, carefully, sniffing the path ahead of him, the small rabbit takes small bounds through the white luster in the woods. Looking up from the path, he spots another rabbit peeking cautiously at him from behind a bush covered with snow. He takes small, careful steps toward the other rabbit. Wordlessly, they join each other, hopping occasionally over piles of snow. They stop for a minute to nibble on a strand of uncovered grass. Suddenly, they both spot something. Ears prick up, eyes scan the snowy woods. A crunch of snow fills the air. They take off through the snow in leaps of glee, away from the winter noises of the forest. As they reach the edge of the woods, they gradually slow, look back and forth with their eyes, prick up their ears, but no sound comes. They are alone. With another burst of joy, they leap out into the field! Minute after minute, they hop around each other, in and out of the snow, hop near and far, playing and chasing. Finally they slow down to catch their breath and look up at the sky, raining white fluffy bits of snow. It is darkening, and the rabbits are tired and out of breath from playing, and wet from the white fluffy snow that has covered their world. Wordlessly, they bid each other good-bye and walk, stopping every few seconds to nibble on a blade of grass or listen for more winter sounds, to their separate rabbit burrows. Each takes a last glance at the field and the forest of their home, covered with white freeze and long rabbit footprints. Each knows – they will be back as soon as they can. With one last, quiet step, they are in their warm rabbit burrows.