The Troll, Part Two
(Part One: https://rayaso.livejournal.com/46282.html)
THE TROLL
Part 2
Later, Troll found an empty cave and settled in to read the brochures, starting with Rules.
The next morning, he knew what he wanted and headed straight to Brzk’s office.
“I want to be a cave troll,” said Troll.
“Really?” Brzk said, “I wouldn’t have thought you were the type.”
“All trolls love to smash things,” said Troll. “Why not rocks?”
Brzk filled out the paperwork and sent him off to a crew excavating a new cave. The rock was hard and they were behind schedule.
“Grab a sledge and get to work,” said Zank, the foreman.
Troll tried to pick up a sledgehammer but failed. All the other cave trolls were three times his size.
“Not another one,” sighed Zank. “Here, take this little hammer, get some small rocks from Vtbyk, and smash them into pebbles. When you’re done, go back to Brzk and tell him to never send me another toy troll again, or I’ll smash his head in.”
Troll worked hard at his rocks, but there was no Billy and he felt empty.
At the end of the day, he turned in his hammer and the next morning he stood before Brzk.
“Back so soon?” said Brzk. Most toy trolls lasted a week. He would have to speak to Zank about his managerial skills.
“I’d like to try being a bridge troll,” said Troll. “Sitting under a bridge all day, collecting tolls from Billy goats -- how hard can it be?”
The next morning, he reported to the riverbank under Stone Bridge to collect tolls. Trolls were free, Billy goats were one gold coin, and everyone else was one cookie, which he could eat.
He waited patiently by the river. Trolls came and trolls went, all hurrying by without time to talk. There were no Billy goats or anyone else. Then he remembered that only trolls lived in Intaglia.
Troll got bored very quickly. The river was damp and cold, and it was a long time until lunch. But worst of all, there was no Billy and he felt empty.
Three days later, Brzk was staring at Troll and Brzk did not look happy. Troll had seen Brzk’s hair droop as soon as he’d seen him coming.
“I think I’d make a good gardener,” said Troll before Brzk could speak. “I love plants.”
Brzk’s hair drooped even more.
“All trolls love plants,” Brzk finally said. “But OK. Just leave.”
Troll reported to the head gardener. He was given a wheel barrow, some tools, and a cart full of little plants. He loved planting the seedlings, trimming the shrubs and talking to the flowers. Finally, Troll was happy.
But the happiness didn’t last. There was no Billy and he still felt empty.
After a few weeks, Troll was back in Brzk’s office.
“Not again!” Brzk said, and threw Troll’s file at him. “You were a great gardener - what went wrong?”
“No Billy,” Troll said.
Brzk had seen this before - an unusually strong bond between toy and child. It generally faded over time, but he suspected that would never happen with Troll. He would never be happy here.
“I want to go back to Billy,” said Troll.
“You can’t,” said Brzk. “It’s against Rule 43(C)(1) - the No Going Back Rule. Once you enter Intaglia, you can’t leave.”
Brzk really wanted to help Troll, but there was nothing he could do.
Except one thing. It had never been done before and it would be the desperate act of a desperate administrator. Brzk would go to tonight’s meeting of the Rules Club and propose a rule change.
Administrators don’t make Rules, he thought. We only administer them - how else could we tell people that we can’t help them because we don’t make the rules?
Brzk shuddered at the thought of being useful, but there was nothing else to be done. If the Rules didn’t work, they would have to make some new ones.
At that night’s meeting of the Rules Club, Brzk explained Troll’s dilemma and proposed changing the No Going Back Rule. The uproar brought the roof down. There was a delay while some cave trolls cleaned up the debris.
Order was finally regained when Grynk smashed his spear against his shield and then drew his sword.
“I like Troll,” he growled. “Do it, or else . . . .”
Even with an angry battle troll on his side, the best Brzk could do was change the rule to require No Going Back for trolls only. If Troll weren’t a troll, he could return to Billy. Of course, since only trolls were allowed in Intaglia, everything would still be the same. The new rule made no sense, which made everyone happy.
Brzk left the meeting with less of a scowl than usual. This was all he’d wanted. Of course, now he owed Grynk a favor. Trolls horded favors and doled them out very carefully. He hadn’t planned the collapse of the roof, but felt it was a nice touch. He would have to speak to Zank about the cave trolls’ work quality. They were good at smashing, but their building skills were weak.
His next step was to contact the Blue Fairy. She owed him many favors and it would take all of them to get what he needed.
He met the Blue Fairy at the border of Intaglia. Not even fairies could enter, not even the Blue Fairy, who was one of the most powerful. She had helped Pinocchio and maybe she could help Troll, for enough favors. Even fairies need favors.
On Monday, Green Trees Elementary School had a new student named Jimmy. His father was some kind of an administrator for the Dept. of Motor Vehicles.
The Blue Fairy had told Brzk and Troll that in one year her spell would wear off. For Troll, she would always renew it because she was impressed by Troll’s and Billy’s love for each other.
But Brzk would be more expensive. He would need a job in order to take care of Jimmy. The Blue Fairy had thought that Brzk would love working for the DMV, and she was right. After all, she had thought, once an administrator, always an administrator. And the DMV could always use more employees who were trolls at heart.
Jimmy found Billy sitting alone in the cafeteria eating his lunch, and he sat down opposite him. This rarely happened to Billy. He noticed Jimmy’s wild red hair and goofy smile, and he knew. Billy smiled back.
They became best friends, and their friendship never died.
One night, Jimmy slept over at Billy’s house. They had made a castle out of a table, sofa cushions, and some blankets. After Billy’s parents had gone to sleep, they crept up to the attic. Billy opened a large brown box hidden in a dark corner and took out all of his old stuffed animals to play.
These were the same stuffed animals that had been Troll’s other friends when he was still a toy. After Billy’s mother had taken them away, Billy had sneaked out to search his neighborhood. He had found them tossed in a dumpster outside the grocery store. He had brought them home and hidden them in the attic where he could still play with them and no one would know.
He had always missed Troll and wondered where he was. Until now.
Sometimes, childish things should not be put away. After all, who does it hurt?
* * * * *
Note: “Intaglio” is the printing technique. “Intaglia” is the trolls’ Home, named after intaglio, which they invented.