Axle Galench in Search of Barnsfoggon
Chapter One
Decisions, Decisions
The time? Right now! The place? The land of Bedlam, located on the far-away planet, Mizmoe. Every creature within earshot is laughing and making fun of Axle Galench and he’s thoroughly aggravated by their rudeness.
Axle turned his back on the jokesters and paced heatedly away with his hands on his hips. He was determined to find someone named Nacklenod—all by himself. Then, the rude wisecracks and laughter hushed. The perplexing silence halted Axle in his tracks. Oddly, there wasn’t even the slightest humming of mosquitoes on the wing, only silence. He looked over his shoulder for the scoundrels who had been laughing at him, but they were nowhere to be seen. Hmmm…thought Axle. It’s kind of eerie the way everyone got quiet all of a sudden. That’s okay. Peace and quiet is a lot better than listening to their garbage anyway! He continued out loud. “I got away from Grueloc, and Flobberjaw didn’t eat me. And I’ll tell you something else. I’ll find Nacklenod all by myself and then I’ll learn to read The Book of Equates, and I’ll find my father, too! No thanks to you, seismogoofers! Yeah, I’m mad all right. And you’re dang lucky that I’m walking away instead of thrashing the daylights out of you-”
CRACK! SMASH! CRASH! Alarming clatters echoed from the distant hollows of the jungle.
What was that? Axle wondered.
Soon the upheaval started again, and it sounded as if trees were literally being ripped apart. Then came a thunderous BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!, making everything in the rainforest quake.
All at once, the rude rascals who had been laughing at Axle came pouring out of their hiding places. Their wild bulging eyes and gaping mouths gave a frightening impression as they crashed blindly through the underbrush. And they were charging straight towards Axle.
“Holy guacamole…! They’re coming after me!” Axle gasped.
Axle wheeled around and took off running as fast as his legs would go. He tried calming the angry mob by apologizing over his shoulder while trying to outrun the onslaught. “I’m sorry I called you seismogoofers! I didn’t mean to make you mad!”
The stampede of crazed critters kept rushing at him. Axle tried to run faster but the thundering horde advanced ever closer. “Oh, me and my big mouth! Seismogoofers are good! It’s a good thing to be a seismogoofer!” shouted Axle. When their hot wheezing breaths puffed against his back, he knew his race for life would soon be over. “Good-bye, cruel world!” he cried.
The rumbling mass crowded heatedly upon Axle’s heels, but then the mob split and surged past him on both sides. This totally bewildered Axle. “Huh? They’re not chasing me….Hey!? Where’s everybody going?”
Their replies were ominous. “Bleek, bleek, bleek.”
“Why are you running away?” Axle called out to them.
“Bleek, bleek, bleek.”
The galloping gang of oddities disappeared into the foggy windings of the pathway. After their cheerless moaning had grown fainter, Axle slowed his pace down to a trot, then to a complete halt. He stood scratching his head in bewilderment. “What was that all about?”
“PSST! Hey, you. Wonder boy. Come here!” someone whispered.
Axle’s eyes quickly darted around the clumps of bushes looking for who was speaking, but he saw no one. Then he hesitantly asked, “Who…me?”
“No, the handsome young movie star standing next to ya. Of course I mean you! Now, come here and hide before you get us both turned into baby food! Hurry!”
Axle ran toward the voice and crouched down behind the leaves of an umbrella-bush. Turned into baby food? he wondered.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The tree-smashing racket was becoming deafening and Axle sensed a slight and weird movement of the ground with each booming sound, and it was getting stronger. What can it be? Axle wondered. Surely those booming sounds aren’t some ones footsteps. The next ground-quaking boom jarred Axle out from behind the bush, propelling him right into plain sight. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Anything or anyone not well-anchored bounced and vibrated to and fro. CRASH! CRACK! SNAP! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Axle grasped a branch and yanked himself back inside the hiding place. And this time he locked his legs and arms tightly around the bush’s trunk.
CRACK! CRASH!¾BOOM! A huge scaly foot crashed through the treetops and landed right beside the bush where Axle was hiding. It was so close Axle could have reached out and touched it. He looked upward to see who or what was attached to such a frightening foot but the umbrella bush’s leaves blocked his vision. The giant creature clicked its jagged toenails against the ground as if it were thinking or maybe waiting for someone to panic and run.
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!
If this monster even hears the slightest peep out of me, it will get me, thought Axle. I’ll just have to wait without moving a muscle until it goes away. While Axle waited nervously inside the little bush, his mouth became dry and his tongue started to feel like a cotton ball. Little beads of sweat popped out on his troubled brow while he concentrated on breathing without making any sound. One of the globules of perspiration resting at his hairline began a sluggish, zigzagging descent down his forehead. Axle wiggled and moved his eyebrows, but that didn’t phase the ever-enlarging droplet. By the time it reached the nosepiece of his glasses, it spilled over, pausing momentarily on the bridge of his nose. Axle watched with crossed eyes as the roving droplet rolled down the entire length of his nose and nose-dived into his right nostril. His ready and vigilant nose hairs reacted instantly to the intrusion. The most agonizing tickling itch Axle had ever experienced was in full swing. It felt as if a centipede was marching in parade formation at the Nasal Academy. If I move to scratch my nose, the giant might hear me. I must endure, thought Axle. He moved his puckered lips in a rapid circular motion in effort to scratch his nose. While he teetered on the verge of sneezing, thoughts of doom raced through his mind. If I sneeze, the giant will hear me! And it’ll get me! I will not sneeze. I will not sneeze. OH NO! Here it comes! Axle’s face wrinkled as he tightened his lips together and squeezed his eyelids closed with all his might. His only alternative now was to hold the sneeze inside, if he could. “Aaa, Aaa, Aaa—CHOSNOUPP….” Axle’s eardrums popped as if they had almost burst and his eyes watered as if he had been peeling onions, but he managed to contain the sneeze. Axle blinked the tears from his eyes and watched for any response from the giant foot.
The scaly foot clicked its crusty toenails. CLICK! CLICK!
Oh, please, I hope it didn’t hear me, thought Axle. I don’t want to be turned into baby food. Find a happy place…Find a happy place.
CLICK! CLICK!
After a lengthy wait, the huge foot finally took a step. To Axle’s surprise and total relief, it continued walking away. The ground shook and rumbled less and less as the giant what-ever-it-was went further away. “Whew!” Axle sighed under his breath. “That was close. My word, I thought Flobberjaw and Grueloc were big.” Then Axle remembered the voice he had heard coming out of the bush. “Hello? Are you still here?” he whispered