h Chapter Seven g
6 
6
“Here’s your flashlight grandpops!” Izayah said as he walked up to where the two men stood waiting.
“Thank you.” his grandfather said as he took the flashlight. “Now you go play with your sisters because I don’t want any of you hanging around this old cellar.”
“Okay Grandpops!” replied Izayah, glad to be going anywhere as long as it wasn’t near that green eyed Mr. Ergo.
Izayah ran back through the yard to catch up with his sisters as they were going into the house.
“Hey- Where you going?” he asked them as he closed the door behind himself.
“We’re going to get something to drink- and then we’re going to watch grandpops and Mr. Ergo from the kitchen window.” answered Alaysia.
Alaysia opened the refrigerator and began handing each of her sisters and brother a bottle of soda pop. Izayah rummaged through drawers until he found the bottle opener. He opened his and took himself a long, cool swig of the grape soda. He took Micaiah’s pop and opened it for her, then handed the bottle opener to Alaysia so she could open hers and Shaylahs.
Alaysia and Izayah each pulled a chair from the kitchen table around and set them in front of the window that looked out into the back yard. Shaylah and Micaiah had to squeeze in where they could because their brother and Alaysia were taking up all the room in front of the window. In a few minutes all four of the children were just staring out the window- each one of them intensely watching the spot in the far corner of the back yard where their grandfather and the man with the weird green eyes were just going down into the cellar.
òòò
The two men, together, lifted the door that opened into the root cellar and pushed it back until its heavy weight fell unto the grass. The kids grandfather went down first, shining his flashlight so that he could see where he was placing his feet on each of the rotten, moss covered wooden steps. When he reached the floor, he turned around and faced the stairs and shined the light onto the steps so that Mr. Ergo could see where he was walking and wouldn’t slip and fall on the rickety wooden steps. Mr. Ergo didn’t seem to need the light. He moved so quickly down the steps that you would have thought they weren’t really rotten- but had just recently been built.
Once they were both on the floor- both men just stood in place as the children’s grandfather shined the flashlight all around, neither of them seeming to see or hear anything down in the dark, dank, smelly old root cellar. But- unknown to the children’s grandfather, that wasn’t exactly true.
Mr. Ergo could see everything just as plain as if the room had the sun shining inside it. He could see the Oogie, still chained to the wall where he- who was actually an Ogre, had imprisoned it long long ago. Ohhh Yes- There you are, thought the Ogre, licking his thick tongue over his lips. He could see the Oogie trying to hide from him, all huddled up and shaking- not a single one of it strands of hair glowing because right now the Oogie was just trying to disappear from sight of the Ogre it was so very afraid of.
The Oogie was terrified. The Ogre and the human were standing right there beside him. It knew that the human couldn’t see, or hear him- but the Ogre just seemed to almost be smiling right at him both times the Oogie peeked. The Oogie wondered why the humans had brought the Ogre here, after all this time.
“There’s just nothing down here.” said the children’s grandfather. “Nothing but a dark, dirty, smelly old root cellar with nothing in it.”
The Ogre didn’t say anything. It was much too busy watching the poor Oogie shaking- whimpering and crying as it was pressing hard against the wall, trying to make itself disappear from the Ogre’s sight. The Ogre knew full well that the human in the room with them couldn’t hear any of the noises the Oogie was making. No human could. That was the way magic worked. Well- at least no adult human anyway, the Ogre thought to itself.
“Seen enough?” asked the children’s grandfather, tired of standing around and not seeing anything at all.
“Yes Sir- I suppose I have!” Mr. Ergo answered, grinning to himself.
The Ogre bent down, bringing their faces just inches apart- and looked directly into the Oogie’s teary eyes. As it did so the Ogre grinned- showing the Oogie two rows of long, sharp, pointy teeth. The Ogre’s hot, steamy breath rolled out of its mouth like a cloud. The Oogie wanted badly to shrink away from the Ogre’s fowl smelling breath and those terrifying fangs. But the Oogie couldn’t move- its body was already pressed tightly against the wall- there was no escape. There was just nothing the Oogie could do at all.
“Let’s go then.” said the children’s grandfather as he started back up the stairs.
The Oogie watched as the Ogre and the human went back up the stairs. It was still shaking as the door to the cellar was lowered closed- cutting off all the light from outside. The Oogie was still soooo very very afraid that it would be a long time before its hair would begin to glow again, allowing the Oogie to be bathed in light. And so- the Oogie just stayed huddled against the wall, whimpering and crying to itself in total darkness.
òòò
Watching from the kitchen window, all of the children saw their grandfather and Mr. Ergo come up from the cellar. Both men lifted the door from the grass, then let it slam shut with a bang as they both let it go.
As their grandfather and Mr. Ergo came closer to the house, Alaysia and Izayah jumped up, grabbed their two chairs and scrambled to put the chairs back where they were. Micaiah kept watching the men from the window as they walked up to the back of the house and then rounded the corner.
“They went around the side!” Micaiah exclaimed. “Meany Greeny must be leaving- and I’m glad!” she reported happily.
All three of the other children ran out of the kitchen, through the hallway and into the living room. Just as the kids made it to the living room window, Mr. Ergo was just getting into his car. The chauffer closed the door, turned and walked to the front of the car and got into the drivers seat. They watched the rear side window of the car roll down- and Mr. Ergo’s arm reached out, and their grandfather shook his hand. With their eyes wide open, their jaws all dropping- each of the three children had seen that the arm that had come out of the window to shake their grandfathers hand was green, and covered with what looked like warts and moles.
They watched the cars rear window roll back up as their grandfather stepped away from the car, and the long, huge limousine backed slowly out of the driveway. Finally, thought all of the children, feeling relieved.- it’s gone!
After their grandfather came back into the house, he called them all together and told them that he wasn’t feeling really well. That- if they all didn’t mind, he wasn’t going to take them anywhere as they had planned because he wanted to lie down for a little while and take a nap to see if he would feel better. The kids were disappointed, which really made their grandfather feel bad, but they could see that he wasn’t feeling too well and certainly wanted him to get better. So, they all agreed that they would be very quiet so that he could take a nap. Alaysia promised her grandfather that she would keep an eye on everyone, and that she would come and get him if she felt it was important.