Chapter 37. The Trolls Bar the Door
The trolls were lying flat out on the floor of the foyer. The land trolls had left, which was fine with the trolls because that left all of the pizza for them. They had enjoyed this new food. It was excellent. There hadn’t been enough of it…they could have continued eating for hours…but it was quite a bit more than they had eaten since the Big Sleep. For the moment, they allowed it to be enough. This new cave was dark, and it was peaceful, and that, too, was for the moment enough.
“Ahhh,” said Obeast.
“Ahhh,” said Schmatzenbladder.
All of the trolls, through their exertions with the rock at the
bottom of the lake, had been getting awfully hungry. Obeast, the most prone toward feeling hunger, had been the first to taste this new food, and perhaps the most appreciative. Schmatzenbladder, too, though he had eaten more than most trolls in the last little while, was happy for the new food. He was tired of having doggie breath.
Now, the pizza boxes empty, they lay back and enjoyed the moment.
“This place is pretty nice, for an above-ground cave,” Bilgewater said.
“Nice and roomy,” echoed Biledumper.
“Strange that there aren’t any land trolls here,” said Slimegobbler.
“Just us,” said Droolmeister
“Just the Rabid Band,” said Schnottweiper
“Say…” said Schmoozeglutton. He had been thinking. Thinking of how Brumvack had locked them out of their ancestral caves.
“What if…” Schmoozeglutton continued.
Schmatzenbladder finished his sentence for him. “What if we lock the land trolls out of this cave?”
It took the trolls no time at all to get up and roam the halls and find something with which to bar the door. There were no large, round rocks here. But they managed to bar the only entrance they knew to this above-ground cave. Before they were done, they had used the secretary’s desk, the principal’s desk, 37 student desks, 3 library carousels, one stainless steel cafeteria serving station, an entire set of the Encyclopedia Britannica, 4 easels, and 17 basketballs.
When they were done, the whole of the Rabid Band stood and looked their handiwork.
“Hey,” said Schmoozeglutton. “Good trick.”