text: The Highway seems unending, but at least the view is nice. From where you and Wilky walk on the side of the road long swards of grass stretch out, ending in a line of tall, tall fir trees that tower to what looks like the roof of the sky itself. It takes several days and nights of walking for there to be much change to landscape, but you and Wilky eventually reach a bridge cutting over a river. You peer down into the waters on the riverbank below and see all manner of garbage: crushed aluminum cans, beer bottles, crumpled plastic bags, and what appears to be a kind of black tar-like sludge that floats thickly on the surface of the water.
  
  It looks like the people living in this world don't care much about keeping it clean, you comment.
  
  I know, agrees Wilky. The other world seemed to be just one big desert. I wander if the humans living here are going to do the same to this world.
  
  The two of you agree to just rest here awhile. While you and Wilky don't tire easily, you can loose energy from too much exertion. Sitting next to the concrete abutment on one side of the bridge, you and your companion watch the waters play across the stones below, allowing the sun to replenish the wood of your bodies with it's invigorating rays. You and Wilky stay like this for about an hour, talking about your adventures, when suddenly your revelry is interrupted by a loud noise. You both jump up and look behind you as a blue sports car screeches to a halt less than a foot away from you. Whoever's driving doesn't seem to know what they're doing as the car is parked at an odd angle just off the road. The driver-side door opens and a tall woman with long dark brown hair and a green parker jumps out and runs to the passenger side. She throws the door open and a bespectacled dark-haired girl of ten years of age runs out. The girl runs over to the edge of the abutment and heaves and then vomits. You and Wilky quickly jump out of the way of her liquid projectile, but too late you realize the both of you have now been spotted.
  
  "Oh, my god!" says the woman. "Megan, look! Elves."
  
  The little girl Megan is still too caught up in her spasms to pay attention at first. But then she wipes her mouth and looks were the woman is pointing. "Wow!" she says. "You're right, Mommy! Real live Elves!"
  
  You and Wilky can't hide now. What should you do?
  
  > stay and Face these Humans
  We might as well try to communicate with the humans, you tell Wilky. I think we're trapped.
  
  Maybe you're right, Mary Beth Brown, replies Wilky. I'll show them Doctor Rozier's card. He pulls the card out from under his shirt and holds it up with both hands for the woman to see.
  
  "Mommy, what's the boy elf holding up?" asks the little girl.
  
  "I don't know," says the woman, kneeling and taking the card from Wilky. She regards it. "Is Doctor Rozier a friend of yours, little elves?"
  
  You and Wilky both nod in reply to her question.
  
  The woman takes both of you in either one of her hands and stands and turns to her daughter. "Megan, let's take them to see Doctor Rozier. Henson's bay is just a day's drive from here...and their magic might be able to help us, protect us that is. From the Monster Man."
  
  Megan approaches her mother and gently touches you and and Wilky on the head. "Mommy, who is the Monster Man? Why's he following us, anyway?"
  
  The woman sighs. "I don't entirely know, Megan." She heads to the car and Megan follows. "I just know he wants you and Anthony. I can't let him have you kids."
  
  "But why can't Daddy help us? It's supposed to be his turn to have me and Anthony. You should call him and maybe he can meet up with us and--"
  
  "No!" The woman opens her car door and leans across the steering wheel and sets you and Wilky in the lap of a black-haired boy with big ears and freckles. "Get in with Anthony, now."
  
  The boy takes you and Wilky into his hands. "Mommy, are these dolls?" he asks.
  
  Megan opens her door and slides in next to the boy. "No, Einstein," she tells the boy. "These are Elves!"
  
  "Really?" he asks excitedly.
  
  "Yes," replies the mother. She sits in the driver's seat and turns the key in the ignition, starting the car. "It's a miracle, I think. God sent these magical elves to save us from the Man in the Black Cadillac. They need us to take them to Henson's Bay, so that's where we're going!"
  
  The car pulls onto the road and crosses the bridge. You and Wilky have heard of elves from Uncle Shrevnetz's books, but the two of you always thought they were just the stuff of fairytales, but if pretending to be such creatures will get you to Doctor Rozier's home, you'll play along.
  
  "This calls for a celebration," says Megan, reaching behind her seat and pulling out a violin and a bow. She puts the instrument's chin rest to her jaw, places the bow on the strings, and starts playing the most beautiful music you've ever heard.
  
  "Just remember, children," says the mother, "keep your eyes pealed for the Black Cadillac. That man is a demon and he wants to suck our souls out of our bodies. We've got to stay one step ahead of him."
  
  Wilky looks to you. That man sounds scary! he says.
  
  Something seems wrong here, you reply. This doesn't make sense to me.
  
  > On the Run from the Monster Man
  For the next hour, you and Wilky try and answer the children's questions. Since you can't talk to them with your minds and have no voices, you're mostly limited to yes/no questions.
  
  "Are elves the ghosts of unbaptized children who died?" asks Megan. "I read that in a book of fairy lore one time."
  
  Wilky looks to you. Well, are we?
  
  You nod your head and Wilky parrots your gesture.
  
  "I've got a good one to ask you guys!" says Anthony. "Are you the same as the elves that make toys for Santa?"
  
  Megan gives Anthony a disgusted look. "Anthony, that was a dumb question. If you'd read up on fairies like I do, you'd know what questions to ask. Santa's elves...Really!"
  
  You think Megan was a little unfair with her kid brother, so you nod your head.
  
  Anthony smiles. "Hey, I guess it wasn't such a dumb question after all! Do you elves know any werewolves? I love werewolves, that's why I'm asking. I hope to get bitten by a werewolf someday so I can be one too!"
  
  Megan rolls her eyes. "Anthony, what kind of question is that to be asking elves?"
  
  Anthony looks to her and shrugs his shoulders. "Well, you don't know. Werewolves are magic too."
  
  "Kids," says the mother, "I hate to interrupt your discussion with our little friends, but don't you think we should stop somewhere to get a bite to eat?"
  
  "Just don't get Megan another can of Spam," says Anthony. "She'll just throw it up again."
  
  "It was room temperature, dummy! If it's been in the fridge, I can eat a whole bar of Spam."
  
  "There's a diner up ahead," says the mother. "You wanna stop there and get a real meal?"
  
  The kids agree to this suggestion and the mom pulls the car into the parking lot of a long silver metal building with wide windows. There are a few cars and one pickup truck in the parking lot but none of them is a black car.
  
  Looks like we're safe for now, says Wilky.
  
  "Mommy," says Megan as she and Anthony step out of the car, "can we take our elf friends in with us?"
  
  The mother closes her car door and locks it. "I don't see why not, sweetie. Elves can only be seen by people if the elves want them to see. They should be invisible to everyone else." She heads to the entrance of the diner and the children follow, you in Megan's hands and Wilky in Anthony's. "But let's sit in a booth by a window. I want to be able to watch out for any signs of the Black Cadillac. The sun's starting to go down, and that's usually when the Monster Man is at his most powerful."
  
  > At the Diner
  You and Wilky are sitting between Megan and Anthony on a long, rubbery green seat in the booth of the diner. The mother and her children have ordered their meals (a salad for Mom and cheeseburgers and fries for the kids) and now everybody is enjoying their meal. Megan tries to offer you and Wilky one of her French fries, but you and your companion politely decline.
  
  "Why won't you eat, little elves?" asks Megan. "Is it because you're fairies and can only eat magical fairy food?"
  
  That seems as good an answer as any and you and Wilky immediately nod your heads in affirmation.
  
  All this time, the mother barely picks at her salad with her fork. Mostly, she just stares at the window. The sun has gone down now and the sky is dark blue and heading to black.
  
  "Mommy, don't you want to eat?" asks Anthony between bites of his cheeseburger.
  
  "I keep thinking, Anthony," she says, "that any minute, the Black Cadillac is going to pull up and HE is gong to step out...I just have this nagging feeling..."
  
  "It'll be okay, Mommy," says Megan. "We're in public. The Man won't try anything if we're surrounded by other people."
  
  The mother continues staring out the window. "You don't know him, Megan. You don't know how great his powers are."
  
  "I still think you should call Daddy. I think he must miss us and is wondering where we went. We were supposed to go with him-"
  
  "Stop it, Megan! Just stop bringing up your father. He can't help us..." The mother places her purse on the speckled linoleum table and opens it. She riffles in it for a moment and then pulls out a small handgun.
  
  "Wow, Mom!" says Anthony. "Is that a real gun?"
  
  The mother puts a finger to her lips. "Shh...Not so loud. Yes, it is." She pushes the round barrel out and starts transferring bullets from her purse into the the barrel's open slots.
  
  "Hey, mommy, those just look like regular bullets," Anthony whispers. "Maybe the Monster Man's like a werewolf...you know-- only silver bullets can get him."
  
  The mother finishes loading bullets into the barrel and then slides it back into the gun before replacing the gun in her purse. "Anthony, that would be a good idea, I guess. But these bullets aren't for him."
  
  You and Wilky look at each other.
  
  We need to do something, you say.
  
  > get into the purse and remove the bullets from the gun
  "Wait," says the mother as she finally gets serious about eating her salad, "There are no croutons! How could they not include the croutons when they feature them in the menu picture? This is false advertising. Why do people always do this to me? I can't believe they would treat me this way." She looks to Megan and Anthony. "Kids, I need to ask the waitress a question about our meal. I'll be gone for just a minute." She gets up from the booth and heads to the diner counter where the platinum-blond waitress is chatting with some customers. Once she's at the counter she immediately starts arguing with the waitress
  
  Now is your chance to disarm her gun. You hop over the legs of the children and slip into their mother's purse. It's dark inside the bag, but the you easily feel the gun and begin working to slide the barrel out so you can remove the bullets.
  
  "Where'd you go, Elf Girl?" asks Megan.
  
  Wilky, you say, distract the children while I'm busy.
  
  Sure thing, Mary Beth Brown.
  
  You don't know what Wilky's doing while you're in the purse, but it's keeping the children occupied. They laugh and you hear Megan say, "Look at him go!"
  
  You've only managed to get the barrel out of the gun part-way, but it's still a struggle. You try to get a better footing on the gun itself so you'll have more leverage. To your dismay, you realize that you've accidentally pushed the barrel back in. You foot presses on something and then you hear a loud BANG! and the whole purse lights up for an instant. There is a screaming throughout the diner and soon you find the purse is being picked up. Not thinking twice, you scurry out and drop onto the floor. You look up to see a fat, burly, bearded trucker in a cap and flannel shirt is pulling the gun from the purse, which now sports a smoking black hole at its bottom. Wilky hops off of the seat and joins you in the middle of the floor. People scream again, this time at the site of you and your companion. You and Wilky scurry for the door but the waitress blocks your way and grabs the two of you. She takes you to the counter where several glass bell jars hold cakes and pies, removes a pie from under one of the bell jars, and places the glass barrier over you and your companion.
  
  Eventually, the police arrive and take the mother and her kids away. You and Wilky wonder what will happen to the children, but you also worry what your own fates will be. The waitress returns to counter to look at the two of you.
  
  I know, says Wilky. I'll show her the card!
  
  What good would that do us now? you ask.
  
  What have we got to lose at this point?
  
  You admit he has a point.
  
  Wilky pulls the card out from under his shirt and holds it up for the waitress to see.
  
  The waitress peers down through the glass and then pulls the bell jar up just enough so she can grab the card from Wilky. She looks at it a minute, stares at you and Wilky, and then heads for the pay phone in the corner.
  
  > And Wilky's Fate
  The waitress speaks on the phone for a few minutes, hangs up, and then walks back to the counter to look at you and Wilky from were the two of you reside in your glass prison. "Okay," she says, "I called the number on the card and this Doctor Rozier said he can make it out here in a few hours to pick you two up. So you're robots, then? That's what he told me when I asked about the two of you. I swear, when I forced saw you guys running about, I got scared. I thought maybe you were possessed or something! Glad the Doctor cleared that little misunderstanding up. I was about to call a doll exorcist on you guys!" She walks over to a talk with a tall man wearing a a white apron and a cap.
  
  Wilky! you say. Did you hear that?
  
  Yes! he replies. Looks like we don't have to go looking for Doctor Rozier's address now! He's coming for us. But why did she say we were robots? I thought those were metal men.
  
  Makes about as much since as saying we're elves!
  
  The hours seem to pass by very slowly, but eventually you see the stout form of Doctor Rozier come through the front door on his carved wooden walking stick. He's dressed in a white suit and a straw hat. He briefly talks to the waitress and she points you and Wilky out to him. Stepping up the bell jar, he grabs its handle on the top and lifts it off. "I'm so glad to see you two!" he says.
  
  Soon you and Wilky are taken in his arms and carried to his green car, which he tells you is 1940's Studebaker he inherited from his uncle. He sits the two of you in the passenger seat and then pulls the vehicle out of the diner parking lot. He whiles the hours away telling you about the new home you're about to start living in. Wilky and you are both excited at the prospect of living at his house because he has the biggest collection of rosewood dolls, all of whom are sentient like you and Wilky. "They'll be expecting their prince and princess to return to them," he says.
  
  And indeed that is the case. You and Wilky are reunited with your former subjects from the other universe, many of which died of the plague that swept your kingdom at the time of your deaths. It is a good life, now that you and Wilky are certain of your place in the cosmic all.
  
  The End