"Is this really necessary?" George had just tied one end of a rope to David's wrist and the other end to his own wrist.
"I'm not taking any chances." George said.
Then they heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" Gina said as she ran to the door. "Hello, how may I help you?" She asked the man at the door.
"May I see George please?" Michael asked.
"Righto. George, a guy with a weird hat is here to see you!"
"Hi Michael," Said George as he greeted him. "What are you doing here?"
"Don't you remember?" Said Michael. "We have our first performance today."
"Oh no, I forgot!" Said George.
"I understand, you've been tied up." Michael pointed at the rope that was tied to George and David's wrists. "May I ask why you've tied yourselves to each other?"
"David found out something he wasn't supposed to know so I gotta keep an eye on him."
Coco gasped; she knew what he was talking about. To cover up Coco's gasp George said, "Don't worry Coco; I'm not talking about that guy you're secretly dating." George gave her a quick wink.
"Oh! Good, thanks George...Hey! If it's a secret then why did you just say it in front of Michael?"
"It slipped." George said. Coco stuck her tongue out at him.
"There you are!" Peter ran up to them, out of breath. "I've been looking for you guys, we gotta go now. Why are you tied to David?"
"Let's just go." Said George as he rushed them out the door. Coco sat in a chair...David had found out.
----
The four boys arrived at the castle, it was the King's birthday, there were lots of people, drinks and food, the thing that was missing was fun. The birthday party was boring, barely anybody at the party talked at all.
"Is this a party or a funeral?" Said Peter.
They walked over to their instruments.
"Where's mine?" Asked George.
"You know how you told us to surprise you?" Michael said. George nodded and Michael handed him a drum.
"That's the surprise."
"I don't know how to play this." Said George.
"Improvise."
"We can't be tied up while you play." Said David. "I guess you'll have to untie me."
"Oh no, I'm not taking the chance!" Said George.
"You can't play with your wrists tied to each other." Said Peter.
"Peter!" They looked and a young girl ran to Peter and gave him a big hug. "Where have you been?"
"Not now Jody." Said Peter. "Guys, this is Jody Babb."
"Well, my real name is Jody Rabb." Said Jody. "But I like being called Babb."
Everybody introduced themselves then Jody noticed the rope.
"Why are you-?"
"Don't ask." Said George.
'Ribbit'.
"What was that?" Asked David. Jody pulled a frog out of her pocket.
"I'd better go and put him back." She said and she ran out the doors to put the frog back in the pond, then George noticed another instrument.
"Who's going to play the Rackett?" He asked, pointing at the Rackett.
"My friend John London was supposed to play it but he couldn't make it." Said Michael. A smile appeared on George's face.
"I don't like the look of that smile." Said David.
"Here." George said as he handed the Rackett to David. "If you play with us I can untie us and still keep an eye on you."
"I can't play this." Said David.
"The Rackett!" Shouted a young lady as she ran over to David. "I love the Rackett."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's start playing." Said David and he started to play it.
"Thanks Susan." Said Peter.
"Glad to help." Then she left before David noticed.
"Who was that?" Asked Michael.
"My friend, Susan Haffey." Replied Peter.
"Does she really like the Rackett?" Asked George.
"Of course not." Said Peter. "She says that Racketts are what they're called, a Racket."
"You'd better not tell David that." Said Michael. "He's really getting into playing that Rackett." Susan covered her ears.
----
An hour passed and the party was as boring as ever.
"We need to do something to wake up this bunch." Said George.
"Have any of you guys heard any stories?" Asked Michael.
"There's that story about that knight and the Dragon." Replied George.
"There are a lot of knight and Dragon stories." Said Peter.
"I mean the one called Nonny and the Dragon."
"Yeah, I heard that one once." Said Michael. "It's that story how the boy wants to kill Dragons but then he meets a Dragon and never fights them again, right?"
"Yeah, that's a great story." Said Peter.
"What about you David?" Asked George.
"I can't read." Replied David.
"That's okay," Said Michael. "Just follow along and you'll do fine."
Michael walked to the center of the room, straightened his hat then started to tell the story in song.
"There was a boy who wanted to be a knight, he really wanted to fight, even though Dragon's bark isn't worse than their bite, and the knight armor is always either too big or too tight."
Michael left the center of the room then walked over to George.
"You continue while we look for a Dragon." Said Michael.
"Huh?" Was all George could say then Michael told David to act it out.
"What?" Was all that David could say and Peter and Michael ran off.
George and David stood in the center of the room and George began to sing and David did his best to dance to George's singing and act it out.
"One day in the late spring, the boy went to the King, the boy was so happy he could sing, but what kind of happiness can killing Dragons bring, I'll continue the story when I can think of something."
Everybody laughed; they all loved how he was able to sing the tongue twisting song so easily without stopping, and all the girls fell in love with David and his dancing. Michael and Peter came back into the room carrying a sack.
"Keep singing." Said Michael.
George started to sing again and David continued dancing.
"The boy was put into his armor, now he's a knight even though before he was a farmer, they rode to the mountain hither and yonder. The first knight entered the cave, I believe the knight's name was Dave, he looked at the crowd and gave them a wave, then the knight entered the cave. They heard a great roar and there was no more Dave, the King told his knights to be brave, and another knight entered the cave. They heard a great roar and now the knights are scared, the knights wouldn't even go in if they were triple dog dared, our brave hero said he'd go in even though he was just as scared, he entered the cave and felt unprepared. He looked at the Dragon who was more than twice as tall as he was,"
Michael and Peter took out a Dragon costume from the sack and acted out the Dragon.
"And the giant Dragon hit him with his giant claws, he awoke after having a dream about Santa Claus."
"Who's Santa Claus?" Asked David.
"I don't know." Said George, then he continued singing. "The Dragon said he didn't hurt the knights named Dave and Fred, the boy found a book about Dragons and left the Dragon's den. After that he never killed Dragons again, the reason why I can't explain, because after this I'm never going to want to rhyme ever again."
They bowed and everybody applauded.
Chapter 7
Chapter 9
Back to Tory's stories
Home