The Goats From Gemma Meadows (Part 3)

Part 2 is here.

Cliffey arrived back at Gemma Meadows and sulked. He sulked hard and he sulked deep. He had lost his two best friends in all the world so he sulked. His stomach was aching from all the marshmallow so he sulked.

The dandelions here weren't all that dandy.

So he sulked.

He had been sulking for precisely two hours and thirteen minutes when Goldberg, the Jewish man who looked after the goats, came by for feeding time.

"I'm not hungry," said Cliffey, sulkily.

"Why not?" asked Goldberg. He was concerned; when feeding time came around, Cliffey was always first in line for the best grub.

"Too full."

"Well, I'm sure Sarah and Pete will be only too happy to-" Goldberg looked around. "Where are your friends?"

Cliffey said nothing. Goldberg looked at him sternly.

"You didn't eat them, did you?"

* * *

Pete was getting worried. He and Sarah had been trudging along this increasingly barren path for over two hours now, and Joel Fields was nowhere to be seen. Wasn't it supposed to be just over the troll bridge?

Sarah was getting tired. Her tummyache had subsided some time ago, and she was growing a little hungry too. She salivated at the thought of the lush green grass that awaited them in Joel Fields. Surely it couldn't be much farther now?

Besides being tired and hungry, Sarah was also a little panicky. She had spent the whole journey hoping that the troll from the bridge wasn't still after them, and the only reason she hadn't demanded a break from walking yet was fear, fear that the terrible thing they had confronted earlier might be just behind them. Pete had assured her that he would have given up and gone back to his bridge by now, but she wasn't totally convinced. Besides, that wasn't the only thing bothering her.

"Pete?"
"Yes?"

Sarah hesitated. "How do we know that Joel Fields even exists?"

Pete stopped walking, and this made Sarah nervous.

"It just does, okay?"

And with that, they carried on.

* * *

Cliffey explained to Goldberg that, no, he hadn't eaten Sarah and Pete, but he didn't think they'd be showing their faces around here anytime soon.

Goldberg asked why not.

Cliffey told him, with no small amount of tutting and eye-rolling, that they were going to start a new life in Joel Fields, where the grass was twice as green and the dandelions twice as dandy.

Goldberg just stood there, silent and wide-eyed.

Cliffey asked, had Goldberg ever heard of Joel Fields?

Goldberg said get in the van, I'll explain on the way.

TO BE CONTINUED