Chapter 59

Sean pulled into the parking lot of the mall and drove around looking for a place to park. The mall parking lot was packed with cars. He finally found parking spot a distance away from the mall proper.

Surprised to see the crowd on a Sunday afternoon, he said, “There must be a sale today.”

He got out of his truck and headed towards the mall. While on his way to the main entrance, he noticed a teenage boy flying through the air. He detoured to investigate what was happening. On his way, he noticed a little path marked by a sign that read, ‘Troll Toll Bridge Ahead.’ He paused to examine the sign and then commented, “I see they’ve set up a home for Stomp. I wonder how he’s doing. I bet he’s real happy to have a home at last.”

There was a loud yell and another teenage boy flew through the air. Concerned, Sean said, “This doesn’t look good. I better visit Stomp and make sure that he isn’t getting into trouble.”

Sean walked along the path to the Troll Toll Bridge. There was quite a line of people waiting to cross the little bridge. He stood in line while it slowly progressed. Occasionally he would hear a scream and see a kid go flying through the air. He examined the sign beside the path, “Toll Ahead — One Coin.”

“That isn’t very specific,” Sean said upon reading the sign.

“Don’t worry about it, he’ll take any coin,” the woman in front of him said. She calmly ignored the fact that another kid flew through the air while she was talking.

Gesturing towards the sky, Sean asked, “What’s going on?”

“Some of the kids try to get around the troll without paying. The troll throws them into the pond,” the woman said calmly. She watched another kid fly through the air. The kid did a flip at top of his flight. She said, “That’s my son.”

“He’s got good form when flying through the air,” Sean commented.

“Harry gets lots of practice,” the woman said.

“He comes here often?” Sean asked.

“Every day,” the woman answered. “That troll is the cheapest afterschool program in the area.”

“You don’t say,” Sean said. He noticed a soaking wet kid get in line behind him. Turning to talk to the kid, he asked, “What’s up?”

“Stomp is in good form today. I bet I went a hundred yards on that last throw,” the kid said with a broad grin.

“That’s nice,” Sean said.

“Did you see Harry?” the kid asked.

“Is he the one who did the flip?” Sean asked.

“That’s him,” the kid said.

“I saw him,” Sean said.

“He’s real good. I can’t get that flip down right,” the kid said.

“Practice makes perfect,” Sean said.

“The line today is long,” the kid said. “I’ll probably only get through it four or five times today. Maybe I’ll get that flip right today.”

“I noticed the line was kind of long,” Sean said.

The kid frowned and said, “It wouldn’t be so bad, but those squatty guys with beards keep cutting in line.”

“Squatty guys with beards?” Sean asked. That sounded a lot like a Dwarf.

“Hi Sean,” Chom said stepping into line in front of him.

“Hi Chom,” Sean said. “You’re wet.”

“I took a dip in the pond,” Chom said.

Pip arrived and got into line behind Chom. He looked back at Sean and said, “Hello, Sean.”

“Hey, quit cutting in line,” the kid behind Sean said.

“You’re wet,” Sean said.

“I took a dip in the pond,” Pip said.

“What are you doing here?” Sean asked.

“We delivered the car to the police,” Pip said.

“That was earlier this week. Why didn’t you go back home?” Sean asked.

“Stomach ache,” Chom answered. He belched long and loud.

“Stomach ache?” Sean asked.

“Too much soda,” Pip said.

“That’s right. You got paid a hundred bottles of soda,” Sean said. He wondered where they had the soda hidden.

At the reminder of how much they had gotten paid, Chom said, “Liam made a real bad deal.”

“That’s right. We worked all week on the car and the soda didn’t even last an afternoon,” Pip said. He belched and said, “Next time we ask for a thousand sodas.”

The line took a step forward. Stomp said, “Pay Toll.”

“I brought you some cookies,” the woman said holding out a bag.

“Love cookies,” Stomp said taking the bag from the woman. He swallowed the cookies, bag and all.

Dropping a coin in the troll can, she said, “You’re the answer to a single mom’s dreams.”

“Love cookies,” Stomp said stepping aside so that the woman could walk past. He turned to face Chom and said, “Pay toll.”

“No,” Chom said trying to step around Stomp.

“Pay Toll,” Stomp said picking up Chom and putting him down in front of him.

“No,” Chom said trying to duck between Chom’s legs.

“You fly,” Stomp said grabbing Chom by an arm and a leg.

“Okay,” Chom said.

Stomp tossed him into the pond. Pip looked over at Sean and rubbed his hands together. Excited, he said, “My turn.”

A few seconds later, Pip was flying through the air. Sean watched him tuck into a ball before he hit the water. Looking over at Stomp, he said, “That was a good splash.”

“Splash good,” Stomp agreed grinning broadly. His crooked teeth looked greener than usual.