The Meeting Begins

You and Grumpy file into the area, most of the village was already there but you were still able to find some good spots near the back of the crowd. You come up to stand beside another friend of yours.

"Hey Handy."

"Hey Randy, Hey Grumpy." He replies. You give each other a fist bump.

Grumpy grumbles a wordless hello. You stood between your two friends.

Handy was a good guy and a good friend. He occasionally helped you out when things got really dire. His moniker of Handy wasn't given to him just because of his skill in repair and carpentry.

"What's this about?" You ask nodding up toward Papa's balcony.

"The snurf if I know. Maybe another raid on a human house?" He guesses.

This perks you right up. "Oh! I hope so." You enjoyed the raids. While dangerous, the gigantic humans being able to easily smush a snurf without much trouble, the raids gave you a chance to admire their females. Some times you would hang back and hide after the others had left just to bust off a nut or two as you watched them. Unless the run was to the wizard Gargamel's old run down castle that is. The only thing there was the crazy old mage and his ever alert cat Azrael. Those raids could be nightmares.

Up at the front of the crowd Papa's goon Hefty and the watchful eyes of Brainy stood watching over the gathering snurfs. Nearby stood the lithe stunning Vanity, preening and checking himself out the golden hand mirror he was never without. He had a pink flower behind his ear that accentuated his feminine face. You scan around the crowd. Where was Snurfette? You look and look....nope, she wasn't here. She'd probably be up on the balcony with Papa as usual. Ah well, better view that way. The one bad part about being at the back was you couldn't get a peek up her skirt if she neared the edge of the balcony.

Your attention is drawn forward. There is a commotion up front as Clumsy bumps into Greedy causing him to drop his the baked treat he had been eating. Clumsy spins then splays out on the ground in front of him. "My muffin! You made me drop my muffin!" Greedy wails. Greedy absolutely loved his baked goodies.

"Gosh, sorry Greedy." Clumsy says as he sits up and looks up with a goofy grin.

"S'alright dude." Greedy smiles. He straightens his chef's hat then reaches down to help. They clap their hands together in a clasp as Greedy aids the hapless snurf to his feet.

Brainy is all over it. "You bungling fool!" He berates Clumsy. "Pick it up! We're about to begin!"

"It's alright Brainy. It was just an accident." Greedy, the village cook, assures him. "It was partially my fault."

"Don't make excuses for him." Brainy snaps. Hefty takes half a step forward and cracks his thick knuckles. A few other of the true believers also begin to gather. Brainy points at Clumsy who was picking up the dirty muffin. "Eat it."

"Brainy..." Greedy starts to say, but Clumsy had already obediently downed the soiled treat in one over big bite. His cheeks bulge as he struggles to keep it all in. He chews it up an forces it down, with great difficulty, in one big swallow. He coughs up a few crumbs and swallows again.

He smiles at Greedy. "Tastes good."

Greedy smiles and pats his shoulder. "Thanks."

"Have a snurfy day Greedy." Clumsy says.

"Have a snurfy day Clumsy." Greedy repeats back as he must.

Brainy nods and waves them to take their places among the rest, they stood forward facing and shoulder to shoulder. The whole village was now gathered and ready. A silence had fallen among the previously chattering snurfs as proceedings would begin soon.

Every snurf in the square had seen this all go down, yet every single one pretended not to. Including you.

You couldn't help but grin however as you notice the cook gently pat his friend on the back, out of the view of those up front, letting Clumsy know that everything was okay.

Brainy fixes the two with a glare then returns to his place at the front. He then looks to his side and gives a nod to Harmony Snurf.

The musically inclined snurf leads the chant with his golden voice. Almost one hundred voices immediately fall in unison into the droning song.

"La la la la la la, la la la la la."

"La la la la la la, la la la la la."

"La la la la la la, la la la la la."

All eyes raise to look at the elaborate balcony high above the village square. All of you waiting to hear from your unquestioned leader. A beam of sunlight pierced through the thick forest canopy and shone down directly onto the balcony. The impressive image of it surely one of the reasons this meeting had been called so hastily. Or maybe...maybe Papa controlled the sunlight. It wouldn't even surprise you. The red curtains leading out to the balcony from within were closed.

"La la la la la la, la la la la la."

"La la la la la la, la la la la la."

"La la la la la la, la la la la la."

The chant of your village singing in one voice drones on as you watch the red curtains begin to part.