CHAPTER NINETEEN: REVIEW OF THE TROOPS

After Mr Shermin left, Miss Morgan gathered everybody by the VW. There they stood: the Knights of the Little Green VW -- Eugene and Mark and Linda S. and Linda Crotty and Cindy and Donny and Joey and Timmy and Kevin and Peter and Gaynell and Kathy and Paul Newman and Miss Prysby.

Eugene, the tallest of the kids, wasn't even as big as Miss Morgan; and Linda Crotty, the smallest, was very very little. But together they were supposed to change the world.

Miss Morgan had no one to turn to. Paul Newman was big, but he was still a bit light-headed, having been empty-headed for so long. As for Miss Prysby, she hadn't hadn't understood what Mr. Plato had said any better than she had. Neither of them knew enough to explain the importance of this quest to anyone else.

Mr Shermin, as a teacher, would have been some help. Miss Morgan appreciated him now that he was gone. Even when he was a fish and even when he wasn't talking, it had always been a comfort knowing somebody was along who knew more than she did.

Miss Morgan had a stick, some sunglasses, and a few rough notes on how to fight dragons. Their only source of strength was flower power -- flowers they had picked in the forest by the river and in the El Easy One Fields -- Gaynell's wilted forgetmenots, Paul Newman's slightly crushed sunflower, and Kathy's petalless daisies. That was it -- some arsenal, some army.

So Miss Morgan turned to Mr Bacon and asked, "Please, sir, could you come along with us and help us? It seems that the Lizard of Oz is actually a great fire-breathing dragon; and none of us has an experience fighting fire- breathing dragons".

"Sorry, miss," he replied. "Sorry, but I can't leave my library. There's no telling what would happen if I were to leave my library. Barbarians, I tell you, barbarians are everywhere. They'd destroy these books without knowing what they were doing, and the world would starve. No, I can't go with you".

So Miss Morgan turned to Sir Real, "Please, sir, could you please help us? It's all very confusing, and I'm not sure what's real anymore; but I do know that we simply must bring back fire to the world".

"You don't know what's real?" said Sir Real. "Why I'm real, and my father was before me, and his father before him. But I don't think I should be going on any dangerous expeditions. You see, I don't have a son; and if anything should happen to me, no one would be real anymore. It's my duty to stay behind and protect myself. But maybe you can find some help along the way. You'll have to cross Redland and the moors on the way to the Nile".

Gaynell recited,

"Egghead south to the mouth

of the Nile

and find the tooth

the whole tooth

and nothing but the tooth

for smiles and smiles

till suffer-time".

She was very proud that she remembered all of the witch's poem.

"Redland and the moors?" asked Miss Morgan.

"Yes," explained Sir Real, "if you get past Redland, the moors are a wasteland, so bleak that trees won't grow there. But people live there, pioneers who have worked hard to close the wilderness".

"Excuse me, sir," interrupted Miss Prysby. "You must mean 'open' the wilderness". She told the class, "We all know how much we should be grateful to the pioneers for opening the wilderness".

"No, Miss Prysby," Sir Real explained. "That was in the old days that the pioneers opened the wilderness, tamed nature, chopped down trees and made the place livable. But as soon as it got livable, people moved in; and soon there were so many of them that it was unlivable again. There wasn't anything the pioneers could do with that new wilderness. There was no way to chop down the forest of buildings. So they went back and found scraps of land that had been left behind. And they did everything they could to close off those little bits of wilderness and keep them wilderness, because they found that sort of wilderness a lot easier to deal with than the new kind. So instead of frontiersmen, now we call them 'backtiersmen.' Whether they'll do anything for you, I can't say; but I'm sure they'll sympathize".

"But first they have to get past the Reds," added Mr Bacon.

"Indeed," confirmed Sir Real.

"And who are the Reds?" asked Miss Morgan.

"Yes," said Sir Real, "the Reds are exiles. There are all sorts of them: redcoats and redskins and redheads. They left the world years ago because they couldn't stand the way things were. And ever since, they've been plotting and planning and waiting for the right moment to go back and change the world. But that moment never seems to come".

Miss Prysby said, "They sound dangerous to me, Miss Morgan. "We've been fighting redcoats and redskins and reds for years".

Miss Morgan replied, "But the redcoats we met were very nice. I'm sure they'd help us if they could". She turned to Sir Real and asked, "How can we get to Redland from here?"

"It just so happens that a redhead is visiting the library right now. He stops by often to get a bite to eat. You remember Mr Marx, don't you? Karl, could you lead this young lady to Redland?"

"Capital idea, sir. Capital," replied Marx.

So the kids all piled into the little green VW. Paul Newman hopped on the top, and Mr Marx climbed up next to him and showed them the way to Redland.