The Elfin Boo

The Elfin Boo

Once upon a time, there lived 3 boys who were the best of friends since first grade. The older they got, the more mischievous they became.

They had particular fun scaring people as they walked down Loon Lane. Poor Mrs. Brown broke a dozen eggs when she dropped them because the boys startled her so much. People did not want to walk down this lane anymore. They were tired of being scared.
These boys were sneaky for sure. They’d hide behind bushes, fences, up trees and around corners. They would be very quiet and when some unlucky person would walk by, they all jumped out and hollered BOO!!
One day a stranger walked down the lane. He was an old man with a hat, an old brown coat and a black curly-Q cane. He walked slowly and a bit stooped over. The boys were thrilled about the fun they would have scaring this stranger.
Excitedly, they ran to the end of Loon lane and hid behind the corner of a big fence. Their hearts were beating wildly waiting for the right moment to jump out at him. When they heard the shuffle, shuffle of the old man’s feet, they all jumped out together and yelled,
“BOO!!!”
The old man was so startled; his hat flew off his head! The boys laughed so hard, they fell to the ground. The old man gained his composure and picked up his hat. He set his jaw, looked the boys in the eye and said,
{center }"I am on my way to the doctor you see.

This is the best way to go for me.

Now I’ll tell you this once, maybe twice,

What you did wasn’t very nice.”

His speech startled the boys to silence, but as the old man shuffled off, they burst into laughter again.


A week later, the boys saw the old man approaching from the distance. “Good!” thought the boys. “We’ll scare him at the beginning of the street this time. He won’t expect us there.” They crouched in the thick lilac bushes at the head of the street.
Sure enough…shuffle; shuffle, "BOO!"

This time the poor man’s teeth almost popped out of his mouth! He caught them and patted them back into place. Glaring at the boys, He pointed his finger and said:
“I’m telling you twice, but I won’t again.
This thing you’re doing’ has got to end.
Everyone’s scared to come down this lane
And I’m telling you boys it’s a real shame.
You think it’s all fun scaring people with “BOO!”
If it happens again, I’ll scare you blue!
Your eyes will bug out and your teeth will chatter
And you won’t believe how your knees get fatter.
You’ll try to run, but won’t be able to,
Cause your feet will stick to the ground like glue."
The old man furrowed his brow and continued:

"I’m telling you now because I want you to think,
Being a fat-kneed, bug-eyed blue boy really stinks.
Don’t think I won’t do it,
I’ve done it before.
The first time, I believe, was in eighty-four.
I have to go now and continue my wander.
But these words I spoke you should seriously ponder.”

Off he went with his shuffle, shuffle. The boys shut their gaping mouths and said, “Whaaat?” Ronnie added, “He’s crazy!” They looked at each other, rolled their eyes, shrugged their shoulders and went home.

The next day, the boys were together as usual. “I’ve been thinking.” said Mitch. “Let’s give the old man a boo break this week. It’ll be more fun next week. Right now, I’m kind of bored with booing.” Buddy piped up and said, “Hey yeah! I was thinking that too.”
Calvin replied, “Me too. Besides, he’s weird.” They all agreed.

2 weeks later, the boys were ready to continue their booing. Their eagerness urged them to form a new scare plan. This time they wanted a prize – The old man’s black cane.

They decided to stagger themselves along Loon lane. Ronnie was to jump out first and yell, “BOO.” Then Calvin was to jump out and grab the old man’s coattails to totally distract him. Then, Mitch was to grab the prize, old man’s black cane, and run like the wind. They planned to show no mercy. They fist-bumped this very fine plan and took their positions. They knew the old man would be along soon, as usual.

Sure enough, soon they heard shuffle, shuffle, shuffle…Ronnie started to quiver, he was so excited…shuffle, shuffle .."BOO!” Bellowed Ronnie.

Suddenly, the old man’s coat exploded off of him! His cane fell and turned into a black snake as soon as it touched the ground! It was what happened next that terrified Ronnie.
The old man turned to face Ronnie, but he wasn’t the old man anymore. He morphed into Ronnie. There was Ronnie looking at Ronnie! The black snake reared up like a cobra hissing these words, “SSSeee what will happen to you if you continue to BOO?"
Suddenly, morphed Ronnie’s knees puffed up as big as basketballs. So did Ronnie’s. Then the morphed Ronnie’s eyes became big and bugged out! So did Ronnie’s. Then the morphed Ronnie’s face turned blue and the blue traveled down his body to his toes! So did Ronnie’s. Then the morphed Ronnie grinned an evil grin and Ronnie’s teeth began to chatter uncontrollably!!

Calvin was so focused on scaring that he didn’t hear any of this. He jumped out to yell "BOO," but it quickly turned to “YIKES!” When he saw fat-kneed, bug-eyed blue Ronnie, he turned to jump back into the bushes. HE COULDN’T MOVE! His feet were stuck like glue. Then the old man turned to face Calvin.
The snake quickly slithered over to Calvin and said, “You're Boo number two, SSSooo the same will happen to you!” And it did.

When Mitch saw his two friends turn fat-kneed; bug-eyed and blue, he didn’t dare come out. Their teeth-chattering sounded like a jack hammer! He watched as the old man change back to himself. When he leaned over and grabbed the snake’s tail. Immediately, the snake turned back into that black, curly-Q cane.
The old man leaned forward on the cane and spoke to the two mutated boys:

“I asked you before to take time to think
If being a fat-kneed, bug-eyed blue boy would stink.
I’m sorry you had to see for yourself
That you can’t cross me
Because I’m the BOO ELF!!
I warned you I’d take action
This time it was for MY satisfaction.
I’ll go now. I think I’m done.
Oh, by the way, thanks for the fun!"


The End...for now