Missing Apples

It was very quiet in the house. Both kids were finally in bed and were sound asleep. I turned my stereo on and slipped a Neil Young tape into it and then I sat down at the kitchen table for a few minutes. I needed to relax.

“Boy, what a day,” I said to myself.

I had been up at seven that morning to get Ricky and Jenny off to school and then, I had gone to school too. I had a splitting headache by the end of the day because it had been very noisy in the kindergarten class that I taught in.

When I got home that evening, we had to rush off to town to get Jenny’s ears pierced. It was quite late by the time we got home and I still had to make dinner. I was very tired.

I got up off the chair and headed to bed. I just started to doze off nicely, when I remembered that I had forgotten to make lunches.

I stumbled into the kitchen. First, I went into the fridge and took the lunch meat out and set it on the counter. Then, I took two apples out of the fridge. These I set on the counter, too.

I went to the cupboard and grabbed the cookie bag. I packed everything into the lunch bags and went to reach for the apples. To my amazement, they were gone!

“That’s funny!” I exclaimed to myself. “They were here a minute ago. Maybe I didn’t take them out of the fridge, after all.”

I opened the fridge door and took out two more apples. I set these on the counter. I reached into the cupboard to put the cookie bag back and I noticed that there were now four apples instead of two.

“What is going on here!” I exclaimed, angrily. “I knew that I had put those two apples there! I must be very tired.”

I put the two lunch bags into the fridge and then I heard a loud crashing sound behind me. I turned and that’s when I saw them – two little trolls running on top of my counter.

“Hold it!” I yelled at them. “What kind of tricks are you playing on me?”

“Listen lady,” said one of the trolls, who had bright orange hair. “We didn’t do anything!”

“I suppose that you had nothing to do with my missing apples,” I said.

“Not really,” said the other troll, who had green hair. “We were just having fun!”

“I thought that I was going crazy! Now, what are you doing in my house,” I said.

“Lime and I were bored,” said the orange-haired troll. “We wanted to bug someone new.”

“Now that you’ve had your fun,” I said. “You can leave.”

“We can’t,” said Lime. “You see, Orange and I have nowhere to go. The owners of the house that we had been staying at just got a new cat.”

“So, what does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

“Trolls and cats don’t get along with each other,” said Orange.

“Why not?” I asked.

“A cat has no patience,” replied Lime. “They don’t like to be teased so they chased us all over the house.”

“Do you blame them?” I asked. “You two are trouble. If I were a cat, I’d chase you, too.”

“”You wouldn’t!” exclaimed Orange, surprised.

“Try me,” I said.

“You’re mean,” exclaimed Lime.

“There is something that you are going to have to learn,” I said. “Humans, like cats, do not like to be teased. Now, I am very tired and I need to go to bed. Do you mind leaving my house, now?”

“We aren’t going to leave,” said Orange.

“Oh yes you are,” I said.

“Then, you are going to have to make us,” said Lime.

“That won’t be too much of a problem,” I said. “I’ll just go and get my mouse trap!”

“A mouse trap!” the two trolls exclaimed. “You wouldn’t!”

“If you’re not out of my house by the time I count to 10,” I said. “Then, I will go get it.”

“You’re cruel,” said Lime.

“Absolutely despicable,” said Orange.

“One, two, three,” I counted.

The two trolls bolted from my counter top as quickly as they could.

“Four, five, six,” I counted.

They were gone before I could count to 10. I sat down at the kitchen table once more, thinking about those two poor little creatures.

“They are liable to freeze out there,” I thought, after awhile.

I went to the fridge, took out some food and set it on my back porch for them. I closed the door and turned on the outside light. Soon, I saw the two little darlings eating the food. I opened the door just a crack.

“Hope you like it,” I said to them.

“This is great,” said Lime.

“See, I told you that she was a nice lady,” said Orange.

“Enjoy it,” I said and closed the door, feeling much better.

The next evening, while I was making lunches, my two new friends visited me again. This time, they had a gift for me. They had picked some beautiful rose blossoms.

“Why, these look just like the roses I have been growing outside,” I said as I held the blossoms in my hand.

“They are yours,” said Lime.

“Why you little rascals!” I exclaimed angrily. “These are my prize winning roses! I’ll never win that .00 prize this fall! How could you do such a thing?”

Before I could say anymore, the two trolls were gone. I called them and called them, but they didn’t answer.

“Oh no!” I exclaimed. “What have I done to them now? They’re gone. I may not ever see them again. Oh, what am I thinking! I’m glad they are gone. They are nothing but trouble.”

Despite my convictions about the trolls being nothing but trouble, I found myself missing them very much. For three nights, I sat up and waited for them to come around, but they didn’t show up.

I was really worried about them. Then, on the fourth night, they returned.

“Where were you guys?” I asked.

“What’s it to you?” asked Orange, boldly. “You don’t want us around.”

“I’ve changed my mind,” I said. “If you would like to live here with me, then you can?”

“You mean it,” said Lime.

“Yes, I do,” I said.

“All right,” exclaimed Orange, happily. “Now we have a home, a real home.”

“Let’s go get the rest of the family,” said Lime.

Before I could say anything, the two trolls had disappeared. They returned in an hour with about 50 of their relatives.

“Oh no!” I exclaimed, when I saw the long line of trolls at my front doorstep. “What have I done?”