Excerpt of The Exciting Exploits of an Effervescent Elf by Trisha Sugarek

Interrupting, Cheets continued. "...better to hear with." Cheets wiggled his generous ears. Then he pointed to his rather large feet. "Bigger feet...better to run with...bigger brains...." "Yes, I know, I know," cried Donald. "Better to think with...So get those brains of yours working and find Emma! I'm off. We'll meet back here later." Donald rushed out of the clearing, right past Emma. Emma jumped up and waved but Donald continued by her as if she were invisible. Cheets began to follow him. He took a few steps and stopped, frozen in shock. There was Emma right before his eyes. Cheets did a backward summersault, stood up, rubbed his eyes, looked at Emma, and rubbed his eyes again. "Emma?" exclaimed Cheets. "Who?" called Stare. "EMMA!!" yelled Cheets, jumping up and down. "Emma, it's really you!" Emma began talking frantically behind the web. "You can't hear her." said Patsy, giggling mischievously. "But she can hear you." Turning to the spider Cheets looked Patsy up and down. "Who are you?" he asked. Patsy continued to knit new strands for her web. She munched bugs from a basket by her side. "I'm Patsy, the Banana Spider," she replied. "Who?" asked Stare. " I'm Patsy...." repeating herself. "Don't! If you keep answering Stare, we'll be here all day!" Cheets explained. "Who are you, little green boy?" Patsy asked. "I am Cheets!" "What are you?" Patsy snickered. "Cheets is an elf!" "Sooo, are you and Donald brothers?" she asked. "No! Cheets is not a faerie!" Cheets sneered at the very thought that he would be mistaken for a faerie. "Really? And what's makes you so special?" "Cheets is an elf. Bigger feet, to run faster." Cheets ran very fast across the clearing and leapt into the air and, in a whirl of green stars and fireworks, flew back to Patsy. "Bigger ears, the better to hear." Cheets wiggled his ears at Patsy. "And, bigger head the better to think with." Cheets scrunched up his face and thought very hard. Little puffs of smoke came out of Cheets' ears. The elf studied the spider. "Hey, where did you come from anyway? I've never seen you in our forest before." Cheets asked. "Duh! I came in on a load of bananas, silly!" she replied. "Liked what I saw so I decided to stay. Your bugs are particularly tasty here in this forest. I wonder why that is. Could it be the sun at this latitude? Perhaps the water..." "I DON'T CARE WHY THE BUGS ARE BETTER HERE!! the elf shouted. "You must release my friend at once!" "Who?" asked Stare. "Emma!" Forgetting himself he answered Stare. "I'm afraid I can't do that," replied the spider. "Why not? What have you got against Emma?" "Nothing. She seems very nice," said Patsy. "Then I insist that you let her go!" he cried. Emma waved and jumped up and down trying to get Cheets' attention. Seeing her frantic waving, Cheets walked over to the web nearer Emma. "Don't worry, Emma. I'll have you out of there in no time or my name isn't Cheets!" Emma started talking again.

"What?" said Cheets. He motioned to his large ears and shook his head. "Emma, I can't hear you."

Emma pointed to Patsy as if to say, ‘ask her'.

"What?....Oh! Ask the spider?"

Emma nodded her head vigorously.

"Okay!" Cheets turned to Patsy. "Look here, Bananas, what's Emma doing....?"

"My name is Patsy, banana spider is what I am. Really!" an indignant Patsy exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, don't get your legs in a bunch. What's going on? Release my friend this instant!"

Patsy giggled. "Sorry, no can do."

"Why not?"

"Got a deal."

"With who?" asked Cheets.

"Who?" repeated Stare.

"With Mr. Hazard. Do you know him?"asked Patsy.

Stare's voice trembled. "Whooo?"

"Hazard?" Cheets whispered, his voice filled with awe and fear.

"Ha!" Patsy laughed. "You do know him! Just the mention of his name strikes terror, huh? Well, my new friend Hazard will give me all the flies, moths, lady bugs that I want. Not to mention lightning bugs.... umm, my favorite....they fizz as they go down! Yummy!!"

"Enough with the bugs!!" cried Cheets.

"Exx...cussseee me!....Anyway, all the bugs I want, fresh daily, if I sit here and keep my web in good repair and make certain your little friend does not escape." To prove her point, Patsy popped a bug into her mouth and knitted furiously for a few moments.

"I don't believe you. Why would Hazard want Emma kept captive?" the elf asked.

"Don't know, don't care," Patsy said. She reached over to her basket, selected a bug and popped it into her mouth.

"Well, shame on you, Patsy!" cried Cheets.

"I know," sighed Patsy. "It's not very nice of me. I don't have anything against your friend....what's her name?"

"Emma."

Patsy continued. "Yes, Emma. But all those lovely bugs delivered every day? Umm, it was impossible to say ‘no' to Mr. Hazard."

"Well, that's very greedy of you! Greed makes you ugly," scolded Cheets.

Patsy continued to knit. Emma was waving her arms and silently calling out to Cheets. He hurried over to her and reached up, attempting to break the web with his hands.

"Cheets is trying, Emma. This greedy spider won't cooperate and I can't break the web," cried Cheets.

"It can't be done, Mr. Cheets. My web is very strong."

Cheets put one foot up on the web and pulled with all his strength. "Oh, Emma, I don't know what we're going to do."

Cheets walked away several feet and took a run and a flying leap at the web, hoping to break through. The web bounced him back and into a bush. He jumped up crying, "I can't get you free. Nothing is working."

Emma started to talk to Cheets. Cheets placed his hands around his rather large ears hoping that he could hear her. After all he did have the biggest ears in the forest, the better to hear with.