The Hidden World

Chapter Seven

"What's this predicament you keep mentioning?" Brendan asked. Hobbit got a far off look in her eyes as if she rather not say. She opened her mouth, decided she had nothing to say, and closed it again. Just then the doorbell rang. All of them jumped at the same time.

"Oh," Hobbit exclaimed, "I completely forgot. I'm having some friends over this afternoon, for tea." Brendan could only guess she was having two friends over for tea because her kitchen table was set for three counting her. Hobbit stepped quickly up the back stair to the porch and over to the screen door.

"I'll bet that's L.B, he's always early," she said as she opened the door and stepped into her house. Both twins figured Hobbit's friend must be a strange sort of person as he had ownership of a name as odd as L.B. But, as they had been taught not to laugh at people's name, they kept a civil tongue and followed Hobbit.

Her friend was indeed strange. In fact he wasn't a human at all. He was a black bear with friendly looking black eyes and a blue vest pulled around his middle. He was standing on his hind legs but the legs looked adapted to this form of stance and were bent oddly like they were when a real bear was standing. He came to about Hobbit's hight, making him the shortest bear to walk the face of the earth, if the Hidden World was even part of the earth. He smiled at Hobbit with his black eyes.

"Good day, my dear friend," he said.

"Hello, L.B," Hobbit replied. "You're early, but that's not a surprise."

"I like to stay on top of things," L.B said defensively.

At that moment he seemed to have noticed the twins for the first time, who had been hovering around Hobbit like flies around horse dung. His eyebrows shot up as he obliviously realized he was seeing the chosen ones.

"Hello," he said, eyes wide. "You won't happen to be the chosen ones, would you?" Both twins looked at each other then at Hobbit as she seemed much more tuned in to the chosen one business then they were.

"Yes," Hobbit said.

"Wow, I am certainly happy to be meeting you," L.B said reverently, as if Brendan and Kendra had just cured the common cold or stopped all war. Brendan decided it would be fine to ask a question now that L.B was treating them like royalty.

"Why is your name L.B?" he asked. Kendra shot him a disapproving glare. She was in the habit of being polite and not asking a lot of questions. Brendan was not. He had once asked mall Santa, 'If I wanted coal for Christmas and then I was bad would you still give it to me? Because that would mess up the whole naughty nice list thing.'

L.B didn't appear to be offended. Instead he laughed a good hearty laugh that filled the house. "My dear boy," L.B said in his polite monotone, "my name is not actually L.B. My name is Little Bear Jr. Hobbit here just loves abbreviations and decided from the moment I told her my name I would be called L.B. The name just sort of caught on between her other friends. I am now known as L.B."

"Oh," Brendan said. He was not used to getting an answer as most adults assumed his questions retorichall and didn't answer. Instead they said something like 'that's a good question' and then go about their daily business. Getting answers was a new experience for him. Kendra was glad L.B hadn't gotten offended by Brenden's audacious question.

L.B stepped inside the house and sat down by the fire on the couch. Hobbit had no sooner closed the door when another rap at the door echoed around the house. Hobbit opened the door again. Her other friend was undoubtly smaller than L.B because he wasn't easy to see like the black bear was.

"Hello, P.R," Hobbit said. This name also struck both twins as funny but once again they said nothing. Nothing until Hobbit's other friend stepped into the room and they found him to be a white rabbit with a sky blue shirt and large floppy ears that stood up straight as if they had just be stuck through an electric socket. He hopped into the room and looked around, exposing his buck teeth. He spotted Kendra and Brendan.