The Great Pumpkin Chase

Chapter 2

The Broke Egg Network Towers was the crown jewel of The Dumpty family. Nevermind that Quincy never asked anyone else in the family if they liked it. He liked the new Towers and that was enough for him.  

The old BEN building had simply been too small for the second largest television network in the kingdom. 

The BEN had moved from its old offices in the Spindle's End neighborhood to its newly constructed building in Appletowne. Quincy C. Dumpty lauded the move in the Swan Lake Herald as "the best move an egg could make." 

Many longtime residents of Appletowne wondered how anyone could work in the monstrosity of a building.  

It was this building that Penelope Amala Boots strode into. Penelope Boots was the celebrated ace reporter for the Broken Egg Network. Ever since she was a kitten Penelope dreamed of her name being spoken in hushed tones. Penelope and her kendle were thick as molasses in school. Of course Penelope stood paws and claws above the rest.  

 She checked her reflection in the reflective surface of the glass doors of the BEN Tower. Everything was in place and her fur caught the sun at just the right spots. Penelope winked at herself with a smirk on her face. 

The new Broken Egg Network tower, located in the Appletowne part of the city was the tallest building in the northern part of the city. Standing at nearly sixty stories it was a marvel of modern Beanstalk City design. The only building taller was of course the Crystal Palace. A note that many of the workers at BEN were quite proud of. 

Unlike its neighbors who sported the typical green hues, the BEN Tower was a spanking blue color. It stood out in the green and cream building. Penelope loved it.

The stylish cat sauntered through the security turnstile badging her way through security. She shouldn't have had to show her badge, but it was procedure. She did follow the rules, sometimes. Penelope hopped on the airvator to ride up to her office on the 50th floor. 

The reporter had just gotten the scoop of a lifetime and it was time to do what she did best. Ruin someone's day. 

The airvator doors snicked open, "Ms. Boots you have seven missed calls." her assistant Tina Bell chirped. The little pixie was so nervous to please her boss that she was hovering a good six inches off the floor.

Penelope raised a perfect eyebrow in a silent question. Tina blushed up to her pointed ears. "Oh yes. The first one is from your mother." She gushed. Penelope hated when Tina flew, but she was in too good of a mood to say anything. LEt the pixie have her fun. The equinox wasn't far off. Anything she said was just going to go in one ear and float out of the other. 

"Give her the run around for a week then tell her I'm on vacation." She turned and headed into the Cracked Open suite of offices. 

"The next couple are from Lord Locksley. He is very keen that you call him back." Penelope rolled her amber cat eyes as she pushed open the door to her office. "The last one is from the 59th floor." Penelope stopped. 

"Why didn't you give me that one first? You think I care about my mom or Bran calling?" she snapped. Tina's ears started to smoke. Literally smoke curled out of her ears. It was a defense mechanism for the little pixie. One that annoyed Penelope to no end. It was dreadfully hard to get the scent of smoke out of fur. 

Penelope hissed, baring her teeth. Poor Tina squeaked and fly out of the office. Later the mailroom faun would find her in the bathroom eating her weight in toilet paper. 

Penelope didn't care about Tina crying. The pixie cried at least five times in a day. Penelope felt it a slow day if she cried less than four. She curled up in her desk chair to call up to the 59th floor. 

"Yes Ms. Boots Mr. Dumpty wants to see you. He has twenty minutes at o' clock if you are free." 

"Fine." she laid the phone back in its cradle. Penelope leaned back in her chair as she stared out over the city. She had the perfect vantage point to see all the way to the Queen's Gates. Since it was the middle of they day they were thrown open to admit the working class and merchants into the city.

The last time she had been summed up to the see the boss it hadn't been for a good reason. How was she to know that he was dating that overgrown brat Beauty? 

It was not her fault that Witchhazel Cosmetics was testing its products on undocumented pixies. It certainly wasn't her fault the story landed in her lap. She was a reported! What did he expect her to do? It was her job to uncover the dirt people tried to sweep under the rug. It was her passion to expose those creaky bones in the closet people wanted to bury.

She smiled as she remembered the fit Beauty had thrown in the lobby of the building. "All in day's work." she muttered to herself.   

#

The Canary Causeway was the quickest way to get around the city. When the first magic bean was planted by Jack the Giant Killer the ensuing stalk grew up along side the great Canary Mountain. 

At the peak of the mountain flowed the purest, cleanest water. Many say the water was blessed by Queen Tatiana. For the water flowed down the mountain and flowed back up the mountain in an endless cycle. The architects of Beanstalk City created the water causeway to ring and flow through the city. Making transportation on the water quick and easy. 

Other cities in the kingdom tried and failed to copy this idea of public transport. Down the stalk people walked or rode horses. Beanstalk was the icing on top of the boysenberry pie. Horses nor wagons were allowed in the city. The sidewalks were simply too narrow for it. It was the Canary tube, swimming, or walking. Though the water was clean, it was two degrees short of freezing. That did not make for a pleasant trip. City children took it as a mark of bravery for those who choose to jump into the causeway instead of standing up to the peer pressure.   

Lemon pushed her way onto the causeway tube. A few angry dwarves cursed at her. She ignored them all. She had an appointment to make. Important business and frankly she didn't give two flutters of a pixie's wings where they were heading.

The doors closed around her yellow robe, she had to yank hard to release herself. Once she was free from the doors, she quickly found a seat on the crowded car. Lemon was all the way at the Queen's Gate and she had to get to the Ole Shoe Tavern on the other side of the city and it was the middle of rush hour. 

The tube car was packed to the gills with all manner of Beanstalk City folk heading home after a hard day's work. The dwarves he had been harassed by were admiring each other's axes and hard hats. A group of swan maidens gushed over the bags of hair products they had just purchased.  

A pair of pixies with wing piercings were sitting in the corner flipping through a copy of Underland Weekly. Lemon heard that wing piercings were particularly painful, but it seemed to be the new wave in teenage pixie rebellion. A few school kids in their uniforms stood at one of the poles chatting about the Botany exam they were scared they had failed.  

She tried to block out all of the noise and chatter. Lemon was nervous. That was clear as she chewed the end of her hair. This was the first time she was going to enter into the games. Well if she could pull together a team in time. That was the tricky part. Most of the teams had been together for three years at least. The games were only ever four years and she had waited till the last minute to get a group together. All of them had been competing in the games for at least two of the races. Lemon was going to slap together a brand new team and in less than a year compete in the biggest sport in the kingdom. And Lemon was going to play to win. 

"Next stop Bread Crumb Lane," the announcement came out warbled. She hated the uptown tube. The announcement box never worked. Kids thought it was sporting to screw with the wires. It was a cute prank, but it was unfair to the riders of the tube. Well the tourists anyways. City residents knew when and where to get off on the tube. Lemon stood up and quickly hopped off the tube. 

She was at least two blocks from the tavern. The sun was setting fast. Lemon didn't want to be late. How would that look for the driver and captain of the team to be late to a meeting she had called?