For The Love Of Oatmeal

Chapter 16~ Toby the Weakling

Anne's horizons had closed in since the night she had sat there after coming home from Queen's; but if the path set before her feet was to be narrow she knew that flowers of quiet happiness would bloom along it. The joy of sincere work and worthy aspiration and congenial friendship were to be hers; nothing could rob her of her birthright of fancy or her ideal world of dreams. And there was always the bend in the road!

"'God's in his heaven, all's right with the world,'" whispered Anne softly.

Tania closed her book with a sigh. She set down her empty oatmeal dish and wondered what it was like to have a friend like Anne in "Anne Of Green Gables". She wondered what it would be like if everything was right in her world. Just then she heard Toby, still rustling around with the letters on the other side of the couch. Was he her friend? She didn't know. He seemed stand off-ish. But she liked him all the same.

Toby had been rustling and rereading the letters for hours. He felt something in his bones that made him feel..lead to the letters. He felt them calling to him. Sometimes, he would hear a small whisper - not sure if it was in his head or not-telling him to help Tania and read between the lines. What was even more weird..the smudges on the paper smelled..familiar. Like a faint soft smell of lilacs and oatmeal dust.

"Tobyyy!! When are you going to stop staring at paper? I'm so bored!!" Tania moaned. "Can't we do something fun for once?" she pouted. Toby let out a sigh.

"Okay, fine." Toby dropped his arms. "I give up anyways."

"Really?" Tania looked at him, big-eyed. "Yay!!" She jumped up and pulled him off he ground. Sheesh. It's like she doesn't even care about..well, anything that I'm trying to do!

It had been raining for pretty much the whole week, and almost threatened to snow once or twice. September. It was weird to be out of school, but also pretty epic for Toby. No more weird looks at the cafeteria. Toby and Tania stepped outside, bundled up in heavy raincoats with boots.

"So..what do you wanna do?" Toby asked plainly.

"Uh..I have no clue. You think of something!" Tania practically shouted in his ear. Toby thought for a while...then an idea struck him.

"I know! You've never been to an arcade before, right?" He asked excitedly.

"Toby, I haven't even been to a TOWN before." said the girl who had dreams to spread oatmeal around the world like her mother. Toby slapped his face. He had COMPLETELY forgotten how sheltered she really was.

"That's it. We're going to tour the nearest town on the map and stop anywhere you want to stop." He stated determinedly.

"Yusss! I'll get the keys. The only truck we have is in the barn, and I have no idea if it works. Want to go check it out?"

"Uh..sounds good." Toby trotted off to the barn through the thick mud. He opened the thick wooden doors as the smell of fresh sweet hay wafted up his  nostrils. Along with the old red pickup sitting in the center, the barn was shared with a few animals in the back. Tania had two llamas (Oatmi and Quoata), a few pigs (Oatamae, Oatlene, Garoat and Oatsen), and a farm cat named Bob. For some reason Bob really hated Toby...thankfully he didn't see Bob around.

He waited on the pickup for what seemed like ten minutes, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof. What was taking her so long? He decided to go pet Garoat his favorite  pig when suddenly, he heard a deep moaning followed by a squeal coming from the llama pen! He tried to jump out of the pick-up, but tripped on the edge and fell on his face again...so he just army-crawled the rest of the way in pain. After a few yards, he came to the fence and peered over to see what had made that noise. What he saw stopped his heart.

"Tania, Tania! Come quick!"