The Goblin Adventures

Part 5

  “Let’s watch the puppet theatre till he’s finished,” suggested Chop.

  “Oh alright, it might be slightly amusing this time.”

A small crowd had gathered around a puppet theatre and were listening to the antics of the puppets Joe and Joella. Joe began to speak in his low voice, “Don’t you call me a liar Joella, otherwise I’ll bless you.”

  “I haven’t sneezed yet Joe,” replied the high pitched voice of Joella.

  “You will if I bless you with a brotherly slap round the nose.”

  “Violence breeds violence. I’ll call the Sheriff of Scumbleborough.”

  “Oh no you won’t.”

  And the crowd joined in, “Oh yes she will.”

  “Oh no you won’t,” said Joe again.

  “Oh yes she will,” replied the crowd.

  “I don’t believe this,” said Ugbash, “I saw this same puppet theatre 19 years ago when the Author wrote it for The Crying Pennant. Can’t Brother Lee think of anything else?” He then shouted, “Get some new jokes you yellow skinned wonder.”

  Brother Lee, the Chinese children’s entertainer poked his nose out of the tassels that were his window just below the stage. “Is that you Ugbash, do you have to torture me wherever I go?”

  “Get some new material then, it’s 20 years old and it wasn’t too funny then either.”

  Lee tried to continue with the performance. “That’s it,” Joella strumped “Sheriff, Joe’s going to beat me.”

  “ooOOoo, Joe’s going to beat me,” heckled Ugbash, “let ‘im do it, you’re only a piece of wood stuck on a piece of cloth, it won’t ‘urt ya.”

  Joe fell to the stage floor, motionless and a few seconds later the sheriff came through the door.

  “Now then, now then, now then. What have we here? A fight, a brawl, a breach of the peace or just a family dispute?” thundered the Sheriff.

  “A family dispute,” chorused all the goblins together.

  Lee faltered a bit then as Joella he whined, “A family dispute.”

  “And I can guess who it is who is causing it, the goblins.”

  “Ooer,” ooered Ugbash, “he’s adlibbing. Can we cope with it?”