Prisoner of the Molepeople

Chapter 21 - Lenny's Rescue

I couldn’t decide who I hated more: Duthbert or Father Jackothan. If Duthbert got his way, at least I'd be alive. I was actually glad to be locked up in the palace, probably the safest place in Molemania. Yet that didn't stop my imagination from sending a mob with pickaxes through the door or from placing a guy with a ski mask in my bathroom.

I peered through the curtains. The photographers had given up and were walking away. I actually wished they'd stay and keep guard.

What was I supposed to do, convert to Gahbooism? Even if I was willing to consider such an absurd proposition, Duthbert would never allow it. The sheer impossibility of my predicament elevated me from a damsel in distress to a lamb in a slaughterhouse.

I’m not going to marry him. That’s not even a possibility. I’d die first.

As my words came back to haunt me, I realized how I naive I'd been. As much as I hated this nightmare, none of it was my fault. Could anyone blame me for choosing life over death? I could use the opportunity for good, becoming the benevolent queen Molemania had been without for too long. Still peering through the window, I looked up at the dim stalactites. I looked down at the glowing grid, the tiny buildings, the neon lights. All this could be mine. Ann, queen of the molepeople.

Someone was shouting. Then someone else was shouting, followed by a gunshot. I instinctively threw myself to the floor. They're coming already! Dear God …

“Don't worry, Ann, I'm coming!”

I knew the voice. Rising to my feet, I threw open the curtains. “Lenny!” I screamed. My knight had come, just when I needed him most. He was climbing over the palace fence, wielding a crowbar. His blue eyes met mine, a perfect smile on his perfect face.

Then I threw back the curtains. “No.” This was everything I'd tried to avoid, the very antithesis of Ann the warrior princess. The whole affair was so embarrassing, suddenly I put Lenny on the same list as Duthbert and Father Jackothan. All three of them were out to make a fool of me.

Listen to yourself, Ann. You're crazy!

There was another gunshot, and again I threw myself to the floor. There were lots of voices out there. Were they trying to guard me, rescue me, or kill me? Though each option seemed dismal, I couldn't stop myself from peaking through the window. Lenny had hopped the fence. With him was a motley crew of molemen. Tattoos … long hair … they were the bums I’d met in the alley.

Meanwhile a swat team of molemen, with body armor, shields, and batons, were running across the front yard to meet the aggressors.

“I hope you know what you're doing, Lenny,” I whispered to myself. But of course he did. Coming to grips with my defeat, I watched my savior with glued eyes, not with any question of if, only how. Even more, I wondered with Bobbert at what the great soul could have possibly seen in me. Maybe he didn't see anything. Maybe this was just an act of charity, which made it all so much worse.

“Freeze!” shouted one of the officers.

I couldn't imagine how this would play out. Lenny was a master of suspense.

“Charge!” he shouted, fearlessly raising his crowbar. The bums joined him in a mighty war cry.

Then someone fired another gunshot, and the bums panicked, even beginning to retreat.

“Where are you going?” Lenny shouted to his comrades, taken off guard.

That was when he was surrounded by the police and beaten down with clubs.