CHAPTER TWO

The three dwarfs found themselves stumbling through a heavy fog on the slopes of Desperation.

“I don’t suppose it matters to any of you but,” began a voice tinged with a bit of sarcasm.

“Are you complaining about the mist again?” another spoke from somewhere in the moist film that surrounded them on the mountain trail.

“Well, yes. I can’t see a bloody thing. Can either of you?” The voice had turned angry.

“Well, get on with it, Grumpy. What exactly is the problem? You always seem to have more than one problem,” a third voice joined as its owner tramped forward stumbling over a small bush not seen by the speaker.

“Well, to begin with, my feet hurt. And, and my ankles are tired of being twisted this way and that by the unevenness of the path, not to mention the gravel that is everywhere along through here.”

“Be grateful for the gravel,” a third voice replied, coming up from behind the first two, “if you don’t hear it beneath your boots then you will know you have strayed off the trail and that, my dwarf friends, would be bad I think.”

“Well, I am tired of the whole thing and I want to sit and rest, maybe eat a cake or two. Anybody got any coffee left in their thermos? How about you Doc? Got any coffee left? And, for God’s sake, Sleepy, did you have to take a dump so close behind us with the wind at your butt?”

“When a dwarf has to shit, a dwarf has to shit,” Sleepy replied and cinched up his belt.

“Did you remember to button up your pants this time? I don’t want to walk into town with your pants unbuttoned as a greeting for all who might see you.”

“See us, not just me, you dope,” Sleepy corrected. “And, yes, I buttoned up my pants, thank you very kindly.

“Wind?” said the first.

“Yes, wind, I can feel it. Maybe it will push-off the mists. I actually think I can see the two of you now.”

“Maybe she did that.”

“Well, it would be about time she did something for us,” Dopey snarled.

“I’d be careful of what I said, Dopey, she well might be able to hear us and would retaliate by turning you into a statue.”

“Ha, I’d like to see her try!” And, with that statement, Dopey suddenly let out a very strange irk sound and froze in his tracks.

“Holy shit,” Doc said as he jumped back. “Holy shit.” He looked over at Grumpy who also was staring at their companion who had oddly gone rigid and appeared to be stuck to the ground.