What Remains Of Gobs Knob
by Matthew Brian Pierce
Chapter One: What A Goblin Is
A green goblin of an atomic bomb sits under the arched bridge, still as stone. There is a stream flowing through the arch and it sounds like crackling popcorn as water trickles over his feet and ankles. The goblin holds a spear that vibrates with energy. Could it be residual or is that bomb too close to the bridge? He can be seen waving his staph, sparking against a flint stone on a whim, with might. There is a traveler, retreated, spying on Goblesby through their own gleaming, golden telescope. The lake algae are made of strands and could hide the A-bomb in reflection. Though his knuckles are green and lighter green hair cast its own reflection, Gobby takes a coin for every passage over the bridge and through hell or high water. The icy blue water crackles with driftwood that lights aflame when near that leftover A-bomb under Gobs Knob
. A currency is slicked from one hand to another at least once a day. Gobby is in charge of this pass-through, taking upkeep of the disintegrating road. A subtle wind smacks dust into the telescope and Gobby disappeared with that.
Sometimes they are oily coins but other times they could be salvageable lamps. Gobby had found a kerosine lamp before. It is a bumpy bridge. All sorts of treasures. This towering bridge goblin, nearer the arch's crest, collects them all. Even to say his radioactive crafts are treasures, should these wares be made of gold?
When the dust scatters and light can intercept the bridge once more, the traveler nears Gobs Knob with a telescope in his back pocket. When he arrives the traveler has unearthed the Goblin's treasure trove. There are burlap sacks with rawhide drawstrings, scattered throughout the stream as this morning's sun cast towards the edge of Dawn's Road. Gravel makes up the road and it intersects Gobs Knob. That is the bridge that gets you back to Mainshore State. It looms with mischievous shadows.
A traveler in garb that should suit a tea party. The collars appear to be pressed from an iron. Gobby is intrigued by the stout, short, old man's black and white suit and tie that nears his own ankles. The round, little fellow lunges to the boulder nearest Gobby, aside from the arched bridge, to immediately bow his tophat. A whipping sound is emitted by the smooth gesture. "My name would be Teepee, good evening," he says while he puts his tophat back upon that sparse, salt and pepper hair of his. Even the leprechaun's hair makes a noise to a listener as stern as Goblesby.
Now, there is enough of a pause for a tumbleweed to scrape by Gobby and his new acquaintance. Teepee sees it skittering across Gobs Knob before the air softens to a brook's murmur. Gobby stares away from the bridge, dumbfounded. A spear that prevents passage through Gobs Knob so the exact toll may be enforced is behind Goblesby. Strewn across the road and the end of the spear is dipped into the stream. "Why are you so presentable?" Gobby suggests. "Are you going to a tea party?" With an inquiry that inches on his existing suspicions.
Teepee snickers decidedly when his hat shudders and shakes, making him seem very comprehending and forthcoming. He really puts his whole body into it. Between sentences, Teepee leaps upwards and taps his heels together and they clink together. "What would you say if I could relieve you of your troubles here, old pal?" Shadows over Teepee's woven beard give the illusion that the hair is green in color or very similar to the hairs over Gobby's oversized, callused knuckles. Gobby rests his shoulder on the spear by Gobs Knob and continues to investigate Teepee further before asking for that inevitable toll. The fare towards Mainshore State.
Teepee, while jostling in his hat interjects, "May I assume that you can trust me? I am, after all, licensed in the practice that I pursue. I am a merchant," and he issues a square, plastic card to Gobby. Teepee then suggests, "I could purchase this Knob from you, Gobby." The creases at the edges of his mouth sag so it would appear Goblesby is not impressed with this offer.
The bridge goblin, with disgust, "My name would be Goblesby. No, the rounded bridge is not for sale. Wait! What do you have to offer for such prime real estate?"
Teepee grins and clenches his fists into oblong balls. "This is a fantastic offer, Goblesby. Take it or leave it." The veins on Teepee's brow swell like a marshmallow might in the microwave and seem to keep their own rhythm. Our cunning leprechaun says, "You may take my place as a forest wanderer. Merchandizing of the woods. I will take over this position, collecting loot and restricting passage. I am a seller of fine wares and that makes me invaluable to Gobs Knob. This season I often look for merchandise to buy to stock shelves so to speak. I have this! My friend!" Teepee shows the Goblin a gold telescope that glistens under the sun and from the amber sand.
The goblin stands like a stone in a mud pit. His shadow grows long and is fixed like a sundial. "What should I take as loot if you are to assume my wealth?" Sweat dribbles down Goblesby's face and aside his mouth so it seems as if the goblin is drooling. "That whole sack there," Gobby points to a burlap satchel near the stream and concealed by the bridge's shielding arch. "I use those coins when breaking a dollar or adding change." The coins are not visible although Teepee is now sure they are there.
This mad hatter of a commuter does tremble with delight and begins to nibble on the ends of his fingernails, palms to his chest. He hides most of his anticipatory hyperventilation. Some gasps do exit the leprechaun's upturned smile. "That satchel of goods should go with you, of course, as I even had a satchel - not so nice as this one - to carry my wealth for bargaining. I am in no need of a satchel at this moment. I have this indiscernible telescope; a tube with lenses that is never in the way. I can spot a customer even as they round the crust of this fair earth of ours, friend! As a merchant, finding your customer is half the battle! I would spy a traveler before they know they are on their way to Mainshore State. The tolls that add up, you can assume, come back to you every month with interest." No response from the bridge goblin.
Teepee and the hat on his head still pose a more dramatic question, "Would you have the strength to carry all of the gold and cumbersome treasures, other than a coin, you painstakingly claimed?" Gobby insists, "I do have the strength to keep those treasures with me. I have a blinding question for you, though, Teepee. How would you gather these customers once you have spied them through your," he stammers, "t-telescope."
Teepee enters his jacket pocket to reveal a suede sack no more than the size of a coaster. The mysterious fellow unveils a circular mirror. The old, hobbling man tells Goblesby, "They would be signaled with this!" With a tilt of the wrist, Teepee refracts some of the sun's rays and Goblesby is unable to see for a moment. "Ah, no! Not my sight!" Goblesby drops to his knees on the warmed sand and roots beneath him, hands over his eyes. The Goblin regains himself, aghast, but the insistent merchant is nowhere it should seem. The big and tall bridge goblin hastens to check over his treasure trove. His broad arm swipes the loot sack like a scythe. The drawstring of the bag is quickly redrawn. Then, footsteps can be heard above his arch, on Gobs Knob!
Goblesby trudges back to his raised perch with a thud of each step. The ornamental spear is gone, however. Goblesby releases a sigh with relief. None of his treasures is missing. It all checks out when the goblin looks at his ledger book to toss the notes in frustration. The spear? That is surely replaceable. Goblesby could even craft one of them, with a stained wood handle, out of materials he has on hand. That fire poker is mostly for show and it does, usually, intercept any potential bridge-goers. With no other way to Mainshore State. The spear is a decorated ornament.
Chapter Two: A Traveling Leprachaun
A jovial leprechaun holds a grimace over his face and heckles the passersby. Teepee, standing only as tall as a broomstick of a witch's wardrobe, traverses the busy highway by foot. There is a pitter-patter of footsteps. Three or four travelers interrupt Teepee, with a polite gesture or greeting, on his gated prance to the bank. Split ends of his salt and pepper arrayed hair fizzle like an antenna in search of its signal. A menacing highwayman looks to be on a deserted stretch of Trove Highway, does not seem to be any more sure of his destination than Teepee and he shows a sneer.
This highwayman stands tall and slender as Teepee does imagine the Grim Reaper would. The leprechaun skims the clouds for a nimbus. This grim stretch of highway lets on, Longfellow wears all violet, so dark that it could be construed as a lesser-known color. "Good evening sir, I am Sir Longfellow, how do you do?" The highwayman ejects his name as a ticker tape might spit out numbers and Teepee wonders why his hand should not do the same. The twitching twerp, that highwayman, right-hand springs forward to entice a handshake. Teepee frowns, as he considers Longfellow's gesture, before shaking hands with the well-dressed and short highwayman. There is also a grove of trees that comprise a forest with no brim. He insists that he should go by Longfellow, "Be mindful and not obdurate of the surname."
A couple on horse and buggy, a lantern hung strew the buggy's cab, wheels by Teepee and Longfellow, now off the highway under some canopy. Longfellow has a dove in his hands before Teepee can assess where it had come from. It is as if the man had been holding this lone dove the whole time as the men exchange anecdotes of travel or journey. "Is that your pet?" Teepee asks Longfellow who grins sporadically, mad or enthused. "Will you be releasing this gentle animal? It is an awfully special example of the white dove. This one," Teepee suggests, " has two black dots on the underside of each sheltered wing.
Longfellow, curious to see if there genuinely are markings hidden beneath the dove's wings; carefully lifts each wing to check the feathers there. "Well you are a sharp customer," Longfellow suggests to Teepee. Teepee explains, "I have studied this species of bird. The Two Dotted Dove is identifiable by its beak as well. Do you see here?" Teepee points near the bird's nostrils and spurts out, "there are two dots on the beak as well. They are small, difficult to see without examining close the - specimen." Longfellow puts his face close to the bird's tiny, triangular, beak. The far end of a sheath protrudes from his robe. Teepee, the crafty leprechaun he is, smacks the underside of Longfellow's hands yelling, "Ha! Hee Ha!" The bird escapes the grasp of the crouching highwayman who sobs, "Oh, no! Not you! Not this one!" Mister Teepee is saying, "Ha! Well now," and dancing a jig amongst the taller trees on this side of the highway.
Teepee watches the flying bird until it disappears into the overgrowth, nearby the other roadside. The dove could be anywhere in that forest, now. There is no telling how smart it has become or what it has learned already from the former master of the winged animal, Teepee drifts into his own thoughts. "Well now! Do you have a trick in mind that might disrupt a jacking?" Longfellow glares at Teepee. They are feet apart and Teepee shuffles his feet back another couple of feet. The back of his pointed shoes disrupts some leaf matter. There is no telling what he will do with that. Teepee interprets a silvery machete, that Longfellow has slid from inside his oriental robe. There is a gentle brush from pine bristles when Teepee backs up a few inches further. The leaves shrink under his weight.
Bellowing a mile as he steps, the bridge goblin from Gobs Knob emerges over a hill. Goblesby chants, "One coin to pass and trouble if you have less. One to pass and never less," keeping a rhythm. Longfellow, the highwayman anchored to a sword steps towards Goblesby instead. Teepee sighs, sliding to his butt to grasp a handful of oak leaves. Goblesby exhibits muscle to flex and sweat rolls across green skin when the goblin grabs the machete-wielding thief by the shoulders. Longfellow lets out distress, "Ah, not this way," and the bridge goblin lifts Longfellow overhead. The highwayman screams horrifyingly as the goblin shakes him vehemently. Then, spinning the man upside down, Goblesby shakes out any spare change that could tink the soft ground. "You owe me a coin," Goblesby speaks softly upwards. "That will do," Gobby yells out when he tosses the shorter man onto his own machete, which had been propped at an angle by Teepee's tophat. Longfellow gasps and there are bubbles as blood will emerge from the corners of his lips and eyelids. A protrusion, Teepee sees, pokes at the chest area of Longfellow's clothing. The machete seems to have gone all the way through the center lane of this highwayman, spare his clothes.
Goblesby stoops down when he carefully picks up the coins that fell from those oriental pockets. Some blood does stain the frontside of The highwayman prized robe. He still chants, "One coin to pass and trouble if you have less," then takes a pause to examine the robe. "Mendable," Goblesby whispers mundanely. The exasperated leprechaun, Teepee is in front of an evergreen grove. There is a gold emblem on his tophat and on his suit jacket. In front of Teepee is Goblesby, sporting a new sword and robe, on the highway's edge. This confrontation is so quick that not a single traveler interrupts. Teepee's eyes dart left and right looking for a samaritan. Then he jolts to his feet. Gobby reveals, "There is more than enough fare here for the two of you highwaymen." Teepee ponders if his scheme to circumvent Gobs Knob fare was well founded.
The goblin is relaxed now, as green as an evergreen grove. His lingering shadow fades into the surroundings when he paces into the forest's fallen needles and leaves. Teepee throws his voice after the goblin, "Thank you and I await your await more." The leprechaun snaps his thumb across his palm. The drab clothes are bleeding. Slowly the clothing emerges a bright, lustrous green color, similar to the hairy knuckles our bridge goblin offers each time a fare might have arrived. Now the short, stout fellow does indeed appear as a leprechaun. Teepee runs back down the road he came from. He skips parallel to the forests on either side of the road or highway. There is a change of plans. Teepee starts a return to Gobs Knob to get his bearings straight. He is departing from The Main and in time to see the sun's overcast ambiance settle to a drifting resonance that chimes in time with crickets waking.
Before the sun shies away, Goblesby lights four broom-high torches atop Gobs Knob when he arrives back at his post. There is enough light from those flames to encompass his camp. Water trickles through the camp's direct center and reflects red and orange fire onto the underside of an arching bridge. Several trees are creaking in their roots near the edges of this encampment. Orange pine needles blanket the floor like a neatly knitted carpet. Goblesby's steps are dampened when he walks. The forest is opening to light and torch. This blue flame, fed by kerosine, stands taller than the other four tiki-style torches. Gobby has used a quicker fuel for the torches nearest the bridge entrance.
Goblesby stands near his lantern and by an entrance into the forest. He reaches into a smaller tree's canopy, retrieving a cantine of fresh water. The goblin gobbles down the water and makes a chuckling sound as he drinks. The cantine is empty, Gobby puts the container back on a cubby in the shrubs near him. Strung-up tin cans jingle with movement so Gobby whispers, "Ah, a customer has arrived. Someone to charge a fare of." In the contraption he had assembled, there is an early warning system as sensitive as the strands on a spiderweb. Goblesby marches to the bridge entrance. The green monstrosity waits, slumbering, arms crossed, for a traveler to ask for entrance into Mainshore State.
Teepee, in lavish green clothing, approaches Gobs Knob from Mainshore. Carrying the goblin's spear, Teepee feels safe enough to approach the goblin. "You drive a hard bargain," Teepee says from behind a barricade that conceals the bridge's entranceway. "Your charge is fair," he says. "I have one coin that you should want. You missed it when repossessing your last fare. Teepee tosses a silver coin with the fingernail of his thumb. The currency falls at the feet of Goblesby. When The goblin looks back up to see the payee in shiny new clothes there is nothing there but a spear.
Goblesby retrieves the spear to reassure himself he has had no indentured staff, to begin with. Then the bridge goblin puts the solitary coin in his treasure trove. "I drive a hard bargain," Goblesby entertains himself. The camp flickers with a glow of torchlight. This bridge is at the spout of a funnel from the woods. This is the only way to town from within Lucky Forest. Only a leprechaun could find a way across with no fare of his own. Teepee watches the camp, lighted solemnly, through his telescope. The leprechaun has made his way to Upper Mainshore.
The bridge goblin resumes his impromptu toll. Only a leprechaun with a bridge made of a rainbow. The road makes better time.
Chapter Three: Solemnly Crying
Splashing. Water is being displaced by quaint, yellow rain boots. Olga walks with the water towards Gobs Knob to meet her beloved husband, Gobelsby is shy about their relationship. Yelling to him, "I am here! I have arrived," though it is a few more minutes on slippery, mossy rocks. Olga steps carefully though she is excited. Gobby and Olga would be inseparable were it not for the County Festival that arrives on weekends. She trots over to him in her last couple of steps. "I missed you dearly," Goblesby wraps his arms around Olga and serenades her. "You would not believe the trip I made. Into The Main." Goblesby has a smile while he suggests discourse. "I did receive my fares as is required of me," he states and releases Olga so the two of them see one another closely.
There is a resonance of tin cans clinking, throughout the camp. Olga asks, "What is that racket and how did it get here?" Goblesby shushes her, "Sheesh, Olga." "We must get back to work, now. All is well that ends well. There must be a customer nearby." All the while muttering, Gobby is pacing in front of his spear (the one that blocks passage through Gobs Knob) when a familiar gleam hits Gobby's eye. "Should that be a telescope," Gobby spits out his words. And to his surprise, "Ahoy!," a leprechaun with dull gray clothing enunciates. He continues, "It is I!" "Can you not see? These ragged clothes will be the death of me, I say!" Gobby hurries from his brightest torch to Olga, whispering into her ear, "This man can change clothing with a snap of his fingers." "Do not trust him."
"But who would this shapeshifter be?" "I see no one," Olga insists. Gobby hears her while he is in fight or flight mode. The Goblin does not respond to his wife. He mutters to himself, "My coins." "He must be after my coins," when he splashes upon the edge of his cash hoard. A murmur of ankle-deep water. Gobby looks around. Bits of mortar and stone plink into the blue-green water and the arched bridge is in disrepair on the underside. Goblesby peers at his bridge with an ora around his eyes. His feet dry quickly so he hops off the stream's slippery rocks to the edge of the shore. Olga briefly sees a teardrop trickle from Goblesby's eyelid and he trudges toward her as though through sludge. He does not seem to notice her peeking. The dim torch behind her still tickles the edge of her long, multicolor dress with light rays.
Olga is in bed before Goblesby slams the front door once enters their cottage, nearby the tributary. The Knob River runs parallel to The Main with many thousands of gallons purified for the residents there, each day. A bucket in one hand and the other to swat away newly spun spider webs, Gobby makes his way to an adjoining bedroom. In the doorway. He stands there to see his beautiful Olga sound asleep. Gobby joins his wife for a night of dreaming. He tosses and she turns with heavy comforters. Patchwork designs are splayed on the blankets that Olga had once crafted. There is enough privacy for them to dream through the night.
A ray of sun pokes through his cottage roof so Gobby wakes suddenly with a fright! "Another leak, too much light," this studious goblin remembers his own fare. "Another day," he yawns. Arms outstretched. Then he sits upright. Goblesby stares into the air at nothing in particular. If observed, his wife would call him selfish. She has already fled, barefoot, to attend the County's continued festivities, this weekend. Goblesby eventually manages his eyes to focus from his double vision. The floorboards creak while he eases himself off the firm mattress and it looks well done in fresh Cherry wood. Once on his feet, the goblin wastes no time drifting off. Gobby throws on a pair of clothes and then exits to his living room and kitchen. A cup of coffee, "This is nice," he whispers and is forced to remember Olga from her gift of cupped coffee.
Outside the cottage, Gobby spies holes that seldom appear on the roof he shingled. There is really nothing there and he swears there are holes in the roof. The sunlight bothers him as he descends towards The Knob River. A shabby outfit was all that separated Goblesby from the elements now. His pant legs are heavy when wet with the water from this river. Subtle heat makes him overheat so the armpits of his shirt whisk sweat from there. He walks upriver until he is reaching Gobs Knob.
Teepee rests his elbow on the bridge and stands slanted. The leprechaun emits his voice from his stance there, "Ahoy!" "Will you consider an offer I desperately must ask of you?" To a goblin with a dastardly affection towards metallic or round objects. "We will come to a consideration with an agreement," Teepee wafts his speech over to Goblesby as the goblin has approached until met. "You will first pay your fine for trespassing," Gobby ensues. "Have you considered that I might want those fares for each and every time you have crossed Gobs Knob over your rainbow?" Teepee stares dully and the goblin considers an agreement might be met after all.
A passerby eyes Teepee and Goblesby but insists on using the fast lane of Gobs Knob. The blue-suited, tall man puts a quarter into a machine with cogs and turns it into a slot with his clock key. The fast lane of Gobs Knob and that is his easy pass; the clock key lets access. Goblesby quiets when this blue-suited man waits for double doors to open from a sandwiched position and enter to cross.
After the man exits the bridge, "Teepee, He has an Easier Passage," the goblin said. The leprechaun tapers his stance to a hunched position and poses a question. "Will you take this machete for your troubles and perhaps for one final passage across to The Main?" The pair can hear women giggling in the swim but for Gobby's bad hearing. Teepee snickers. "Will you place your bet with me today, Dear Sir?" Then the leprechaun snaps his fingers. His mouth departs. The clothes this short, aged fellow wears are glowing brighter than the sun could possibly lick.
As quickly as he can attend, Goblesby feels fooled to have lost sight of the leprechaun as he has disappeared. A machete gleams. Goblesby ponders this discarded sword with a broad curve. Lost and quickly reclaimed; the bridge goblin returns to his smelter to melt down these wares. Anew.
Conclusion: Like Clockwork
Although bridges contain crevices that could escape light, there is not necessarily a bridge goblin beneath those bricks and mortar. Goblesby fastens his newly crafted spear atop the entrance of Gobs Knob. The Goblin decides not to forge coins from salvaged metals. He is the wealth of our nation.
"Please sir, if you will?" A frazzled seeming man asks Goblesby, politely. The bridge goblin says, "Of course," when Goblesby takes the custom-built key (of his goblins forge) and winds the cogs of the entrance door of the arched bridge. "I always get that mixed up to turn clockwise or otherwise, counter-clockwise." Goblesby smiles as the double doors scream open. The commuters pay in advance. Cost restrictions must endeavor in The Main. A connection between civilization and the outskirts.
"Good day and do not forget to renew your key; as the locks change just this evening," the bridge goblin conspires with his pureblood plan to claim coins.
The commuter disappears. Over the bridge's arch. Goblesby makes sure another commuter to his destination.