The Wizard of SW

Prologue

Lou realized too late that she was falling. Her last conscious thought before

she hit the ground was "Something must have spooked Lightning!"

Her world was spinning. Spinning, spinning. "Please," she thought. "Make it

stop." But the spinning continued. Finally, when it seemed as if she couldn't

bear it anymore, all was still.

Chapter One

She lay in shock for a few minutes, letting her head clear before she

attempted to sit up. Opening her eyes she looked around her, and stood up in

surprise.

"Ow," she moaned, holding her head. "Where am I?"

Looking around, nothing she saw was familiar. There were beautiful flowers

everywhere, and she kept hearing strange noises coming from the bushes. Like

giggling. Flowers couldn't laugh, could they?

Hearing a noise behind her, she realized that wherever she was, Lightning was

there too. "Lightning, boy," she said, "I have a feeling we're not at the way

station anymore."

The horse nodded his head in response, as if he understood exactly what she

was saying. Hearing the giggling sounds again, she spun around in time to see

the flowers moving a little. Something was definitely there.

She moved to investigate, but her attention was distracted by a gleaming ball

of light. It was moving towards her, growing as it got nearer. She began to

walk backwards, away from it, until it stopped coming closer. She watched in

amazement as the light disappeared, and before her stood a beautiful woman.

She had blond hair and a beautiful pink dress on.

"Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?" She asked.

"What?!" Lou asked. This was definitely not, what she expected.

"Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" The beautiful woman repeated.

"I'm not a witch at all!" Lou replied. How dare this woman accuse her of

being a witch!

"Well, is that the witch then?" The woman pointed behind Lou towards

Lightning.

"Lightning? Lightning's not a witch...he's my horse!" Lou exclaimed, not sure

whether to laugh or cry.

"Well, I must say, I'm confused," the woman said. "The munchkins called me,

because a new witch is here to challenge the old witch. And so I came, and

here you are...So the question is, 'Are you a good witch or a bad witch?'"

"But I already told you," Lou exclaimed again. "I'm not a witch at all.

Witches are old and ugly!" She spun around as she heard the giggling again.

"What was that?!"

The beautiful woman smiled again. "That was the munchkins. They're laughing

because, you see, I am a witch. I am Rachel, the good witch of the North."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Lou exclaimed. "But I've never heard of a beautiful witch

before!"

"If you're not a witch, then who are you?" Rachel asked again.

"I'm Louise McCloud, from the Rock Creek Pony Express Station."

Rachel smiled again as she called to the munchkins. "It's okay everybody.

Come on out and meet Louise."

Lou watched in astonishment as tiny little people began to emerge from the

bushes and flowers.

"Louise, these are the munchkins." The little people began dancing around Lou

and Rachel, giggling and talking constantly.

Suddenly the talking and laughing turned to shrieking as a ball of fire

appeared out of nowhere. Out of the fire appeared a woman dressed all in

black.

"Who is that?" Lou whispered to Rachel.

"That's Rosemary, the wicked witch of the West."

Rosemary walked toward Lou. "So, you're the one who's here to challenge me?"

Lou looked at Rachel confused. "I'm not here to challenge anyone. I don't

even know why I'm here. I just want to go home!"

Rachel turned to Rosemary, "Go away and leave us alone. You have no power

here. Go!"

Rosemary turned to Louise. "I'll go now, but I'm warning you. Watch your

back, because I'll get you my pretty!" With that, she disappeared in another

ball of fire.

"Louise, I'm afraid you have made an enemy here. You must be very careful

from now on," Rachel spoke as the munchkins began to get up. One of them

approached Lou.

"I'm Jesse, the mayor of Munchkin City. On behalf of all of the citizens of

Munchkin City, in the county of the land of SW, I welcome you to our land."

He handed her a bouquet of flowers."

"Thank you very much," Lou smiled at Jesse, causing him to blush. She turned

to Rachel. "Can you tell me how to get home? Especially now that I have a

witch mad at me."

"I'm afraid the only person who can answer that is the Wizard of SW. He lives

in Sweetwater. He's very powerful, but very mysterious," Rachel answered.

"How do I find him?" Lou asked.

"You must travel to Sweetwater. It's a very long journey, and I’m afraid

since you don't have a saddle for your horse, you will have to walk. All you

do is follow the yellow brick road. It will take you where you need to go."

"But, what if..." Lou started to ask. But Rachel disappeared into a ball of

light, floating away. "Oh my," Lou said. "People come and go so quickly here!"

The munchkins began to giggle again as they led Lou to the yellow brick road.

They walked along with her to the edge of the Munchkin City, where they waved

to her until she was out of sight.

Chapter Two

Lou walked for hours, following the yellow brick road. Lightning obediently

trotted behind her, and she didn't even stop to consider the fact that even

though he didn't have his saddle on, she knew how to ride bareback. Rachel,

the good witch, had said she must walk, so walk she would. She would do

anything to get away from this land, as wonderful as it seemed so far, and

back to Rock Creek...back to Auntie Em and Uncle Sam...back to Cody, and

Jimmy, and Kid, who worked at the station, and were her dearest friends in

the whole world.

"This doesn't seem too bad, boy," she spoke to Lightning. "The yellow brick

road will lead us straight to Sweetwater, so there is no chance of getting

lost."

Just then, as luck would have it, she came to a fork in the road. Looking

around, all she could see was cornfields stretching for miles. There was

nobody there to point her in the right direction.

"What do I do now?" She wondered out loud. "Which way should we go, huh

Lightning?"

"If I was you, I would go that way," a voice said. Lou spun around to see who

spoke. But nobody was in the field next to her, just a scarecrow who was

pointing down the path to the right.

"Who said that?" she asked.

"Of course, a lot of folks go that way too," the voice said again. Lou looked

toward the scarecrow again, only this time he was pointing to the path on the

left.

"Lightning, wasn't he just pointing the other way?" she asked the horse, not

taking her eyes off the scarecrow.

"Both ways look nice though," the scarecrow spoke again, crossing his arms to

point in both directions.

"You did talk!" Lou said in amazement.

"Of course I can talk," the scarecrow said. "I can move, and I can talk. But

I'm still so sad."

"But why?" Lou asked.

"Because when the farmer made me, he forgot to give me a brain," the

scarecrow said, sadly.

"You haven't got a brain?" Lou asked.

"No," the scarecrow replied. "And without a brain, I can't figure out how to

scare all these crows away. They just come in my field everyday, and eat all

my corn." As he spoke a crow landed on his outstretched arm. "Boo," the

scarecrow said. "Scat! Go away crow!" But the crow just sat there, munching

on some kernels of corn. "You see," the scarecrow said. "Nothing I do will

scare them away."

"So you just hang up there all day?" Lou asked.

"Yes," the scarecrow replied. "I can't get down you see, or I would. It does

me no good to hang around here since the crows aren't afraid of me."

"Well, maybe I could help you get down," Lou said, climbing over the fence

and into the cornfield. She helped free the scarecrow, and they climbed back

over the fence and onto the yellow brick road.

"Whoa," she said, catching the scarecrow just in time to keep him from

falling.

"I'm sorry," the scarecrow said. "My legs are still a little wobbly."

"That's okay," Lou smiled. "My name is Louise, and I'm on my way to

Sweetwater to see the Wizard of SW. He's going to tell me how to get back

home to Rock Creek."

"You're going to see a wizard?" The scarecrow asked. "Do you think if I went

to see him, he could give me a brain?"

"I don't see why not," Lou replied. "But even if he wouldn't, you would be no

worse off than you are now. But I have to warn you, I have a witch mad at me.

And if you are traveling with me, she might be mad at you too."

"Well," the scarecrow said defiantly. "I'm not afraid of any old witch. I'm

not afraid of anything...except for fire, you know," he shook his straw arms

in explanation.

"I can understand that," Lou said.

"Well, Louise," the scarecrow pointed down the road. "My name is Cody,

Scarecody actually, and I would be honored to accompany you to Sweetwater.

Shall we?"

With that said, the two started off down the yellow brick road, on their way

to Sweetwater; Scarecody to get a brain, and Lou to find her way home.

The Wizard of SW

Chapter Three

Lou and Scarecody walked all day, following the Yellow Brick Road. By early

evening, Lou was very tired, and hungry as she had not eaten all day. So when

they came to a grove of apple trees, Lou very happily began to pick up the

apples that had fallen to the ground. Scarecody helped her, as he had a very

ravenous appetite for a scarecrow, and the two became absorbed in their task.

In fact, Lou was so absorbed in what she was doing that she was right next

the tin foot before she even saw it. Looking up, she saw that it belonged to

a man made all of tin! He was rusted solid, and in his hand was a gun. It

looked like he was about to shoot something when he rusted, and when Lou

looked to where the gun was pointed, she learned that he indeed was about to

shoot something. Cans were set up on a fence, which surrounded a small cabin.

Lou called Scarecody over to see her discovery. "Listen," Cody said. "He's

trying to say something."

Lou strained to understand the faint noises coming from the tin man's mouth.

"It sounds like he's saying 'oil lamp.'"

"Why would he be saying oil lamp?" Cody wondered.

"Well, I don't know," Lou said. "But that's what it sounds like he's saying."

"Alliema," the tin man said again.

"I think he's saying 'Oil me,'" Cody said, spotting an oilcan nearby. He

picked it up, and began to oil the tin man's joints.

"Thank you," the tin man said, moving his stiff joints to loosen them up.

"That feels much better."

"How did you ever get like this?" Lou asked.

"Well, one day I was out here practicing with my guns, I'm a tin gunman you

see, and suddenly it started to rain. Well, I was just about to pull the

trigger, when I rusted solid. I've been standing here like this forever." The

tin gunman explained.

"Well, you're perfect now," Lou said.

"I'm afraid you're wrong," the tin gunman told her.

"Why?" Lou asked. "You're able to move again and shoot your guns again."

"Yes," the tin gunman agreed. "But I'll never be perfect. You see, I haven't

got a heart. The man who created me forgot to give me one."

"You don't have a heart?" Scarecody asked, amazed that anyone could be so

unlucky.

"I'm afraid not," the tin gunman replied. "It's the only thing I've ever

wanted, but I'm afraid I'll never get one."

"But I know where you can get one," Lou said excitedly. "Scarecody and I are

going to see the Wizard of SW in Sweetwater. He's going to help me get home

and give Scarecody a brain. I'm sure if you come with us he'll give you a

heart too."

"Do you really think so?" the tin gunman asked hopefully.

"I'm sure he will," Scarecody asked. "Of course, I don't have a brain, but I

think it makes sense that he would."

"It makes perfect sense," Lou agreed. "Why don't you come with us?"

Just then, a ball of fire appeared on the roof of the cabin, and Rosemary,

the wicked witch stood before them.

"So you're going to go with this little girl are you?" she laughed at

Scarecody and Tin Gunman. "You are making a big mistake. I'm warning you,

Scarecody, I'll feed my horses with you. And you Tin Gunman, I'll make a

bathtub out of you! Hey Scarecody," Rosemary laughed evilly. How about a

little game of catch?" She produced a ball of fire in her hand and threw it

at Scarecody. His arm caught fire, and as Lou and Tin Gunman helped, him put

it out, Rosemary disappeared in another ball of fire.

"That's it," the Tin Gunman said. "I'm definitely going to Sweetwater with

you now. No witch is going to stop me!"

"Me either," Scarecody said. "Feed the horses with me, bah!"

"Make a bathtub out of me," Tin Gunman said. "Bah!"

"Well, then," Lou said. "To SW?

"To SW," the other two agreed. The trio set off, down the Yellow Brick Road,

with Lightning obediently trotting behind.

Chapter Four

A couple hours later, Lou, Scarecody, Tin Gunman (who finally insisted they

just call him Jim because Tin Gunman was too much for me to type...I mean for

them to say!:) entered a dark, creepy forest. Lou stayed close between Cody

and Jim, feeling strangely protected by her two new friends...almost as if

she had known them for a long time, and knew they could protect her.

The forest was dark and creepy, and as they progressed, it just got darker

and creepier. Strange and scary sounds surrounded them, probably made from

ordinary forest animals, but twisted into scary and horrible beings by their

imaginations.

"It sure is spooky here," Lou said as she huddled closer to her two friends.

"Do you think there are wild animals here? Ones that can hurt us?"

"I wouldn't worry," Jim said. "There's probably only cows and chickens and

pigs."

"Cows and chickens and pigs?" Lou questioned. "Is there a farm nearby?"

"No, but that's what lives in this forest," Jim replied.

"Cows and chickens and pigs," Lou repeated again. "No lions, tigers, or

bears?"

"No, I don't think so," Jim replied.

"Cows and chickens and pigs, oh my!" Lou exclaimed, surprised that such

animals would live in the forest.

They continued to walk along, while Lou pondered this in her mind.

Cows and chickens and pigs, oh my, she repeated over and over again.

Suddenly, in the middle of chickens a huge, ferocious-looking lion jumped in

their path, roaring at them, and sending them running for cover. Lou and

Lightning made it behind some trees that lined the path, but Scarecody and

Jim weren't quick enough to get away.

"I'll teach you to sneak up on me," the lion roared at Cody. "And I'll teach

you to pull a gun on me," he roared at Jim. "I'll fight you both, with one

hand behind my back, standing on one leg, blindfolded, using just my teeth."

The lion seemed stubborn enough to insist on fighting, no matter how prepared

he was for it.

When Cody and Jim didn't move fast enough to please the lion, he headed

toward Lightning, who had wandered out from his hiding place.

"Oh, you want to fight me do you?" the lion began roaring at Lightning and

swiping his claws through the air in front of him.

"How dare you!" Lou stepped out from her hiding place to slap the lion on the

nose.

"Why'd you do that for?" the lion asked, rubbing his sore nose. "I was just

trying to scare him."

"Well how would you like it if something more powerful than you jumped out at

you and tried to scare you?" Lou asked furiously. She looked at the lion,

who was now rubbing his nose and beginning to cry. "Why, you're nothing but a

big coward!"

"You're right," the lion said. "I am a coward. I'm afraid of everything. I

haven't slept in weeks, because I'm too afraid. Look at these circles under

my eyes," he turned to Cody and Jim.

"If you can't sleep, why don't you try counting sheep?" Scarecody asked.

"I would," the lion replied, "but I'm too afraid of them."

"Well," Lou said. "Why don't you come to Sweetwater with us. We're going to

see the Wizard of SW to ask him to give Scarecody a brain, and Tin Gunman Jim

a heart, and to help me get home. I'm sure if you asked, he would give you

some courage."

"You really think so?" Lion asked. "I'm not sure...I would be too afraid to

ask him for it."

"Nonsense," Lou replied. "All you have to do is ask...the worst that can

happen is he says no and you are no worse off than you are now."

"Maybe I will come with you," Lion said. "When I was younger, my mom used to

say to me, 'Kid, you're gonna have to face your fears sooner or later..it

might as well be now.' Of course, I didn't face them then, I was too afraid.

But I will now," he said with determination.

"Your mother called you Kid?" Scarecody asked.

"Didn't you have a real name?" Jim added.

"Yes," Lion said. "But everybody just called me Kid."

"Well," Lou said. "I'm Lou, this is Cody, and that's Jim. And this is my

horse Lightning. And Kid, we'd love it if you would accompany us to

Sweetwater."

"I'd be honored," Kid said, taking her arm. Together, the little group

marched down the yellow brick road toward Sweetwater.

"Jim," Lou asked as they left the forest behind. "Why did you tell me there

were no lions in the forest, when clearly there are some?"

"I didn't want to scare you," Jim replied.

Chapter Five

The four travelers left the forest behind, and found themselves in a meadow.

Just on the other side, they could see the outskirts of Sweetwater. At last,

they were about to see the Wizard! They took off running through the meadow,

and before long they were knocking on the gates of the city.

An odd looking man opened the window of the gate and asked, "Who goes there?"

Lou stepped forward. "We're here to see the Wizard, please. I'm Lou, and this

is Scarecody, Tin Gunman Jim, and Kid the Cowardly Lion. We've come a long

long way to ask the Wizard to give Cody a brain, Jim a heart, and Kid some

courage. And I want to ask the Wizard to help me get home."

"Well, come on in, come on in," the odd man said, opening the gate. He led

them to a wagon, which took them to the entrance of the Wizards office. Lou

knocked on the door, and another odd looking man emerged...strangely, he

looked just like the man who answered the gate!

"What do you want?" the man asked.

"We're here to see the Wizard," Lou said.

"Do you have an appointment?" the man asked.

"No," Jim said, "But tell him it's urgent."

"Why don't you tell me what you want, and I'll decide whether it's worth

bothering the Wizard about," the man said.

"Why should we?" Jim asked defiantly.

"I'm Barnett, the Wizard's secretary. All requests for appointments must be

made through me. If I think it's important enough, I'll tell the Wizard that

you're here." Barnett told him.

"I'm Louise," Lou said, tired by now of telling how she wanted to go home,

and Cody wanted a brain, and Jim wanted a heart, and Kid wanted courage, and

how they had come a long, long way, with a witch mad at her; but she told the

tale once again, and Barnett soon disappeared into the Wizard's office to

deliver their request for an appointment.

Soon, Barnett opened the door again. "The Wizard said, go away!" he told

them, slamming the door shut!

Determinedly, Lou banged on the door again.

"What do you want now?" Barnett asked, frustrated.

"I want to see the Wizard right now, and I'm not leaving here until I do,"

Lou demanded.

Barnett once again said, "Go away," and slammed the door. Lou banged again,

and they went through this little ritual, until finally Barnett grew so

frustrated with her determination, that he opened the door and let them in.

"But I'll make sure the Wizard knows that I had no say in this matter," he

threatened as they walked down a long hallway towards the Wizard's inner

office, Kid trying not to turn around and run. Of course, they had to grab

him a couple times to keep him with them.

Slowly the four travelers entered the inner office. Their journey had come to

an end...at least they hoped it had. They approached a huge desk, where a

large man was sleeping with his feet propped up.

"Excuse me," Lou timidly reached out to touch the man's shoulder. When that

failed to wake him, she shook it harder. Finally, with a grunt, the man sat

up and removed his hat from over his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked gruffly.

"We are here to see the Wizard," Lou said, looking around for anything that

might represent a Wizard of some kind.

"Why do you want to see me?" the man asked.

"You're the Wizard?" Lou asked incredulously, shocked that a Wizard could be

so, well, so ordinary.

"The one and only," the man said. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm Lou and this is Scarecody, and..."

"I know very well who you are and why you have come," the man interrupted.

"Then why did you ask?" Scarecody stepped forward, only to jump back in fear

at the look the man gave him.

"You Scarecody, shall have your brain. And you Tin Gunman Jim shall have your

heart, and Cowardly Lion Kid your courage. And you Louise, you shall go home.

But first," the man held up his hand to symbolize that they would have to

wait for their requests to be granted. "First, you must do something to prove

you are worthy of these gifts."

"What?" Jim asked.

"You must bring me the hairclip of Rosemary, the Wicked Witch of the West."

"Her hairclip!?" Cody repeated. "But we'll have to kill her to get that!"

"Bring me her hairclip, or you will not receive your requests," the Wizard

boomed. The friends hurriedly turned to leave, Cowardly Lion Kid running back

down the hallway to safety.

Lou carried a pair of scissors, Scarecody had a hairnet, Kid wielded a curling iron, and Jim

desperately hoped his guns would prove an adequate weapon against the witch.

The rest planned to use their tools not only as weapons, but as the tools to

remove the witch's hairclip.

They stuck close together, traveling in a forest darker and creepier than

the one in which Kid had lived. There was an air of evil in this forest, and

it grew stronger the further they advanced.

Meanwhile, Rosemary watched from the window of her castle. Seeing the

travelers approach, she summoned her three most trustworthy guards. She had

cast a spell over them, making them willing to do whatever her bidding.

"Noah," she said to the first of the guards. "I want you, Ike, and Buck to go

and bring me the girl and her horse. Do whatever you want with her friends,

but I want the girl alive and unharmed."

The three guards nodded and set off to gather some of the other guards and do

what Rosemary ordered.

"Do you hear that?" Lou started at the sound of a bird flying overhead. "This

forest is creepier and creepier with every step."

"I don't really want courage," Kid said. "I'm going back."

"I agree," said Scarecody. "I can live without a brain, I've made it this

far. I'm going back too."

"Me too," Jim said. "I don't really need a heart. I say we all go back."

"You can go back if you want to," Lou told them. "But I'm going to get that

hairclip. I want to go home."

Her three friends looked at each other and silently reached an agreement.

"We can't let you go by yourself," Cody spoke for all of them.

"Well, I have no choice it seems," Lou said. "Since all of you are going

back."

"We're not going back," Jim said.

"Of course not," Kid agreed, wishing he hadn't come on this trip to begin

with.

"Good," Lou said, not showing how relieved she was not to be on her own.

They had only taken a few more steps when suddenly men dressed in

strange-looking uniforms surrounded them, pointing spears at them.

"It is the witch's guards," Scarecody announced, as if any of them really

cared, or hadn't figured it out for themselves.

The guards closed in on the little group. Noah grabbed Lou while Ike and Buck

took Lightning's reins and the rest of the guards beat up Cody, Jim, and Kid.

They left the three lying on the ground and hauled Lou and Lightning off to

Rosemary's castle.

Lou found herself locked in a room high in the castle tower. Rosemary had her

guard take Lightning away.

"What are you going to do with him?" Lou asked.

"My pretty Louise," Rosemary said, laughing wickedly. "You will not see your

precious horse again until you give me what I want."

"What do you want?" Lou asked fearfully.

"You have such pretty hair ribbons," Rosemary reached out to touch the

ribbons in Lou's hair. "My hairclip is becoming worn out. Give me your hair

ribbons, and you can have your horse back."

"Take them," Lou said, almost crying. "Just give me my horse and let me go!"

Rosemary reached out to pull Lou's hair ribbons out, but as her fingers

tugged on the ribbons, they became entangled in Lou's hair.

"Drat!" Rosemary cried. "I forgot the spell. The ribbons will not come out of

the hair as long as the wearer is alive." She laughed her wicked laugh,

turning over an hourglass on the table. "This my dearie, is how long you have

left to live." With that she left the room, locking Lou in.

Lou sat down at the table and began to cry. "Now I'll never get home," she

sobbed. "I'll never see my family, or Auntie Emma and Uncle Sam again."

Scarecody, Tin Gunman Jim, and Cowardly Lion Kid crept up to the castle. They

had stolen the uniforms from some of the guards they had managed to overpower

and joined a group of guards entering the castle. Once inside, they separated

from the rest of the group and began to search for Lou. They heard her

sobbing from outside her door, and Jim quickly shot the locks on the door to

open it.

"Hurry," Scarecody pulled Lou from the room. "The witch will have heard the

gunshots. We have to get out of here right now."

The group hurried down the stairs and towards the door. Just as they were

about to make it to safety, the door slammed shut, and the witch entered the

room from another doorway.

"Leaving so soon?" Rosemary asked. "Why, the show hasn't even begun yet."

The guards with her held their spears on the group of friends as Rosemary

continued her speech.

"The last to die, will see her friends die before her. Let's see, shall we

start with you Strawman?" Rosemary held a torch to Scarecody's straw arm, and

it caught fire. Lou, reacting out of instinct, picked up a bucket of water

that just happened to be sitting right next to her, and threw it on Cody to

put the fire out.

The water also hit Rosemary, and to everyone's surprise, the witch began to

shrink. "I'm shrinking!" she screamed, terrified. They all watched,

fascinated as she shrank away to nothing, leaving behind nothing but her

witch's robe, hat, and hairclip.

"You killed her!" Noah said in shock.

"I didn't mean to," Lou said, afraid of what the guards would do now. "It's

just that Cody was on fire and I had to put it out."

"Cheers to Louise, she killed the witch," the guards began to repeat, the

spell now broken. One of them picked up Rosemary's hairclip and handed it to

Lou at the group's request. Armed with the prize they had come for, the group

once again set out for Sweetwater

Chapter Seven

"We're back your wizardry," Scarecody announced. "And we've brought the

hairclip of the Wicked Witch of the West with us.

Lou stepped forward and set the hairclip on the Wizard's desk. "Now we would

like you to grant our requests as you have promised."

"But you see," the Wizard announced. "You're requests have already been

granted. Scarecody step forward."

Cody stepped up to the desk as the Wizard pulled a thick book from a drawer.

"Scarecody, you wanted brains. What you didn't know was that you already had

them. What you don't have is proof that you have them. You just need a thick

book to show other people that you do have brains. So I bestow upon you a

copy of Blackwell's Common Law."

He handed the book to Scarecody, who immediately began quoting ancient

English laws and sections of the United States Constitution. His friends all

looked surprised. They didn't realize Cody had brains the whole time!

"And you Tin Gunman Jim," the Wizard continued, talking over Cody's ceaseless

chatter. "You want a heart, but you don't realize how good it can be not to

have one. If you have a heart, eventually it will get broken. But

unfortunately, you already have a heart. If you didn't you wouldn't have the

capacity to care so much about getting one. All you need is for somebody to

point it out to you. And to always remind you that you do have a heart, I

bestow upon you this heart-shaped badge." The Wizard stuck the badge on Jim.

"Wear it with pride as a constant reminder of the wonderful heart you have."

Jim looked at the badge proudly, and gave each of his new friends a hug. The

Wizard then turned to Kid. "As for you, Cowardly Lion Kid, you think you lack

it is better to run away from danger. By facing the witch, you proved that

you can be brave in the face of danger...one of your friends was in trouble,

and you faced the witch to rescue her with no thought of your own safety.

That is true courage. And to you, to serve as a reminder of the courage you

had all along, I give this medal of courage." The wizard pinned the medal on

Kid, who blushed at the attention.

"What about me?" Lou asked, knowing none of the trinkets the Wizard had in

his desk would help her get home.

"My child," the Wizard looked at her. "All you have to do is get on your

horse and ride home."

"That's it?" Lou asked. "But if that's all I have to do, then why did Rachel

tell me I had to come here and see you?"

As she asked her question, a light began to float toward them. Soon Rachel

appeared, and stood next to the Wizard. She smiled and answered Lou's

question.

"Louise, if you had not made the journey to Sweetwater, you would not have

met with Scarecody, Tin Gunman Jim, or Cowardly Lion Kid. You helped them

realize that they had what they were searching for all along. And you

realized how much your home and family means to you. That is why I sent you

on this journey. If you did not take it, you would not want to go home so

badly, and then you wouldn't be able to get home. All you have to do is mount

your horse, close your eyes, and say 'There's no place like home' three

times."

Lou looked around at her new friends. She did want to go home, but at the

same time, she would miss them very much. Hugging Scarecody, she whispered a

tearful good-bye. She repeated the action with Tin Gunman Jim, and then,

walking up to Kid, the Now Courageous Lion, she gave him a hug, and said,

"I'll miss you most of all."

Looking around her, Louise gave one last wave good-bye to her friends, and

mounted Lightning. Closing her eyes, she began to say, "There's no place like

home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

Epilogue

Her world was spinning, spinning. She wanted it to stop, but it seemed as if

it would never end. Finally, when she had decided that it would definitely

never stop, the spinning slowed down, and eventually came to a halt. She

moaned, her head aching from all the spinning.

"Louise, honey, it's Rachel," a voice soothed. "Come on honey, wake up."

"Is she gonna be okay Rachel?" another familiar voice broke through her haze,

and she struggled to open her eyes.

"She's gonna be just fine Kid," Rachel smiled at her as she finally forced

her eyes open.

"What happened?" she asked weakly.

"You fell off Lightning and hit your head," Teaspoon explained from his chair

at the foot of her bed. Looking around, Lou saw all her family in the room,

waiting for her to wake up.

"I had the weirdest dream," she muttered. "Rachel you were there, and Noah,

and Buck, and Ike. I was in this strange land, and Cody had no brain."

At this all the boys began to laugh. "That's no dream," Jimmy joked.

"And Jimmy was there, and Kid, and Jesse was a munchkin," Lou continued, not

really understanding all she was saying.

"That's enough for now Lou," Rachel tucked the blankets around her. "You need

to get some rest. You can tell us all about it later." She chased the boys

from the room so Lou could get some rest.

"And Teaspoon was a wizard," Lou muttered dreamily. "And Rachel, you know

what? There's no place like home."

THE END