Country Livin'

Our story left off with Andy approaching the knocked-on door...

Chapter 6
Andy opens the door to a grizzled man wearing a work jumper and a hard hat that says, "ASPLUNDH." Andy climbs into his jacket and boots and leads Mr. Asplundh outside to see the fireflies.

Chapter 7
The next morning, Cabol is working at home and is still in her flannel froggie nightie when she notices a truck in the driveway up by the Craft Shack. A man is walking down the hill from the truck. Cabol shrieks and runs to get dressed. She goes back to the window and watches the man stand for a bit by the firefly home and then turn around and walk back to the truck. Cabol keeps an eye on the truck as she goes about her day. Eventually the one truck is replaced by another truck. With blinky lights on top. Hours, days, weeks go by and there is nothing to see but the blinky truck. Then a machine appears off in the distance, hidden by trees. Cabol waits.

Chapter 8
A low rumble pierces the air. The machine is on the move. Through the snow and ice, it crawls down the driveway to the firefly nest. Four men follow it. They stare up into the trees, point, and holler. Nearby, the scary snow sheep watch and wait. Cabol suddenly realizes the men and their machine are in danger! They don't stand a chance if the giant rams of doom should attack. She bravely gears up, grabs a shovel, and forges out into the snow to warn the men.

Chapter 9
Cabol approaches the men and machine, her eyes flickering back to the sheep every few moments, her hand clutching the shovel in case the sheep should follow. One man notices Cabol's approach and, with a cautious look at her shovel, yells at the machine to be quiet. Cabol speaks.

Cabol: "Hi!"
Man #1: "Um, hi. Why do you have a giant shovel?"
Cabol: "It is to protect me from the fearsome sheep with horns the size of winnebagos."
Man #1: "Oh."
Man #2: "Did you know your mumblemumble was fnurflebloopy????"
Cabol: "Yay!"

The men all stare at Cabol.

Cabol: "Soooooo. Um, there are big giant humungous sheep wandering around. They have pointy horns. But, um, don't worry. If they start to charge you, just put your hand up and tell them to stop. That works. Usually. Want to borrow my shovel?"
Man #3: "We are big, burly men wearing hard hats. We do not need a pesky shovel. We will keep the teeny lambies away with our big, burly machine!"

Chapter 10
Back at the house, Cabol keeps an eye on the men, the machine, and the sheep. After a while, the machine starts to wiggle and bobble and then stretches out its neck waaaaaaaaaaay up into the trees. One of the men is standing on its head. Cabol can't watch. An eternity passes, and Cabol hears a cheer explode from the group of men. She peers out the window but can't see anything that interesting. Just a bunch of tree branches on the ground.

Chapter 11
Cabol is diligently working when the internet connection drops. Cabol yelps. She calls Andy.

Cabol: "Help! HELP!! No internet! AIE! PANIC PANIC!"
Andy rambles on about technical things.
Cabol: "I am panicking! I have no internet! Stop asking me questions!"

Cabol: "Oh. Look. The power is out."

Epilogue
The power is back now, but the men and machine are gone. So are the fireflies. There are tree branches littering the ground under the power lines, and one power pole is wearing a brand new insulator. The electrical line running from the road to the house is no longer swinging in the trees, sparking and humming when it comes into contact with a branch.

The End

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Introduction:
Can you picture how pretty the glow of firefly butts would be in the winter with all the shiny snow?

Chapter 1:
A while back, Cabol notices little flickers of light out in the trees. At first she thinks it is fireflies, but it is too cold for fireflies. After a while of contemplation, she shrugs her shoulders and writes it off as the neighbors tromping about with a flashlight or telling ghost stories by a camp fire. She goes to eat pizza.

Chapter 2:
A few days ago, Andy has the pleasure of spending a lot of real quality time shoveling snow down by the barn near the trees where Cabol had seen the faux fireflies. He hears a creepy zzzzzzzzzzzzzzping sound from the power lines that follow a line of large pines down one side of our property. He makes Cabol go listen to the creepy sound. Cabol and Andy both say, "Hm. That's probably not good." They go eat pizza.

Chapter 3:
Last night, the three of us run errands and don't return until after dark. Cabol carries the flashlight and trudges along the driveway out front, her eyes fixed on the ground lest she end up in a giant snow pit. Apparently Andy has cat eyes and feet because as he follows he does some sightseeing. Peering up into the trees down there by the barn, he sees them. The fireflies. The cats go eat pizza.

Chapter 4:
Andy calls the power company, who is eating pizza.

Chapter 5:
Around 9pm, as Cabol sits on the couch in her flannel frog nightie catching up on work and Anya sleeps and Andy does whatever he does in his officey area...something goes thump thump thump.

Andy calls out, "Did you make a noise?"
Cabol says, "Huh?"

Thump thump thump.

Andy, "Did you make that noise?"
Cabol, "I like pizza!"

Andy answers the door. Because there is someone at the door. The door at the end of the quarter-mile-long driveway covered in mountains of ice and snow pits filled with giant roaming sheep. At night. Who could it be?

TO BE CONTINUED
Will our fearless heroes be robbed by marauding bandits? Will they be converted into Baptists? Will they buy a hundred boxes of Girl Scout cookies out of pity for the crazy little kid who knocked on the door? Or, will they get delivery pizza for the first time in four years?

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