*
The next day dawned with sunlight streaming through the windows. Gertrude found himself scurrying about long before his mother was up. He had checked his wound and it was healing nicely. All of the redness and inflammation had disappeared. He felt good and well rested, so he brought wood in for his mother and supplied the kitchen with stores from the outdoor larder.
A hot pot of freshly made blog sat bubbling on the stove. Gertrude sat down and reread the invitation to the birthday ball, then poured a couple of mugs of blog and busied himself with making breakfast. His mother had taught him the basics of cooking and he felt comfortable around the kitchen. She always laughed when she told him about the time his father was going to make some blog and asked her how you boiled the water for it. Gertrude chuckled. He had always wished he had been able to meet his father. He shook his head and got on with the task at hand, set the table, put the food out and knocked on his mother’s door. There was no answer. He quietly went over to the bed and tapped her on the shoulder.
Winifred moaned and mumbled, “Can’t I sleep a little longer, Mother, please?”
Gertrude smiled. In as shrill a voice as he could muster, he tried to imitate his grandmother’s voice. “No, deary, it is time to get your tired butt up and get washed and ready for breakfast.”
Winifred stirred some more. “Mmmmmmmm… did you make me something good for breakfast?”
“I made you something that you like.” Gertrude chuckled as he tried once again to sound like his grandmother, failing miserably, he thought. He tapped his mother on the shoulder once again. “Mother!”
Winifred stirred and opened up her eyes. “Oh, I was having the most pleasant dream. I dreamt that your grandmother was waking me up on one of my lazy days when I was much younger. Her voice sounded so real.”
Gertrude smiled. “Come, Mother, breakfast is getting cold as you lie here dreaming.” He turned to leave the room and, as he did, he quipped in his best ‘grandmother’ impersonation as possible. “Don’t ye dawdle none, either, or else the broom you will feel on your backside!”
Winifred sprung from her bed as if she had been bitten by a bee and chased Gertrude out into the kitchen. She grabbed her broom and landed a couple of light blows on his backside. A good hearty belly laugh was exactly what was needed by both of them. Winifred went back into her room and put on her old tattered robe and returned to the table. “It looks wonderful... Mmm... a might on the cold side, though.” She shot a quick smile at Gertrude.
“I will let you be the first to know, Mother. I plan on accepting the nomination for Grand Troll.”
Winifred smiled, raised her mug of blog. “A toast to my son, Gertrude of Tinker Hollow, the next Grand Troll of Awll.” She clunked her mug against her son’s.
“I am not so sure that I will get elected to the post. Wixor is well-liked and respected in our village and, if you have forgotten, my election to the position of Grand Troll can be challenged by any troll who feels he is worthy of the position.” Gertrude took a deep drink of his blog.
“I do not foresee a challenge coming your way. You also are well-respected and liked. Plus you have the advantage of being my son and the son of a dearly loved prior Grand Troll. Your father is probably busting out of his britches with pride at this moment.” Winifred was getting misty-eyed again. “I am such a blubbering, old troll.”
“After breakfast I will go inform Gillion of my intentions.” Gertrude got up and went over to the stove to get more blog. “Would you like a refill, Mother?”
“Yes, I would, thank you.” Winifred held up her cup. “What made you decide to accept the nomination?”
Gertrude paused as he was pouring his mother’s second cup of blog. “I think the main reason I accepted it was because of my friendship with Norman, the king and queen. I believe if our relations were friendlier with the humans it would benefit everyone involved. There is so much mistrust between our two cultures. I do not believe it should remain that way.” He finished pouring the cup of blog and filled his with the remainder, then sat down and quietly to eat the rest of his meal. “Mother, I now have a question for you. What was the reason father became Grand Troll?”
“Surprisingly, it was for the same reason you are running. Your father’s friendship with King Norman started him thinking how grand it would be to expand our knowledge of the human culture. In return, they would learn about ours. The trade would increase, bringing more prosperity to everyone involved. Your father felt that ‘knowledge and understanding were the keys to a peaceful life’. Unfortunately, not everyone in this village agreed with him, especially Toggart. That nasty troll was always worried that we would wind up third-class citizens of the kingdom. He argued his idea against your father’s. Harri was more closely aligned with your father’s idea. He even wanted to have a joint council formed with humans and trolls as members. Your father thought that was a good idea. Of course, Toggart hated it.” Winifred looked at her son. “Since this is a day for questions, have you seen Toddy lately?”
“No, but I am sure she is all right.” Gertrude squirmed in his chair. A knock sounded at the door. Gertrude jumped up and pulled the door open, shocked to see Toddy on the other side.
“Well, are you going to ask me in or are you going to stand there and just let the cold air in?” Toddy flashed one of her coquettish smiles.
“I am sorry, Toddy. I was surprised to see you.” Gertrude blushed.” Mother and I had just mentioned you in our conversation. She had asked if I had seen you lately.”
“No, you haven’t seen me lately. I have felt very neglected.” Once again she smiled, and winked at Winifred.
“How are you, my child? You have come at a very special time. You tell her, Gertrude.” Winifred got up from the table. “Would you care for a cup of blog, my dear?”
“No, thank you, Winifred. I came by to tell you that the committee is meeting today at two. I am going around informing the members. Gillion wanted me to let you both know that there will be a nomination for two new members to the council. Yux and Borggst have both resigned their positions.”
“Good riddance to those two, I say! They probably have some nasty thing that has taken them away from their responsibilities.” Winifred winced as if a bad thought had entered into her mind.
“Oh no…!” She mumbled. She quickly went over to the shelf where she kept the rule book and immediately started looking for something in its tattered, well-read pages. “Just as I suspected! Those scoundrels resigned for a reason!” She started reading from the book. “ ‘No election for Grand Troll can be held without the vote from the full committee’.” Winifred closed the book with a scowl.
Gertrude looked at her, perplexed. “What difference does it matter? You vote two new members in and then you take the vote.”
Winifred shook her head. “You don’t understand. The two new delegates must be nominated for the position. They, in turn, have three weeks to accept or decline the nomination. It was one of the rules that your father wanted changed.”
“Toggart declared himself Grand Troll after father’s death. What is the difference?”
“There is an emergency clause in the rules which states that another troll can claim Grand Troll in an emergency without a vote.” Suddenly Winifred smiled. “I seem to remember another clause in the book of rules. Once again she leafed through the pages. “Ah, here it is. It so states: if the acting Grand Troll calls an emergency meeting, the nominees to the positions vacated must accept that position, as temporary members, until the emergency has passed.”
“Someone should have nominated you for Grand Troll, Mother.” Gertrude smiled.
“I must get on my way. The next time I come, I promise to stay and join you for a cup of blog.” Toddy turned, opened the door and disappeared into the bright sunny day.
Winifred got up from her chair. “I am getting dressed and going to see Gillion. If I am not home before the meeting, don’t worry. I will see you at the meeting. It will be held at
the market building.” Winifred disappeared into her bedroom and came out quickly. She donned her coat and hat. “See you later, Gertrude.” She, too, disappeared through the doorway.
Gertrude busied himself with cleaning up the kitchen. When he finished, he went to his workshop to work on a birthday present for Norman. He wanted it to be really special and decided that he would construct a dowry chest. Winifred was going to fill it with fine linens and a few scarves woven from the webs of spiders.
Chapter Nine