Chapter Fourteen
Now That’s One Sturdy Broom
“Gobstoppers,” Maria whispered.
Turning her awestruck eyes to the curator, Sara asked, “Did you just… make Jasper disappear?”
Evelyn was nonchalant in her response. “Why, yes. I suppose I did.”
As Evelyn had depressed the switch that was hidden within the penguin, a concealed trapdoor had opened up in the middle of the office, swallowing both Jasper and the Persian rug he had been standing upon. But as the sisters eyed this strange development, they could see that the chute that was hidden beneath the trapdoor had not completely gobbled up the janitor.
Propped against the floorboards was the mahogany broom, arranged horizontally across the gap of the trapdoor. Wrapped around the shaft of the broom was Jasper’s huge hand, and the sound of a telltale grumble came from within the hole that had just opened up in the middle of the office.
Uncertain of what had just occurred before their very eyes, the sisters slowly crept toward the place where Jasper had dropped. With the utmost caution, they peered over the edge of the opening. The hole was perfectly square, indicating that it had been purposefully (and rather cleverly) engineered into the floor of the office.
The Persian rug had long since vanished, disappearing into the mysterious hole that had opened up. Jasper’s weight upon the rug was more than enough to force it into the dark chute below him, and he had likewise plummeted within.
The only thing keeping him from falling farther was his mahogany broom, which he had somehow managed to maneuver into a horizontal position as he fell. With one end of the broom on either side of the trapdoor, the cleaning implement now had the dubious task of supporting the janitor’s entire suspended weight.
There, Jasper dangled. He held onto his broom with one hand, his knuckles white with exertion. He could not lift his other arm to assist, for it was bound in the sling. He peered up at the sisters as they approached, and his face was as red as a basket of superbly ripened strawberries. His teeth were clenched with the effort of hanging on, and a bead of sweat ran down his temple.
It was a most peculiar sight. And one that Maria and Sara found to be hilarious.
“Now that’s one sturdy broom,” Maria noted with amazement.
And it was true, for though Jasper’s mahogany broom flexed and bowed beneath his tremendous weight, it held fast, refusing to splinter or snap in two.
“Hey, look at that,” Sara said. “There it is!”
She was pointing at Jasper’s hand, where he was holding on for dear life. The sleeve of his shirt had pulled back, exposing his wrist and part of his forearm. There, they could see something that had always before been hidden to them.
Partially concealed by the band of his wristwatch and a thick layer of arm hair, there was a small tattoo. It was identical to the one that Evelyn had, shaped in the likeness of a Black Hat. Of course, Jasper’s wrist was so thick, the tattoo was quite insignificant on his person, almost like a birthmark, or a smudge of spilled ink that had taken on a curious shape.
Evelyn appeared beside the girls, and she peered down at Jasper with a cool, calculating interest. “Ah. Still holding on, are you? I was hoping for a cleaner descent, I must admit.”
“What’s gotten into you?” Jasper squawked. “How dare you do this to me? Don’t you realize who I am? Don’t you realize what you’ve done?”
“Yes, yes, it’s all quite shocking, I’m sure. My apologies, Jasper, but it’s all for the best. You’ll see in the end.” Evelyn considered this for a moment. “Unless if you don’t, of course. But perhaps you’ll come around, eh? One can always hope.”
“This is the blackest of betrayals! The darkest of double crossings! There will be no forgiveness for such treachery, I tell you!” Jasper bellowed, though it was difficult to take him very seriously, as he dangled below them, holding fast to his broom for support.
“Oh, dear. He’s starting to pontificate again,” Evelyn told the sisters. “Once he gets going, it’s oftentimes difficult to stop him, I’m afraid.”
“Oh, yes, we know all about that,” Sara assured the curator.
“You will never, ever get away with this!” Jasper promised. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make you pay for this insult!”
“You see?” Evelyn asked the girls. “There he goes, promising his doom and gloom, ranting about this and that, carrying on about the many grand splendors of his remarkable vision.”
“I take exception to that!” Jasper squawked.
“Young ladies,” Evelyn said to the sisters. “Will you be so kind as to assist Mr. Cragglemeister in his journey? He seems reluctant to depart.”
“Gladly,” they answered in unison, and without the slightest hesitation.
This was a most unique situation, and Maria and Sara felt no qualms about assisting Evelyn in her attempt to dispatch Jasper. He had done such dastardly things in recent days, it was hard to summon any sympathy for him. As the sisters edged closer to the trapdoor, an alarmed look came about Jasper’s face.
“Oh… hello, little children. I’m sure you understand that I was just kidding about all that nonsense about, you know… punishment… and vengeance… and you know, all that stuff I said about you being miserable, misbegotten punks. What say you help ol’ Mr. Cragglemeister up, and we’ll have some milk and cookies, and have a good laugh about all this?”
“Milk and cookies? Holy macaroni, Jasper, you really are a fiddle-brained fool, aren’t you?” Sara asked. “Did you actually think we would fall for that?”
Seeing that his weak attempt to hoodwink the girls had failed in spectacular fashion, Jasper returned to his previously enraged condition. He snarled up at them, “Listen, you punks! Don’t you dare do this, or I swear – it will be the last mistake you ever make!”
“Pipe down, you doorknob!” Maria advised in response to this threat. “You’re always spouting off about one thing or another. How about you try saving your voice for a bit?”
“You’re not scaring anybody, Jasper,” Sara told him. “You already tried to crush us with your giant Mecha-Machine, and we got the best of you. After all the things you’ve done to us, you probably think you can just push us around, but it’s not working, is it? Don’t you get it? We’ll always stand up to you – no matter what.”
The sisters had crept to the very edge of the trapdoor, and now they carefully lowered themselves into kneeling positions. Pressing the rubber soles of their sneakers against the wooden floor for purchase, they grabbed hold of the broom and began to slowly push it.
Doing so was not the easiest of feats, but with their combined strength, they were able to inch the end of the broom toward the waiting hole. Once it passed the edge of the trapdoor, Jasper would no longer be supported by anything… and he would plummet like a stone. This, of course, did not go unnoticed by the janitor.
“Don’t you dare! Stop where you are!” Jasper ordered. With his other arm in the sling, he could do nothing but hang on and watch. As his undesirable fate seemed to become increasingly likely, his tone had shifted from one of outrage to that of sheer disbelief. “I can’t believe you’re going to wrong ol’ Jasper like this… you miserable children. I always knew you were punks!”
“Well, I really think you had this coming, Jasper,” Sara told him. “You’ve been up to no good for a long time now. I’m sure you’ll be fine, so long as you land on that rock-like head of yours.”
“And by the way – you stink like one of those cheap air fresheners for cars,” Maria added. “You know what I’m talking about. Those ones that are shaped like trees, with the pine scent. Cleaning solution should never be used as aftershave, in my humble opinion.”
“That’s preposterous! I take my cleaning responsibilities very seriously, I’ll have you know!” Jasper rebutted.
“Scoot, scoot, scoot,” Maria said, as she and her sister continued to slowly push the broom, inching it closer to the edge of the trapdoor’s hole. “Just
scoot right along there, Mr. Cranky Pants!”
“I’m telling you, for the last time,” Jasper growled, as his imminent fate closed in upon him. “Don’t you dare do this! Or I will make you pay, I promise you that!”
“And we’re telling you for the last time,” Sara answered. “We’re not afraid of you.”
There was a moment where the sisters could see that the statement had struck at the core of Jasper. He realized the truth of those words, and they could see the fear in his single eye, mingled with outrage and disbelief. As outlandish as it might seem to him, it was true. These children really weren’t afraid of him. Their gumption knew no limitations.
No sooner had this realization struck Jasper than the end of the broomstick went over the edge of the hole. Jasper’s weight made him plummet like a bowling ball, and he fell into the darkness below.
“Curse… you… whippersnappers!” his voice could be heard, growing fainter as he fell.
There also came the sounds of many bings and dings, and bangs and booms, as he thudded his way down the mysterious chute, as well as the interspersed exclamations of “oof!”
After several moments of these unruly noises, there was silence from the shaft. There was only darkness, and a mild draft of cool air, whispering up and into the office.