CHAPTER VII
Pfeifer and Emiline walked out of town hall and headed for the park. Pfeifer was looking for a place to sit when a group of kids left a bench they were sitting on to follow some other Pied Piper actor or play. The bench faced the town hall and they could see Emiline's father and his friends on the balcony. They still seemed to be debating Pfeifer's question earlier though neither Pfeifer nor Emiline could hear what they were saying.
When they were seated, Pfeifer took out his fife and began playing a tune. Emiline suddenly felt her feeling of fear evaporate, just as it did earlier. Pfeifer stopped playing and put the fife back into his pocket.
"'Feeling better?" Pfeifer asked.
Emiline didn't answer his question. Instead she asked her own. "What are you going to do to me?"
Pfeifer shrugged. "Nothing."
"I don't believe you," Emiline said. "You didn't get what you wanted. You're going to kidnap me like you did those children."
Pfeifer looked at her for a moment then turned away to look back up at the balcony. One of the guests or councilors waved at him and he smiled and waved back. Then his face acquired a far-away look and began to speak.
"I was a vagabond once. Traveling from place to place looking for jobs just to have money for a meal. Some days, I didn't get to eat. Nobody wanted to hire someone who didn't know much about any job. The problem was, I wasn't in any job long enough to learn anything.
"One day I found the remains of a dead man in the forest. All that was left of him were bones and the clothes he wore. I searched through his pockets but found no money, thieves may have killed and robbed him. I did find this fife, however." He waved the musical instrument indicating that it was the same fife. "I thought I might be able to earn money as a musician so I decided to take it and learn how to play. I had no inkling what it really was.
"Soon, I got a job tending sheep. It's not as easy as you might think. Sheep tend to stick close to each other when they sense danger but when they feel safe, they can start to spread apart. If you fall asleep or take your mind off them for a few minutes, you'll lose a few of them. You need to keep the herd together, look out for wolves or other predators, and you need to get the sheep to the shearers or to market.
"One day I was playing a tune while watching the sheep. A few of them started to wander away though they weren't too far yet. In my mind I told them to come back while continuing to play. I was relieved to see them return. I didn't think it was because of the fife but after it happened again and again, I began to wonder...and experiment. It was soon clear. The fife enabled me to command animals…," he looked at Emiline, "…and people." He turned back to looking at the people on the balcony. "From there it was just a matter of time before I began to use the fife to earn money."
Emiline turned toward him too. "You didn't use it to steal? Sorry, but I find that hard to believe."
Pfeifer looked a bit hurt. "I can't blame you for thinking that but it's true. I performed services in exchange for money. In fact, I was earning so much I didn't know where to keep the money. I was sitting beside a hill when I started playing my fife while thinking of building a home. That's when the hill opened up."
Pfeifer's eyes seemed to go out of focus as he remembered the event. "I went inside and found myself in another world. There was no day and no night. There was plenty of food and it was safe. But there was no one else but me. I didn't like it. I vowed I'd never go back in. For the next few months, I wandered around, continuing to offer my services to individuals, towns, and cities."
Pfeifer took a deep breath and released it. "Then Hamelin happened. When the town refused to pay me, I got so angry that I went back to that world and fumed and paced around for several minutes. I decided I needed to teach them a lesson."
Pfeifer straightened a little before continuing. "I took the children and led them back into that idealistic but unhappy place. I was planning on keeping them for a few days and bring them back to Hamelin. I had not counted on them liking the place.
"They played when they wanted, ate when they wanted, and slept when they wanted. To them it was the best place in the world. There was no one to tell them to come home when they still wanted to play; the food was delicious, not like the gruel that some of them ate; and there was no one to get angry with them. I decided to let them enjoy themselves for a few more days."
Emiline was still looking at him as he told his story. She saw a sad expression come across his face. "After two weeks, I decided to take them back."
Emiline's eyes widened. This was a part of the story that had never been told.
"You took them back? But why doesn’t anyone know that part of the story? What happened? Did they pay you?"
A pained look appeared on Pfeifer's face. His mouth opened several times as if attempting to say something. Finally, he shook his head and stood up. He turned to Emiline and smiled a sad smile.
"Goodbye Emiline. Thank you for everything and sorry for frightening you."
Emiline watched him depart, wondering what had happened. Then, from about a hundred feet away, he took out his fife and put it to his mouth. Emiline clearly heard the music and knew it was for her. She braced herself for another take over but felt no urge to get up and follow him. The music stopped and she saw him put the fife back into his belt and continued walking away. Emiline wondered what the song did to her when she discovered she could move again. She stood up and ran toward town hall and her father. She had almost reached it when she stopped. She had been expecting to hear Pfeifer's fife but heard nothing. He wasn't going to stop her.
Emiline considered what she was going to tell her father and his companions. No one's going to believe me. She decided to go home.
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CHAPTER VIII
Hours later, while eating a late dinner with her mother, Emiline fought to keep her adventure a secret. Her father had called saying that he would be late and she wanted to wait for him so he could tell both them at the same time. Emiline was picking at her food when she heard the front door open. She ran to the door and hugged him tightly.
"Well, this is a pleasant welcome!" He picked her up and planted a kiss on her cheek before putting her back down. She was about to tell her story when her mother beat her to her father's attention.
"Why so late tonight," his wife asked.
"Well," he answered, "the strangest thing just happened."
Emiline stopped, wondering if Pfeifer had anything to do with this "strange thing."
"What happened?" her mother asked.
"Well, Chief Bloss came over just before the festivities officially closed. A lot of orphans suddenly turned up at the town hall's police station. He'd spent most of the day investigating and it seems that none of them are related to anyone in town." He shook his head in disbelief. "How could 130 orphans suddenly turn up without anyone noticing?"
130? Emiline's thoughts raced. But he said, he'd returned them already. She went back over what Pfeifer had said earlier. He said they were inside the hill for only two weeks or so and he'd taken them out to bring back to Hamelin, did he push through with it? Or had he retaken them? But why did he choose to bring them back after another seven hundred years?
(Can you guess what happened?)
THE END
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