04. How Dorothy Saved The Scarecrow
Dorothy and Toto made their way along the Yellow Brick Road, making good time and enjoying the nice weather. Sometimes she let Toto run along side of her, but the rest of the time she had to carry the small dog. Soon she had passed through the flower fields of the Munchkins. The multi colored flower fields gave way to vast cornfields, a sight all to familiar to Dorothy. Every now and then, she would spot a farmhouse close to the road, but the inhabitants were usually to shy to come out and see her.
After half a day of traveling, Dorothy came to a fork in the road. Both paths headed to the west, with one curving to the south and one curving to the north. She couldn't see very far down either path, and the height of the corn blocked the horizon from her. She tried to decide which way to choose, but neither of the two seemed right over the other.
"Well, Toto," she said as she sat down on a stone by the side of the road, "I guess now is as good a time as any to have our lunch. Maybe some time resting will help me pick a path." Dorothy pulled out a sandwich for herself and several scraps of meat for Toto. "Mmmm. Eat up, little doggy. We're not going to stop again until dark."
Dorothy had finished off her sandwich and an apple, and was packing their things back up when she heard a voice coming from the corn. "Hello," she asked. "Is someone out there?"
"Um, Yes. I'm out here. I'm sort of tied up over here, though..." The voice was coming through the corn stalks. It sounded like a kind voice, but Dorothy couldn't see who the speaker was through the corn.
"Toto, you stay hear and guard the basket. I'm going to go see who that is." Dorothy stepped off of the path and made her way toward the voice. "Excuse me," she called out, "but could you say something more, so I can find you?"
"Yes. I'm over here, Miss," the voice said over the corn. "Just a little farther..."
Dorothy glanced behind her and saw that the road was out of sight now. Everywhere she looked, it was corn as far as she could see. She moved towards the voice until she reached a small clearing in the field.
At the center of the clearing was a scarecrow up on a pole. He was dressed in farmer's clothing and had a blue hat on his head. His face was painted on with a permanent smile. There was no one else to be seen.
"Hello," Dorothy called out. "I'm over by the scarecrow, but I still can't see you." She nearly jumped out of her dress when the scarecrow spoke to her.
"If you can't see me, then you must not be looking. I'm the guy tied up to the post." The scarecrow on the pole turned his head towards her, his high position giving him a bird's eye view of her cleavage.
"Oh my! I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting--"
"I know, I know. What in Oz is a scarecrow doing in the middle of a cornfield, right?"
"That's not what I meant. I've just never seen a talking scarecrow before." She looked at the straw man closer, wondering how the words came out of a mouth that never moved.
"Well, I've never seen a dress filled out like that before," the scarecrow said, "so I guess that we're even. Could you do a guy a favor and get me down from here? It's been a month now and I'm really starting to get bored up here."
Dorothy saw that the straw man was bound at the waist, wrists and ankles to the post. "I suppose that I can let you down... How did you get up there in the fist place?"
"Ha... Well, that's a funny story," he said. "You see the farmer who owns this field put me together to guard his crops from crows. I was supposed to patrol the fields and make sure that nothing was eating his crops. Not being a flesh and bones creature, I never needed to sleep, so I paced the fields night and day. I did a pretty good job of it too, if I do say so myself."
Dorothy pulled the ankle ropes off of the scarecrow. "Well, if you were doing such a good job, why did you end up there?"
"I had a lot of spare time, you see, patrolling the field. A lot of time to think. and watch. The farmer had a daughter and she was a foxy young thing. Not as hot as you are, but still, not someone you kick out of bed. Eighteen and full of spunk, she was. Anyway, the daughter was lonely, being stuck on a farm in the middle of nowhere and I was the only guy around for miles that she wasn't related to. She would come out and walk with me sometimes, just walking and talking. One thing eventually led to another and our relationship became a little more physical... Which was great, until the farmer caught us in the field one day with our pants down. Well, my pants down, her skirt hiked up, you get the picture."
"Yes, I think so," Dorothy said as she unbound his wrists. "Daddy got mad that you were slipping his little girl the old corncob and placed you up here for punishment? Right?"
"Close enough," the scarecrow said. "I don't think that he was planning to let me down anytime soon either. I haven't seen anybody since they put me up here..."