Mac and the Little People Ch. 12

"I'll see what I can do."

Mac carried Fifi through the living room. As he passed through to the kitchen, he noticed that his belongings were stacked neatly beside the front door. It looked like Cuttystool was hinting very strongly that he should leave. She even folded his cot properly. He turned and walked into the kitchen.

Cuttystool was gone, and the brush was too. He scanned the room for any sign she was waiting to ambush them. A little thump followed by a stifled curse alerted him to her presence.

"She is invisible somewhere in here." said Tia.

Mac snatched the tablecloth off the table and threw it at the general area the thump came from. It settled to the floor except for a brownie shaped lump. Mac put Fifi down and gathered the tablecloth around Cuttystool.

"Stoop it, thoo brigand!" complained Cuttystool. She struggled ineptly. Mac sat her on the kitchen table. He uncovered her head so they could talk face to face.

"I'm taking this," said Mac as he pulled the hairbrush out of her bound hands. Then he laid her down on the table and swaddled her in the tablecloth. He had enough practice wrapping up wiggling infants to keep them from clawing their own eyes out that a bound brownie was easy. When he was done Cuttystool resembled a very angry wooden caterpillar in a cocoon.

"Thoo canna do noothin to me warse ats been doon befoore." she said. It reminded Mac of Tia's story the night before. He couldn't think of many things worse than being turned into a marionette. Mac looked down into her black glassy eyes. The cruelty in them seemed so pathetic now that she was restrained and couldn't do anything. She was no more dangerous than a wasp in a jar. He could rough her up with the hairbrush again. It wouldn't even be a fight. She was in his power. But then Mac thought it over. She couldn't hurt him, but at the same time he couldn't really hurt the little wooden woman.

Mac held her head in both his hands. He wondered how long it had been since she had somebody be nice to her. He wondered if she had any friends, any sexual attention, or if she could have any use of such attention. She glared back up at him. Mac felt himself beginning to lose resolve, so he bent down and kissed her before second guessing himself turned to third guessing himself. Her wooden lips were hard and cold. Then Cuttystool tried to bite him. Mac pulled away just in time to keep from getting his lips caught in her vice-like mouth.

"Thoo roogue! Uncooth sooldier! Keep thoos mooth to Thoonself!"

Mac traced a finger along her jaw line. Cuttystool glared up at him. Tia giggled behind her hand.

"Is noot foony!" Cuttystiil shouted at her.

"Maybe not for you now, but soon you will wish you hadn't tried to bite," said Tia.

Mac departed for the living room to put on some fresh clothes. He didn't put his wet boots back on. Instead he picked his other shoes. They had once been cross trainers, but they were so worn out that they were only good for putting a layer of rubber between his feet and the ground. He returned to the kitchen to find Tia holding Fifi and trying to comb her hair with her fingers.

"Do you have a knife or something? I don't think I can do anything with her hair until I cut out this mess. It's hard to believe a gremlin that lives with a human wouldn't eventually learn to brush her hair."

Mac looked in the drawers. He eventually found some small scissors that looked like they would be small enough for Tia's hands. He handed them to her.

"I'm going to cut her hair, not stab it" said Tia. Mac was puzzled for a moment, then realized the elf had never seen scissors. He showed her how they worked by snipping off one of Fifi's matted up tangles. Tia's eyes lit up. "That's even better for hair cutting," she said.

Mac gave her the scissors. Then he turned to go, but turned back when he heard an excited shriek from Tia. She was holding a matted wad of hair that more or less resembled a drowned mouse. "I cut off this while one of those black things was on it, and it fizzled out."

"See if you can make more of those things fizzle. I'll be back in a while." Mac turned to leave a second time

"Wait" said Tia. Mac turned back again. "Kiss Fifi and I before you go". Mac got down on his hands and knees. Tia turned her face up to him with her silvery lips parted slightly. He meant to give her a quick peck but Tia grabbed his ears and held his head still. She drew his tongue into her mouth. Mac's tongue found hers and the two rubbed each other like worms mating. Tia moaned into Mac's mouth. He put one hand around her waist. He could feel her tremble in his grip. Tia let go of Mac's mouth and pushed his face away.

"I think that was a little more than goodbye" she said.

Mac took Fifi's ear in his mouth and held it for a few seconds. He hoped that somewhere inside she was still aware that she was loved. He arose and turned to go.

"What am I then? Darty loondry?" said Cuttystool indignantly. Mac turned back the third time. Cuttystool's glassy eyes looked almost inviting. "Kiss me too," she said.

"Are you trying to bite me again?"

"Noo."

"Do you promise?"

"I proomise I wonna try to hurt thoo," said the brownie.

"Told you so," said Tia.

"Will thoo oontie my hands? Wonna hurt thoo with them either. Proomise."

Mac reached down into the cocoon and untied the brownies hands. When she had them free of the tablecloth she moved her hands cautiously toward Mac's chest.

"Donna be afraid. I just need...To feel real flesh," said Cuttystool.

Mac held her wrists and guided her hands to his chest. He wanted to give her a chance to be gentle, but at the same time didn't quite trust her. Cuttystool's jointed wooden hands were cold on his bare chest. "I feel your heart," she said, not exactly tenderly but without malice in her voice. "Noow kiss me," said Cuttystool.

Mac leaned over and kissed her lips. He was in no rush this time. Cuttystool had promised not to try to hurt him. Mac traced his tongue along the crease where her lips met. Suddenly she pushed Mac away.

"Tie me oop, quick! She's calling me!" Mac paused a moment, but when he figured out what was going on he reached into the rolled up tablecloth in search of her bonnet. As he groped, Cuttystool balled her hands into fists and pounded his ribs mercilessly with mean little wooden punches. He finally found the bonnet. Mac had some difficulty tying her hands together behind her back, but after a minute of struggle he had Cuttystool tied and wrapped up like a malicious burrito.

"I really have to go. I'll be back soon," said Mac on his way out the destroyed back door.

---

Tia held Fifi against her chest and tried to time her snips with the movement of those damned little black dots. She snipped the end of another tangle and a dot with it. The dot winked out of existence with a hiss like a water droplet on a hot stove top.

"She's sending somebody," said Cuttystool.

"What do you mean?" asked Tia.

"The queen. She is sending somebody to kill you two," said Cuttystool

"Why kill us?"

"To break Mac."