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rayasoTopic: Intaglio
THE TROLL
There always comes a time to put away our childish things. Most of us do it on our own, when we’re ready. But for some, that time comes too soon and others do it for us. For Billy, that time was now.
Billy’s father had taken him out to Susie’s Diner for breakfast, which was a special treat. While they were gone, his mother had packed up all his stuffed animals in a box, and put it in the hallway.
When they got back, Billy knew what they’d done and started to cry, which irritated his parents and made his glasses fog up.
“Stop that!” commanded his mother, exasperated. “Don’t be a crybaby. You’re too old.”
The large cardboard box sat waiting for the trip to the Children’s Home. Billy managed to slip a tear-stained note inside: “Goodbye I love you all remember me.”
His parents would not have approved, but the animals felt a little better. How could they forget Billy? He had loved them and they had loved him, and that had made them alive.
But now they would not experience the slow fading of love, the gradual slipping into hibernation, the waiting for another child to love them. Instead, they were to be thrown away. Mom had said so and they were terrified. It was the worst thing that could happen to a toy. It meant oblivion.
Billy was in his bedroom, the fun drained out of it. He cried softly into his pillow, hoping his parents wouldn’t hear him.
“It’s time you grew up,” said his mother outside his door, before taking the box to the car. “You’re in the 4th grade! We couldn’t find your troll – where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Billy’s voice was muffled by his pillow and the door.
“Don’t worry,” his father said to his mother. “We’ll find it and get rid of it. Just take the others to the Home.”
There was no Children’s Home and Billy knew it. It was just another lie. He needed his toy friends, not more lies.
Troll was Billy’s favorite and the leader of all his stuffed animals. Billy knew exactly where he was. Troll was gone, and that was all that mattered. He was safe.
Troll was big, about a foot tall, and made of a soft plastic. He had wild orange hair, a perpetually goofy smile, and his arms were stretched out, ready for a hug. He was dressed like a caveman, with leopard-skin clothes.
When the roundup started, he was near the pet door and darted outside. He could hear the screams of the others, but he knew there was nothing he could do. He also knew what all trolls know: when you lose your child, you go to Intaglia.
The First Troll had been created there, out of the stories the people had told each other in the dark. It was their true Home – where they would always be welcome and safe. But getting there was another matter. It was in a wooded, mountainous region of Germany, full of caves and rivers. It was locked away from the world of humans, invisible and timeless.
The only way to get there is to put one foot in front of the other, Troll thought.
So he took that first step and countless others, until he finally arrived at Intaglia, worn, battered, and almost without hope.
Intaglia was full of trolls. There were cave trolls, bridge trolls, toy trolls like Troll, and even fierce battle trolls, who kept everyone safe and loved to eat cupcakes. Garden trolls made everything beautiful.
Troll first met Grynk, a huge battle troll in armor with a spear, a shield, and a lunch bag. Battle trolls are never far from their next snack.
“Have a cupcake,” growled Grynk. “You’re new. You must have lost your child.”
“Billy,” said Troll.
Eating the cupcake made him feel new again. Chocolate had that effect on trolls, who could never get enough. Billy had diabetes, so they had never had treats.
Maybe I could be a battle troll, thought Troll as he ate his third cupcake.
“Come with me,” roared Grynk, banging his spear against his shield. Like all battle trolls, Grynk took great pride in the amount of noise he could make.
Grynk took Troll to an administration troll high up in a cave, and left. Administration trolls were few and generally cranky, but they were necessary and everyone pretended to like them.
“You’re Billy’s troll,” said Brzk, looking at Troll’s file. “We weren’t expecting you – he still needed you.”
“Billy’s parents . . .,” said Troll.
“That’s why he needed you,” Brzk said. “But here you are, and we have to do something with you.”
“What do you mean?” asked Troll.
“We have too many toy trolls,” said Brzk. “Read this information and come back in the morning.”
Brzk handed Troll several brochures: “Cave Trolls – Smash Rocks with Us!;” “Bridge Trolls – Fun Under a Bridge!;” “Garden Trolls – Play in the Dirt!;” and finally a thick “Rules and Regulations.”
They all contained beautiful intaglio prints. Trolls invented intaglio printing long ago and loved it so much that they named their haven after it. They were still the best at it.
“Nude Troll”
Artist Unknown
First Known Intaglio Print, circa 1400
Intaglio Art Museum
I’ll read Rules first, thought Troll. All trolls loved rules. There was a Rules Club which met once a month to enjoy old rules and make new ones.
I’m hungry, thought Troll as he left Brzk’s office.
Fortunately, Intaglia had many fine restaurants. Troll found Treats ‘n Things and piled a plate high with chocolate cake, brownies, and cookies.
The stuff of life, thought Troll as he went back for fourths.
Later, Troll found an empty cave and settled in to read the brochures, starting with Rules.
The next morning, he knew what he wanted and headed straight to Brzk’s office.
“I want to be a cave troll,” said Troll.
“Really?” Brzk said, “I wouldn’t have thought you were the type.”
“All trolls love to smash things,” said Troll. “Why not rocks?”
Brzk filled out the paperwork and sent him off to a crew excavating a new cave. The rock was hard and they were behind schedule.
“Grab a sledge and get to work,” said Zank, the foreman.
Troll tried to pick up a sledgehammer but failed. All the other cave trolls were three times his size.
“Not another one,” sighed Zank. “Here, take this little hammer, get some small rocks from Vtbyk, and smash them into pebbles. When you’re done, go back to Brzk and tell him to never send me another toy troll again, or I’ll smash his head in.”
Troll worked hard at his rocks, but there was no Billy and he felt empty.
At the end of the day, he turned in his hammer and the next morning he stood before Brzk.
“Back so soon?” said Brzk. Most toy trolls lasted a week. He would have to speak to Zank about his managerial skills.
“I’d like to try being a bridge troll,” said Troll. “Sitting under a bridge all day, collecting tolls from Billy goats -- how hard can it be?”
The next morning, he reported to the riverbank under Stone Bridge to collect tolls. Trolls were free, Billy goats were one gold coin, and everyone else was one cookie, which he could eat.
He waited patiently by the river. Trolls came and trolls went, all hurrying by without time to talk. There were no Billy goats or anyone else. Then he remembered that only trolls lived in Intaglia.
Troll got bored very quickly. The river was damp and cold, and it was a long time until lunch. But worst of all, there was no Billy and he felt empty.
Three days later, Brzk was staring at Troll and Brzk did not look happy. Troll had seen Brzk’s hair droop as soon as he’d seen him coming.
“I think I’d make a good gardener,” said Troll before Brzk could speak. “I love plants.”
Brzk’s hair drooped even more.
“All trolls love plants,” Brzk finally said. “But OK. Just leave.”
Troll reported to the head gardener. He was given a wheel barrow, some tools, and a cart full of little plants. He loved planting the seedlings, trimming the shrubs and talking to the flowers. Finally, Troll was happy.
But the happiness didn’t last. There was no Billy and he still felt empty.
After a few weeks, Troll was back in Brzk’s office.
“Not again!” Brzk said, and threw Troll’s file at him. “You were a great gardener – what went wrong?”
“No Billy,” Troll said.
Brzk had seen this before – an unusually strong bond between toy and child. It generally faded over time, but he suspected that would never happen with Troll. He would never be happy here.
“I want to go back to Billy,” said Troll.
“You can’t,” said Brzk. “It’s against Rule 43(C)(1) – the No Going Back Rule. Once you enter Intaglia, you can’t leave.”
Brzk really wanted to help Troll, but there was nothing he could do.
Except one thing. It had never been done before and it would be the desperate act of a desperate administrator. Brzk would go to tonight’s meeting of the Rules Club and propose a rule change.
Administrators don’t make Rules, he thought. We only administer them – how else could we tell people that we can’t help them because we don’t make the rules?
Brzk shuddered at the thought of being useful, but there was nothing else to be done. If the Rules didn’t work, they would have to make some new ones.
At that night’s meeting of the Rules Club, Brzk explained Troll’s dilemma and proposed changing the No Going Back Rule. The uproar brought the roof down. There was a delay while some cave trolls cleaned up the debris.
Order was finally regained when Grynk smashed his spear against his shield and then drew his sword.
“I like Troll,” he growled. “Do it, or else . . .”
Even with an angry battle troll on his side, the best Brzk could do was change the rule to require No Going Back for trolls only. If Troll weren’t a troll, he could return to Billy. Of course, since only trolls were allowed in Intaglia, everything would still be the same. The new rule made no sense, which made everyone happy.
Brzk left the meeting with less of a scowl than usual. This was all he’d wanted. Of course, now he owed Grynk a favor. Trolls horded favors and doled them out very carefully. He hadn’t planned the collapse of the roof, but felt it was a nice touch. He would have to speak to Zank about the cave trolls’ work quality. They were good at smashing, but their building skills were weak.
His next step was to contact the Blue Fairy. She owed him many favors and it would take all of them to get what he needed.
He met the Blue Fairy at the border of Intaglia. Not even fairies could enter, not even the Blue Fairy, who was one of the most powerful. She had helped Pinocchio and maybe she could help Troll, for enough favors. Even fairies need favors.
On Monday, Green Trees Elementary School had a new student named Jimmy. His father was some kind of an administrator for the Dept. of Motor Vehicles.
The Blue Fairy had told Brzk and Troll that in one year her spell would wear off. For Troll, she would always renew it because she was impressed by Troll’s and Billy’s love for each other.
But Brzk would be more expensive. He would need a job in order to take care of Jimmy. The Blue Fairy had thought that Brzk would love working for the DMV, and she was right. After all, she had thought, once an administrator, always an administrator. And the DMV could always use more employees who were trolls at heart.
Jimmy found Billy sitting alone in the cafeteria eating his lunch, and he sat down opposite him. This rarely happened to Billy. He noticed Jimmy’s wild red hair and goofy smile, and he knew. Billy smiled back.
They became best friends, and their friendship never died.
One night, Jimmy slept over at Billy’s house. They had made a castle out of a table, sofa cushions, and some blankets. After Billy’s parents had gone to sleep, they crept up to the attic. Billy opened a large brown box hidden in a dark corner and took out all of his old stuffed animals to play.
These were the same stuffed animals that had been Troll’s other friends when he was still a toy. After Billy’s mother had taken them away, Billy had sneaked out to search his neighborhood. He had found them tossed in a dumpster outside the grocery store. He had brought them home and hidden them in the attic where he could still play with them and no one would know.
He had always missed Troll and wondered where he was. Until now.
Sometimes, childish things should not be put away. After all, who does it hurt?
* * * * *
no subject
Date: 2021-11-14 09:49 pm (UTC)Billy's parents are NOT good people. Shame on them! Lying to a child and forcing them to "conform" to ridiculous rules.
- Erulisse (one L)
no subject
Date: 2021-11-15 01:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-15 01:03 pm (UTC)I still have one stuffed dog (Toto) and an "original" Troll from the 60s.
I also saved the wooden alphabet blocks my grandma gave me...My kids and grandkids have played with them!....Oh....and all the 1000s of legos in an old suitcase...LOL
no subject
Date: 2021-11-15 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-15 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-15 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-16 08:39 pm (UTC)The line, "Administrators don’t make Rules, he thought. We only administer them – how else could we tell people that we can’t help them because we don’t make the rules?" really got me. :)
I don't think I have any of my old toys from when I was kid, and that now seems like a real shame to me.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-19 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-18 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-19 01:57 pm (UTC)