Baartock | Page 9

thoughts, they didn't seem to bother her. All she saw was a seven-year-old child who should be in school.
"Have you enrolled Baartock in school?" she asked.
"What? What school?" asked Whinnurf Slinurp.
Mrs. Jackson had it all figured out now. Troll or not, this was another parent who had to be told about the importance of education, the state laws requiring school attendance, and all the other things about school. "All children are supposed to go to school," she said. "Baartock is supposed to go to school."
"Go school today," Baartock told his mother.
"Baartock," said Mrs. Jackson, "why don't you show Mr. Fennis around? I need to talk to your mother for a few minutes." Both Baartock and Mr. Fennis started to say something, but she cut them both off.
"We'll only be a few minutes," she said again. "We'll call you.
"Come on, Baartock. Why don't you show me around?" Mr. Fennis decided that one young troll was probably better than two trolls and a school principal.
Baartock led the way back toward the dry stream bed. He wasn't sure what he would be able to show. All the noise this human, Mr. Fennis, was making was scaring everything away. Even the squirrels and mice were all hiding. He pointed through the trees at a head-knocking bird.
"It's a red-headed woodpecker," said Mr. Fennis, when he finally saw it.
Then Baartock got an idea. He knew just what to show. He started up the hill along the stream bed.
"We shouldn't go too far. We have to be able to hear when they call."
"Can hear. Not far," said Baartock as he kept scrambling up the hill. This was something that no amount of noise could scare away.
"Please slow down," asked Mr. Fennis after a few minutes. He wasn't used to racing up hills, and he was getting hot.
"Not far," repeated Baartock, but he did slow down to let Mr. Fennis catch up.
At one time there must have been a lot of water coming down from a spring, because the stream bed was wide in some places and deep in others as it cut a path down the hill. But now it was dry most of the time, except when it rained, when the water would come churning down the hill, bubbling past the rocks and washing the leaves down hill. Then after the rain ended, it would stop flowing, just leaving pools to dry up in the sunlight.
Mr. Fennis caught up with Baartock at a bend in the stream bed, just where it went around a clump of trees. Baartock just pointed up the hill.
"Mine," he said.
Mr. Fennis stopped to see what he was pointing at. Just a little way up the hill was a stone bridge over the stream bed. Mr. Fennis stared at it.
The bridge looked just like a picture out of a story book. It was a low, wide, stone arch crossing over the stream. Big, heavy stones made up the pillars on each end and the curved bottom of the bridge. Lots of smaller flat stones filled in the walls, and some bigger ones topped off the walls. There were trees and bushes going up to the bridge on either side. Under the arch, there was the glitter of sunlight on a pool on the other side. It was a very pretty sight, but Mr. Fennis couldn't think why anyone would build a bridge here, so far away from everything.
Baartock ran to the bridge and stood under it, and looked back at Mr. Fennis with a big grin. "Mine," he said again.
Mr. Fennis hurried to the bridge too. He had never seen a real stone bridge like this before. "Baartock," he said, "you shouldn't stand under there. It might not be safe."
"Not safe?" asked Baartock.
"One of those stones might fall down."
"Not fall down," said Baartock, not grinning any more. "I make. Good bridge. Trolls make good bridge. I show you good bridge."
He came out from under the bridge, and went scrambling up the side of the stream bed. Mr. Fennis looked for a better place to climb up, but finally climbed where Baartock had. When he got up to the end of the bridge, Baartock was in the middle. And he wasn't just standing there. He was jumping up and down.
"I make good bridge," he said again. "Not fall down.
"Yes. It's a good bridge," agreed Mr. Fennis. He stopped watching Baartock and examined the bridge. It did seem safe. It really did look like someone had just built it. The path on each side only went about ten feet into the woods and stopped. There didn't seem to be any reason for anyone to build a bridge in the middle of the woods. He didn't even consider what Baartock had said, that he had built it.
Baartock stood watching Mr. Fennis for a minute, then