The Unlucky Number
(yawn) Sunny awaken to the sunlight of the crisp fall morning as the trolls around her stirred in their sleep. As the other trolls rose from their slumber she ate some mushrooms she had gathered for her big family.
“Mommy” a little troll sniffed “he stepped on my toe” she pointed to a big troll standing at the doorway of their gigantic home. Sunny hated to break the news to her but she needs to toughen up. After everybody ate, she sat down and performed attendance.
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13” gasps and murmurs filled the air as a sudden chill slithered down her spine. But it wasn’t the kind that blew in the crisp winter, it was the ones that signaled hard things were coming.
“Someone must leave” one shouted. “The unlucky number” another troll panted as she fought with three other trolls
“Everybody what’s gotten into you guys?”
“Someone make this wimp leave.” A troll yelled.
“No, no one is leaving unless they either want to. We will sort
this out” Sunny said firmly. She counted over and over again but the
number didn’t change, same unlucky 13. She decided to take a walk to clear her head when Stone joined her.
“What's wrong?” Sunny asked
“You know what’s wrong” he answered sadly. Sunny never knew the big grumpy troll could be so soft on the Inside.
”Well there’s nothing we can do.” she replied. She was just as sad as Stone was but they couldn’t think of anything to do.
“Hey Sunny can I ask you for a favor?”
“Sure, anything.” Sunny said, curious to hear what the big troll has to say.
“Will you let me leave the family?” Asked Stone. Sunny gasped at his request.
“Yes, but are you sure you want to?” she said swallowing back tears.
“Yes. I will do it if the family will be happy again.”
Sunny didn’t want Stone to leave, but it solves their problem, and Stone has the right to leave. That night Sunny tossed and turned but could not fall asleep, so she thought about the problem that they faced. She thought about it from every angle but Sunny just couldn’t think of anything. She finally came up with some ideas and wrote
them on the floor in case she forgot. It was pitch dark so Sunny lit her mushroom and grabbed a stick, her handwriting was sloppy but it will do. The next morning she was excited and ready to test out her ideas... but first she needed a partner. She grabbed Stone
away from his breakfast and told the big troll her ideas.
“Option 1, make all the trolls love each other and then they will
get along.” Sunny wasn’t sure it would work. She thought the idea would blow away in her mind like a leaf blown away from a tree, but instead it was the first thing that popped up in her head
“Option 2, force a troll to leave.” She knew that would work but she didn’t want anyone to leave so she might not use that One.
“Option 3, break up her family and separate everyone.” Nope not happening she was not being alone. Sunny sighed,
“Whatever let’s just go home and sleep the others will be worried about us.”
Stone nodded in agreement. He then ran back to the den. When she got to the den she was surprised nobody was fighting. FOr the rest of the day, Sunny pondered the problem. On and on the thoughts came and went like the weather throughout the year. Then she thought, how long will this last? Trolls big and small were already
getting hurt, this needs to stop. When she got to her room she saw the list she drew and there was checks and crosses in the check boxes. There was only one checked, it was the one that made everybody love each other. That was why Stone was running. Now she knew she had to make each and every troll love each other and she was going to start with the elders. When she got to the elders sheltered grove, there was Moss, Bark, and Willow waiting for her.
“Hello, I was wondering, why can’t we all forget it and live together in harmony? I mean, does it matter? It’s just a number.
“I guess,” Replied willow, “I never wanted to fight, I just didn’t want to be called a weakling.” The rest of the elder nodded their head in agreement with Willow.
“Well let’s go tell everyone” Sunny said. She waited until they were all finished with mushroom stew. Then Sunny made her announcement
“All trolls big and small. Today we are one again. Because it doesn’t matter if we are thirteen, so long as we are all together.” Sunny said proudly. The trolls all murmured and nodded, then they all agreed.
“From this day and forward, it does not matter if the number is lucky or unlucky we are all one family so we are always together. We will never hurt our fellow trolls ever again.” She thought her speech was well received. Sunny was sunny again.