“Who’s that?” Fable asked.
“Someone’s daughter,” Georgie said. “I stole her for training purposes.”
“Training purposes?” Loki frowned. “You mean—“
“Yes. Yes,” Georgie said, searching for the right Baby Tears bottle for them. “A Boogeyman has to practice.”
“That’s horrible—”Fable was about to yell before Lucy cupped her mouth with her hand.
“But of course, you have to practice,” Lucy said.
Loki and Axel exchanged looks, torn between taking the child back to her parents and getting the Baby Tears.
“So you just scare the child once in a while?” Axel said. “Is that what you mean by practice?”
“You haven’t seen my Georgie Porgie’s scary face yet, right?” Georgie said.
“Of course we haven’t, but we’d definitely like to,” Lucy said, almost suffocating Fable.
In a flash, Georgie gripped his fists and his face turned into a monster, breathing out that awful smell of his. At first, they were all taken aback while his face was transforming, but then Fable started laughing. Georgie’s monstrous face was more funny than scary. It was truly disfigured with one eye bulging out from under his eye patch and dangling like a yoyo, his nose crumbled into something like an empty ice cream cone, and his cheeks bubbled like they were balloons. But he wasn’t scary at all. The only awful thing about him was the bad smell.
“Fable!” Axel yelled at her, afraid they’d upset Georgie. Even if he looked funny to them, maybe he did really scare babies—and he certainly still scared Axel.
Georgie wasn’t upset with Fable’s reaction. He was sad and frustrated. “You don’t think I’m scary?”
Fable shook her head no, her hands folded in front of her.
“Then watch this,” Georgie said. “I’ll show you scary.”
Georgie walked over to the child’s cradle and screamed into its face, transforming into that ugly monster again. The child woke up from its sleep and stared with horrified doe eyes at him for a moment. It took a while but then it broke off into a lovely laugh, wiggling its feet.
“No!” Georgie shook his head, returning to normal form. “I can’t believe this.”
“You’re such a loser,” Lucy said, disappointed that the evil man she’d liked was not as scary as he pretended. “Do the other Boogeymen know about you?”
“Please, don’t tell anyone,” Georgie turned into a weak, childish man, begging Lucy on his knees. “They shouldn’t know about the real me. They think I’m the most evil thing on earth, and I have to keep it that way. I don’t know why I’m like this. I inherited the Leader of Boogeymen title from my father, but I have always failed to scare children,” he looked back at the child in the cradle. “Those damn obnoxious children.”
The child wiggled its feet again and smiled when Georgie stared at her.
“You shouldn’t be sad,” Fable patted him, happy that she could talk straight to his face since he’d knelt down. “You should be really happy. The child loves you dearly. I mean look,” Fable tried to get the child’s attention but it had its happy eyes focused on Georgie. “She’s fond of you. You don’t scare her at all.”
“But that’s a curse to me,” Georgie complained, standing up. “I tried all I could. I read all the books on evil. I practiced so hard and all those children do when they see me is laugh.”
Loki and Axel omitted a chuckle. In fact, Loki thought that there had been nothing worth laughing at in the past two days as much as laughing at the Boogeyman. This definitely wasn’t the Boogeyman who stole Axel’s cereal when he was a kid.
“You’re a good man,” Fable insisted and held his hand.
“Pathetic,” Lucy folded her arms. The man of her dreams turned out to be laughable and goodhearted.
“Think of me what you like, but please don’t expose me,” Georgie said. “I have a reputation to keep.”
“Don’t worry,” Loki said. “We won’t. You’ll always be Georgie Porgie who scares every child away. We just want the Baby Tears and we’re gone.”
“Thank you,” Georgie said, and handed Loki the bottle of one hundred year old Baby Tears.
“You really fooled me, man,” Axel said. “You were so close to becoming my evil idol.”
Suddenly, the door sprung open and Cry Baby entered. Georgie had already stood up and dried his tears of disappointment.
“What’s wrong?” Georgie faked being angry. “Didn’t I tell you to knock three times and say ‘Spooky Woogy Boo’ before entering?”
“It’s an emergency,” Cry Baby lowered his eyes, respecting Georgie.
“What kind of emergency?” Georgie asked.
Cry Baby raised his head to answer, but then he saw the grinning baby, wiggling its feet. “Is this a happy baby?” he pointed at it, appalled as if he’d seen the devil.
“Yes, it is,” Fabled sneered at him.