Michael Buckley - Once upon a crime

Cobweb was almost impossible to catch. He could easily switch to a different tunnel, or backtrack the way he came before the train car had a chance to maneuver. Still, the dwarfs did a good job of keeping up.

Just as they seemed almost on top of the fairy, there was a loud thump on the roof of the car.

The dwarfs looked at one another with serious expressions.

"What?" Mr. Canis growled.

Mr. Four held his finger to his lips urging him to be quiet. After a few seconds, there was another loud thump.

Mr. Five looked to the roof. "Uh oh."

"What's uh oh?" Granny cried.

"Yahoos," Five replied.

"Yahoos? What's a Yahoo?" Daphne asked.

"Dirty lunatics that keep invading our tunnels. Gulliver should have never brought them over here!" Mr. Six complained.

"You mean Gulliver? The Gulliver from

Gulliver's Travels?"

Sabrina asked.

"The same. He felt sorry for the little heathens and tried to civilize them by bringing them to the United States. They took over the Bowery and were happy enough playing in punk rock bands and working in coffee shops-you know, being worthless slackers-but now the neighborhood is being taken over by boutiques and health food stores. So they're in search of new turf and have been eyeing the tunnels all year."

There was another loud thump and one of the glass windows shattered. A thick, hairy hand reached into the car from outside. Mr. Six swatted at it. "Dirty, stinking slackers. Go find another neighborhood. Haven't you ever heard of Brooklyn?"

Then the entire train started rocking back and forth. Loud hooting and hollering could be heard, followed by more of the frightening pounding on the train.

"They're trying to derail us!" Mr. One shouted from his conductor seat. "If they keep rocking this train we're going to jump right off the tracks and slam into the wall."

"That's bad, isn't it?" Daphne asked the little men. They all nodded.

"I've got an idea!" Mr. Two said. "But you're not going to like it. Let's slam on the brakes." The rest of the men stared at him.

"You're right, we don't like it," Mr. Six said. "We'll just derail ourselves."

"That's the idea!" Mr. Two cried. "We whip the car into South Ferry Station and then slam on the brakes."

"South Ferry is the end of the line, you imbecile!" Mr. Five shouted. "If we can't stop we'll crash."

"Even if we can stop, the train will probably catch on fire," Mr. Three cried. "The brakes can't handle the strain."

Another window shattered in the back of the train car.

Mr. Two shrugged. "It doesn't look like we have much choice. We can slam into the wall and get mangled in twisted metal or save ourselves but possibly die a fiery death."

"You fools cannot be serious," Mr. Canis said, rising to his feet. "Stop the train now, and I will get out and take care of these little parasites."

"No can do, buddy," Mr. Six said. "We're in a tunnel and these tracks are electrified. If you stepped on one you'd be an instant French fry."

"Grab onto something, people," Mr. One said over the loudspeaker. "Sorry we don't have any seat belts." The dwarfs scurried over to seats and hugged them tightly. The girls and their friends looked at one another in disbelief.

Mr. Six shouted into his walkie-talkie. "Kenny, we need you to clear the platform at South Ferry." There was a groan on the other end of the line. "When?"

"Two minutes," Mr. Six replied. "Two minutes?"

"Just do it, Kenny!"

Daphne wrapped her arms around Granny Relda. Even in all the excitement, Sabrina felt stung that the little girl would turn to their grandmother instead of her sister, who had been there for her whole life! Now, it was like Sabrina didn't even exist.

"South Ferry is the last and final stop on this train!" Mr. One said over the loudspeaker. Then he raced out of the conductor's room, climbed up onto one of the seats, and reached for a red cord on the wall. A sign above it read EMERGENCY BRAKE.

Mr. Hamstead wrapped his arms around Bess and pulled her to the floor.

"You gonna save my life again, cowboy?" she said. Hamstead nodded. "That's my job."

"I hope this hurts!" Mr. Six shouted to the Yahoos on the ceiling just as Mr. One pulled the brake cord.

A loud, metallic screech filled the air. Sabrina was jolted forward but managed to grab the center pole as she soared past. Still, the forward momentum of the car nearly pulled Sabrina's arms out of their sockets.

Just then, the darkness of the tunnels turned to light. Sabrina knew they had just entered South Ferry Station. She saw three Yahoos with thick arms and legs tumble off the front of the train. They fell in horrible, bone-crunching fashion. But as black smoke began to fill the car, Sabrina wondered if the Yahoos were the lucky ones. She could see flames and sparks outside as the car came to a hard, jerky stop. She heard feet racing up and down the car, and then the doors opened.

"Everyone off!" one of the dwarfs shouted. Sabrina couldn't be sure which one it was through the smoke. "This thing is going to go up in flames."

Mr. Two and Mr. Five helped Sabrina to her feet and hurried her onto the station platform, where everyone else was gathered. Puck's cocoon floated out of the car behind Sabrina.

Moth grabbed the cocoon's string and whirled around to confront the group. "You lost Cobweb, you fools," she cried.

"Shut your trap, Princess," Mr. Three said. "You're not so big that I can't put you over my knee."

Sabrina had no time for their stupid argument. She hugged her sister. "Are you OK?" She didn't wait for an answer. Instead, she started examining the little girl's arms and legs for broken bones or cuts.

"I'm fine," Daphne said, irritated. She struggled out of Sabrina's embrace.

"Good!" Sabrina said as she pretended not to be hurt. She looked around at the others. "We're all safe now. Everything is going to be OK. We're out of danger." It seemed as if one of them was always getting hurt on these detective missions; it was amazing to see her friends and family unscathed.

"Dwarfs go too far!" a voice shouted. Sabrina turned. One of the Yahoos, who only moments ago had been crumpled on the floor, was now back on his feet. His friends had joined him.

"You don't want any of this, monkey-boy," Mr. Six said. "We might be small but we'll lay the smackdown on all of you."

The Yahoos had a high-pitched sadistic laugh just like the hyenas Sabrina had once seen on a Discovery Channel documentary.

"We take tunnels. Tunnels ours!" they cried.

Mr. One stepped forward. Much to Sabrina's amazement, he moved into a fighting stance identical to one she had often seen Daphne take. It was an attack position that Snow White had taught the little girl in her Bad Apples Self-Defense class. The little man gestured to the Yahoos. "Come get some."

Then he and the five other dwarfs bowed to their opponents, as if they were in a martial arts movie. Daphne ran to join them before Sabrina could stop her.

"Present your warrior faces!" Mr. One shouted.

The six dwarfs and Daphne crinkled up their faces, roared like lions, and launched into an attack. The Yahoos were twice as big and, Sabrina guessed, ten times as strong, but the dwarfs were fast and nimble. They leaped and flipped like kung fu masters, avoiding blows and delivering painful kicks to their opponents' faces. Daphne was in the midst of the fight, punching and kicking, though far less gracefully than the little men. Sabrina had to stop her. This was why Daphne had to quit the family business. Someone always got hurt, and Sabrina wasn't going to let it be her sister. But before she could act, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Sabrina spun around and found Cobweb hovering over her. "Was anyone injured?" he asked.