The Abbreviated Adventures of Mogey & Smush Volume 433

On a gloomy and moonless night, Mogey and Smush stumbled through the Swamp of Crushing Horrors, utterly lost.

"I TOLD you the Swamp of Crushing Horrors sounded like a terrible place for a picnic!" Smush grumbled as his frustration began to get the better of him.

"I was trying to find a private spot!" Mogey replied. "You said our last picnic was too crowded."

"You set up the blanket in the middle of a jousting track!" Smush retorted. "With a tournament going on. Pieces of my potato salad bowl are probably still lodged in that horse's hoof."

They went on like this, lost and bickering, for many an hour, until the two pals were exhausted, muddy, and no closer to finding their way out of the swamp. Just when Mogey and Smush were ready to give up and hunker down til dawn, a soft light appeared in the murky night air. The light drifted toward them, no bigger than a candle flame, until finally they could see that its source was a tiny, flying man glowing golden in the darkness.

"Are you a fairy?" Mogey asked when the creature stopped flying and hovered a few feet from their faces.

"Yep," the fairy replied.

"What's your name?" Mogey asked in wonder.

"Larry," the fairy answered.

"Your name is Larry?" Smush demanded. "Larry the fairy?"

"Yes!" Larry said, sounding a bit annoyed. "I mean, technically my name is Lawrence, but only my mother calls me that."

"Well Larry, can you help us escape the Swamp of Crushing Horrors?" Mogey asked hopefully.

"Nope!" Larry replied. "I'm just here to annoy you." And with that, Larry set about buzzing in Mogey and Smush's ears like an oversized gnat for the rest of the night, making life in the Swamp of Crushing Horrors even more miserable, if possible, than it already was.