Pepperland - a Beatles fanfiction

Chapter 31: Max and Jeremy

"What the..." started Max, staring at the lanky, blonde haired human stood in front of him. He wasn't really sure how to react.

"Well." Prompted the human, holding out the apple towards him. "Are you going to take it or not?"

"I... well... yes." He grabbed the apple and put it back in his box. The boy stared at him, observing his every move. Max felt extremely self conscious.

Suddenly, a cheerful voice called out from behind the hedge, "Is he a friend or is he a foe? Hurry up Finn, we want to know!" This was followed by some rustling and an annoyed cry, and then a small brown creature bounded out of the hedge towards them.

Max recognised it at once from the descriptions in the old Meanie stories. This was a Boob - the very same species as the one that had defeated the original leader of the Blue Meanies all those years ago.

It hopped towards Max and winked its eyelashes at him, making him feel even more nervous. Even worse, yet more humans were climbing over the hedge... had they been following him?

Lord Indigo was going to murder him.

"Hi..." he stuttered nervously. "I'm... uhh... Max."

"Nice to meet you." Said the shorter out of the two boys. He looked slightly grumpy, but offered his hand to Max, who shook it politely. "I'm Roger."

"Hello, Roger."

Roger turned to point at the other boy. "This is Finn, my older brother." Finn grinned wryly and ran a hand nervously through his blonde hair.

Next, Roger introduced his younger sister. "This is Emily." A girl with brown curly hair and hazel eyes smiled politely at Max.

"It's nice to meet you!" Called out Jeremy, who was only up to Finn's knee in size.

Finally, there was a scrabbling noise from the thorny hedge and another girl crawled out from underneath, covered in scratches from the spiky plant. "I... couldn't... get over... hedge..." She panted, wriggling out from the bottom of the vegetation. "So... I... climbed... under... it..." When she finally got out from under the hedge, she just lay on the floor, exhausted from her efforts, breathing heavily.

"Who's that?" Asked Max.

"That's... uhh... Blue." Replied Emily, watching as Finn ran over to ask if she was okay. Blue got up after a few words of encouragement and tenderly made her way towards Max, rubbing a nasty looking thorn-scratch on her hand.

"Hi." She said, not making eye contact.

Looking at her, Max could see why she had struggled to get over the hedge. She was just a bit too short... Max could emphasise. He was only about half the size of a normal Meanie himself, just like his ancestor had been.

"Why are you here?" He asked uncertainly. Hopefully they hadn't come to hurt anyone.

"This is our home." Said Roger firmly. "Me, my brother and sister were born and raised in Pepperland, and we aren't going to let some stupid thugs come and take over."

Max was shocked. "How did you manage to escape? When we first invaded, the glove rounded everyone up!"

"Everyone except three children." Replied Roger coldly. "Who managed to escape in the Yellow Submarine. We've come back with support - a Boob, and..." he hesitated, glancing at Blue who was still nursing her hand. "and Blue. We have Blue too."

Blue looked up and shot him a grateful smile.

"We heard you humming." Finn said, getting to the point. "And we figured that if anyone else could help us, it would be a good Meanie. You could be, like, a double agent or something?"

Max felt himself go red, which is very hard to do if you have blue skin. They had heard him humming? "I... I..." He stuttered, but couldn't think of an excuse for such un-Meanie-like behaviour. "I'm such a terrible Meanie." He said quietly, and another tear slid down his face. "I like music, I'm small, I'm weak... and now I'm talking to our enemies!"

He burst into tears and sank down to the floor, sobbing. The four children looked at each other uncertainly, not sure what to do. It was Jeremy who acted first.

He put a small, gentle arm around the Meanie and recited a phrase:

"Today you are you,
That is truer than true,
There is no one alive
Who is you-er than you."

Max looked up at the small, comically featured animal that was smiling at him comfortingly. "An excellent quote, if I say so myself." Said Jeremy happily. "Another one from the Dr. Seuss wealth."

"But... I can't be myself!" Cried Max, tears streaming down his face. "Because... because I'm not right!"

"Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." Replied Jeremy. Blue wondered at how much wisdom and character could possible be contained in such a small being.

Finally, Max stopped crying and stood up. Blue noticed he was quite a bit smaller than the other Blue Meanies, in fact he might even be shorter than her.

"Okay." He said determinedly. "You're right." He gave Jeremy a grateful smile. "I'll take you to Lord Indigo, but nothing else. We Meanies are definitely in the wrong - destroying your home like this. I should have stood up to them a long time ago."

Finn cheered and gave Roger a look that clearly read "I told you so!" as they followed Max down the dull, winding road that lead to Lord Indigo's lair.

Soon, it would be all over.