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Ken

Ken had spent the last hour locked away in a quiet back room, helping get Don ready for the ceremony.

He had dressed Don in the little jacket and hat that he had sewn for him; though dressing the creature had been surprisingly difficult. Not because it was ill-fitting, or because Don didn’t want to be dressed— Don was simply too excited to hold still, and Ken couldn’t get him to stop wiggling for long enough to get his clothes over his head.

It had taken at least thirty minutes for Ken to get it all on. And once he did he had then made sure to explain, very carefully, how each step of the wedding was going to work.

That Don would go to the alter first. And he would wait for Mimi to enter the room.

He had impressed upon Don the importance of not running down the aisle to meet her. He had to stand still as she came over to him, and then there would be the speaking of vows (Ken still wondered how that was going to go…) before Wendy would marry them to each other.

It had been a long, long explanation. Broken down step-by-step, with the important parts repeated at least three times so that Don would remember them— Though, Ken wished that he had some way to know if Don had actually understood him and wasn’t just snuffling agreeably because he was excited….

But, according to Jareth, Becky had fallen asleep and was not to be woken until she absolutely had to be!

So short of his long-repressed childhood magic suddenly returning to him and letting him speak to animals again, Ken wouldn’t know if he had gotten through to the creature until the ceremony actually took place.

Don gave another honk and ran to the door; leaping up to undo the handle.

‘Don— Don, wait!’ Ken exclaimed, following the mimic as it ran out into the hall. ‘You cannot leave! You must stay— Oh, hello Igor!’

Ken stopped in the doorway as he spied why Don had escaped the room…. It was Igor Frankenstein; father of one of Becky’s closest and most treasured friends, Adam Frankenstein. And one of the very few parents-of-Becky’s-friends that didn’t make Ken feel like he had to retreat into his office and hide in a pile of fabric for a hundred years to avoid them.

Igor was a fine man. Polite, and respectable, and honest….

And best of all: Igor never tried to touch Ken!

Ken shuddered at the thought of Jareth’s father, Mr Troy Slader, clapping a friendly hand against his back again. He didn’t hate Mr Slader, of course. But he certainly did hate when the man tried to be friendly with him!

‘Hello, Ken!’ Igor gave a laugh as Don scaled him to his shoulder and tried to lick his ear. ‘Oh, no! Don’t do that!’

‘Ah! Why hello, Kenneth!’

Ken’s skin crawled as he heard another voice…. Ah…. So it appeared that Victor Frankenstein, Adam’s other father, had managed to clear his schedule….

Ken quickly stepped away as Victor attempted to give him a friendly pat on the leg; being careful not to trip on the very short gnomish man as he did.

The last time Victor had touched him, he had left a stain on Ken’s pants that had taken four different day-long soakings to remove!

‘Vicky, give Ken his space,’ Igor reminded his husband, reaching up to remove Don from his ear. ‘And Don, I think you need to give me mine!’

‘Huwnk!’ Don honked back, wiggling his feet at Igor in joy.

‘Yes, yes, I love you too,’ Igor commented, before holding Don under his arm like a sports-ball. ‘So, Kenneth! How has Becky been? We haven’t seen her all day!’

‘Yes! Usually she is such wonderfully loud girl!’ Victor chimed in. ‘Impossible to miss! I was expecting to see her running around all over the place!’

‘Jareth convinced her to take a nap,’ Ken explained. ‘And honestly, this is the best she’s slept all week, so we agreed not to wake her until we had to.’

‘Ah, yes! Of course!’ Victor put his hands on his hips, standing proudly as he beamed up at Ken. He had that look on his face that he always had before he did something stupid, and Ken felt himself growing suspicious.

Was Victor going to take advantage of the fact Becky was asleep, and try to cause problems again?

Ooh… not if Ken could help it!

‘Understandable,’ Igor said. ‘Poor girl never sleeps well. Best to let her get it when she can.’

Ken nodded, his eyes falling on Don as loud laugher came from the main hall and the mimic began wiggling in excitement. ‘Oh, uh… Igor? Could you do me favour? And take Don out to greet some of the guests? I think he is getting too excited. It might help him calm down.’

‘Oh, of course I can do that!’ Igor agreed with a smile. ‘It wouldn’t be a problem at all!’

‘Thank you,’ Ken smiled, and slowly crossed his arms over his chest. ‘And, uh— Victor? While he does that, may I speak to you? Privately?’

‘Ah, but of course!’ Victor beamed. ‘What about, my friend? What about?’

‘M… Medical…?’ Ken lied. ‘Something… embarrassing? I need advice for it.’

‘I’ll leave you to it, then,’ Igor chuckled, giving a wave before he headed for the main hall. ‘Don’t worry, Ken! It’s probably just stress-related.’

‘Eheh, yes…’ Ken gave a sheepish wave back, waiting until Igor was out of view before turning to Victor.

‘So, my man! What seems to be the—‘

‘—Victor, we’re friends, oui?’ Ken interrupted, his voice firm.

Victor paused, seemingly taken aback by Ken’s sudden change in tone. ‘Well, yes. Of course we are.’

‘And you know that I wouldn’t lie to you about things, yes?’

‘Why, of course you wouldn’t! Why would I think you would—‘

Ken bent over, scooping Victor up by the collar of his jacket, and slammed the gnome into the wall behind him. ‘So you believe me when I say, that if you do anything today that will put my daughter’s hard work at risk, that I will stuff you into Mimi’s carrier and mail you back to Germany?!’

Victor just laughed, at that. ‘Hah! Oh, Kenneth! You think I’m scared of being locked in a box for a month or two? That’s child’s play!’

‘Victor, I am not joking!’ Ken growled. ‘If you do anything to upset Becky —and I mean anything— I am going to—‘

‘—Oh! Are we yelling at Mr Frankenstein?’ a familiar voice exclaimed down the hall, and Ken felt Victor tense in fear as another of Becky’s good friends, Malinka Grimalkin, made her way over. ‘Can I join in?’

Ken narrowed his eyes at Victor as he realised… he was scared of Malinka….

Ah, that was perfect!

He lifted Victor away from the wall, holding him up with one hand as he turned to Malinka.

‘If he ruins this wedding,’ Ken growled. ‘I’ll be your alibi.’

‘Oh, he was thinking of ruining the wedding, was he?’ Malinka’s bright eyes narrowed into thin yellow slits, and her ears pressed back.

‘N-No! No, my d-dear!’ Victor stammered as he stared at the young woman. ‘I-I wasn’t! I-I promise! I was just— Well, you see I was— I— Ahah! I wasn’t going to do anything! Why would I ruin a wedding? Oh, it’s ludicrous!’

‘Mhm…’ Malinka crossed her arms, twitching her whiskers in distaste. ‘You can put him down, Mr Bloom— But I’m watching you, Frankenstein! And if you do anything to upset Becky….’

She made a motion that Ken didn’t understand (and he wasn’t sure he wanted to understand, with how wide Victor’s eyes opened when she made it) before crossing her arms again and watching Victor rush away down the hall.

Then, once Victor had vanished, Ken gave a cough and scooted to stand by her side.

‘Thank you, Malinka,’ he said. ‘I appreciate that a lot.’

‘It’s my pleasure,’ Malinka’s whiskers twitched again; though this time it was humoured. ‘Let me know if he gives you any more trouble, right?’

‘Of course, of course!’

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