Oz

by: Victoria P.

Rating: G

Notes: Thanks to Jen and Dot. No thanks to Meg and Pete, who've sucked me into their insanity. I tried to get away. Really, I did! <g>

~*~

Oz sat in the dingy motel room, wondering how he'd ended up so far off the beaten track.

He'd been on his way to New Orleans for Mardi Gras when the storm hit, forcing him to take refuge in this damp and yellowing Shoney's for the past three nights. It had been too rainy and windy to drive, even though the Love Machine was as solid a van as they come.

He sat with his guitar, strumming idly.

"Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain," he murmured, then shook his head. "Oh, God, no."

He shook his head and refocused his attention on the instrument in his hands. "E flat diminished ninth -- a man's chord." He had mastered it, soon after mastering his lycanthropy, but it rarely brought him pleasure now, since he was living Willow-free. He consoled himself with the fact that he'd been writing the most amazing blues songs, and once he hit the Big Easy, he had friends waiting to go into the studio.

But he was sick of sitting around waiting in the rain.

When the knock came at the door, he jumped, then paused, stilling himself and regaining the Zen-like poise for which he was famous.

His legendary sang froid was tested when he opened the door. At first, he didn't see anyone, but then he heard a chirping voice.

"Is this Kansas?"

He looked down. And saw a midget and two monkeys dressed like bellhops.

"Yeah," he replied, and suddenly he knew what was coming.

"Oh great and mighty Oz," the midget -- <Munchkin,> Oz thought. <I guess I ought to call them Munchkins.> -- said, "we are lost without you. The Emerald City hasn't been the same since you left. Please come home."

The monkeys flapped their wings, and he noticed that they indeed wore short pants.

"Yeah," he said, giving them his pleased expression, which looked remarkably like his every other expression. "Why not?"

End

Disclaimer: All Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, David Greenwalt, Greenwolf Productions, Sand Dollar, and the Kuzuis. This fan-written fiction intends no infringement on any copyrights.