Our story left off with Andy approaching the knocked-on door…

Chapter 6
Andy opens the door to a grizzled man wearing a work jumper and a hard hat that says, “ASPLUNDH.” Andy climbs into his jacket and boots and leads Mr. Asplundh outside to see the fireflies.

Chapter 7
The next morning, Cabol is working at home and is still in her flannel froggie nightie when she notices a truck in the driveway up by the Craft Shack. A man is walking down the hill from the truck. Cabol shrieks and runs to get dressed. She goes back to the window and watches the man stand for a bit by the firefly home and then turn around and walk back to the truck. Cabol keeps an eye on the truck as she goes about her day. Eventually the one truck is replaced by another truck. With blinky lights on top. Hours, days, weeks go by and there is nothing to see but the blinky truck. Then a machine appears off in the distance, hidden by trees. Cabol waits.

Chapter 8
A low rumble pierces the air. The machine is on the move. Through the snow and ice, it crawls down the driveway to the firefly nest. Four men follow it. They stare up into the trees, point, and holler. Nearby, the scary snow sheep watch and wait. Cabol suddenly realizes the men and their machine are in danger! They don’t stand a chance if the giant rams of doom should attack. She bravely gears up, grabs a shovel, and forges out into the snow to warn the men.

Chapter 9
Cabol approaches the men and machine, her eyes flickering back to the sheep every few moments, her hand clutching the shovel in case the sheep should follow. One man notices Cabol’s approach and, with a cautious look at her shovel, yells at the machine to be quiet. Cabol speaks.

Cabol: “Hi!”
Man #1: “Um, hi. Why do you have a giant shovel?”
Cabol: “It is to protect me from the fearsome sheep with horns the size of winnebagos.”
Man #1: “Oh.”
Man #2: “Did you know your mumblemumble was fnurflebloopy????”
Cabol: “Yay!”

The men all stare at Cabol.

Cabol: “Soooooo. Um, there are big giant humungous sheep wandering around. They have pointy horns. But, um, don’t worry. If they start to charge you, just put your hand up and tell them to stop. That works. Usually. Want to borrow my shovel?”
Man #3: “We are big, burly men wearing hard hats. We do not need a pesky shovel. We will keep the teeny lambies away with our big, burly machine!”

Chapter 10
Back at the house, Cabol keeps an eye on the men, the machine, and the sheep. After a while, the machine starts to wiggle and bobble and then stretches out its neck waaaaaaaaaaay up into the trees. One of the men is standing on its head. Cabol can’t watch. An eternity passes, and Cabol hears a cheer explode from the group of men. She peers out the window but can’t see anything that interesting. Just a bunch of tree branches on the ground.

Chapter 11
Cabol is diligently working when the internet connection drops. Cabol yelps. She calls Andy.

Cabol: “Help! HELP!! No internet! AIE! PANIC PANIC!”
Andy rambles on about technical things.
Cabol: “I am panicking! I have no internet! Stop asking me questions!”

Cabol: “Oh. Look. The power is out.”

Epilogue
The power is back now, but the men and machine are gone. So are the fireflies. There are tree branches littering the ground under the power lines, and one power pole is wearing a brand new insulator. The electrical line running from the road to the house is no longer swinging in the trees, sparking and humming when it comes into contact with a branch.

The End