urely they would never have
considered it a selfish request on Graham's part had he simply asked
that they drop him off in America on their way to wherever they might
have been headed. But it was, alas, a little bit too late to cry over
spilled milk. Instead, Graham had far more important matters to attend
to. He had, after all, come into a very strange land where the physical
laws he was used to no longer seemed to apply. Not only that, but his
presence would be missed before too long, and he did not want to cause
undue worry back home. But even more immediate: he had a powerful and
very wicked Witch to deal with who would soon catch on to his lies, and
she was not going to be at all happy with him. Had Graham been a lesser
boy, he might have broken down and cried. But Graham decided instead to
make the most of the grave situation. He continued to walk past the area
where the UFOlanders had been. His main concern now was to get as far
away as possible from the awful old Witch's castle. He was wondering in
which specific direction to go when he heard a noise in the trees. At
first he could not identify the sound, although it was a familiar sound.
Because it was so far out of place in Oz, it did not register at first.
But, yes! Now he was certain. It was the sound of a television set. That
is to say, the sound of human voices that could only be coming from a
radio or TV. It is a sound you simply cannot mistake. Now the sound was
getting louder. It was coming toward him. _What on earth could a
television set be doing here_? Graham thought. And how could it be
moving toward him? The answer immediately became known when out from a
clump of trees walked a robotic looking creature. He had triangular
shaped legs and arms and body. In place of a face he had a portable
television set. Not only that, but the channels kept changing. First
Channel Two with the evening news. Then Channel Four with a basketball
game. Then Channel Seven with _Jeopardy_! Then Channel Eleven with a
program about UFOs. Then Channel Thirteen with a commercial for Head and
Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo. And so on, and so on. Well, this was
the strangest sight to behold. A walking television set. It walked right
up to Graham and stopped right up against his face. Then the screen went
blank for a moment and a face appeared. That is to say, not a human face
exactly, but sort of a cartoon type of face with large, bushy eyebrows;
big, expressive eyes; a promine