Rain poured down from a moonless and
starless sky in Desert Land. Near a row of seven cacti was a humongous
castle. It was the Koopas' fortress in Desert Land. Inside the castle,
one of the Koopa Kids lay huddled and shivering on his luxurious bed. This
Koopa was Morton Koopa, Jr (Big Mouth). Morton was not shivering because
he was cold, but because he was scared. He was in his castle all by himself,
for the first time ever. Bowser had ordered Morton to stay in the castle
by himself all night, as part of the "growing up" process. Worst of all,
Morton's brother Ludwig had told him that Friday the thirteenth was the
scariest day of the year. Morton was not usually afraid, but, well, Ludwig
was
the oldest.As Morton lay shivering on his bed,
he became aware of the soft ticking of the large grandfather clock. Back
and forth went the pendulum, so gracefully, so perfect. Morton began to
feel better. "At this rate, I will be allowed to leave the castle in no
time!" Morton smiled. "And then the day will be over and I'll be alive
and I'll be happy and Bowser will be proud of me and he'll say �Morton
you're the best, the most wonderful, the Kooptacular son!'"
The clock struck midnight, and Morton
cheerfully counted the gongs it made. "One... two... three... four... five...
six... seven... eight... nine... ten... eleven... twelve....... thirteen?!
There is no such thing as thirteen o' clock and something is fishy here
and how can that be �cause this is Desert Land and there are no fish and
I hate fish anyway!"