Tyre Change

(AN: Hokay, so I was sitting next to my mum in the car and this thought just decided to pop up. I can tell you my mum was creeped,yes I know it's not a real word,out by my sudden smiles. Sit back and enjoy my written desires)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Labyrinth, okay that's a lie. I own two copies of the movie, an acrylic (see through) fushigi ball and a DVD that teaches you to contact juggle, and then there are all the sketches and stuff…

Sarah swerved all of a sudden. She let out a cry and hit the brakes. She just sat there for a moment wondering where she was. Shaking her head clear of her mind's blank void she got out of the car. The highway she had pulled up from was lined with tall trees. The dirt and gravel crunched beneath her as she made her way around the car. She groaned at the sight of a flat tyre.

"How the bloody hell did that happen?" She didn't get a response. Of all days for her tyre to decide to give out it had to be this day. "Useless, you lot are all useless," she accused. Three tyres looked back at her with hurt. "Fine, I take it back. Though you, back right, are most definitely useless now."

Her head snapped up at the sound of movement. The branch above bobbed slightly at the added weight. The barn owl fixed her with a look and cocked its head to one side. "Yeah, yeah I know. Agh, Karen's going to make my ears bleed by the time I get there."

She continued to grumble to herself as she opened the boot. She hauled the tyre-jack out from the boot and loaded it at the right side towards the back. The tyre-iron hit the ground with a thud and waited patiently for its owner. Sarah started pumping the jack. She had to jump with both feet to get the last adjustment. This of course resulted in a tumble. She landed on the dirt with a groan.

Sarah kept her eyes closed and tried to keep her anger down to a simmer. The owl glided down from his perch to sit on the car's roof. He cocked his head to one side and watched as she counted from ten. "Sorry Toby but it looks like I'll be late. Again," she sighed. She brushed herself off and grabbed the tyre-iron.

After removing the tyre she padded over to the back of the car and dropped the spare tyre to the ground. It landed with a thud and a bounce. It rolled with the aid of its owner and lay against the car with an expectant air about it. Sarah turned her attention back to the flat tyre, she looked at it accusingly and it had the decency to shrink away guiltily. "I'm very disappointed in you," her voice was low and dangerous. She left the poor thing lying there for a while, contemplating on what it was to do now. The poor rubber couldn't think of anything particularly eventful.

"Now you," she pointed at the spare tyre, "had better do a good job. I have a many great expectations from you. You wouldn't want to end up like your predecessor, now would you?" The owl watched with amusement as she threatened the tyres. "Because we all know what happens to those who displease me, don't we boys?" She fixed a steely look on the tires around her.

A shiver ran through each at the memory of the last poor sod to give out on her. Four tyres, all fully functioning, looked to one flat and distressed looking thing. They remained quiet with solemn thoughts and sent mental reassurance. "Shut up." Sarah pointed at the clearly amused owl with the tyre-iron. "We can't all travel by owl form*," she stated. She set about fixing the spare tire to her car. Once this was accomplished she lugged the flat tire into the back of the car.

She got back into the car and rolled her stiff shoulders. The car started with no troubled and was back on the road in no time. All the while one flat tyre was reciting a mantra of calm to itself. She would never do what she did to the last one, right?

Sarah got out of the car and plodded to the back seat. The gift was wrapped in blue paper and sat smugly on the seat. She tried ignoring the owl that perched on her shoulder. Sarah walked with the gift in hand, an annoyingly handsome owl on her shoulder and a smile to the door. She heard the handle click and saw the slow opening.

Please not Karen, please not Karen, please not Karen. Her father stepped through and greeted her with a warm smile. Relief flooded through her.

"Hey there, did you get lost?"

"No, one of my tyres decided to be unique and saw it as an opportunity to deflate. I'll deal with it later," she added under her breath. Sarah handed the gift to her dad. He eyed the owl dubiously. He hadn't seen her without that owl since she was fifteen. Sarah tried shrugging the owl off but he clung stubbornly to her shirt and looked at her with his head cocked to one side, she gave up with a huff.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you insist on having that owl with you wherever you go?"

"I told you, I never wanted it. He just keeps coming back. I don't know how to get rid of him." She sent an annoyed look his way. The owl nuzzled her neck affectionately and scooted closer to her neck. "Jareth, stop that!" The owl cocked his head again, she was getting moody again. He turned his attention back to the house and suddenly jumped from her shoulder. "Hey! Where are you-"

Sarah hit the ground hard. She groaned and rolled to the side to try and gain some leverage but her attacker wasn't having any of it. The blond boy jumped on top of her and hugged her close.

"You're late!" he exclaimed.

"I know. As I was explaining to dad, I had a flat tyre! Don't worry, I got you a big gift to make up for it." Toby grinned and helped her to her feet. "Happy birthday Tobes."

Samantha Limm was a sweet woman who prided herself in her unique garden. Decorations of all kinds spread themselves throughout. Each made from some piece of useless material or object. Her head turned at the knock coming at the front of the house. She opened the door to see one of her favourite neighbours.

"Sarah! How are you dear?" she asked. Sarah hurried into the house as Samantha motioned her in.

"I'm fine thank you, Samantha. I thought that you might like my latest delinquent. He's been a very bad tyre, giving out on me on my way to my brother's seventh birthday, no less." Samantha chuckled and led Sarah to the garden.

"I love it that you think of me first. I really do appreciate it too and I just got a fresh batch of flowers today. I was actually thinking of resorting to digging a flower patch! You saved me from the insanity of such an action." Sarah laughed and accepted the tea passed to her. The two sat in comfortable silence and looked out over the unique garden. Samantha lived alone. Her husband of twelve years had died early last year. She could never think to move. She and Mike had bought the land together. From that they had designed what they deemed the perfect house, small living courters and a large backyard.

Despite all of the ridiculous objects crammed into one area it really worked. The odd statue of some forest animal, a strand of multi-coloured wool decorating a dead tree branch and the oddity of a scarecrow standing within a fountain that didn't function. This scarecrow was like no other, the poor thing was outfitted in an old Treky's top. Shorts of purple sequins were accompanied by florescent green leggings and the whole thing was topped with a pink leotard. The head was made of what once used to be a lamp-shade and a great frizzy orange afro. Various other objects were scattered about and some were unrecognizable, all in all it was a cozy place.

Sarah sighed when she spotted the owl and scowled slightly. Samantha craned her neck to see the object of Sarah's brooding. The barn owl came to a graceful stop on the table top. He turned to her briefly before hoping over to Sarah. Samantha chuckled again.

"Looks like he found you, my dear," she commented with mirth. Sarah groaned.

"Why do you have to follow me around? It's not like I won't see you when I get home. It's my house, the whole purposes of having one is so I have a place to go at the end of the day. Now, bye-bye. Go bother some other poor woman with your pesky presence." Sarah waved her hands in a shooing motion. The owl didn't budge, it wasn't too impressed either. "Go on! **Fly, fly." Sarah spread her fingers as her hands circled in on themselves.

Samantha burst out laughing. The whole thing was utterly bizarre.

"Sarah, dear. Most people would be intrigued by an owl that constantly follows them!"

"Well, it gets rather bothersome after a while. You try walking through a shopping outlet with an owl stalking you. Hiding in shadowy corners and giving me the eye. It stopped being creepy when I was sixteen. Now it's just plain stupid."

The owl ruffled its feathers in annoyance. His head swiveled around to stare Samantha straight in the eye. She laughed again. "Tell you what, you can stay and chat with his majesty here while I go and get the tyre." Sarah stalked off out of the house and left Samantha. Jareth stared at her lazily.

"So, stalking a girl...where do you go get off on that?" The owl somehow managed to give her a disapproving look before giving her the cold shoulder, wing, and turning to stare at the garden. "Oh come now, surely you could give an old woman some entertaining reason. Don't let her attitude to you put you off, she'll never admit it but she loves it when you're around..." Sarah came trudging back with one distressed looking rubber tyre. "Oh, he'll do lovely!" Sarah looked at her with mild scrutiny.

"Why did you call it a 'he'?" Samantha shrugged.

"Aren't all men useless at some point in their life?" Sarah pursed her lips against the laughter and the smile that threatened to spread itself across her face. The owl turned an inquiring look her way and she couldn't keep the laughter at bay any longer. She dropped the tyre as the emotion tore through her system. Samantha patted her back consolingly and retrieved the tyre to haul it towards the shed. No one noticed its pleas as Sarah's laughter increased. The owl cocked its head to one side at the sound and it only resulted in its increase of volume.

"I'm sorry! Stop looking at me like that. A thought, a memory came to mind that's all." She wiped the tears from her eyes and retook her seat. Samantha soon came back with a broad smile on her face.

"Thank you again for giving him to me! This will keep me nice and busy for a good few hours." She nodded approvingly. Sarah shook her head with her own small smile.

"You're the only person I know who gets ecstatic about working the way you do. And again it's my pleasure, to be honest I only ever come here to give you my junk because I can't be bothered making my way to the dump." Samantha laughed and shooed her out of the house.

"Well, I think it's about time you made your way home. I'm sure his majesty is just waiting for some alone time," Samantha gave a wink. Sarah shook her head again and walked away from the crazy woman's home to her own. Samantha turned to the owl that had not moved from his place on the table.

"Well go on. She's all yours."

Sarah dropped the keys on the table top and made her way to the only bedroom in the house. Passing the constantly open window she smiled and flopped on the bed. Closing her eyes she rolled over and relaxed in the cool breeze. Moments later she felt the shift of air as an owl passed through into her room. Soon enough warm arms encircled her as a chest pressed against her back.

"So, all men are useless at some point in their life hmm?" Sarah felt a small smile come to her face.

"That includes stalking owls in my life."

"Really? I thought I was being rather unique but if there is another owl out there who thinks he is having a shot at my ever loving Sarah then he'll have to rethink his situation." The reply was amused and in turn the arms about her tightened as a warm breath brushed against her neck. Sarah laughed and rolled over to her other side to press against him. She sighed in content and let herself fall asleep in the arms of her stalker.

Meanwhile, a once proud tyre now sat in amongst others of its fallen comrades. It had gone through torture as it was cut and pried open. Its figure being adjusted to allow the smooth inner lining to show ,while it was turned inside out. The metal it had always known taken from it and used in another part of the garden. It now stood with as much dignity as it could muster, the soil filling it along with rather bright flower and lush leaves mocking its new position. All in all the end result wasn't so bad. It got itself a new paint job and was now among others of its kind, all giving him reassurance that the worst was over and that it could now relax and let nature do its job.

(AN: Hope you enjoyed this, please review! It really does help…give me pointers, tell what you liked or -gulp- hated.
*we can't all travel by owl form, reference to Wicked's Well, we can't all travel by bubble!
** Fly, fly...a reference to Austin Powers: Gold Member-Dr Evil mocking Powers.
Oh, and I have seen tyres turned into pot plants before. I was in the Philippines visiting family from my grandmother's side. Though I decided to go with a simpler design to the cone-like shapes that the tires were reshaped to, admittedly it's actually a really smart thing to do.
Until next time, your ever faithful personal devil awaits.)