The Phantom Tollbooth

Milo hurries back to the car, his mouth shut tight. He writes on the protestors’ chalkboard that his sound is on the tip of his tongue. The protestors position the cannon and then, very carefully, Milo spits the word into the cannon. Moments later, the cannon goes off and the “but” strikes the fortress’s door. Immediately, there’s a huge crash. The fortress crumbles and all the sounds in the vaults spill out. As all the sounds fly out together, it’s confusing—but once they clear, things return to normal. Only Milo, Tock, and the Humbug notice the Soundkeeper sitting on some rubble.

Milo apologizes to the Soundkeeper and Tock says they had to do it. The Soundkeeper says this is all her fault—“you can’t improve sound by having only silence.” Rather, you must “use each at the proper time.” Presently, the DYNNE marches over the hill and asks if anyone wants the sounds in his bag; they’re not bad enough for him. The Soundkeeper is ecstatic and invites him and Dr. Dischord to come listen to music one night. Horrified, the DYNNE runs away. Tock tells the concerned Soundkeeper that the DYNNE only likes terrible sounds. She sighs that lots of people like unpleasant sounds, and unpleasant sounds do have their place—they’re how you know that other sounds are pleasant. She muses that things would be better if Rhyme and Reason were here.

Milo announces that he’s going to rescue the princesses, so the Soundkeeper gives him a small wrapped gift. She says there are sounds in the package; a lot of the sounds are laughter. She then tells him how to get to Digitopolis. Milo, Tock, and the Humbug drive away in their car. Everything seems to be going well—until the Humbug says that nothing can go wrong now. At this, he flies out of the car to a little island off the shore. Tock says they’ll have plenty of time and flies away with the bug; Milo says the day couldn’t be nicer and inexplicably flies to join his friends.

From the shore, the island was beautiful. Now it looks dead and awful. Milo asks the first man he sees where they are, but in return, the man asks who he is. After a brief huddle, Milo asks the man to describe himself. The man says he’s “tall as can be,” “short as can be,” “strong as can be,” and “smart as can be.” The Humbug says it’s simple, and Milo says the man is Canby. Canby is ecstatic.

Tock asks where they are. Canby says this is the Island of Conclusions; they got here by jumping to conclusions (this happens when you decide something without reason). Milo says it’s very unpleasant as more people fly onto the island. The Humbug says he’s going to jump back, but Canby says you can’t jump from Conclusions. You have to swim back. Nobody likes doing it, he says, but it’s the only way—and some people swim through the Sea of Knowledge and still come out dry on the other side. Canby excuses himself to go greet newcomers.

Milo, Tock, and the Humbug all make the difficult, cold swim. The Humbug emerges on the beach dry and says it wasn’t so bad, but Milo says he’s not going to waste any more time jumping to Conclusions. They all get back in the car and drive for Digitopolis.