How To Find Your Way in Minced Forest

Write Preface in the search space below right to get to the Preface.To go to the table of contents, write table of contents in the search space below right. To read a chapter, write the number of the chapter in the search space. To read the tales in Fay Spanish, go to cuentosdelbosquetriturado.blogspot.com. Thank you.

Monday, 6 April 2020

44. Elementary



All the bricks came wrapped in notes. Some were flattering. Others were totally illegible. These last had odd signs and bars drawn more than written on them and Michael had no idea what these sinister doodles could mean.

One late September afternoon, the banshee Glorvina and Michael’s brother Kevin, the trouble loving Amadan, dropped by to have tea. They couldn’t help noticing the scar on Michael’s forehead.

“It  has to do with all those bricks that are lying around your treehouse?”  

“Someone certainly has a hostile way of communicating with me,” said Michael. “But when the notes say something intelligible, this is always favorable. They ask me to keep up the good work, and things like that. I don’t know why the sender can’t just post a comment if he wants to say something kind about my blog. And there’s no explaining the apparently meaningless scrawls on other sheets.”
 
“You must put a stop to this,” said Kevin. “The bricks are harming your tree. It doesn’t have to put up with such rough handling, does it, Glorvina?”

The Leafies that shared the tree with Michael all agreed. They were fed up with being startled by the flying missives. And some had been knocked to the ground and almost flattened out of their wits.

“Messages bound to bricks are always threats,” pronounced Kevin. “It is an enemy you have. The kind words must be sarcasm. Someone wants you to stop writing your blog.”

“What? Why, nobody is interested in my blog at all. It’s nowhere near being popular. Only my two pupils read it and I don’t think I could have offended anybody by it.”

“You have a mad enemy then,” said Kevin. “Lucky you! I hope he’s terribly frightful. People are also judged by the calibre of their enemies.The worse he is, the better you will look when you defeat him.”

“The last thing I want is an enemy. I wouldn’t know what to do with one.”

“You don’t want to be famous like Beanstalk Jack or that British kid with the scar on his forehead? Or the hobbits and that guy who wanted to rule over all with some rings? You’ll never be anyone without an enemy.”

Glorvina being a woman of action, she immediately telephoned Dr. Watson, who was a personal friend of hers. They occasionally coincided by the bedside of someone who was passing away and  he was attending and she was wailing for.

He appeared on the spot with the celerity of a good doctor making a house call for a dear friend. And he brought the blade sharp Mr. Holmes with him.

                                    
                         
“These notes were written not by one, but by two people,” proclaimed Mr. Holmes after examining the missives. “The hand that writes the kind words is not the same as that responsible for the scrawls. The scrawler is in all likelihood responsible for the irregular method of delivery. My guess is he is some kind of an idiot.”

And Mr. Holmes had more to say. He suggested Michael visit the Royal Library of the Sainted Job if he wanted to find the culprit.

“Why St. Job’s? That’s at Apple Island.”

“A scrap of paper one of the bricks was wrapped in has a watermark that identifies it as part of the stationery used by the librarian there.”

A word about the Royal Library of Saint Job. It was founded in the dark ages by a human named Job Hob who was so interested in studying fairies that the doyenne of  the fairy world, Mrs. Parry, invited him to live among us. He brought his private collection of priceless manuscripts with him, and everyone, including my parents, has been donating texts to the library since then. Copies of many written treasures that have disappeared from libraries, including the unfortunate library of Alexandria, can be found there.  

“Michael, I’m giving you a week’s leave to go find this abominable brickcaster and put an end to his unseemly behaviour,” said Glorvina. 

“I can’t look into this now. At least, not  till November,” pouted Michael. “I’m overwhelmed by the work it takes to organize my Halloween party.”

 This is what the man Michael has to find thinks of what he does.

                                    
“I’m only doing my duty.”

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About Me

My blogs are Michael Toora's Blog (dedicated to my pupils and anyone who wants to learn English and some Spanish), The Rosy Tree Blog (dedicated to RosE), Tales of a Minced Forest (dedicated to fairies and parafairies), Cuentos del Bosque Triturado (same as the former but in Fay Spanish), The Birthdaymython/El Cumplemitón (for the enjoyment of my great nieces and great nephews and of anyone who has a birthday) and Booknosey/Fisgalibros (for and with my once pupils).