MOUSE OF COMMONS. MOUSE OF LORDS.: PART 11 OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!!

Monday, November 26, 2007

PART 11 OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!!

GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!! - PART 11

Part 11 of a 15 part internet-exclusive mini-adventure by Paul Chandler, set in Barcelona.

Meanwhile, back in the pie factory all kind of strange things were going on; but Ollie was quite certain that none of it had anything to do with ghosts.

"Look! Isn't it exciting!?" growled Charlie with beary glee. "Isn't it just spectacular - poltergueist pilotted pies - whatever next..."

Ollie didn't wish to creat a stior - but it was quite obvious to him that there was no mystic forces propelling the pies; but in fact nothing more than some fine thread attached to the plates upon which the pies were placed - stuck down with extra sticky gum made from old wellington boots.

There was no way that he could cut the string from down on the dusty restaurant floor - for he was far too low on the ground - however there was a way. "Just you watch, Charlie..." he declared. "Just wait and see and I'll prove to you that your pies aren't pilotted by any type of ghost, as all - it's all just trickery..."

...And with that he jumped from his seat and hurried off to find a way upstairs...

Back down in the cellar - and much to his dismay; Gladstone had lost his hold on the ladder and had fallen backwards into thin air. Something had knocked him from the ladder that he'd been climbing; it had looked like a paw or a claw or a finger; he wasn't sure - but had been something far larger than him stretching down from the street above. This really wasn't something that he'd planned for either; something like that never is. It wasn't that his life flashed before his eyes (for he'd done so very much that this would have probably taken too long or have flashed passed so fast that he wouldn't have been able to take anything in.)

Suddenly though, as he'd felt the wind passing his face; as he fell - whatever it was that had knocked him off the ladder, actually reached out again to save the mouse and lifted him up to safety.

"WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU'RE PLAYING AT!?" he snapped as he emerged into the cold night air; but then he suddenly fell silent as he came face to fave with his savious; it was the cat waiter, Claud. "Ohh... Ahh... It's you, fella..." he said, unsure quite what the reaction of this strange feline might be; he was relieved to see that Claud looked as nervous of him as he was of Claud.

"I'm terribly sorry, Senor McWhiskers..." exclaimed the cat apologetically. "I heard this noise and I thought the pie man had come back..."

"The pie man!?"

The cat looked so unnerved that he ceased being so cross, for he also recalled some of the things that Charlie had been telling them about ghosts and ghouls and the like that haunted the streets of Barcelona. There was also all the strange costumes and drawings on the wall in the cellar room below.

"Tell me about this pie man, Claud..." he requested; he also wanting to know whether the cat had seen either of his friends - there was something else that had occurred to him, as well...

...the sounds that he had heard in the basement that he'd presumed was a washing machine - wasn't a washing machine at all!

All of a sudden he knew what it was...

It was the sound of a heavy vehicle or drill secretly digging deep underground; but digging for what and why!?

"Claud..." declared Gladstone. "I need you to come with me - we need to go underground... There's something I need you to see..."

Claud gulped nervously. He didn't like the sound of that at all, but this time he decided that he needed to be brave.

"My pleasure, Senor McWhiskers..." he mewed as confidently as possible. "Please, lead the way..."

TO BE CONTINUED, TOMORROW.

What will become of Claud and Gladstone back down in the cellars? Can Ollie expose the truth behind the supposedly haunted pie factory? Will the Pie Man strike again and if so where will he strike and what is the truth behind his existence!?

This instalment was originally written in Barcelona on Saturday 10th November 2007.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL

Today we're just taking more of a look around Barcelona - just to set the scene...