MOUSE OF COMMONS. MOUSE OF LORDS.: PART 12 OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

PART 12 OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!!

GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!! - PART 12

Part 12 of a 15 part internet-exclusive mini-adventure by Paul Chandler, set in Barcelona.

Only minutes later, Gladstone McWhiskers and Claud the cat waiter were back down in the basement below the streets; it had taken no time at all - accept that Claud had rather had to squeeze himself down the vent that Gladstone had emerged from.

"I'm not as slim as I used to, Senor..." he had said, with a blush. "That's a rat sized gap - not a cat-sized one..."

But he had made it and they had spent a little while exploring the room that Gladstone had seen earlier; with all the costumes in and the drawing upon the wall. For the moment the room was silent - the noise of the "washing machine" or more precisely, the drill had fallen quiet for the moment - but they both took a closer look to see if they could find out where the sound was coming from.

"There doesn't seem to be any other way out of this room - other than up through the vent or back through the crack in the wall that leads back to your pie restaurant..." Claud nodded in agreement, as Gladstone disappeared under a table and emerged carrying something hollow and round. "This must belong to the costume I found earlier with the spooky claws... What do you think?" he tried it on - but it was so big that he disappeared inside it. "Hmm... Not my size..." he laughed - peering through the eye holes; but he was shocked to see the fearful expression on Claud's face.

"Oh... Oh... My..." the cat stammered. "It's... It's... The... Pie... Man..."

Indeed, now that Gladstone looked at it in the light the head was very much in the shame of a pie; which was rather disconcerting and disturbing to say the very least - especially when it was coupled with the rest of the costume; with it's leering eyes and twisted nose and mouth.

"Well, Claud..." sighed Gladstone, taking it all in. "All I can surmise from all this is that if this is the actual pie man and not just a replica of him; then I guess that the whole pie man legend is nothing more than some sort of false ghost story to keep people away - to scare them off from whatever is going on underground. As you can see - this is just a costume, nothing more..."

Claud nodded, agast to realise that there was some sort of con going on. "But all the restaurant owners - they leave money to pay him off - so that he doesn't put a curse on their restaurants and stop their supply of pies..."

"Well yes... I recall Charlie mentioning something about that - which made me suspicious at the very start... I mean, what would a ghost need or want with money. The restaurants have simply been lining the pockets of some crook or other - whoever it is digging down here, underground... Whoever it is might be able to scare the staff or rough them up - but I'm not so sure that they could put a curse on anyone..."

Claud was about the ask who it could be that was doing such a thing; who it was who was ruling the Barcelonian pie restaurants with a reign of fear and deception; but just then there came the soon of stone scraping again stone and the floor began to shake.

"Sounds like someone is coming... And it sounds like they're coming up from down below..." Gladstone reasoned.

They'd been so busy looking for doors in the walls, that they'd not thought to look beneath their feet - and it was an obvious thing to do when you thought of it. Sure enough, as they scampered under the shadow of the table they now saw a a circular portion of the stone floor opening up and a cloaked figure emerged. It was obviously bear shaped - but it was impossible to make out who exactly it might be; for he was wearing a boiler suit with a protective helmet which disguised his face.

Gladstone and Claud watched as the bear rifled around in a cupboard at the far end of the cellar near the crack in the wall as he retrieved a range of drill heads before returning to the raised area of floor and slowly disappearing below once more.

"Hmmm..." mused Gladstone. "I rather think that this might be your pie man... He seems to know his way about. I rather think he should be taught a lesson - don't you!?"

Claud grinned, then nodded - he liked the sound of that...

Meanwhile, back in the pie factory Ollie had found the source of the strings that suspended the pies that were currently floating about above Charlie's head and was busily trying to find a way to cut the threads and to break whatever spell the smell of the gravy had over the silly bear.

"There are no ghosts here - just con-men trying to kid gullible bears like Charlie to part with their hard grrr-earned euros..." he had decided as he struggled his way towards the upper floors of the building.

He'd even seen the bear accept a totally empty pie that had been described by the cub waiter as an ectoplasm pie...

It was TRULY OUTRAGEOUS!!

Ollie couldn't find scissors or a knife and although he wasn't a mouse he still had teeth and so he furiously began to gnaw through the string with a look of furious concentration on his face.

"Let's see how spooky this place is after I've finished with it.." he vowed and there was no doubting that he really meant it too.

When Oliver Louse was determined to do something; then do it he did - one way or another...

TO BE CONTINUED, TOMORROW.

What is Gladstone's plan to teach the cloaked stranger a lesson? Will Ollie manage to nibble through the ropes? Find out next time...

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

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

Some more of the beasts of Barcelona!!! No - I don't mean me and the boys, either... These photos were taken in Barcelona zoo on my birthday - it was a lovely place to hang out. Just check out that pelican's hairdo! :)