MOUSE OF COMMONS. MOUSE OF LORDS.: PART 15 OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

PART 15 OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!!

GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!! - PART 15

The 15th and final part of our internet-exclusive mini-adventure by Paul Chandler, set in Barcelona. Part 14 was posted earlier today.

As it happened that particular explosion was only the first of several that filled the cavern and later decimated the pie factory building altogether. It appeared that whatever it was that the stranger had been digging for; as Gladstone and Claud had approached the mysterious bear in the boiler suit he had lost control of the machine and this had caused it to go out of control and into overload.

Despite the first explosion; they had all managed to get out of the building in good time; but they had been covered in gravy and pastry and all sorts of mud and rubble dust from the cavern.

The mystery remained, however - for the boiler suited bear had vanished without them getting to speak to him. They had presumed that he was both the manager of the pie factory and was responsible for all recent appearances of the Pie Man to keep the locals scared. Gladstone recalled noticing that he was gone just moments before the first explosion - but had been too distracted by Charlie to say anything - and then the explosion had hit.

They never did find out what had happened to the mystery man and who he was - at least not at that time...

They did, however, learn what exactly he had been up to; it had been Charlie who had uncovered that - and it was quite a surprise, at that:

It had been lunchtime, on the next day that Charlie, Gladstone and Ollie were joined by Claud for coffee and Boccadillos in the Poblenou district of town.

"I really don't think I want to go on any further pie-crawls, thank you - Charlie…" Gladstone had said, a trifle distrustfully. "…and ghosts hunts are out too…" added Ollie and even Claud seemed to agree with this.

"You're so unadventurous…" Charlie frowned, having enjoyed every minute of their little run around last night. "I'm really disappointed with you all…" he sighed, sounding really disappointed and let down by them all. "It’s just that I had another little adventure planned that I thought you might like to know about…" he teased. "I thought you might like to know what our mystery Pie Man was up to…"

It was hard to resist finding out what had been going on and sure enough they all sat with baited breath as Charlie took the copper tube from his coat pocket, removed the scroll and then unrolled it; these were the papers that Gladstone had seen him steal from the factory.

Slowly; very slowly amd for maximum effect, Charlie laid out the papers on the table before him and then read out the heading on the largest sheet of paper - words that were written in Spanish and which only he and Claud could read without difficulty…

THIS IS A MAP… he read slowly… THAT LEADS TO THE LOST CITY OF BEARCELONA…

"It's a treasure map!!" gasped Ollie, Claud just looked dumb-struck.

"It's someone else's treasure map…" Gladstone reminded him. "Someone else who escaped from the explosion at the pie factory and who probably suspects that we've stolen it too…"

But Charlie wasn't swayed from his decision.

"It WAS someone's treasure map…" he corrected Gladstone. "But NOW it's MINE!!" he growled greedily. "And I'm going to find all the pies that the lost city contains - they're all mine now - every last one…"

Claud, Ollie and Gladstone stared at him in a mixture of surprise, horror and admiration - the bear meant business and very soon the bear would be heading out; DESTINATION: THE LOST CITY OF BEARCELONA...

"Boss…" whispered Ollie. "We can't let him go alone, can we?"

Gladstone said nothing; they all knew the answer to that...

Will Gladstone, Ollie and Claud join Charlie on the search for the lost city? What troubles will the map lead them into and will the mysterious stranger re-emerge to try and steal the map back from them.

COMING SOON: GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE LOST CITY OF BEARCELONA.

First part of this new adventure posted Monday 3rd December 2007

The final instalment of GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL was originally written in Barcelona on Sunday 11th November 2007.

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

Final photos from our fabulous trip to Barcelona. Not forgetting, as promised - my good friend Tom Crittenden's stupendous Pie Birthday Poem that he wrote in my birthday card.

BEARSONONA!!!

(A Poem by Beardad…)

Bearson is spending his birthday in Spain,
He didn't fly there, he got there by plane.
Else he would have ached and the pies that he baked -
Would be left to go cold from the pain.

I hope that he's not a whiner and moaner,
If, when he wakes up in fair Barcelona,
He finds no pies to fill up his insides -
And his belly's a big furry groaner…

Are pies there in Spain like those in UK?
Do pies there have genders? Can pies there be gay?
If a pie's not a fella, is it called a pie-ella?
Is that how paellas got named?

Thanks again to Calum and Quint for making my birthday weekend so special! It was a great weekend, thanks guys!! :)