MOUSE OF COMMONS. MOUSE OF LORDS.: PART 9 OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

PART 9 OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!!

GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL!!! - PART 9

Part 9 of a 15 part internet-exclusive mini-adventure by Paul Chandler, set in Barcelona.

Meanwhile, down in the cellars below DE-GRRR-TASTO, Gladstone had decided to be brave and to try and find out what exactly the noise was that he had heard on his arrival down in the catacombs. He was pretty sure that it wasn't Ollie who was making the noise.

The noise had definitely sounded more like a ghost - except very quickly he discovered that the sound didn't come from a louse or a ghost of anything of that kind, at all - it actually appeared to be coming from a speaker attached to the cellar wall!!

"Hmmm..." mused Gladstone as he stood right up to the speaker and listened to the wailing noise that eminated from the sound box. "Why would anyone want people to think that there was a ghost in the cellar?" he mused as the wailing "wooooooooooo"'s filled the air. "The only reason I can think of..." he muttered. "...is if they have something to hide and want to scare people away!"

Slowly he followed the wires from the speaker to a point at the end of the cellar, but could see that the wires continued through a crack in the wall; a crack just big enough from Gladstone to climb through...

...And so this is exactly what he did...

It was with a heavy heart that Oliver had ended up leaving Claud outside the pie factory; entering through the diner's entrance into what could best be described as a stereotypical haunted house. There, before him, sitting on his own, was Charlie - already tucking into one of the biggest pies that Ollie had ever seen. There seeme to be far more cub-sized waiter than there were guests, to be honest - but after the large amount of food that the bear had ordered they were all kept busy serving him; running around the pie factory diner dressed in little cub-sized skeleton outfits.

"Ahhh..." exclaimed the bear as he saw Ollie and wondering whether the louse had come to berate him for eating his pie - but Oliver was far more concerned about where Gladstone had gotten to and so he asked Charlie outright. "Gladstone!?" he growled. "I thought he was with you...." he replied, rather glibly. "At least, the last time I saw him he was heading in your direction - intent on discovering if you were okay..." he explained and then added. "I'm afraid I couldn't wait around for you both, I was drawn away by the allure of fresh gravy and ghost..."

Ollie was furious by this point. "Ghosts!!" he snapped. "Listen, Charlie - all this business about ghosts and the pie man and all that - it's just a load of old nonsense..." he begun, but before he could finish he was astonished to see Charlie's platter of food suddenly rising up from the table as if pilotted by some unseen poltergueist.

The bear laughed as he saw the louse's confused expression. "Poor Oliver..." he teased. "What was that about all those ghosts stories being a load of old rubbish; have you never seen a phantom pie, dear boy!?"

Ollie shook his head - for he hadn't - but there was no denying that he had now...

TO BE CONTINUED, TOMORROW.

What will Oliver make of the phantom pie? Will Claud have second thoughts about helping out? What will Gladstone find on the other side of the crack in the wall?

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

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

The theme of today's photos is scary things; from scary me, Calum and Quint - to scary faces, scary pies and yes - finally, as promised - those scary geese! My - were they scary; for some reason they were kept in a closed off area in one of Barcelona's cathedrals!!! (The scary pie was drawn by my good friend Tom Crittenden, who also helps proof-read some of my work. He drew the pie in my birthday card and wrote me a pie poem; but more about that late next week...)