MOUSE OF COMMONS. MOUSE OF LORDS.: PART 3 of GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION...

Friday, October 24, 2008

PART 3 of GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION...

GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION...
- PART 3

Welcome to the 3rd part of our new internet-exclusive, 15 part, mini-adventure by Paul Chandler, once again set in Spain, which is a sequel to GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE PHANTOM PIE-CRAWL and GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE LOST CITY OF BEARCELONA. Although the story refers back to some elements from the previous two stories it can be read on its own and below is a brief summary of the events of the two stories so far. The three stories will be published, along with other stories from this site in a collection called POSTCARDS FROM MCWHISKERS, due in Spring/Summer 2009.

The story so far…

During a visit to Barcelona; Gladstone, Oliver and Charlie meet a cat waiter called Claud and embark on a pie-crawl around the city. During their adventures they stumble on secret goings-on under a pie factory and discover a map that leads them to The Lost City Of Bearcelona - which just happens to be somewhere on the island of Majorca. The only person who can understand the map is Charlie's father Augustus; who is imprisoned inside a cocoon where he can't cause any further trouble. He isn't dead - and yet he isn't really alive in any proper sense; although he is able to communicate with Charlie psychically and during their visit to Barcelona he escapes and Charlie and he fall through a portal that may or may not lead to the lost city… The portal closes behind them and there is no sign of them for months. This new story takes place almost a year later and nothing has been heard from either Charlie or Augustus...

So far this adventure: Oliver Louse and Laura Dust-mite had trailed Gladstone McWhiskers to Barcelona, in disguise - uncertain of why the mouse has travelled there so secretly. Whilst Oliver spies in on Gladstone and Claud using a listening device in a walking stick, Laura takes a peek at some notes written by Oliver that suggest that he may be about to sell his story to the newspapers. Oliver returns to the café minutes later to find Laura gone - she has been lured by the smell of crepes and as she looks on a gust of cold air knocks her forward and down towards the steaming hob.

Barcelona. Early Autumn.

To be horribly blunt about the matter Laura should have been a goner after losing her balance on the edge of the crepe counter; for when she fell no-one was looking in her direction that ran the stall; for this was a shop for humans and they weren't expecting any dust-mite customers. Laura was heavier than usual, due to her butterfly disguise, but this meant that although she was less likely to simply blow away that when she fell, as she did, she fell fast - straight towards the hot plate where another frsh crepe busily bubbled, ready for fresh cheese of chocolate to soon be applied (but rarely both at the same time!!!)

Had rescue come a moment later then it could well have been too late; but as Laura fell something hooked onto her butterfly costume and pulled her up again and back on her feet on top of the crepe counter…

"Oh Oliver! Darling! You saved me in the nick of time…" she was reminded of the time that Gladstone had thoughtlessly sent her tumbling into a river full of swans. It had been Ollie who had saved her then too, which reassured her, because for just a second she had been thought that perhaps Oliver had seen her reading his notepad and was trying to get rid of her. But that was a very foolish thought and she knew that it wasn't true. It was just her guilt at having read the notes, no matter what they said, that had made her think such a thing. "Darling!" she continued, her eyes brimming with tears. "This is the second time you've saved my life, darling - you're becoming a regular little hero around me; my louse knight in shining armour…"

Ollie raised an eyebrow, but didn't deny it - even though he didn't actually comment either. He was aware that Laura had a bit of a tendancy for falling in love with people whom she found heroic. (As had happened when they had met Taz the Cavebunny not so long ago… You can read all about this in the new Mouse of Commons book: GOSSIP FROM THE CHEESE COUNTER, available from www.lulu.com in November 2008.)

"Well, it's just lucky that I was passing…" he poinyed out. "It's also extremely lucky that Professor Smith makes such good walking sticks containing so many useful devices!!" he added, becoming aware that some humans in the queue were becoming aware of their presense on the counter and were about to complain to the owner. "Come on now, Laura - we have places to go and Mice of Commons to follow…" he urged her and nodding excitedly Laura hurried away, arm in arm - with Oliver helping to support her large fake butterfly wings as they went…

There was much to be done…

Some while later…

Gladstone McWhiskers opened his eyes reluctantly and yawned; the lunch he had eaten with Claud in Barcelona had made him sleepy and he and the cat had eventually left the restaurant to catch a lift in a chauffeur-driven limousine out into the countryside beyond the city. As they had travelled and the light had begun to dwindle, Gladstone had quickly fallen asleep. At one point as the were driving away from the restaurant they had nearly run over an elderly looking woodlouse and his butterfly companion - but Glad had already been snoring by then and Claud hadn't been paying proper attention and wouldn't have expected to see Oliver there anyway; let alone Oliver in great grey beard carrying a walking stick.

The first Gladstone knew of them having reached their destination was when Claud had tapped him gently on the shoulder, causing the mouse to jerked suddenly awake and to stare around him in a disorientated manner. It was at this stage that he realised that the chauffeur-driven limousine had stopped and that the sun was now quite low in the sky. According to the clock in the car it was nearly five o'clock and he could see the driver; a rather gruff looking cockatoo called Carlos, taking a breather out in the carpark. It would be dark in little more than an hour and there was much to be done.

"Goodness, Claud… How long have I been asleep?"

The cat grinned. "Quite some time…" he laughed. "We're up in the mountains now; a good couple of hundred kilometres out of Barcelona. This is Alquézar; where the last sighting of Charlie was - although the location and the frequency of the "ghosting" has been quite irregular until this week…" he explained.

Gladstone nodded. Claud had told him about the sightings; of how wispy phantoms of Charlie had been seen in the streets of Alquézar recently, late at night - the ghost of a bear in such a usually quiet part of Spain wasn't something that could pass by un-noticed and it had soon come to Claud's attention back in Barcelona. Only having seen some photos and some grainy film taken on a mobile phone, Claud didn't think that it was a ghost - more the trapped echo of Charlie trapped in the dimension into which he had fallen in Majorca; although goodness knows why he was now appearing in this town of all places.

That didn't really matter; but contacting him or trying to bring him back to safety, surely did…

"This whole business doesn't make a lot of sense to me, I'm afraid…" Gladstone admitted. "I just hope that I can help somehow… Do we have any idea why it is he is suddenly appearing here? And after all those months of total silence?"

"Goodness knows… Maybe he's only just found the entrance to the portal wherever he is and is having trouble getting through - the main thing is we try and help… Alquézar is a pretty old and magical place - it dates back into ancient towns; the current city is built on the remains of another city that was here long before the romans. We're pretty high up in the mountains and building such a city in such a far off place no doubt took its toll on the people building it and people have often reported ghostly sightings here; Charlie's is just the latest - and of a slightly different nature…"

"Trust that bear to be different…" Gladstone grinned affectionately. "Even being a ghost he has to do in his own inimitable style…"

"I really have no idea how we're meant to try and open the portal…"

"I've spoken to Professor Smith about this and he's given me a few tips - but we do have to be careful…"

"Well, our first problem is actually finding it…" Claud pointed out. "It only appears for a few minutes; at very unpredictable intervals - although I've had our people monitor the times of the last six reported sightings - so hopefully I have a rough idea of when the next appearance should, theoretically be…"

"And that's soon? We'll see Charlie?" Claud nodded. "But he may not see us and we may not have time to reach him…"

Claud nodded. "Exactly. We have to be careful - and yes, it will be soon - at least it should be…" he stared at his watch as they climbed from the limousine to look down across Alquézar. "As soon as night falls - in a little under 45 minutes - that's when the portal should emerge - and this time we'll be there to witness it…"

Gladstone sighed. "But then what!?" he wondered - for Professor Smith's words still echoed in his head.

"It is not a good idea to try to save Charlie from the portal, Gladstone…" he had said. "Even I have no idea quite how these things work - at best, you might be able to speak to the bear - at worst you could all end up dead…"

"Well…" Gladstone mused as they stood looking over the impressive mountain city. "That's just a risk that has to be taken…"

Next episode, we leave Gladstone, Claud, Oliver and Laura in present-day Spain and travel through the portal to see exactly how Charlie Grrr is coping trapped in "The Lost City Of Bearcelona"; in another dimension...

GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION WILL (HOPEFULLY) BE POSTED THRICE-WEEKLY: ON MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY - UNLESS STATED ELSEWHERE…

SO TUNE IN AGAIN, ON MONDAY 27TH OCTOBER FOR PART 4 OF THIS ADVENTURE!!

This instalment of GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION was originally written in Girona and Bierge, Spain on Monday 13th October 2008.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION...

This episode we focus on a few last photos of Barcelona, before hitting the road to Alquézar and seeing some of the sights that Dr Neph and I saw on the way. Next week we'll be exploring "The Lost City of Bearcelona" in more detail and finding out that it's not quite as Charlie and Augustus imagined it might be. For those of you wanting to learn more about Alquézar; there are further details on Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alqu%C3%A9zar