MOUSE OF COMMONS. MOUSE OF LORDS.: PART 6 of GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION...

Friday, October 31, 2008

PART 6 of GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION...

GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION...
- PART 6

Welcome to the 6th 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 detailed 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 have trailed Gladstone McWhiskers to Barcelona where there have been sightings of Charlie up in the mountains near Alquézar… Meanwhile, Charlie is safe and sound, but stuck in "The Lost City of Bearcelona", which is rather smaller than expected; he and Augustus are at loggerheads - but Charlie has decided that he must escape - he would rather be dead than trapped in the lost city with only his father for company… Meanwhile, back in Alquézar, Charlie's growl can be heard echoing around the streets…

But meanwhile - back in the other dimension...

The Other Dimension, Somewhen...

Make no mistake about it; Charlie Grrr had done his very best to escape his new prison within the ever-so slightly small “Lost City of Bearcelona...”

There was the slight problem that the “City” would not let him leave...

If you stood from the balcony of the apartment or up on Augustus’s side of the village by the monastery looking out across the countryside you could see fields and trees, roads and what might even have been further settlements up amongst the mountains in the distance.

You could see all these things; but it seemed you could never reach them; it was as if they were lost behind a thin veil of haze. The weather was still bright, but there was a definite film that seemed to hang over everything; a blur – as if the world beyond their town was somehow out of focus...

Charlie had done his best to find a way out beyond the lost “city”, but as he reached the outskirts one of a number of things happened; he felt sleepy and fell asleep in the road, he smelt pies and had to return – once he saw an enormous ball of parmesan rolling in the opposite direction and had to chase it back into the village. When he finally caught up with it; it wasn’t half the size that he’d first imagined it to be – but it still made a nice addition to his dinner that night. There had been one occasion where he had deliberately drink 20 espresso coffees before he went out; this kept him awake and he had taken provisions of pies so as not to be distracted.

But he’d still not been able to find a way out – in fact he’d gotten so far and then had, quite literally, hit an invisible barrier and could simply go no further...

“This is RIDICULOUS!!” he complained to the reflection in his bedroom mirror; the only other beary face that there was for him to speak to, other than his evil father. “RIDICULOUS!!!”

The mirror seemed to echo his words in agreement and so this only helped to fuel Charlie’s anger and encourage him to prolong it…

“Not only is it RIDICULOUS!!” he declared. “But it is ALSO MORONIC and FOOLISH and plain UNFAIR… I am an actorrrr and a creative bear overall and I not only NEED but CRAVE an audience and that audience CRAVES and NEEDS me back… It’s a two-way relationship here and that’s been snatched away from people. The world back home must be mourning the loss of my amazing beary talent…” he observed and then turned back to the mirror to see what its opinion was; only to be quite shocked by the sight of his own reflection sitting in an armchair, eating a large pasty with his earphones on; head swaying gently to whatever growly music its was listening to and paying absolutely no attention whatsoever to Charlie.“Well, I never!!” exclaimed the bear indignantly, before striding off furiously to try and find some other object to complain to.

He’d tried venting his fury at a milk bottle only that morning – but all his bile and grumbling had only resulted in his turning the milk off; it hadn’t even turned to cheese – it had just gone bitter and unusable…

Life was hard for a bear like Charlie in the Lost City of Bearcelona…

For what seemed like months Charlie had lived this dull and boring life and hadn’t known what to do. He’d begun to wonder if Augustus had actually left him there and found his own way out; but then, occasionally, Charlie would spot his father chasing the large ball of camembert around around the town square with a stick; or sometimes vice versa…

…And then some hope for the future had come in the form a mini-bus of French tourists…

At first when Charlie had seen them he wondered if perhaps this was the “city’s” way of telling him that it had run out of cheese and break and chorizo and pies and belly button fluff tea – but that a coach load of French tourists would probably do just as nicely…

Except that they all looked pretty old and wrinkly and Charlie had made a pact with himself years ago never to eat humans; because he knew far too many of them in the entertainment business; that and he had also heard that they were flavourless and as tough as old boots…

What he did want to ask them though was how they had gotten through the portal into the “lost city”; for the only thing that he could think of was that the portal must have reopened and the tourists had accidentally driven straight through, which possibly meant that he could escape out the same way.

Now Charlie’s French wasn’t great, but he did his best as he approached their mini-bus; smiling and waving pleasantly and even holding out the remains of a chocolate cake that he’d been eating as an offer of friendship.

Unfortunately Charlie’s plans didn’t go so well – in fact the tourists all started screaming and began throwing onions and fresh croissants at him – which was actually a nice thing for the bear and by the time he’d cleared up the mess that they had left, they had driven away…

He never saw them again after that…

But although he had lost his potential audience – Charlie had not lost his hope of escape…

He no longer wished he was dead – he felt alive and excited by the possibilities of life again.

“I WILL GET OUT…” he declared to the hills and house of the lost city. “I WILL ESCAPE…”

…And this time there was no doubt in his mind…

Charlie Grrr would escape. End of story.

Erm… We’re talking metaphorically here, obviously! It’s not really the end of the story…

So, will Charlie escape? Is there some hidden way out that the bear has yet to find? Next episode we return to Alquézar to discover what Oliver, Laura, Claud and Gladstone are up to…

NEXT WEEK GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION WILL BE POSTED ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY – AS I AM HEADING TO OSLO TO RESEARCH A NEW MOUSE SERIAL TO BE POSTED IN DECEMBER ON THIS SITE. THE FOLLOWING WEEK EPISODES WILL BE POSTED TUESDAY AND THURSDAYS AND HOPEFULLY THIS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THE END OF THE CURRENT SERIAL - UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE…

SO TUNE IN AGAIN, ON TUESDAY 4th NOVEMBER FOR PART 7 OF THIS ADVENTURE!!

This instalment of GLADSTONE MCWHISKERS AND THE HULLABALOO DIMENSION was originally written in Bierge, Spain on Monday 13th – Tuesday 14th October 2008.

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

In this post we continue to look around "The Lost City of Bearcelona” – which, in reality, is made up of quite a fair few towns that Dr Neph and I visited during our trip; most notably Bierge, Rodellar and Peratallada, Next episode we return to Alquézar to see more of that area…