From: trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (Barbara Trumpinski)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: narnia and other chronicals--part 3
Date: 11 Apr 92 22:11:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: ux1.1992Apr11.221155.23719
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana


You are not thinking that we are finished, are you?

~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~

Somewhere, off in the distance ...

From high on the crag above the picnic field Ignatz sees the gathering 
crowds. Carefully belaying himself he sets up an abseil. To a watcher
below it looks rather odd, a 2D Cartoon Mouse bouncing down the cliff
face.

[Yup!  You read right ... more bouncing!  ... the ed.]

Arriving at the bottom, he runs across to the field, when...
<BANG!> <THUD>
He trips over Nicki...

Luckily (as he is 2D and thus has almost zero mass) nothing is broken,
especially Nicki's guitar, but a rather tuneful chord was accidentally
struck.

Nicki says, "That sounds like the start of a song."

Ignatz takes the cue and they both break into a loud "We're off to see
the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of Aus!" and, of course, are joined by
other UK-Realspacers as, arm-in-arm, they dance towards DM.

Altogether, they cheer, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DM!!!!"

   Out of one of the bushes at the edge of the clearing, a soft chirp is
heard, followed by another and another until the melodious sound surrounds
the birthday party. One by one, three very large cicadas come out of the
trees and fly towards the birthday boy, our own DM. One of them lands on
the shoulder of the mouse and chirps softly but intently. The mouse
listens carefully for several moments. Suddenly, the other two cicadas
start circling around DM as he turns to the gathered company, a big smile
on his face. "Even the cicadas want to wish me happy birthday!" The shy
bugs fly back into the shrubs, but their chirps continue, a melodious
underpoint to the festivities.

Ramda wollops into Emter as her ciccadas fly away ...

"S'cuse me please ... I am just a rollypolly bear ...."

Emter finally regains her balance and throws a birthday kiss in DM's
general direction ... then goes in search of some ice cream and cake ...
not your usual breakfast fare ... but this is a birthday party afterall!

And, not too far away ...

shadowshine suddenly discovers herself in a place of light and partying.
a curious look arrives on her face:  partly disturbed at being out of
her usual habitat, partly wondering who did it and why...

"ah, the call of a birthday.  have not me heard one for awhile... such a
cheery, delightful sound.  but not to nature mine..."

and so elena raises her sleepy head out of her mounds of reading.  
"it's...it's...a bird, no, a plane...o shoot, i never get this bit right..."

giving up on the silliness, she finds DM, under the file of fuzzies and 
critters and affection, and gives him a U.S./elena-style hug:  she wraps
her arms around his middle (touching her elbows with her opposite hands...
yep, big as he is and smaller as i am, i can do it) rests her head
against his chest, and holds on.

"happy birthday.  and i miss you."  she holds on a bit longer, and then, not
inclined towards crowds, wanders off.

As she leaves, she passes Galadin who is looking around at the 
festivities going on in celebration a mischievous gleam comes to his 
eyes. (Happens to him often)  Looking at where DM is standing, Galadin 
finds some of the closest trees.  Galadin then scampers off into the 
forest for a little.  When he can next be seen, he is surrounded by a 
group of monkeys in party hats.  Galadin points to the tree behind 
DM's back and leans down to the monkeys.  He then waves his staff and 
the monkeys start to fly up into the tree, with DM still not noticing a 
thing.  

When they are finally there, Galadin walks slowly up to DM.  He places 
his hand on DM's shoulder and looking him in the eye says, "Happy Birthday 
DM.  And if I were you I would look out from above."  With that, a cloud of 
B-day confetti falls from the sky.  There is also a lot of chittering coming 
from above.  Upon looking up, there is seen a tree full of monkeys hanging 
from their tails and holding bags upside down.  When they see DM look up, 
they turn their bags aroundand it spells "Happy Birthday DangerMouse, and 
Many More."  Galadin then steps up to DM and offers him a special gift.  

"Here DM, as people have already seen I stored up snowballs from the last 
snowfall for pun retaliation.  Well, this isthe last one and I want you 
to have it."  With that, Galadin gives the snowball to DM and then returns 
back to his blanket to play some B-day music on his keyboard.

----<--<@                                                   *>-->----

And, again, we step back a bit in time ...
when,

 As the early hours of dawn begin to brighten the sky, Galdrin ap Morgan
sleepily rolls to his left and reaches out an arm to encircle a slim waist
nearby. Unfortunatley his arm finds only a -Sprite-sized warm spot on the
carpet and this disturbing loss rouses him immediately to full wakefulness.
He places his hand firmly on this residual warmth and smiles at the happy
memories of the waltzes and general frolic of the previous day.

 Peering around the meadow he sees innumerable bodies in various states of
slumber or restive pre-awakening movement. A very select few are wandering
around or delving into their picnic baskets in an attempt to appease their
morning hunger. 

----<--<*                                                   @>-->----

At last, 

Our DM finds a cozy place on the grass to sit, looking up he sees Sue, La,
GameCop and Mick approach.  Before he can great them, three blurs whizz
by, execute a sharp turn, streak back and smother the Mouse in wet dog-
kisses.  Greyhounds!  Moments later, the ground trembles and a LARGE red
dog comes thundering up and throws himself joyfully at DM's lap.  A
smaller black dog, irritated that all the good spots are taken, barks
loudly and joins the mess of Mouse and Dog.  Sue and La, laden with gifts
and food, grin mischeviously at the sight.  The two red-headed men (no,
*not* two-headed red men!) appear and start disentangeling the dogs.
"Gee, I always wanted to see Australia," says GameCop, "Happy Birthday,
Mar!"

"So, *you're* the DangerMouse", Mick grunts as he pulls 98 pounds of dog
away, "Happy Birthday!"

"Happy Birthday", chorus Sue and La. "We've brought you lots of animal
affection, a star pinata filled with goodies, homemade mexican food,
and a cake for dessert!" says Sue, hugging the Mouse and handing him
a balloon bouquet. La finishes arranging the food a safe distance from
the dogs and comes over to join in the hug.

No ones noticed, but the dogs are growing larger and larger, and the guys
have been busy fitting brightly colored saddles and bridles onto them,
attaching them to a makeshift carousel!  Tails wagging, eyes shining, the
dogs are psyched for this!  As the carousel music sounds, you can see the
invitation to come and ride.

"Wheeeeeeee!"  cry Ramda and Koally, quickly becoming the best of
friends ... "A carousel ... can we Auntie Sea ... can we ... puhleeze?"

Our Sea is no slouch, she recognizes a fun thing when she sees it ..

Not far away,

	Eeyore looks up in surprise at the crowd gathered in what he
thought was his meadow.  He sees "Happy Birthday, Danger Mouse" scrawled
across the sky above him.  "Happy Birthday," he says. "What's so happy
about someone else's birthday..." he starts, but sees Christopher Robin
staring at him and stops.  He sighs, then picks up a chipped honey pot
in his mouth and carries it over to where Danger Mouse is talking to a
number of creatures he doesn't recognize.  Oh well, he thinks, at least
they're not likely to bounce me.  "Here," he says, "Pooh and Piglet gave
this to me last year.  It's got this balloon inside, and you can take it
out and put it back in again.  You probably won't like it, but it's the
best present I ever got."  He hears Tigger over in the wood somewhere,
and decides to head for the other side of the meadow.

[On the bouncing score, Eeyore ... I wouldn't count on it!   the ed.]

     Legion is sitting off to one side, watching all the fun at DM's party, and
grinning from ear-to-ear.  He also seems to be making small gestures with his
hands, and muttering over a bag and what looks to be a large flowerpot.  If
anyone looks at him, he merely winks, and puts a finger to his lips. "Shhh.
It's a surprise..."  A little later, he gets up and walks over to where DM is
surrounded by birthday well-wishers. "Hiya, DM.  Happy Birthday!  Got a couple
gifts for you...." With this, he takes out the bag from behind his back, and
tosses it toward an empty place in the meadow.  As the bag flies through the
air, it seems to fade out, and seeds fall to the ground.  Within seconds,
they're sprouting and growing, and a minute later, the plants are in full
flower.  Every beautiful flower known to man seems to be there, and they spell
out the words 'Happy birthday, DM!'  Legion grins.  "Just a few party
decorations...."  He then hands DM the flowerpot, which has an odd looking
plant in it.  The plant is large, and has both flowers and 'fruit' on it.  But
besides all sorts of regular types of fruit, there are some more unusual types
too.  Some seem to be pieces of cheese, and others look like different kinds of
chocolate!  "Hope you like this.  It's a snack plant.  It blooms and fruits
year-round, so you should never run out of good things to snack on.  It's a bit
odd, true, but then what do you expect of a gift from a plant genetic engineer
who's also a witch?  Enjoy!"  Legion chuckles, and settles back to enjoy the
party...

Just then The Didi-Sprite, who had been drifting back towards the carpet
she is sharing with Lord Galdrin, noticing that he appears to be awake,
is startled when through the French doors lumbers a big brown moose with 
enormous antlers.  He is being guided by a rather attractive young woman 
dressed as per the Lady Marion of Robin Hood fame.

"Hi, Didi!"  she calls ... "We made it, didn't we!"

"Mellie!  Is that you?  And ... no!  It can't be ... that isn't ...
no ... !"

"Uh-huh!  Bruce the Moose ... your very own cousin!  We just had to
come to wish dear old Danger Mousekins .... you know ..."

"Where is the rodent?"  booms the moose ...

The spriteful one is holding her shaking sides whilst trying to point
toward the Wattle tree ... not an easy thing to do!

The Moose and Merry Maid nod in comprehension and head over
that way.  First they must negotiate quite a crowd of various and
sundry humans and creature-types ... but they finally make it.

Together they call:  "Happy Birthday, Danger Mouse!  May you live long
and prosper ... 

"And,"  adds Maid Mellie,  "keep the Didi-Sprite's Mbox full to over-
flowing!"

The moose bellows in agreement then ambles off in search of tender
green shoots near the lake.  The swans flap their wings in distress at
the intrusion, but then all returns to its former state of chaos and
merriment.

Mellie joins the Didi-Sprite and the two girls head towards the
now awakened Lord Galdrin.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~




--
***************************************************************************
conan the librarian a.k.a. kitten           /\ /\  barbara ann 
"my life's a soap opera, isn't yours?"      {=.=}
                                              ~   trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu 

"kittens today are not properly trained--the way that they were when
victoria reigned." asparagus (gus: the theatre cat)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans