From: eesshlgb@gdr.bath.ac.uk (S H L G Bisson)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: All in a mouse's night... (part 1/3)
Date: 6 Apr 92 10:32:46 GMT
Organization: School of Electrical Engineering, University of Bath, UK

From the over-stuffed rocking chair near the fire-place, Ignatz watches 
people wander in and out of the door. Suddenly he sits up... Ignatz has 
just wandered in. He stares at himself in surprise, he's seen other people
do this, but not himself.

"Don't worry, I'm not staying, I just brought you this..."

With that, Ignatz throws himself a brightly coloured T-shirt, and strides
out again. Ignatz looks at the shirt, a parody of a Planet Stories cover
on the front, and the words `DANGER: DO NOT REVERSE POLARITY' on the back.

Ignatz smiles and puts it on.

The door, again, and Ignatz. This time he's carrying a fluorescent vest.
It's a bit dirty. In fact, it's also sopping.

"Thought you might want this..."

He saunters out, and Ignatz starts to wring the hi-viz vest out.

A 2d arm through the door. A set of keys fly through the air. Ignatz catches
them, as from outside the door his voice can be heard.

"Time you had those back, too..."

Things go quiet in the Place for a while, and the cartoon mouse blushes.

"I don't usually go round throwing things... only bricks at Krazy, but
then that's genetic..."

The door opens again. In comes Ignatz, behind him trots Deejah, the Real Cat.

"She wanted in again..."

Ignatz hands himself a notebook.

"Look out `Crossing Flat Earths Again'... I think Toothpick'll like it."

With that there's a sudden crack of thunder, nature abhorring yet another
vacuum, as Ignatz vanishes, leaving himself looking rather astounded.

"Hmmm. I've heard of hints from the subconscious, but that takes the biscuit."

He wanders over to the bar, collects his usual milkshake, hands over a Jersey
pound coin, and bimbles (Windsinger, I like that word! Oh, and I've sent off
my Illumination money...) back to the overstuffed rocking chair.

"It's time I posted again. So much has happened over the last few months,
what with work and life that I haven't really had time to post, and perhaps
not even in the right frame of mind to just sit back happily..."

The cartoon mouse pauses, and tickles an obliging Deej.

"So I'm sat in the lab tonight, struggling to get some code to work for a
conference paper that's already late and on the wrong side of the Atlantic
from the conference, and well, here I am again..."

He smiles.

"Where to begin?"

Ignatz notices a few people staring at his T-shirt.

"`Return To The Forbidden Planet' - the best show in any town. Shakespeare,
1950's B-movie SF, rock'n'roll, awful puns... and a flight safety drill!
The show thrives on word of mouth, you are told to `tell your friends', so
I'm telling you... if you get the chance... go! (And no excuses about it
being in London, it's about to open in the States and Canada, and I'm sure
Oz can't be far behind...) Reversing polarity? Don't try it unless you
know the drill!"

A quick sip of his milkshake, and the cartoon mouse leans back, ready to
go on.

"The hi-viz vest? Another weekend spent hard at work on the narrow-gauge
railways of North Wales.

"The Sunday, we were up in Blaenau Ffestiniog, shifting lengths of rail.
24 feet of bullhead steel is quite heavy, so we had a little wagon to push 
up and down the tracks. Great fun, hard work, and wet! 

"The mists came down, and the rock turned silver grey. You couldn't see
the tops of the mountains in the clouds. And in the swirling mists and 
rain you could see why the Welsh believed in dragons. There had to be 
something up there in the cloud, something that was making the sheep bleat
and echo across the valleys. Was that a wing dipping out of the cloud?
Was that a coiled tail just there on the old slate incline?

"Sopping wet, we wandered into the Glan y Pwlch hostel for lunch. The
mists lifted, the dragons flew off back up to Eryi and the Glydders.

"An afternoon of more work, and then it was time for the drive back to Bath.
Twisting down the heart of Wales, following the River Wye from source to
sea. It's not often you can trace a river that way, starting in a waterfall
off the side of a mountain, following it as an angry mountain river, down
in to the valleys, where like a horse being broken, it twists and turns, as
if wanting to be free of its banks. Then calmer, and wider it flows on, on
through wide valleys and meadows, just occasionally losing its temper in a 
flurry of rapids. Finally the sea, and peace."

Ignatz pauses, and begins to take another drink. The glass halts before
his mouth. Then he drains it.

"I was going to make one BIG toast, but I think it's better to split it 
up a bit, so...

And the Cartoon Mouse stands up, raises his empty glass.

"To humour and to landscape!"

A quick spin toss, and the glass glisters as it flies into the fire place.

<KERRUNCH!><Krickle, Krickle>

The shards fall into the flames, like meteors on a summer's night.

---END OF PART ONE---
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