Avid Tourists

Arriving home from my morning constitutional I heard two things - the thunder of children's feet running upstairs and laughter from my living room. 

 

Entering, all became clear. Cornelius and Letitia Dandelion were holding court and Eliza, Cecile and Merlin were still chuckling from whatever had been said.

Letitia was first to notice my presence.

"Jackson!" she said. "We've been waiting for you."

 

I wasn't surprised to learn Eliza's parents had just returned from their latest excursion, travelling Sylvania. By habit, the first thing they did after dropping off their belongings at their house and greeting their nephew Clive (who lived there and looked after the place in their absence) was to visit their son and daughter.

They had spent a couple of hours at Butterglove Lodge with Denzel's family and now it was Eliza's turn. Some small gifts for Orton, Brendan, Beverley and Russell were received gratefully but the presence of their surrogate grandparents meant more. Just! Our children had been chivvied upstairs to enjoy their gifts, giving the adults opportunity to talk without distractions, however pleasant. My entrance was timed to perfection.

 

"Well, hello you two," I said, a smile on my face. "Another tour over, I see. It's good to see you back. Although I can't help wondering how long before you tire of Mellowdene and are off again."

 

"Oof," said Cornelius, paw to his chest in mock pain. "Why do we return to be met with such cruel words?"

 

Everyone collapsed with laughter. Eliza was the first to regain her composure. 

"My mother was just telling us that they planned to leave off going on boat trips for a while and think about touring some inland villages next time."

"We've got ourselves a car," said Cornelius. "Parked outside. What do you think of it?"

 

"Haven't seen it. But I didn't come in that way," I said. "I've been walking near the village green so took the woodland path back. Came in through the side door."

"Oh," said Cornelius, sounding a little disappointed. "Never mind. We can show you afterwards. Lovely little red number."

 

I had a thought. "I saw a red car on my way out. When I was passing the Lodge."

"That will have been us," said Letitia. "We'd been visiting Denzel, Sam and the children."

"So that was you. Nice looking car."

"We got it before we went on the boat trip," said Cornelius. "While we were away Clive took it to Truffle's Garage and had Murphy Van Dyke convert it to use a fireglass fuel system."

 

"They were just about to tell us of their trip," said Cecile, "but we were waiting for you."

 

 

"You sounded like you were having fun."

"Oh, that? Letitia was telling us of their hippie days."

"Hippie days?"

"I told you - we weren't hippies," laughed Letitia. "We were just a bit more free and easy. Like the young couple we met after we disembarked at Tinyport. Reminded us of how we used to be."

 

Tinyport was barely a port and it was not even a village. There were a few buildings set back from the Coast Road at a point where the sea was deep near the shore line. There were a couple of jetties that aided travellers leaving their ships, a chandler's shop, a small warehouse, two or three houses and an inn.

"We had telephoned Mellowdene switchboard from the inn and arranged for Clive to pick us up in the car. We met the young couple whilst we were waiting. They were passing on their way back to Sweet Berry Valley. Turns out they were a branch of the Babblebrook family. They were delightful."

 

"They were," agreed Cornelius. "It's been a few years since we stayed in Sweet Berry Valley. We need to revisit."

"We could visit Peter and Peace's beach bar," nodded Letitia.

I laughed this time. "You're only just back from gallivanting around Upper Tricadna and you're planning a future trip?"

"You talk like you've forgotten they're avid tourists, Jack," said Merlin. "I'm still expecting them to write a travel book for our library. I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't more widely travelled than Ricardo Porcini."

"We're straying from the point," said Cecile. "There may not be a book but we have the travellers here with the latest news of their latest trip. We've been waiting for my hubby to return so that we can get the highlights."

"Fair point," I said. "Let's hear from - what did you call them, Merle? Avid tourists? I admit I'm curious where they went and what they saw."

o 0 O 0 o

Cornelius began by reminding us that they used to organise their own travel plans without any assistance until they became friends with Mellowdene's own travel agent, Jolyon Simon. Thiough his business - Primate Travel - this friendly monkey had contacts with his counterparts all over Sylvania. 

 

 

The latest trip had been organised with the help of a small tourism business located between the towns of Porta del Sol and Zooville on the central isle of the three eastern islands.

"We used Critago to check for accommodation availability and suitable transport," he said. "Our original plan was to visit all the coastal drop-off points on the east coast of the Tricadnian upper island then use local transport to reach the nearby villages. We'd use sea taxis to take us from one to the other."

"By villages you mean Willowtree Gully, Wildemont Valley and so on?"

"Yes," said Letitia, "but when we got to Critago there was an opportunity we couldn't ignore. We agreed we could revisit our original plan at a later date. This time, there was a chance to join a cruise ship that toured the outer islands. The ones too small for Sylvanako's map."

Sylvanako's Map is the primary map of Sylvania and the one familiar to Mellowdenians and probably most critters in the land. You need specialist maps go beyond this, some reaching as far as the Ring of Sylvania - our nominal boundary. 

"So where did you go?" asked Cecile. 

"When we saw the itinerary Letitia remembered an article in the Mellowdene Examiner about the Billabongs," said Cornelius, "as she saw the cruise ship would call at the Isle of Koalaroo."

"There were four other islands too," said Letitia, "and we'd also pass in sight of the Perilon Archipelago..."

Eliza sat forward, earnestly addressing her mother. "Please tell me you didn't go anywhere near there," she said, "when you knew that was where Orton's parents were shipwrecked!"

 

"Of course not, dear. Don't fret. Neither of us are that careless, and the ship's captain wouldn't be foolish. It was a cruise - not an expedition."

"The sky was clear enough for us to see Needle Peak, though," said Cornelius. (See notes.)

"Do you ever hear anything from the Burroughs?" said Letitia. "I still cannot understand how they abandoned Orton..."

Eliza waved her paw. "Don't go there, mother."

 

Merlin intervened. "We get regular letters passed on to us. They mention their conservation work, continually thank us for caring for their boy, and there's no sign that our fostering of Orton will end in the foreseeable future."

"They're a potty couple," said Letitia.

"But good for Eliza, Merlin and the boy," said Cornelius.

There was a consensus of noises followed by a brief silence.

"Anyway," continued Letitia, "after that, we sailed westwards. We saw Fisherport and Mosswood Fells in the distance..."

 

"You weren't circumnavigating the upper isle?" I asked. "I thought you'd return to your starting point."

"Oh no," said Cornelius. "It was a long cruise that was due to continue down the straits, passing Arcfield and FoxFire Fells before circling Atlandia and heading back. It would have taken at least two more weeks and we hadn't planned to be absent that long. That's why we arranged to be dropped off at TinyPort."

"Still, you covered a fair distance," said Merlin.

"We did. We've got photos."

"You certainly are avid tourists," laughed Cecile.

"And lots of places yet to see," nodded Letitia. "I hear that they've got some aeroplanes in some parts of Sylvania. I don't know where they would go."

"Mother..." said Eliza. 

"...and when I was talking to Denzel, he mentioned some wild tale that Rowan had told him a few years ago. Something about a 'Land of Men'. I believe you were part of that conversation, Jackson."

 

I could feel the stares from both Cecile and Eliza. Thoughts flashed through my head. Cornelius and Letitia meeting the Mist Cat Tribe. My attempts to explain the Routes of Sylvania... no.

"Ah, Rowan does like his tall tales..."

"Ah. Thought so. Never mind. Photos, then?"

Smiles of relief and enthusiastic agreements were forthcoming.

Eliza certainly has some interesting parents.

o 0 O 0 o

A few photos from Letitia and Cornelius:

 

 

Gazing out to sea on the Isle of Mistella

The Old Tower on Wolf Island

 

  

The balleg-root fields of Dartrel Island

A pause on Calonis remembering all the islands we'd visited

o 0 O 0 o

Editor's Note

Peter and Peace are lovely characters from the wonderful blog My Sylvanian Paradise. (Highly recommended if you've never visited there.) Many thanks for their unexpected cameos!

Darcy Fielding

Notes: 

Cornelius and Letitia Dandelion introduced in "Celebrating Grandparents" - January 2021

Koalaroo visited in "New Beginnings" - January 2022

News of the Shipwreck in "Butterglove Losses" - August 2020

Fate of Orton's parents in "Routes of Sylvania" - September 2020

Word from Orton's parents in "Unexpected Letter" - April 2022

The Mayflower Gang

Hello my friends. It's Darcy here in a somewhat reminiscent mood.

I'd had a phone call from Wade Waters. He reminded me that it was May and that it was probably time we fulfilled our promise to an old childhood chum, especially as we'd missed a couple of years. I agreed, saying I'd contact my pal Spencer Maces and we'd arrange a time to meet up in our special place.

So it was that Wade, Spencer and I met up at Laburnum Grove. We had timed it perfectly as the brilliant yellow flowers of the trees were at their most profuse. They always are in the first month of May.

"Still looks excellent," said Spencer. "Jerky would be happy."

"Aye," said Wade. "Shall we sing our song?"

"In a bit," I said. "Wouldn't it be better to do it on the site of our old den?"

Spencer nodded. "That would be more appropriate."

 

Appropriate because it was the meeting place of the Mayflower Gang.

o 0 O 0 o

Yes, I was a member of a gang. There were four of us: Wade, Spencer and I you have already met but the fourth was Jericho Flora. If you're wondering how that gathering came to be, I suspect part of the reason was that we were home-schooled and had apprenticeships with our own families. I spent a lot of time learning the family business at the Mellowdene Examiner and the others had similar stories. Clearly we needed further connections with kids our own age. 

Wade and I were already friends as our parents used to socialise. Spencer and Jericho were neighbours and had decided to pair up for the purpose of fun and games. They were originally unsure what to call their partnership, calling it the Maces-Flora Gang, but this mutated to Mayflower when we were given the opportunity to join them.

This appealed to my sense of adventure as it was a secret gang. The change of the gang's name was part of this. How can it be secret it comprises two of the members' surnames? It's odd we did not think we risked that secrecy by meeting in a place where the flowers were at their most splendid in May. Not as blatant, I suppose. 

We continued to strive for anonymity by giving ourselves secret names; in retrospect they were not that obscure but in our young minds they gave us an identity. Spencer Maces was Messy, Jericho Flora was Jerky, Wade Waters was Wonky (he refused Warty) and I was Dorky.

We worked on coded signals. We experimented with citrus-based invisible ink. However, our initial project was to build our secret den within Laburnum Grove. 

I had better tell you about Laburnum Grove. It is situated where Laburnum Road meets Briony Lane. At that time both Jericho's and Spencer's family lived on Laburnum Road and Wade lived on Waterfront Road close to the other end of Laburnum Road. They didn't have far to go, and to be fair, I was only a few streets away. I wonder now, was our den that secret? I suspect our parents were happy to give us the illusion of our independence.

The den was between a dense growth of evergreen shrubs. Growth in the area between the shrubs was restricted by a rocky slab so we were able to push back the encroaching ground cover to give us a solid floor. Spencer's family were co-owners of the Applewood Department Store and he was able to retrieve some broken wooden palettes destined for recycling. We recycled them to create a solid structure for the walls and the roof of our den. 

 

 

Jericho claimed the remnants of some rolls of waterproof fabric left from his family garden. Once this material closely enclosed the den structure, we bent supple branches overhead and weaved them together. Into this we inserted divots of grass and moss, encouraging other plants to root within. It took a few months to get it into shape and we kept it maintained long afterwards. It was our place. 

Of course, there came a time after all this careful preparation when needed to discuss what the Mayflower Gang should actually do. Secret codes and invisible ink were all well and good but we needed a project in order to use those skills.

"You've got the intelligence network, Dorky," said Spencer. "Your dad's newspaper must have the scoop on all sorts of stuff."

"What are you thinking, Messy?" said Wade.

"There's bound to be stuff in there from the Sheriff's Department," said Spencer, "asking for the public's help. I'm guessing not all of that info goes into the printed newspaper, with editing and all that. If we've got the full info, couldn't we help investigate things?" 

"Wouldn't Sheriff Huckleberry think we're in the way?" said Wade.

"Good point, Wonky, but we'd do it secretly," said Jericho, "and when we solve whatever it is, the Sheriff shouldn't have any complaints. What about it, Dorky?"  

  

"Well...," I said, "I'm working jn the newspaper archives area. Some of that includes filing correspondence. It might not relate to the latest events."  

"So we look at cold cases," nodded Jericho. "You'll have the council press releases too. Could be useful."

"I won't be able to take anything out of the building, Jerky." 

"You won't need to. When it's clear you can let us in."

It didn't sound the best plan to me; discovery was always at the back of my mind. It didn't happen though. We found four reports that interested us and that led us to mount surveillance operations. It shouldn't surprise you that nothing came of it, although we were able to use our coded communications.

It was a year or so later when we received an urgent summons from Jericho.

o 0 O 0 o

"It's my parents," said the lop-eared rabbit. "Their fancy flower fiddling has got out of hand."

I should explain. The Flora family are totally enamoured with flowers and plants of all descriptions. Jericho is not. His passion is reserved for wild flowers. The centre of Laburnum Grove is a haven for a wide variety and I'd often seen our rabbit chum sitting and gazing at those flowers with a happy smile on his face.

His parents were dedicated to creating new varieties of flowers by selective fertilisation. They had a small laboratory at the back of their house to assist with their experiments but there would be a time when they'd want to plant their creations out in the open.

"They want to plant a garden of the stripy tulips they've been working on."

"It's too late for tulips, isn't it?" said Wade. "Aren't they more March or April?"

"Ordinarily, Wonky," Jericho sighed, "except these are late bloomers. Slap in the middle of May. And one of the sites that could be affected is Laburnum Grove. All our wildflowers will be taken out."

"That's terrible," said Spencer. 

"You said one of the sites..." I began.

"What can we do to help?" said Wade.

"I was hoping you'd say that," said Jericho. "I have a proposed mission for the Mayflower Gang."  

o 0 O 0 o

"There was a choice of three sites to develop for a special tulip field, each agreed by the council," Jericho explained. "Laburnum Grove, a plot near Hop Lane accessible from Cloudberry Road, and one running alongside Goldenrod Lane. My mum and dad checked them out, leaving Laburnum Grove to last. I went with them and couldn't believe they were considering our place." 

"Did you say anything?" said Spencer.

"About the den? No, but I did say there were wild flowers that it would be a crime to remove."

"And?"

"They said they'd think about it. I had the feeling they'd already decided. The Hop Lane site has a lot of small stones and rocks to move so they mainly compared the other two. They was little to distinguish between them, but Laburnum Grove was nearer to them."

"So they eventually told you that they'd chosen that."

"No. I found the paperwork. They are engaging some contractors to prepare the site when we're away to visit my uncle out of town. I wonder if it is so that I'm not upset about losing the Grove."

"Considerate or sneaky?" said Wade.

"Could be either," Jericho acknowledged, "if they think I might protest." 

"What will the preparation involve?" I asked.

"Most of the work," said Jericho. "Clear the land, set up the planting areas with the predetermined soil with accessible walkways."

"What about the planting?" asked Wade.

"That too. The contractors include two critters from the Sylvanian Horticultural Institute. The bulbs will be planted according to the plans."

"Are you saying everything will be completed by the time you're back? That it would be too late to change anything?" said Spencer.

"Yes," grinned Jericho, "and that's how our mission could work."

 

o 0 O 0 o

The plan was audacious. It emerged the paperwork had still to be sent to the contractors and they would be posted as the Flora family left the village. Jericho had borrowed the pages that specified how Laburnum Grove would be processed. We had to work quickly. 

As I had experience in manual printing at the Mellowdene Examiner, I would produce custom forms according to Jericho's specification. He had created diagrams of the Goldenrod Lane site and typed out instructions for that particular piece of land. 

 

 

These would act as substitutions for the pages mentioning Laburnum Grove. The general papers, including those bearing the signatures of his parents, would be copied using the Examiner's duplication facilities - with the signatures blanked out. These would replace the signed pages in the original contract. If Jericho's parents should notice the missing signatures they might be momentarily confused but it would be simple for them to sign them again. We were hoping, should that happen, it would be attributed to an oversight on their part. After all, the contract was otherwise unchanged.

The revised contract for the Goldenrod Lane site would include the pages with the original signatures and these wouid be placed into an identical envelope and a switch would be made before it could be posted.

After the Flora family had left, the remaining members of the Mayflower Gang would go into action. Messy, Wonky and Dorky would relocate the signs created for the benefit of the contractors.

And did this work?

o 0 O 0 o

It certainly did. The contractors had finished setting up the tulip field before Jericho and his family returned.

There were some intense discussions!

And yet, being Sylvanians, the discussions were positive. Jericho's parents had not appreciated the strength of feeling about preserving the wild flowers. The Goldenrod Lane Tulip Field presented an amazing display of hybrid striped tulips in May, and it even transpired the site was a better one as it allowed for expansion.

A couple of years later, Jericho's parents became employed by the Sylvanian Horticultural Institute and moved away. However, Mellowdene wouldn’t long be without representatives of the Flora family as his cousin's family would take up residence on Cherry Blossom Avenue.

 

Spencer and Wade didn't face any consequences, so at least some of the Mayflower Gang members maintained an air of secrecy.

Having used some of the newspaper's resources I did face some consequences. My reasons were understood but the consensus was that I had been left to my own resources too much. 

"It's about time he mixed with others anyway," said my mother.

I suspect my father was secretly proud of my independence but he agreed. "And I know how we could fix that," he said. "It's about time he had some academic studies to supplement his apprenticeship here. Time he was enrolled in school."

 

And the rest is history.

o 0 O 0 o

"Messy, Jerky, Wonky, Dorky

Thinkie first before you talkie,

Faithful duty do not shirkie,

Wonky, Dorky, Messy, Jerky"