The Mysterious Packages

If you leave Butterglove House and walk alongside the field that separates us from my cousins' house, enter the woodland and follow the path towards the village green, you will find a side track that leads deeper into the trees. At the end of that track there is a small cottage that belongs to Mookie Dappledawn.

I've mentioned him before. When I was very small, Mookie used to do odd jobs that included keeping my parents' garden straight. Although notably absent minded, he was a friendly individual, always willing to help and more than competent at the tasks to which he applied himself.

To my young eyes he seemed old, but that was just the way he looked; he was probably  much younger than I thought. Today, despite the years that have passed, he doesn't look much different - maybe a bit hairier in his ears - and his approach to life is much the same. Be friendly, be helpful.

Even so, he was an odd choice to be relief postman when Samuel Stamp needed assistance as - a couple of years ago - it approached a busy time approaching Christmas. Fellow postman Pete Petite had a bad sprain to his leg so he was temporarily out of action. He could assist in the afternoons, provided he remained seated, but postal deliveries - especially to those in Mellowdene county but out of the village - were out of the question. I suppose Mookie offered to help, and Samuel pounced on the offer.

It didn't go completely to plan. Shortly afterwards, when Darcy and I were in our usual meeting place of the Blackcurrant Café, Samuel joined us and shared his tale. 

 "For that time of year the number of parcels that week weren't unusual," said the smiling postman, "but this time there were quite a few larger ones. That's what threw Mookie. I'll explain what happened."

o 0 O 0 o

Mookie Dappledawn had quite enjoyed being a temporary postman the past few days, but this situation made him frown. He'd never fit all the parcels in the basket on the bicycle. Delivering them to the more distant addresses would take more than one journey. Also, the possibility that some householders may not be home could mean who-knows-how-many repeat excursions.

"It's a problem," he said aloud to no-one in particular. He was alone in the sorting office so he couldn't even seek advice. He then shrugged. "But I is not stupid. I is gonna figure it out."

The main issue was, he thought, not knowing when the recipients would be home. If he could solve that, then he could minimise the journeys, work out an efficient route, and get the job done in the optimum time.

"I knows what I will do," he smiled. "I will deliver the small parcels, then if I cycles on to the other places I can check if they is at home. If they not be, I can ask they's neighbours when they might be. Or leave a note for them to phone me."

He was about to go and load the cycle-basket with the small items, then he paused.

"But if I don't carry the big parcels, how will I know the addresses that need 'em?"

A grin sneaked onto his face. "I is definitely not stupid," he said, and proceeded to search for some scissors.

Cutting off the package labels, he stuffed them in his pocket. "Now I knows where to go."

Off he went, pleased that he'd worked out the problem. He followed his plan and it seemed to work. He returned to the sorting office, whistling happily. Samuel Stamp was inside, looking at the remaining parcels, and Mookie was proud to outline his clever plan.

Samuel listened in silence, then the mouse turned the parcels around to help illustrate the words he was about to say.

"I appreciate you thinking about this, Mookie, but we now have a different problem. We have a pile of parcels with no addresses on them. Do you know which labels came from each parcel?"

Mookie took the labels out of his pocket, looked at them, looked at the parcels, then looked at Samuel.

"No," he said apologetically, "I think I has messed up."

o 0 O 0 o

"How did you solve this?" asked Darcy.

"Well, we tried to match the scissor marks, but that didn't help. We didn't know if opening the parcels would help, and didn't think we should do that anyway. Asking the recipients might not help - especially if the parcel was a surprise gift."

"So what did you do?" I asked.

"It wasn't quite as bad as I first thought. Three of the labels mentioned the weight of the parcel, so I brought out the scales and matched them up."

"Leaving how many parcels?" Darcy prompted.

"Four. But on closer examination two parcels had the sender's names written on them, and the family name gave us a likely link to the label. So we had two parcels left with a fifty-fifty chance of guessing the correct address."

"So?"

"So we were stumped. One label was for the Farthings out near the grasslands, but neither parcel shouted doggy treat. I sniffed 'em. If anything, one parcel smelled faintly of cheese. Oh. And the other label was for Wester Cornflower. They're your relatives, aren't they, Jackson?"

I half nodded. "Sort of. Wester is a brother to both Trafalgar..."

Darcy obviously decided supplementary information was needed. "...who lives at Newton's house. Their wives are the Bonny twins"

Samuel laughed. "As a postman I think I know where people live, Darcy."

Darcy laughed too, albeit in mild embarrassment. "Sorry, Sam. 'Course you do. And apologies to you too, Jack, for my interruption. You were saying?"

"Nothing earth shattering. Just that Wester's younger sister Tabitha is married to my cousin Jonathan."

"That's what I thought," said Samuel, "and I said as much to Mookie."

"Aren't we straying from the point here, Sam?" asked Darcy, his reporting background kicking in. "What has Jackson's relationship to Wester Cornflower got to do with the matter in hand? The mysterious parcels?"

"I'm getting to that. The point is that we were stumped. We'd spent over an hour getting nowhere. Seeing the name 'W Cornflower' and a casual reference to Jackson was simply me making conversation. But the link meant something to Mookie."

I could see Darcy straining to question Samuel further, but we both knew that this particular postman would tell his tale in his own time. He did.

"Mookie said how he used to do gardening work for your parents, Jackson," - I nodded but didn't interrupt his flow - "and he'd enjoyed seeing the three Butterglove boys grow up. Over the years that led to him making friendships. When Merlin married Eliza Dandelion, Mookie met her brother Denzel and they shared an interest in practical gardening. With Denzel now greenkeeper for the village green, they have even more to talk about."

I wasn't sure where this was going but continued to listen.

"Mookie used to visit Butterglove Lodge after Denzel married your cousin... Samantha, isn't it? ...and from that, he later met Wester when Jonathan married Tabitha."

Darcy couldn't wait any longer. "Okay Sam. Stop prolonging the tale. We don't need to go through Jackson's entire family tree. You're just saying Mookie knows Wester Cornflower. And one of the parcels belongs to Wester."

Samuel paused deliberately, fixing Darcy with an amused expression upon his face. I realised that he had been teasing my friend deliberately.

"Oh, alright Darcy. I'll speed up. I've said Mookie shares an interest with Denzel. Well, he does with  Wester as well. Except that it's not gardening. It's fancy cheeses."

I finally understood. "And you thought one of the parcel had a slight smell..."

"You've got it. One of the parcels was a truckle of cheese."

"So there was a chance that this was meant for Wester."

Samuel chuckled. "Oh, more than a chance. You see, when my sensitive nose identified the parcel contents, Mookie remembered something..."

Darcy and I looked at each other as Samuel continued.

"Mookie had ordered the cheese as a present for the Cornflowers." 

 o 0 O 0 o

With all the parcels reattached to the relevant labels, Samuel Stamp and Mookie Dappledawn completed the deliveries. As Mookie was so embarrassed at his mistake, he took great pains taking extra care for the remainder of the time he worked for the postal service. 

There were no further incidents, but Samuel Stamp had another anecdote to share with his friends. He couldn't wait to tell Pete Petite once he was back on the job.

Oh, and I hear Wester Cornflower enjoyed his fancy cheese. 

o 0 O 0 o