New Beginnings

A new year, and the first chat I'd had with Darcy since Christmas was to discuss what I'd be writing for him. The trouble was, I hadn't any ideas about what I should write. Sure, I could have cobbled something together about the large family celebration at the village hall, but frankly it wouldn't have been particularly interesting. Merlin had done us proud with the catering, there was plenty of Ivory reminiscing and overexcited toddlers. Some overeating too. But not really story material.

"Don't worry about it," said Darcy, "I've had an idea. A source of material that's been under my nose all this time."

He paused, but seeing I wasn't going to play guessing games he sighed and continued.

"We raid the archives of the Mellowdene Examiner. I did that as a rushed job when you were missing - re-using Harry Hawthorne's food review about Gordon Doughty's Hamburger Wagon. A bit of a filler, to be honest, and I don't really want to rehash too many reports. I want stories. And we could have them if we use the People column as raw material."

He looked at me expectantly, eyes shining. I knew of the People column, of course. It is a longstanding but occasional feature of the newspaper where a villager will relate a family tale or anecdote. As Sylvanians are open people, they are happy to chat about their lives, and Darcy allows them to preserve those memories and events within his newspaper. This was an idea started by his father and it has proved popular in the village.

"I thought that you could present the articles in a different format," Darcy continued, "less of an interview and reportage but more as a narrative. We know these people well enough, after all."

I could see he was trying to gauge my reaction whilst his "big sell" continued. 

"It would be a decent fall back when you don't have stories of your own. I could do it, but I might tend to slip into reporter mode; just look at what I wrote last time! Also, I think you might find it interesting. Think of it as presenting folk tales. You'd be beginning a new phase of your storytelling!"

A new beginning? Maybe. The idea wasn't unattractive. I recalled some previous articles and they did deserve a wider audience. They just needed a little context. A little tweaking. Some in particular would lend themselves...

Darcy was grinning. That cheeky mouse knew I'd agree.

o 0 O 0 o

This is based upon a discussion between Antonia Petite (who handles the People column in the Mellowdene Examiner) and Rolf Billabong. I was interested to find that Antonia makes copious notes during her interviews. These contain her observations and additional information that doesn't make it into the published Examiner article. All useful for my rejigging of the tale. I hope you agree.

o 0 O 0 o

We come from Koalaroo, a small island beyond the triple isles of Tricadna, due east of Zooville and approaching the Ring of Sylvania. You won't see it on most maps because it is very small. Really small. It has a hot climate with a limited water supply and a growing population.

We'd moved there with my wife Matilda to live with her great aunt and had lived there around eight years. We had made good friends but once her aunt had sadly died we had no further family ties there.

 

 

I don't recall whether I was first to have had the idea or it was one mentioned by Matilda, but with a growing family, leaving the island for more space was a frequent topic of conversation. We'd had a year where it was oppressively hot to us and the possibility of moving to the mainland was becoming more attractive. We also noted that our two youngest, Kylie and Jason who normally were whizzing about, were becoming lethargic. 

 

It was a neighbour, Shane Bounder, who first mentioned Mellowdene. 

 

 

"I've got a cousin who lives there, mate. She reckons it's cooler than here but good with it. Sheila says she likes the people too. All sorts of friendly critters."

 

 

Shane lent us his photo album and we saw pictures of the river, the woodlands and the nearby mountains. It looked lovely. Even the children thought so, and they were curious about the number of youngsters living in Mellowdene. 

o 0 O 0 o 

It was the hottest day of the year when Matilda said, "Do you fancy a new beginning?"

 

I realised that was what we needed. The children asked if there were any other koalas in Mellowdene and I said that I didn't think so.

 

"What about bears?" asked my daughter Germaine.

 

"Or pigs? Or rabbits?" added my son Clive.

 

"Welliphant?" ventured Kylie.

 

"Wellie, wellie, wellie," Jason commented.

 

I told them that I thought so.

 

"That's alright then," said Clive and Germaine agreed.

 

Jason beamed at Kylie. "Wellie."

 

Kylie nodded rapidly and, as one, they turned and toddled off towards their bedroom.

 

Germaine laughed. "I think they've gone to pack."

 

o 0 O 0 o

 

I won't go into the details about arranging the move. There was always a market for houses on the island, we didn't hoard possessions, and I worked for myself so had no employment binding me. We discovered that there was available passage to the Triple Isles shortly after Christmas. If we took that, there were connections we could take to complete the journey to the mainland in a little over a week.

 

Because of this, we didn't spend long in Zooville, instead taking a second but longer sea journey to Possum Creek. We'd heard that there was a boat that periodically travelled from there along the coast to Thistledown and thereafter up the river to Mellowdene. As such, we managed to book passage on the Marisa May and that's when we met Horatio Seadog.

 

 

He's a beaut guy. He made us feel welcome and the crew made our journey a top experience. 

 

Kylie and Jason had thrown off their lethargy and were intrigued by Beaky Webster. Somehow he found time away from his First Mate duties to entertain the children off deck.

 

The scenery along the journey was wonderful. Travelling upriver we witnessed wintertime for the first time. 

 

At one point, we saw a length of the river where snow had fallen - something before that point I'd only ever seen in a book, but to experience the real thing...  the stark landscape was astounding to our eyes.

 

 

When we arrived at Mellowdene Docks, Horatio sent two of his brothers to Bassett's Boarding House with our luggage, then escorted us through the trees along a narrow lane to what we later came to know as the Snack Bar. As we walked, Kylie and Jason ran around with the boundless energy that had returned. We knew that, once this manic phase ended, they would fall asleep wherever they were.

 

We were treated to some wonderful tucker at the snack bar. As we ate, Clive and Germaine chatted non stop, Kylie and Jason were asleep in the corner, and Matilda had a beautiful smile for me.

 

 

"A new year, a new beginning, my love," she said, stroking my paw.

 

It was. A new beginning in Mellowdene.

 

 

o 0 O 0 o