Collections

Darcy had called around and we were chatting after a cup of tea. Now that Cecile is involved with Darcy's blog (albeit in a minor way) our discussions are now unrestricted - which makes me happier. Darcy was quite enthusiastic in his news.  

"We've collected fifty thousand views, Cecile. Good, eh?"

"It does sound a lot. Does that mean fifty thousand humans have read the stories?"

 

"I doubt it. Actually, I hope not. That would imply that each human only looked at a single story the once then gave up." He laughed. "Ideally there will be a healthy proportion of returning readers."

"You'll be glad your project is working," I smiled.

"Our project," said Darcy. "It may have been my idea originally but we're all contributing. With Cecile on board we can widen our range of stories."

"Funny you should say that," said Cecile. "as you've given me an idea."

"Go on."

Cecile's mouth twitched. (It looked cute, but I'm biased.) "When you said 'collected' views, it made me think of 'collections'. There must be all sorts of collectors in Mellowdene. We could describe a few."

Darcy nodded slowly. "I have written about Sammy Stamp and Pete Petite regarding their stamp collecting, but you're right. There are many more." He smiled widely. "So I can leave you to look into that?"

I looked at Cecile. She nodded.

o 0 O 0 o

 

Afterwards, Cecile's first suggestion started with Beverley. "She has a dozen or so records now. Not just Dingle Boy and the Fibres from Baas. How many times has Biddie been round for an afternoon of Dingle Boy and Bark Molan?"

 

"True, but that's hardly..."

"Let me finish, love. It made me think about your visit with Elmer Timbertop and you mentioning his record collection."

She was right.  

Elmer has hundreds of vinyl and shellac records. He has a particular interest in old blues music and that was one the reason I'd been to see him. I wanted to analyse the style so that I'd be better placed to write my own tunes in that genre. I particularly remember being treated to songs by Croakin' Lime Leaper and Old Tad Paul. Apparently Bullfrog Blues is a standard but I liked the rarer Further on Down the Toad.

 

Collecting music is something I can well understand. My brother Merlin is, of course, a book fanatic. He would have a gigantic collection if he hadn't gravitated to becoming head librarian in our village. He probably considers the entire library part of his collection. I mentioned this.

"You're probably right about the library," acknowledged Cecile. "Can you imagine how it would be otherwise? I can visualise poor Eliza climbing over stacks of books." 

 

We laughed then tried to think of other collectors.

 

"Don't forget the oddities that Morwenna Deerheart gathers," Cecile commented.

"Proto-crystals?"

"Not just those. Gwin feathers, ancient stone sculptures, smelly herbs..."

 

"How do you know all that?"

"I think Mona Hazelnut mentioned it at..."

"Cake Club?"

"Ladies talk, Jack. It's called socialising."

"Not criticising, sweet wrinkle. It's interesting what you reveal, sometimes." 

"Only sometimes?" I could tell she was teasing me.

"Always riveting," I said, adopting an overly straight face. 

 

"Idiot. How about you? Can you think of any other unusual collections?" asked Cecile.

"Unusual? Not really. Although... There's Mookie and his cheese."

Mookie Dappledawn loves cheese. He's not the only one, of course. Wester Cornflower is an aficionado too. But Mookie is on a mission. He wants to try every single cheese in Sylvania. He keeps all the labels and has a little book in which he lists the cheeses he's eaten, those he wants to eat, with each having space for marking their separate attributes. He even writes a review of each variety he's tried.

Cecile smiled. "How could I forget that? Oat milk, almond milk, wulque tree milk and more. He once told me that he was aware of over fifty varieties that were made from lactolia milk alone."

"Fifty-six at last count, he told me. And eleven of those are made here in Mellowdene by Wensleydale Hector Norwood using milk from Buttercup Dairies. Mookie has given us the same spiel, clearly."  

Cecile licked her lips. "I fancy cheese for lunch. How about you?"

"Have we done?" 

"We've covered records, books, Morwenna's paraphernalia, cheese...," listed Cecile. "Won't that be enough for Darcy?"

 

 

She stood. Clearly she thought it was enough! I answered accordingly.

 

"Probably. I guess we can sort out the words later."

"Then that's settled. Let's collect a few ingredients and have a cheese salad."

Actually, that didn't sound too bad.

o 0 O 0 o