Tales From the Glades of Ballymore (8 page)

She said, “Well, thank you very much Mr. Worm.”

Then, she thought, worms know a lot about soil and plants.  Is this worm is trying to tell me something?  She picked another brown leaf from a rose bush and placed it at the base of the plant.  The worm crawled over to the leaf and also pushed it to the weed pile.

The worm looked at her again.  

“You want me to take all of the brown leaves from the plants?” she asked.

The worm didn’t move.

 “Okay, I will.”

It took about fifteen minutes for her to prune the rose bushes of the brown leaves.  The worm stayed until she was finished.  Then, he crawled back into his hole and disappeared.  Well, that certainly was interesting, she thought.

Just then, the children hopped from the woods.  Rhonda was quite pleased with the sticks they brought back but did notice that Robbie was wet.  She smiled and said nothing.  The creek bath was never mentioned.  The children took the sticks out of their bags and lay them next to the cottage so that they could dry in the sun.  As you can imagine, some sticks were wetter than others.

The children hopped inside to have a snack.  Their father, Reginald, was in his clothes shop.  The shop was just a room in the cottage with tables, two sewing machines, and pieces of cloth everywhere.  Sometimes, Rachel and Rain would attach some of the cloths to themselves and run around the yard pretending to be ghosts.

Reginald, with help from the family, designed and made the clothes for the residents of Ballymore.  Rhonda designed dresses, but there were not many requested.

Like most of the other animals, Reginald couldn’t read or write.  That meant he wouldn’t have been able to take measurements or make clothes of the proper size.  Not a minor problem, to say the least.  However, it was solved with the help of Sean Swan and Bartholomew.  Sean procured a cloth measuring tape from somewhere, and Bartholomew taught Reginald how to use it.  Thus Reginald became the Ballymore tailor.

Four times a year, February, May, July, and October he visited each home and took orders for the upcoming season.  He would deliver the clothes and other fabric-made items in April, July, September, and December.

Right now, he was finishing a seam on a spring jacket for Merwin Mole.  Most of the spring clothes and other items were already made and would be delivered with Rhonda’s baskets.

Shortly after dinner, there was a knock on their door.  Reginald answered.  

“Why Bartholomew, how nice to see you.”

Bartholomew entered and greeted them all.  Rhonda had been expecting a reply from Bartholomew but wasn’t expecting a visit.

Bartholomew said, “I studied my plant books and have a probable answer for your rose bush problem.  The leaf you sent me looks a lot like a picture in one book.  It says that a fungus is the likely explanation.”

“Does the book say what can be done about it?” asked Rhonda.

“Yes.  The brown leaves should be removed as soon as they appear.  That should stop the fungus from spreading, and eventually, the plant will be fine.”

“You’re kidding!” exclaimed Rhonda.

“No, I’m not kidding.  Why would I be kidding?” asked Bartholomew.

Then, Rhonda told Bartholomew about the worm she met in her garden.

Bartholomew said, ”It sounds like you have a very smart and helpful worm.”

“It certainly does,” she laughed.

Bartholomew had to rush off to a meeting he had called regarding the new boat, so he said goodbye and left.

Rhonda appreciated Bartholomew’s visit and was very pleased with what he had told her.  She thought she should figure out a way to thank the worm.  As it turned out, she never saw that worm again; so she didn’t get the opportunity.

Over the next week, the rabbits kept busy making the baskets.  The sticks were cut to size and weaved together.  It was a slow process but was a family tradition, and they enjoyed it.

On Tuesday evening of delivery week, Devon Duck visited.  As mentioned before, Devon and his wife Dahlia and children Declan, Darma, and Dierdre provided the Ballymore residents with a delivery service.  They had a small raft, which they kept at their dock on the island.  The raft had five hooks on both its front and back edges.  Harnesses could be connected to each hook, and the ducks could then tow the raft.

When the swans procured any items, they left them in a shed near the ducks’ dock.  Twice a week, weather permitting, the ducks delivered everything to the residents.  They also made deliveries between residents.  If the item was small and needed immediately, they would use air-mail.

This evening Devon had come to discuss the upcoming delivery of the flower baskets and clothes.  The scheduled day was Thursday.  It would be a large delivery, so all five ducks would participate.

Devon said, “We can be here at 7 bongs to load the raft.  As always, we’ll provide covers to protect the flowers and other items.”

Reginald said, “Very good.  We’ll arrange everything on the raft in the order in which they’ll be delivered.  I would like to begin at the island.  Then, go to the southwest end of the pond and travel clockwise around.”

“That’ll be fine as long as the wind cooperates, but if it shifts, we will have to change that route,” responded Devon.

Occasionally, the wind wouldn’t let them travel in the direction they wanted.

“I understand,” said Reginald.  “So, we’ll see you early on Thursday.  Thank you very much for coming.”

“You’re welcome, and I wish you all a good evening,” said Devon, and he left.

The family sat down at the dining table to finish weaving the flower baskets.  Twelve had already been completed, so there were only three left to complete.  After the baskets were weaved, they were painted a rich chocolate-brown color.  Rhonda finished making the ribbons and bows.  Tomorrow would be a busy day.  The flowers needed to be picked and the baskets arranged.

Wednesday morning was cloudy and cool.  It didn’t feel much like spring.  A breeze rustled the flowers in the garden.  Each one seemed to be saying, “Pick me, pick me”.  Rhonda decided the makeup of the baskets.  There would be tulips, lilies, daffodils, marigolds, Queen Annes Lace, and ferns for a base.  Colored eggs were nestled between the flowers.  The whole family participated in picking the flowers and creating the arrangements.

The swans had delivered a large box of eggs on Monday, and the children hard-cooked them last evening.  They were ready to be colored.  Rhonda had several food color dyes that she used for cake frosting.  From the group she chose purple, green, yellow, and pink.  The eggs were divided into four groups, and soon there were purple, green, yellow, and pink eggs rolling around the table.

After adding the eggs to the baskets, she carefully attached the ribbons and bows.  By 4 bongs fifteen gorgeous masterpieces sat on the dining table.  Everything else was also ready; so finally everyone could relax.

The following morning, the ducks arrived with the raft.  Rhonda invited them in for tea and toast before beginning the trip around the pond.  The weather was similar to Wednesday’s, but the breeze was lighter and coming from the west.

Devon proclaimed the weather acceptable when he said, “So far, so good.”

The flowers, clothes, and other items were carefully loaded on the raft in the assigned order.  The ducks made sure that the load was evenly distributed.  Delivering flowers to the bottom of the pond was not a good idea.  There were fourteen deliveries in all; the fifteenth basket was kept for themselves.

At 8 bongs, they left for their first stop, the swans.  As they approached, the swans were waiting on their dock for them.  The animals knew that today was delivery day and would be home if they could.

“Welcome!  Welcome!” Sean said as Dierdre tied the raft up to the dock.  Everyone hugged.  Hugging was not the normal custom, but it felt like a special occasion.

Reginald gave them their new clothes.  Sean had ordered a lounging robe, a large umbrella, and a water-proof head mask.  The umbrella would be used for shade, probably on the dock.  Stoddard also got a head mask plus a pair of slippers.

The head masks would make flying in the rain more comfortable and safer.  When they needed to fly in the rain (which they tried to avoid), water would run up their beaks and right into their eyes.  They could blink a lot, but it wasn’t comfortable and was unsafe.  One time, during heavy rain they bumped into each other as they were trying to clear their eyes.  Neither was injured but, in general, it’s not a good idea to crash into other swans when you’re flying.  The masks were specially designed to divert water away from their eyes.  The swans were eager to test them, but that would have to wait for a rainy day.

It wasn’t necessary to try on the clothes to see if they fit properly because they and the other animals had been to Reginald’s shop at least once for that purpose.

Then, Rhonda gave them their basket.  “Oh, how beautiful,” exclaimed Sean.

“Thank you so much,” said Stoddard.

With that, the first delivery was complete, and everyone was very happy.

Dierdre untied the raft and they said goodbye.  Their next stop was Grenby Groundhog’s hut on the southwest shore.

They soon saw Grenby’s weather flags flapping in the breeze.  Green-Blue-Purple were the highest three.  Good weather predicted.  They could also see Grenby in his chair wearing his usual outfit (red and white striped pajamas with green bathrobe, if you forgot).  Very attractive, if you like that sort of thing.

Grenby didn’t rise from his chair as they approached.

He said, “Ah, it must be flower day.  Time goes by so fast.  Just yesterday it was Wednesday.”  He laughed.  

The animals smiled and greeted Grenby.  He had ordered a pair of green and white striped pajamas for summer.  He also ordered a hammock.  While, technically, not clothes, it was something Reginald could make.  Grenby said he would attach one end of it to the flagpole and the other end to a post on his dock.

“Then, I can flap in the wind, just like my flags.”  Everyone laughed.

Rhonda gave Grenby his flower basket. 

He took it, winked and said, “Do you think they are better with salt or pepper?  Just kidding, just kidding!  Thank you.”

After they were back on the water, Robbie said, “Grenby is so weird!”  The other children nodded in agreement.

“Yes, he’s different, but he means well, and he’s a good weather forecaster,” their mother reminded them.

Next on the route were Malcolm and Maeve Mole and their children Melrose and Merwin.  The moles had set up a table draped in a white tablecloth on their dock.  On the table were tea and Maeve’s famous strawberry jam cookies.  Although the visitors had eaten recently, they knew they couldn’t resist this treat.  Even the ducks were gurgling with anticipation, and they don’t usually eat something like strawberry jam.

The moles loved their new clothes and the flowers.  They had been very busy tunneling and had worn out most of their work clothes.  Everyone got waterproof overalls and gloves.  The gloves had a hole in the end of each “finger”.  The holes were for their claws to stick through so that they could dig effectively.  Merwin also received his new spring jacket.

 Maeve placed the flower basket in the center of the table, and it looked very elegant.  She invited them to sit down and enjoy the delicacies.  Afterwards, she gave them each a few extra cookies to take home.

Now it was time to visit the Weasels, Wilde and Wilder, on the west shore.  The weasels were the unofficial security guards of Ballymore.  They were fairly young and tended to be mischievous.  The ducks tied the raft up to their dock.  No one was in sight, so they went up to the cottage door and knocked.

After a brief period Wilde opened the door.

“Oh, we didn’t think you would be here so soon,” he said.  “Please come in.”

They entered and Wilder rose from the table to greet them.

“Hello, everyone.  We’ve been looking forward to getting our new security gear.”

They had ordered sturdy cloth bags, tan military style outfits, and black boots.  They would use the bags to collect nuts and berries from the woods or so they said.  The new outfits were needed to improve their effectiveness as security guards.

“There are times when we need to be stealthy, and these will be a great help.  I have an idea to add green splotches to them.  Then, they’ll be even more effective,” said Wilde.  “Thank you very much.”