by Dave Corrick
Chapter 15
Louie and Lulu help Mr McFarland using the New Powers.
Louie and Lulu were busy at the Factory. As the end of winter approached, work had increased to a level where the Factory was working four days a week. Many insects were coming out of hibernation and wanted to look their best for the coming spring and summer months.
Today, a Tuesday was particularly busy. There were two beetles, three ladybirds and a couple of bees in the waiting room. Still they enjoyed waiting while they watched Fly TV. There was a gardening program giving hints on how to keep pests away such as people.
It was 10.00 a.m.; the Ten Ants joined Louie and Lulu for some morning tea while the worker bees carried on with production.
In casual conversation Inform mentioned that Mr McFarland had recently had a contractor in and cut down a Sycamore tree that was close to his house. It had been dying off at the top and the leaves had given a lot of problems in blocking the guttering.
Inform went on to say that Mr McFarland’s guttering was still blocked with leaves and that because of his age it was difficult for him to get up on a ladder and clean it out. Mr McFarland lived on a pension and had limited funds to get things done around his house. The cost of having the tree cut down was all he could afford this year so he couldn’t afford to have someone clean out the guttering.
The insects always wanted to do what they could for Mr McFarland as he was kind towards them and of course allowed them to use his shed to run the Factory.
‘If you like Mr Louie’, said Inform, ‘we (the Ten Ants) could try and move some of the leaves from the guttering for Mr McFarland over the weekend. It would be a big task; maybe we could get some help from White Ant Excavators again?’
‘Thanks Inform’, said Louie. ‘That’s very thoughtful of you all to consider it. What I will do is have a look myself and see what can be done. Keep your weekends free for what you want to do. It’s a bit of a tall ask to expect you all to carry out such a big task by yourselves’.
After morning tea when the Ten Ants had returned to work, Louie turned to Lulu and was about to say something.
Lulu pre-empted Louie. ‘I know what you are going to say. With our new found abilities, if we go through the quartz you and I can easily go and clean Mr McFarland’s guttering for him. We could do it in no time!’
‘You are exactly right’, said Louie. ‘What a clever bee you are, let’s go and do it now, it would only take us half an hour, the Ten Ants are looking after the Factory’.
Louie let Import know that he and Lulu would be out for and hour or so.
Louie and Lulu after flying out of the portal in the shed, headed for Mr McFarland’s house to have a look.
‘Look’, said Lulu. ‘Once we are through the quartz on the other side we can easily lift out the leaves and put them on the compost heap out the back’.
‘No problem’, said Louie taking Lulu’s hand. ‘Let’s head for the tunnel’.
Louie and Lulu circled a couple of times over Mr McFarland’s property then headed northwest towards the tunnel entrance. They felt pleased that they could do something to help Mr McFarland.
Once on the other side of the quartz, Louie and Lulu headed away from the village bank and straight back along the stream to Mr McFarland’s place.
The pair lifted the leaves out of the guttering in big handfuls then flew over to the compost heap and piled them neatly on top. They had to be vigilant about what they were doing and ensure nobody was watching. It would certainly attract attention to see bundles of leaves flying through the air! The job really didn’t take them any time at all.
‘Doesn’t it feel good’, said Lulu, ‘to be able to use this ability we have to help others’.
Louie and Lulu settled on Mr McFarland’s lawn for a moment to survey the scene. The contractor who had cut the tree down had cut it all up into firewood and stacked it neatly under the eaves ready for next winter. The stump where the tree had been felled was neatly cut close to the ground.
‘Now that the guttering is free of leaves’, said Louie, ‘rain water won’t flow over the edge. That firewood will keep nice and dry’.
‘Job well-done’, said Lulu. ‘I guess we should think about heading back’.
Just at that moment a council car pulled into Mr McFarland’s gate and came up the drive to the front door.
In the car was one Cyril Marchfart, a council inspector who generally went about annoying people, imposing council regulations. Cyril Marchfart had no feelings for others; in fact he seemed to take delight in making other people miserable. It seemed to give him some sort of sense of power.
Everything that Cyril said was prefixed with a sharp intake of breath (‘Hffffffffff’).
Cyril would take great delight in saying things like:
‘Hffffffffff no you can’t build that there!’
‘Hffffffffff no you will have to get a permit first!’
‘Hffffffffff you didn’t get a permit? Oh well you will have to take it down!’
Cyril carried out many duties for the council, including issuing parking fines and having cars towed away in the village, just a general misery maker.
Cyril was really a nasty little piece of work. He was allowed to take his council car home at night; it was strictly for council use only. However so he could use the car at weekends Cyril disconnected the speedo during the week to make it look as though he was only doing council business. Not that this has really got anything to do with the story, it just demonstrates the sort of person Cyril was. (As Pearl had said, humans are always trying to cheat each other).
Cyril emerged from his car, now parked outside Mr McFarland’s front door. Cyril looked just the part, dressed in a sloppy brown button up cardigan with walk shorts and knee high socks to match. What a doozey!
The council being right into low carbon foot print conservation measures had supplied Cyril with an ECO friendly car, of such small proportions that rather than driving the car Cyril practically wore it!
Cyril, bum up, reached inside the postage stamp sized door of the car and brought out some official looking papers. He then marched up to Mr McFarland’s door and knocked.
‘Let’s move closer and listen’, said Louie.
Louie and Lulu, (in their invisible form) were right next to Cyril when Mr McFarland opened the door.
‘Can I help you’, said Mr McFarland politely.
‘McFarland?’ said Cyril.
‘Yes’, replied Mr McFarland.
‘It has come to my attention that you have cut down a Sycamore tree without obtaining consent from the council, is this correct?’
Mr McFarland went on to explain that he didn’t know he needed consent; after all it was his tree on his property.
‘Hffffffffff this is serious’ said Cyril taking absolute delight in scaring the living daylights out of Mr McFarland. ‘You realise there is a $5,000 fine for removing trees without council consent?’
Poor Mr McFarland didn’t know what to say, he couldn’t afford such a fine, where would he get the money?
Cyril continued knowing Mr McFarland wouldn’t fight back. ‘I am issuing you with a prosecution notice now. You will in due course be summoned to appear at the Village District Court’.
Cyril gave the notice to Mr McFarland. Mr McFarland’s hands were shaking so much he could hardly take hold of the notice. Mr McFarland the poor old fellow was really frightened.
Cyril left Mr McFarland to his misery and with a smirk on his face went around to where the tree had been cut down and took some notes.
Louie and Lulu were shocked. In the insect world such nastiness just didn’t occur.
‘Quick Lulu’, said Louie with a smirk of mischievousness on his face. ‘Follow me’.
Louie took Lulu around to the front to where Cyril’s car was. It was out of sight of Cyril.
‘Grab the other end of Cyril’s car’, said Louie. ‘Turn it over and put it on its roof, quick!’
The pair carefully tu
rned Cyril’s council car upside down and lay it on its roof. Of course being on the other side of the quartz they had the strength to do this quite easily.
There it was in Mr McFarland’s driveway, the council car upside down, Cyril’s cut lunch and papers all mixed up inside on the roof of the car!
When Cyril had finished taking notes he went back around to where he had parked the car outside Mr McFarland’s front door.
‘What the…!’ said Cyril to himself. He just stood and stared at what he saw; he started to go red from his neck up and looked for all the world like an overheated thermometer when all the red stuff inside has gone to the top.
Cyril stormed in a rage up to Mr McFarland’s front door and knocked again.
Mr McFarland opened the door. Cyril was about to launch forth with a ‘who did that?’ when Mr McFarland burst out laughing. ‘Have you got a consent to turn that thing upside down laddy?’ and slammed the door in Cyril’s face.
Apart from feeling intense annoyance at being called “laddy”, Cyril had got himself into a bit of a predicament now. He had hoped to use Mr McFarland’s phone to get help but he had blotted his copy book there.
In the pecking order at the council, Cyril was not far enough up the chain to be issued with a cell phone. He would have to go down the road to phone for help. How was he going to explain this to his boss at the council? Oh dear. Cyril was worried. Off he went to talk to his boss and hopefully organise a tow truck.
Having organised the tow truck Cyril returned to Mr McFarland’s place to wait.
Of course we know what had happened while Cyril was away, our mischievous insects had carefully turned the car back up the right way again. Louie and Lulu had retreated some distance away for fear of their laughter being heard.
‘Oh no’, said Cyril to himself. ‘I will have to get back and cancel the tow truck’.
Too late, the tow truck had pulled into the driveway just as Cyril was about to leave again.
The tow truck driver, had shoulders that sloped up to the top of his bald head. His head looked for all the world like a smooth round spud with dried apricots stuck on for ears! He slung his tattooed arm out the window and shouted. ‘Where’s this bloody car that’s upside down?’
‘It’s OK I managed to fix it myself’, said Cyril lying through his teeth.
The tow truck driver studied Cyril for a moment. Cyril’s physique was that of a stick insect and he had a chest like a budgie.
‘Don’t believe ya’, the tow truck driver yelled. ‘That will be two hundred bucks sign here’.
Cyril who didn’t want to get into an argument with the burly tow truck driver capitulated and did the ‘sign here’ bit.
The tow truck driver turned his truck around, yelled to Cyril ‘plonker!’ and drove off.
Cyril hoping all this nonsense might be over now, got back into his car and tried to start it.
In turning the car upside down all the petrol had drained out and gone all over
Mr McFarland’s driveway. In fact combined with some engine oil that had leaked out it had made quite a mess. Cyril reluctantly now had to go and phone his boss again to see if he could get some petrol brought out for the car.
Our mischievous pair would have loved to have gone and heard what Cyril’s boss said to him but Lulu had another idea.
‘Louie’, she whispered. ‘Cyril has probably gone to phone his boss and get some petrol brought back. While he is away let’s see if we can re-grow the tree! It’s probably not dead yet. The tree was only recently cut down’.
‘Brilliant Lulu!’ said Louie. ‘Let’s give it a go’.
Louie and Lulu went over to the stump where the tree had been.
They looked closely. There were some green shoots starting to sprout from the side of the stump. Indeed the tree as Lulu had hoped was not dead.
‘What we will have to do I think’, said Louie, ‘is take it back to when it was just a seedling and then re-grow it from there. I don’t think it will go forward from the stump it is now’.
Louie and Lulu clenched their left fists really tightly, holding them close to the stump with the blue auras glowing brightly. Sure enough, the stump shrank in size, going back in time to when the tree was just a seedling.
‘Right’, said Louie. ‘Let’s grow it back to the tree it was before it was cut down’.
With their right fists clenched, Louie and Lulu grew the tree grew back to how it used to be. When they had finished, the tree even had the dead bits at the top that had originally worried Mr McFarland.
Lulu was right; in due course Cyril arrived back with the boss in a slightly larger ECO friendly car. They had the petrol.
Cyril’s boss, who Cyril addressed only as ‘Sir’, was giving Cyril a dressing down for wasting his time and to be more careful in the future.
While Cyril was pouring the petrol into the car, Sir who wore a suit and looked quite imposing said. ‘What were you doing here anyway Marchfart?’
‘McFarland’. Cyril went on.
‘Mr McFarland!’ Sir interjected.
‘Yes Mr McFarland has without consent, cut down a large Sycamore tree. I have accordingly issued him with a prosecution notice’.
‘That’s a bit hasty isn’t it?’ Sir said. ‘I hope you know what you are doing. Show me the tree in question when you have finished what you are doing’.
Cyril, now extremely nervous about the whole situation, overfilled the tank and more petrol spilled on the drive.
Sir came around to have a look. ‘Good God man’, Sir exclaimed. ‘What’s all this petrol and oil over this man McFarland’s driveway? You’ll have to get this cleaned up Marchfart, and the cost is coming out of your wages!’
Sir, who was getting highly irritated by the whole business by now said. ‘Right Marchfart, show me where this tree is’.
Marchfart took Sir around the corner of the house. Oh no, the tree was still there. How could this be? ‘But he cut it down!’ Cyril pleaded. ‘He did, I saw it’.
‘You’re a blithering idiot Marchfart, the bloody tree is still there; did you dream this or something? What are you trying to do to this poor man?!’
‘Right Marchfart here is what I want you to do.
One; go and apologise to Mr McFarland, tell him the prosecution notice is withdrawn.
Two; tell Mr McFarland that you will be back to personally to clean up his driveway. Take note, I will personally inspect it when it is done.
Three; go to the bloody doctor and get your eye’s checked’.
Cyril was very subdued, he was almost sobbing. ‘Yes Sir, I will’.
‘Good’, said Sir, ‘I will wait while you go and apologise to Mr McFarland, get on with it!! Don’t stand there dithering, I haven’t got all day’.
Mr McFarland didn’t really know what was going on when Cyril apologised and withdrew the prosecution notice. He was just relieved that it was all cleared up. He went inside, sat down and had a cup of tea.
Cyril managed to get his car started again and he and Sir drove off.
As soon as Sir and Cyril had gone Louie and Lulu quickly moved in and with left fists clenched, reduced the Sycamore tree back down to nothing.
‘Yea! Look at that’, said Louie, no one will know that a tree was ever there’.
Louie was right, the stump had completely disappeared.
Of course Mr McFarland was inside having his cup of tea so he was unaware that any of this was happening. When he came out later he was puzzled not to see the stump and mumbled to himself. ‘Must have imagined it’, shook his head and went back inside.
Louie and Lulu were extremely happy with the results of their ‘work’. They had made a nice old man happy again.
It was about mid afternoon by now and the two headed back to the quartz at the bank and through to the tunnel.
‘I feel so happy helping Mr McFarland today Louie’.
‘Me too’, said Louie and pulled Lulu close to him. ‘As you know Lulu, until I met you I just felt
useless, doing these things now with you is giving me so much more confidence’.
The pair walked back to the tunnel entrance and then flew back to the Factory. Louie apologised to Import for taking so long and thanked him for looking after things for him. Import reflected to himself what a great boss Louie had been since meeting Lulu!
The next day, poor Cyril turned up at Mr McFarland’s place to clean up the driveway. He nearly collapsed when he saw the tree had gone. He just couldn’t understand it. He really would have to go and get his eyes tested.
Mr McFarland being a kindly and sensitive man offered Cyril a cup of tea at 10.00 a.m. Cyril smiled and said ‘Yes please, I am so sorry for what I did yesterday’.
Yes Cyril had learnt his lesson. He wasn’t going to be unkind to anyone anymore.
That evening Louie and Lulu called in to see Pearl and tell her all about what they had done.
Pearl laughed and congratulated them on a great effort.
Pearl reflected on just what wonderful things were happening and how her job to keep the insect community secure was now so much easier.
