Copywrite D.H. Hollingwood. From Burrows to Butterflies. Chapter One.
One fine summer’s evening Billy and Benjy Burrowberg went for a quick and easily caught supper. They scurried from Brockden heading towards the land of the Tall Walkers. Fighting their way through the undergrowth along the stream they emerged into foreign food foraging territory.
It was growing dark but the moon, freshly risen and ripe, gave them their bearings as they crept across the open field to the safety of Bramble Lodge. This was the old and deserted home of the deceased Rodentene family.
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Many ripe moons ago the younger Rodentenes were very good friends of Billy and Benjy - they spent many happy hours there with Rolie and Rosie. Sadly something very playful and innocent became an unfriendly and long standing feud between their respective families.
The troubles began during a game of Dig-A-Burrow, a tunnelling contest the youngsters played, when poor Billy lost all sense of direction and dug through to Rolie’s tunnel. The ensuing collision caused chaos and casualties – Billy lost three claws and Rolie thought he’d escaped unscathed. Unfortunately the whiskers on one half of his snout had been completely snapped off and with only half of his whiskers left he went round and round in circles.
Forgetting the original game Rolie spotted a worm. Whilst running and scampering in rings he caught up with it and started eating his catch. Much squealing was heard from Brockden to Bramble Lodge.
Both the Rodentenes and the Burrowbergs turned out to investigate the incessant and shrill squeaking. The Doctor was summoned and being a wise old owl he noticed the nick in Rolie’s tail.
During the general chaos Nurse Tuffy-Tail had bobbed onto the scene and swabbed the injured tail with a Camomile compress which soothed the weepy Rolie. Doctor Hoot gave him a big and juicy blackberry to gnaw on while Nurse Tuffy-Tail administered Nettle Numbing Gel on Rolie’s tail.
When Dr. Hoot was satisfied that Rolie was settled he moved over to Billy who had a very sore paw. Nurse Tuffy-Tail had cleaned Billy’s wound and went in search of the missing claws. With much consternation the Nurse explained to Dr. Hoot that only two could be found. Dr. Hoot decided to get the invalids to the Surgery for proper treatment because the injuries were worse than he’d first thought.
The families were concerned by this because, in those days, ‘In-Hoot’ surgery was experimental and had hardly been carried out before. Much restlessness was afoot because the third claw remained lost. The stretcher arrived and Rolie was placed on it because he was very drowsy but Billy managed to walk to the Surgery.
While Rolie was being carried away the Rodentenes noticed that he only had one half of his whiskers and they all searched for the elusive hairs. Even though they all looked and rummaged and rooted about not a whisker was ever seen. It transpired that both youngsters required extensive surgery and treatment, which cost the families dearly. In those happier days ‘Open’ surgery was reasonable, ‘In-Hoot’ surgery expensive but ‘Under-Oak’ operations, being very new, were an extremely costly form of surgery.
Dr. Hoot arrived at Oak Practice with the patients and commenced his clean up and scrub-down for the Operation. The rest of his crew were ready and waiting so they were soon underway. Rolie’s tail was re-knitted with the finest Spiders’ silk and covered with a patchwork of rose petals specially collected from the Tall Walkers’ gardens. The final indignity for Rolie was the ‘straw splints’ taped onto his tail to stop further worm biting mishaps.
The team decided to start the ’Under-Oak’ operation on Billy and a very special bonding agent was prepared from the emergency stock flown in by Crow Carriers Inc. This bonding agent was a recently discovered plant extract found and patented by the Wiley Weasels. ‘Dandelock’ as it was called was stumbled on when a weasel on Wanderlust Vacation ran into a dandelion clock. The bruised and weeping dandelion covered wandering Winnie in a mixture of milk and fairy wings, which very rapidly set. The frantic weasel tried removing the offending mixture by rubbing against the nearby Fir Tree and became stuck fast.
The squeaks let out by Winnie naturally brought the Weasel Wanderlust Tour Guide to the scene and his quick thinking and actions freed the frantic Winnie. The Tool of Freedom was a special Blade of Grass found only in the Faraway Forest - this caring courier always carried one and it served them well that eventful day of discovery.
Months later the ‘fairy wing’-like milk was still present on Winnie’s fur and so began the research into the now therapeutic ‘Dandelock’. The Weasels offset the cost of this research by the high prices they charged the Healing Professions and as plant trials had barely finished ‘Dandelock’ was still not widely available on the ‘open’ market.
The ‘Dandelock’ in Dr. Hoot’s possession was carefully pasted on Billy’s claw-clumps and the two broken claws were affixed with great precision. The third claw-clump naturally had a temporary wood chip placed on it. Billy would only be able to do gentle chores and be allowed no wild playing until his new claws grew back.
Rolie was treated in a similar manner with the remaining stock of Dr. Hoot’s Barley Beards. These were to be a permanent fixture for Rolie and it was hoped that after many years of practice and long sessions with the Dizzy-O-Therapist he would be able to dig along the straight and narrow again. Unfortunately he had to suffer the indignity of going round in circles until he became accustomed to his new mix of false and real feelers.
The operations were successful and following much recrimination the blame was laid at each family’s door – both claimed the others were the culprits. After months in the Great Court of Apple it was decided, by a majority vote, that ‘Accidents Will Happen’ so ‘No one was to Blame’.
The families never accepted this verdict and from that day to this no communication took place between them. Well, that is, all except the sneaky meetings the four young friends had in the Faraway Forest. They could never quite understand the reason for the family fall-out.
Sadly their parents spotted them as is always the way when youngsters disobeyed. With much indignation the Rodentenes closed Bramble Lodge and left the area. The Lodge was put up for sale and the family moved into one of the select residences on the delightful Bluebell Hilltop. It was far away from Bramble Lodge, located over the hill and many miles beyond the huge pond on the other side of the Tall Walkers’ world.
No Burrowberg dared venture there because of their great fear of most Tall Walkers. With the threat of being cornered, captured and ‘dogged’ by the Tall Walkers’ four-legged appendages this fear was well founded. Many a story was passed on from Generation to Generation of the horrors and torture carried out on those foolish enough to become blasé ‘burrowers’. No doubt those who had wandered off always thought, ‘It won’t happen to me.’ Unfortunately, it usually did. These torturous tales had been enough to stop any further Burrowbergs venturing into forbidden territory.
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Billy and Benjy looked very forlornly at the long-vacant Bramble Lodge and they spotted the once upright ‘For Sale’ sign lying on the ground. They became aware of activity within the Rodentenes’ old home and with curiosity aroused they crept over to see what was afoot. It was a great surprise for them to see Rolie and Rosie, their ‘wild-hood’ friends, de-webbing and dusting the many chambers of the Lodge.
The two workers, noticing moon shadows crossing the doorway, looked up. All four stared long and hard at each other not believing their eyes. Finally they rushed to hug one another and many tears of joy were shed. Much chattering began with everyone talking at once.
When they finally calmed down Rolie related his surprise at even seeing the badgers. He thought that the Tall Walkers had wiped out all the residents of Brockden. Billy and Benjy had been told by their family that the Rodentenes had become extinct because of their habit of eating all the Tall Walkers’ ‘Blue Grain’ treats. It became obvious that both families had misled their youngsters. However, they were so glad to see each other again that it didn’t matter.
They swapped stories. The two badgers learned of the forthcoming marriage – Rosie was soon to be wed to a member of the Rattertoui family. They were well known for their underground activities and both Billy and Benjy looked very concerned when they heard this. Rosie noticed their unease and assured them that the Rattertouis were no longer members of the Raffia or the Soil Masons. It was a great relief for the Burrowberg boys to hear this and so they were delighted for their dear friend Rosie.
The two Rodentenes were apparently only back at Bramble Lodge that evening in preparation for its re-opening. Rosie and young Raymondo Rattertoui planned to move into the Lodge after the wedding because the present family homes were getting rather full. Also, the once beautiful Bluebell Hilltop had become overrun by inconsiderate Tall Walkers and it was no longer a safe haven for self-respecting rodents! Because the air had become ‘un-breathable’ at Bluebell Hilltop many Rodentenes had already moved on to Pastures New.
The remaining families, being immune to Blue Grain Treats, had adapted to the ‘fresh’ type of air. Now, however, because of the rising noise levels it was becoming hard for them to even hear themselves squeak. Those who had remained disliked the noise rise and decided it was time to leave the rat race, moving out to fresher fields.
They found a relatively unspoilt spot called Mattress Hill and this is where they now made their beds. The remaining families were still negotiating the move and it was hoped that after the wedding the whole of Bluebell Hilltop would be rat-free again by the end of the year.
Invitations were tentatively offered to Billy and Benjy for Rosie’s wedding and they gladly accepted. The two boys realised that their parents would strongly object. This put a great damper on the wonderful re-union and the two badgers, mindful of their parents’ displeasure, sadly had to decline the kind invitations.
Billy related all the latest happenings in their world and fortunately it was still a relatively unspoilt one. Being very sociable the occupants of Brockden had managed to overcome their over-crowding by extending their boundaries in all directions. It seemed that the only problem they had was with the purebred Al-Beano branch of the family.
Apparently the Al-Beanos were very quick tempered due to their slight ginger hue and caused great disharmony if they were rubbed up the wrong way. They also seemed to think that they were much better than the ‘regulars’ - as the black ’n’ white striped ones were called. In comparison, the ‘regular’ badgers were peace loving and docile by nature. Consequently they turned a blind eye and cocked a deaf ear when the Al-Beanos became off-colour or barked up the wrong tree.
Fortunately though there were exceptions. Some Al-Beanos had actually blended with the ‘regulars’ and the ensuing offspring were neither one thing nor another. As these offbeat offspring obviously saw both sides they had become the family mediators and were respected by one and all for their impartiality.
After Billy had finished his very short tale, he sighed – it seemed that not much had really happened over the ensuing years. He was obviously resigned to his very humdrum life.
Rolie enquired where the boys were going and it reminded Benjy that they were on their way to relieve their boredom by having a good romp and a quick feast.
Rosie pointed out that theirs was not such a bad life after all if they managed to have some fun at times.
Both Burrowberg boys agreed and said they hadn’t looked at it like that - so life wasn’t too bad for them after all!
They still had many questions but Rosie reminded them that she and her brother had much work to do before the wedding. With tongue-in-cheek Rosie asked the boys to stay and help.
Billy very hastily made excuses – one being that medicinal duty called. He reminded Benjy that they were on this evening's rose-petal gathering rota and he gave Benjy a huge dig in the ribs to stop him contradicting.
Rosie winked at Rolie knowing full well that the lads had always hated getting their hands dirty with soil toil; also that Billy was a very quick thinker who could really spin a good yarn. She hurried them off to do their ‘alleged’ chores and told them not to work too hard so they would enjoy their play more.
The sheepish brothers said their fond farewells and scampered around the back of Bramble Lodge. Their final obstacle was a fence which they squeezed under and surfaced into their favourite rummaging territory. The two Burrowbergs were now in the Digweeds’ garden. They often came here for a furtive feast as the menu included many delights and delicacies not found on normal or formal forage. The fruit was particularly pleasing at times and the nuts were a delicacy not to be missed.
Knowing they had very narrowly escaped the Rodentenes’ soil toil invitation the boys crept through the jungle garden with not a sign of guilt. Perhaps it would have been better if they had stayed to help their old friends. However, better things beckoned the naughty and lazy lads as they emerged onto the food bar.
Because they had spent so much time with Rolie and Rosie it was getting late and the moon was nearly falling behind Faraway Forest. Their disappointment clearly showed when they discovered that the patio plates had already been cleared.
With the thought that they could still have a game of ‘tug-a-ball’ the boys climbed the steps. They trod very carefully to avoid any rose-thorns and arrived unscathed at the podium to find the birds’ ‘fat ball’ still intact and hanging from the rose branches. On the count of three they stood up just like the Tall-Walkers and competed to see who could tug the ball down first.
Above their barks, squeaks and the ensuing rose rustlings the very cross voice of Granddad Burrowberg boomed out. He was on genuine medicinal duty and had been gathering the last of the rose petals from the neighbouring Periwinkles’ garden.
