By the time Zack and Jake had arrived at the battlefield the remaining members of The Garden Gang who could walk or hobble had left the scene after agreeing a peace treaty with The General who had driven a hard but fair bargain with The Speaker.
‘ We are at your mercy.’ said The Speaker, who was an honourable garden rake.
‘Of that there is no doubt,’ replied The General. ‘But there is magnanimity in victory and so these are the terms by which you must abide.’
The General then spelt out the terms of surrender. The gadgets must be allowed to pass unhindered through Garden Gang territory towards the Magic Forest and in exchange none of the Gang would be further harmed. The Garden Gang must give assistance to the gadgets should the need ever arise and the gadgets would likewise do the same for the Gang. This peace treaty was to stand for all time and be true and binding. Both The Speaker, for the Gang, and The General for the gadgets swore to uphold the treaty. They then shook rake and grilling machine and the two former enemies parted.
Back in the gadgets’ camp there was still sadness and grief over the death of Deep Fat and there was much discussion about his funeral and burial. Jane Dough was completely heart-broken and being comforted by Fiona the chocolate fondue fountain. It was decided that the fryer would not be buried on the lawn but taken in state to the Magic Forest for a more fitting internment. ‘I am an Italian Balencci BW 974 PTS,’ Jane reminded the others, between sobs, ‘And where I come from we do with things with dignity and grace.’
Marvin the American meat mincer and Harry the Chinese hand electric mixer immediately and politely volunteered to be bearers. Warren, the warming tray, without a second thought, said he would be honoured to act as the carriage on which Deep Fat would lie. In fact everyone wanted to help, so much was Deep Fat loved. The cortege lined up in silence ready to move off down the lawn towards what they hoped would be the relative safety of the Magic Forest, and Deep Fat’s final resting place.
The fryer’s remains were carefully lifted on to the warming tray which was hoisted by Marvin and Harry on to their shoulders. Behind the tray was Jane Dough looking regal, her bread maker lid held high, but with an overwhelming look of sadness in her Nut Raisin Dispenser. Jane was flanked by Blade and The General who had spruced themselves up as best they could for the occasion.
Behind them came all the other gadgets, their heads bowed. Ricky the rice maker was with his girlfriend Jenny the juice extractor while Fiona was with Eddie the electric wok and Lee-Mailer escorted both Forque and Zalda the ice cream maker. The rest of the gadgets including Benzo, Sympatico, Crock Pot, Neville, Simon and Carl The Mighty brought up the rear along with the two mobile phones Marty and Mary, Sam the salad shooter and Kettle.
As the cortege moved off sedately down the lawn the Garden Gang once again started to advance towards them. They were immediately spotted by The General who quietly apologised to Jane, left her side, and walked stridently towards the Gang and their leader The Speaker with his grill wide open with rage.
But before The General could say anything The Speaker stopped him and said: ‘Do not worry, we come in peace. We come to pay our respects.’ And with that The Garden Gang which included the seed drill, the compost shredder, leaf buster and hand shears, and many more implements formed a guard of honour for Deep Fat’s cortege. Quietly and sedately the two former warring factions moved towards the Magic Forest.
If they had known who were on their trail no doubt the gadgets would have picked up speed, for Zack and Jake were not far behind them and had only stopped on their way in search for the urban foxes’ lair to examine the former battlefield.
‘Wow look at all this,’ said Zack, his eyes glinting. ‘There must have been a mighty fight going on here.’
‘Yes,’ replied his brother. ‘But do you really think foxes could knock over a lawnmower like that.’
‘Course they can, stupid. Foxes are really strong and they are cunning as well. Come on, let’s go and hunt them down.’
And with that the brothers headed towards the Magic Forest, just as the gadgets were disappearing into the Forest itself after saying goodbye to the Garden Gang and thanking them for their tribute to Deep Fat. ‘If you are ever in trouble you can call on us,’ The Speaker said to The General as his men began to depart.
‘The same goes for us,’ replied The General who ordered Lee Mailer to give The Speaker Marty the mobile phone. ‘We will keep the other phone Mary, and if anyone is in trouble we can get in touch. Goodbye.’
The Magic Forest, which was really a huge overgrown area at the bottom of the Abercrombie’s massive garden, had run wild for years. It had far too many trees for the space and that’s what gave it a ‘forest’ look. There were trees of all sorts, from huge ash, beech and plane trees to pear and apple trees. There was bindwind, ivy and ground elder on the floor of the ‘forest’ and winding itself around the trunks of the trees. Everywhere there was moss and brambles. A very large garden pond, which had been nicknamed the Enchanted Lake, stood at the heart of the forest and was surrounded by old broken fencing which had been put there to stop anyone from falling in. But that had been a long time ago and the fencing itself had now fallen down in places.
On the left side of the forest was the famous Wendy House. It had been christened ‘Wendy House’ years ago when the Abercrombies had first moved into number 36 Fairfield Avenue after they got married. and long before Zack was born. In fact it was a very large log-built garden shed with two rooms and a loft-style area that could be accessed by a ladder. It had been built shortly after the house itself in the 1920’s and even had its own running water and glass windows. When the Abercrombies moved into Gableforth the solid shed was run-down but Sebastian said to his wife: ‘Darling, when we have children I’m going to renovate this old building and turn it into a Wendy House. It will be perfect.’ And to his credit Seb did try his hand at refurbishing the building, but like most things he attempted he gave up half-way through. But the name Wendy House stuck and the kids for the most part enjoyed the place when supervised by adults. But as they grew up they were banned from going into the Magic Forest alone because that end of the garden was deemed too unsafe. And so the Wendy House had been allowed to decay again.
‘OK, here we go,’ said Zack getting ready to plunge into the Magic Forest.
‘But we can’t go in there, we’re not allowed,’ protested Jake.
‘Then just how do you think we are going to find the foxes’ lair?’ answered his brother sarcastically.
‘But if dad finds out….’
‘He won’t, unless you tell him. Now come on.’
*
Gadgets: The Great Escape Page 39