by Dave Corrick
Chapter 24
The Appleton Property Issue is dealt with.
On the Thursday morning when Pearl was due to arrive, our two bees Louie and Lulu were feeling much more positive. Thank goodness Pearl had the foresight to find out what was going on in the village.
Since last seeing Pearl, Louie and Lulu had been getting Tiger and Lily to practice standing together and saying ‘Hello Aunty Pearl’. When Pearl was due to arrive it was “coming out” something like “Hu wo Arny Bell” followed by a giggle, a few unscripted claps and a bashful curling up of the tiny little toes! Louie and Lulu laughed.
‘They will never get it right!’ said Lulu.
‘Pearl will love it!’ said Louie.
Louie and Lulu relaxed out on the deck and waited for Pearl to arrive. It was another beautiful summer’s day.
At about 10.00 a.m. they heard it. Just as it had been Christmas morning. It brought a tear to Lulu’s eyes. Yes the flutter of Pearl’s wings getting closer and closer.
Pearl landed perfectly on the deck looking radiant as usual.
‘Morning Pearl’, said Louie. ‘Stay there for a moment; we want to show you something if we can!’
Louie turned towards the house, ‘Tiger, Lily, Pearl is here!’
Two little figures ran out of the house then marched up to Pearl, looked straight up at her and went through the routine of ‘Hu wo Arny Bell’ followed by a giggle, a few unscripted claps and a bashful curling up of the tiny little toes!
Pearl’s eyes misted over and she bent down and clutched the two little bees to her body. ‘You beautiful, beautiful little creatures, can you remember when you stayed with me on Christmas Eve?’ said Pearl choked with emotion while gently stroking the little bodies.
‘Why don’t you sit and hold them for a while Pearl’, said Louie. ‘I’ll make you a cup of gum leaf tea before we go if you like?’
‘Oh thanks Louie and Lulu, that would be really nice’, said Pearl. ‘They are just so delightful; they have grown a little too’.
Pearl and Lulu chatted while Louie went and made some tea for them all including Rose.
‘Come and have a cup of tea with us Rose’, said Louie.
Rose joined them and Louie introduced Rose to Pearl. The four watched Tiger and Lily get up to their usual antics. The game of hide the apple seed was on the go. Poor Lily was not having much success at finding it. Tiger had stuck it to Lily’s back.
‘Naughty Tiger’, said Lulu laughing. ‘Go and show Lily where it is!’
Tiger ran up to his sister and showed her where it was. He then hugged his sister as if to apologise for teasing her.
‘This is certainly what life is all about isn’t it’, said Pearl looking at Tiger and Lily playing, then glancing at the stream and bush below.
Louie, Lulu and Pearl finished their tea then bid adieu to Tiger, Lily and Rose before heading off up the stream.
‘Let’s forget about the Appleton property and head for the cave!’ said Louie laughing.
‘I know how you feel’, said Pearl. ‘It’s very tempting but we have a job to do!’
The trio passed Virgil’s hangar and waved to Virgil and Virginia. It was on past Sir Cada and Lady Bird’s place for about another quarter hour of flying.
‘When we get there’, said Pearl. ‘I suggest we head for a tree and survey the situation. It’s best to keep well out of harm’s way until we know more about what is going on’.
‘Right’, said Louie. ‘You lead the way and Lulu and I will follow you’.
Pearl turned west and flew away from the stream and onto the Appleton property. Pearl selected a small Kauri tree in front of the house and the three alighted on a branch in the shade near the top.
The three sat close together and surveyed the scene.
In front of them was the magnificent house Mrs Appleton had owned. It was quite a large house, probably 80 years old or more. The house was painted white and had beautifully maintained sash windows with blue shutters. The steeply pitched cedar tile roof had several dormer windows for a number of upstairs bedrooms. The front entrance door was wide and had narrow, arched, stained glass inserts. The door knocker, door handle, and letter flap were of polished brass and glistened like gold in the sun.
A veranda with a grey painted rounded corrugated iron roof ran along the front of the house and along the eastern side so as to catch the sun. Pink and white climbing roses had wrapped themselves around some of the veranda columns and entwined themselves in the white painted iron lattice work at the top below the roof.
On the northeast corner of the veranda was the rocking chair where Mrs Appleton had sat in her final years and reminisced about the good times when her husband had been alive. The house would have made ideal accommodation for visitors to stay.
‘How dare the council take this away from the citizens of the village’, Pearl muttered to herself with intense anger.
A long finely pebbled driveway came in from the west and stopped at the front of the house where there was a turning and parking area. To the west of the house was a large garage, big enough to take several cars. There was no sign of Councillor Shufflegrub or his family at this time, however judging by washing on the line out the back, the house was now occupied.
To the left of where the insects were perched and quite close to the house was the new milking shed. Obviously Councillor Shufflegrub didn’t want to have to walk too far to check his precious milking equipment. The milking shed was an eyesore in the sense it was stark and sterile. It clashed with the architecture of the beautiful house. Still to Councillor Shufflegrub this was obviously not an issue. After all the object was to make money and to not worry about trifling matters such as this!
The drive to the house had been extended a short distance to the east to the new milking shed, presumably to allow milk tanker access. The drive extension was of rough coarse stones. It had obviously been laid in a hurry and looked a mess.
The milking shed had been fitted out with sophisticated automated equipment. This meant that the cows could walk into the milking shed at their leisure and “milk” themselves. It must have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Pearl reflected to herself that Councillor Shufflegrub was not only milking cows but the ratepayers of the village as well!
Pearl noted that the water supply for the milking shed came from an underground supply that also supplied the house. ‘Thank goodness’, Pearl thought, that at least the water wasn’t being drawn from the stream. The amount of water required would have just about run the stream dry!
Beyond the milking shed were a contractor’s vehicle and a mechanical digger. The digger was working as the three watched, making a trench for the pipeline to the stream.
Dumped near the milking shed was a large pile of concrete pipes and some building materials. There was also a concrete mixer.
There were two people onsite, the digger operator and a labourer. As the insects watched, the labourer was leaning on a shovel watching the digger do its work.
Behind the insects were the fields where the cows would graze. The fields stretched quite a distance to the north and had been fully fenced ready for the delivery of the cows at some stage. Councillor Shufflegrub had in his wisdom bulldozed away all the flowers and vegetables that Mrs Appleton had planted, and sewn grass. Some of the native trees Mrs Appleton had planted had been felled. It was a sad sight. Some of the natural beauty had been destroyed in the name of commercial gain.
Louie, Lulu and Pearl took in the surroundings from their vantage point for a few minutes to check if there was any danger before making another move.
‘Seems all quiet’, said Lulu. ‘Let’s go over and see what that contractor is up to’.
‘Right’, said Pearl. ‘Follow me’.
Pearl alighted right on the edge of the milking shed roof on the side looking directly towards where the digger was working. Louie and Lulu sat beside Pearl and watched.
‘Looks as though it will b
e a day or so before the trench has been dug all the way to the stream’, said Pearl.
‘What do you think we should do?’ said Lulu.
‘Hmm it’s a bit of a tough one’, said Pearl.
Pearl studied the situation for awhile. She looked below her. Some pipe running from the effluent pump in the milking shed had already been laid in the trench and covered over again. Obviously the intention now was to finish the trench then lay the pipe on down to the stream. Pearl looked at the pile of pipes stacked ready to be laid. She noticed that there were numerous different angle sections of pipe.
Pearl thought these angle sections of pipe might be useful and wondered to herself what they could be for. Looking down the pipeline she saw where they would be used. Towards the stream were some rocky outcrops. The pipeline would have to change direction and go around these.
After a lot of thought Pearl responded to Lulu. ‘We could just block the pipe so that effluent wouldn’t flow. However this would no doubt be discovered and fixed then we would be back to square one. No we have to stop the effluent ever reaching the stream and somehow make this venture unattractive to our greedy and dishonest Councillor Shufflegrub and his family.
‘What I suggest we do’, said Pearl, ‘is come back through the quartz tomorrow fairly early and do a bit of rearranging of the pipe work!’ Pearl was sounding quite mischievous and laughing.
Yes Pearl now had a plan in her mind and explained it to Louie and Lulu. It went something like this:
Tomorrow it would be arranged for Louie to merge with the digger operator. Louie would dig a trench from just outside the milking shed where the pipe ended now, and run the trench to the house.
At the house end of the trench, Louie would go underneath the foundation and up under the house. Remember in merging, Louie would have acquired all the skills of the digger operator. Digging such a trench would be second nature to him.
While Louie would be busy digging the trench, Pearl and Lulu would lay a pipeline from where the pipe ended now to underneath the house. We remember that when through the quartz the insects had the power to lift heavy things almost effortlessly.
Either Lulu or Pearl would merge with the labourer. It would be necessary to merge with the labourer, firstly to prevent him from interfering with what the insects were doing, and secondly to assist with sealing the pipe connections.
Fortunately there were plenty of angle sections of pipe so it would be easy to change the direction of the pipe from its present course and run it back towards the house.
Once the “new” pipe work was in place Louie could cover it up again. It would be easy enough to remove any evidence of Louie’s trench, it would be under the rough extension to the driveway and it would be just a case of raking the stones back over the top again. If necessary, any missing vegetation could be grown back with a little right fist clenching, simple! To complete the job a dummy section of pipe would be placed in the correct trench (just outside the milking shed) and partly covered over. It would look as though this section of pipe was still connected to the effluent pump and be sitting ready to be extended to the stream!
With this arrangement nothing would of course ever reach the stream and the insects would be saved from this threat. But!! Once the milking shed was in operation, effluent would gradually accumulate under the house until it started coming up through the floor boards! Brilliant Pearl!! Councillor Shufflegrub and his family wouldn’t be too keen to stay around with that lot!
As an after thought, Pearl suggested that about the time of discovery of the effluent by the Shufflegrub family, it might be prudent for the three of them to return, maybe on a nice summers’ evening, and with their left fists clenched reduce the cows to calves! No milk for Councillor Shufflegrub!
After Pearl had finished telling Louie and Lulu about the plan, Louie and Lulu were almost speechless but managed to say, ‘Absolutely brilliant Pearl!’ and marvelled about the prospect of what could happen.
‘You really are amazing Pearl’, said Lulu grabbing Pearl’s arm and squeezing it.
‘Thanks team’, said Pearl. ‘I can’t wait for tomorrow to come!’
‘When we have finished tomorrow Louie’, Pearl added, ‘and you have demerged with the digger operator we will have to see what happens. For one thing the digger operator may be confused as to why he hasn’t progressed with the digging of the trench and secondly he will probably wonder why half of the piping has disappeared!
‘Louie if you get time you could carry on digging some of the correct trenching before demerging so that at least the operator can see something for his day’s work. He may in fact go home and not even notice the missing pipes in which case it will be thought they have been stolen overnight. We will play it by ear!’
‘This is going to be fun Pearl, I am quite looking forward to operating the digger!’ said Louie with a mischievous smile on his face.
Louie then turned to Lulu and said. ‘What we need to do now is call in at the Factory and tidy up a few things and then we can have a full day down here tomorrow. How about we meet at the tunnel at 8.00 a.m. Pearl?’
‘Agreed’, said Pearl, ‘8.00 a.m. tomorrow it is’.
The now happy insects headed back down the stream. Pearl flew back to her apartment and Louie and Lulu stopped off at the Factory.
The next day the excited trio met at the tunnel at 8.00 a.m. as arranged. It wasn’t long before they were through the quartz and had flown as invisible forms to the Appleton property.
When the insects arrived they landed in front of the house and surveyed the scene. There was a car in the driveway belonging to Councillor Shufflegrub.
Some distance away where the digger was, Shufflegrub seemed to be having an animated discussion with the digger operator and the labourer. He was waving his arms around quite a bit.
‘Let’s go and find out what that’s all about!’ said Pearl.
Louie, Lulu and Pearl landed right beside Councillor Shufflegrub. Of course nobody could see them.
Yes Councillor Shufflegrub was not pleased. He wanted the digging of the trench for the pipeline finished today, no ifs or buts! Time was short. Two hundred cows would be arriving in five days and he would be away after that for a month (we remember of course the “fact finding mission” trip away at the ratepayer’s expense!).
The digger driver was obviously a little scared of Shufflegrub who was a man of monstrous proportions as well as being a bully. Anyone in close proximity to Shufflegrub would not be far from wrong to think there was a total eclipse!
The digger driver had promised reluctantly that he would stay on into the evening and get the trench finished so the pipe work could be laid tomorrow.
Shufflegrub stormed back to his car. Lulu thought it was strange how the digger driver and the labourer waved to the departing Councillor Shufflegrub with two fingers in the air!
When Councillor Shufflegrub had departed Pearl took over.
‘Right Louie, merge with the digger driver and Lulu you merge with the labourer’.
It was all go. Louie ran the digger back towards the house and started digging the trench as directed by Pearl.
As the trench progressed, Pearl lifted the sections of pipe and placed them in the trench. Lulu as the labourer had the concrete mixer going flat out mixing mortar to join the pipe sections. It really was a sight to see! Was this really two bees and a moth doing all this?
By late morning Louie had finished the trench running up to and under the house. He then drove the digger back to where the digger operator had been earlier working and carried on digging the proper trench. Pearl and Lulu continued laying the pipe and connecting the sections. It was taking awhile to mix the mortar and get the pipe sections connected. The labourer wasn’t used to the work Lulu was demanding of him either!
It was just before midday, Lulu noticed it first. A car was coming up the driveway.
‘Pearl, Pearl’, shouted Lulu in her labourer’s voice. ‘There is a car coming up th
e driveway’.
Pearl looked. Sure enough, there was Councillor Shufflegrub coming back, obviously to check on the progress of the digger operator. After all Shufflegrub wasn’t going to have anything prevent him going away on his “holiday”!
Pearl stopped helping Lulu with the pipes in the trench and said. ‘I’ll be back shortly Lulu, just a little job to do!’ What was Pearl up to Lulu thought?
Pearl flew off quickly and merged with Councillor Shufflegrub, just as he got out of his car. Pearl didn’t want him to see any of what was going on!
When Pearl had merged with Councillor Shufflegrub, she got back into the car and drove back down the drive and on some distance towards the village. Of course Pearl had the ability to do this being merged with the councillor.
Pearl stopped the car and parked it by the side of the road. She got out and systematically went around and let all the tyres down! Then she picked up the councillor’s cell phone and threw it as far as she could into the adjacent field.
‘That should keep him occupied for awhile’, said Pearl to herself as she demerged and flew back to help Lulu again.
‘Where’s Councillor Shufflegrub gone?’ said Lulu when Pearl arrived back.
‘He’s been let down by somebody and won’t be back for awhile’, said Pearl laughing. ‘I’ll tell you about it later Lulu; let’s get this pipe work finished’.
Just after midday the pipe work was in place and Pearl called Louie back with the digger to fill in the trench again. Pearl strategically placed the piece of dummy pipe in the trench outside the milking shed and got Louie to put some earth over part of this too. Soon there would be no evidence of the pipe work going back to the house.
Within an hour Louie had filled the trench to the house and had done the extra bit for Pearl. He then went back to carry on digging the proper trench.
Pearl got Lulu (as the labourer of course) to carefully rake the stones back in the driveway where Louie had dug the trench. No one would know that the pipe had been laid under the drive now!
Just alongside the milking shed Pearl carefully used her clenched right fist to grow back grass and weeds where some of the soil had been disturbed. What a fantastic job!
Pearl thought to herself, one job left to do and spoke to Lulu. ‘Lulu let me change places with you, there is a little bit more mischief to be done’.
Lulu demerged with the labourer and Pearl remerged before the labourer had a chance to know what was happening.
Pearl now as the labourer went quickly and mixed up some concrete. Then she took a full barrow of it and went around the brick base of the house and carefully blocked all the vent holes so that none of the cow excrement could leak out and be noticed. Well-done Pearl! This would mean that the excrement in the basement really would keep rising until it came up through the floor boards! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
By mid afternoon all was finished. Pearl and Lulu carefully inspected the work they had completed. There was not a sign of what they had done. The concrete mixer was put back. There were quite a number of pipes missing of course, however this shouldn’t be a problem!
Pearl still as the labourer walked to where Louie was busy digging the proper trench. Lulu followed. Louie had been making good progress and stopped on sighting the labourer approaching.
‘Hi’, said Louie in his digger operator’s voice, ‘Are both of you there?’
‘Yes it’s Pearl here’, said Pearl. ‘I am the labourer. I suggest we demerge now and let these two get on with the job. I’ll lean on this shovel by the digger Louie; you keep the digger working, let’s both demerge on the count of three’.
Louie and Pearl demerged at the same time and moved away to join Lulu. The three sat on the grass to watch what happened next.
It was as they had hoped. The digger operator carried on as though nothing had happened. He probably felt a little hungry not having stopped for lunch!
The labourer however was rubbing his legs and arms a little. He was a bit sore after doing the most work he had ever done in his life. Little did he know what in fact he had done!
‘Job well-done team’, said Pearl.
Pearl told Louie and Lulu what had happened to Councillor Shufflegrub! ‘In fact’, said Pearl. ‘It was of real advantage to us that I did merge with Councillor Shufflegrub. I know what his program is now. The cows are going to be delivered by truck next Thursday. Shufflegrub and his two sons are then to spend the following three days getting the operation underway. On the next Monday Shufflegrub and the family are off on this ‘fact finding mission’. While they are away the council CEO (Grovelmoore) is going to stay in the Shufflegrub house and look after things, all very cosy. I hope he brings some air freshener!’
‘That was quick thinking with Shufflegrub’, said Louie, ‘It could have been a bit of a nuisance if he had discovered what we were doing’.
The trio lay on the grass watching the digger working. Everything seemed to be perfectly normal.
‘I guess’, said Louie, ‘that we just wait and see what happens over the next few days now. The cows aren’t due to arrive until next week. Lulu and I could come up here before going to the Factory each morning and keep an eye on progress and keep you posted Pearl’.
‘Thanks Louie’, said Pearl. ‘That would really help me. I need to think carefully about what we need to do about the council itself and how we will handle it. Let’s all go back now and you two can keep me updated each day about anything that is happening’.
Once back through the quartz the three insects walked back up the tunnel and talked about what had happened during the day. It was good to be back in their own territory again.
Pearl laughed and said. ‘It’s going to be really interesting. A few days after the Shufflegrubs leave is when things are likely to go drastically wrong!’
Pearl thought for a moment then said. ‘On Monday week I wonder if I could drop up to see you two at the Factory, say at 10.00 a.m. and go over the next part of my plan. The Shufflegrubs leave that day and I would like to move fairly quickly on the next phase. What I hope to do ultimately is replace the current councillors with individuals who will look after the interests of the village ratepayers together with our own interests. I need about a week to have the plan clear in my mind’.
‘Sounds good Pearl, OK with you Lulu?’ said Louie holding Lulu and smiling at her.
‘Oh yes!’ said Lulu. ‘I can’t wait to know what you are up to next Pearl!’
Once out of the tunnel Pearl flew off up to her apartment. Louie and Lulu headed over to the stream and then along to their house.
The sun was getting low in the sky in the late afternoon. As Louie and Lulu neared their home they could see Rose out on the deck with Tiger and Lily. Tiger and Lily were now bouncing up and down with excitement. They had seen their parents in the distance. It was a joy to be home again.
Later that evening when the two wee bees had been put to bed, Louie and Lulu sat out on the deck, close together. They felt a lot happier now with what had been achieved today. It had been a step in the right direction. Somehow they knew Pearl would have a plan to save them all, as indeed she did.
Over the next two days, Saturday and Sunday, Louie and Lulu flew to the dairy farm to check what was happening. They took Tiger and Lily with them and made a picnic of it.
On the Saturday the pipe to the stream was due to be laid in the morning after the digger operator had worked late the previous day to get the trench work done. Strangely enough only a small section had been laid. It had been discovered that a significant quantity of piping had gone missing! Oh dear how could this have happened?
Councillor Shufflegrub was in residence with his family and had come out of the house to abuse the digger operator for losing the pipes. Of course Shufflegrub was still smarting from the day before when Pearl had let his tyres down and was likely to take it out on anybody! Yes it was an entertaining picnic for the bees who remained some distance away.
Later on during Satur
day, more pipes were delivered and the poor digger operator and the labourer worked late once more to get the job finished and keep the bad tempered Shufflegrub happy.
When the bee family called in on the Sunday, the pipe work had indeed been completed and the trench filled in. Louie and Lulu flew, with Tiger and Lily on their backs, to the stream to have a look. There was the end of the pipe that nothing would ever come out of thanks to Pearl’s quick thinking. Yes it would have been an absolute disaster for the insects if the effluent had ever got into the stream.
Away from where Shufflegrub had cleared the land for his cows there were still some flowers left on the property that Mrs Appleton had planted. Louie and Lulu showed the flowers to Tiger and Lily and they had a lovely afternoon tasting all the different nectars. Not a bad life being a bee!
During the week that followed, Louie and Lulu flew to the farm on a daily basis and observed the situation as they had promised Pearl. There was nothing much to see or report back to Pearl until Friday morning.
When Louie and Lulu arrived on the Friday, the cows were there, they had been brought in by truck the previous day, all two hundred of them. There was plenty of room for them on the large expanse of land. As Pearl had previously mentioned, probably this was just a start and there could be many more to come some time in the future.
With the visits to the farm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Louie and Lulu saw the Shufflegrub sons training the cows to find the milking shed and use the automated milking equipment. Something attracted the cows to the shed; it was probably some special feed, the insects thought.
By Sunday the milking was virtually a hands free operation. The cows were coming and going from the shed as they felt the need too. Of course the cows may have come from a farm with a similar setup and it was just a case of the cows knowing where the milking shed was. In all the two bees thought it was quite an impressive operation and the Shufflegrub sons seemed to know what they were doing.
Louie and Lulu could hear the machinery working in the shed. Yes there would be a slowly rising pool of effluent under the house!
Thanks to Pearl blocking the vents and other holes in the brick base of the house, there was no evidence of any effluent leakage – well not yet anyway!