3^rd Saga

 Part 7

As Oggin lay on the grass a movement to his left caught his eye, he turned his head and saw a small pair of brown moccasins near his head. A soft voice spoke.

“Iz youm comfy down there Misser Ogg’in?”

Oggin raised himself on one elbow and was greeted by the sight of three pairs of eyes regarding him with a mixture of concern and curiosity. It was Taly and her Owl and a slightly nervous Fawn. Tally wore a look of concern on her small round face and the Owl one of unblinking judgement, which Oggin found slightly disconcerting.

“I’da seen Miss Cara was talkin’ to ee an’ then that lady wiv the red hair cummed over an’ shouted at ee an’ all…”

“Er yes…that was Kajoa…she’s my….er…friend….”

“’er don’t seem all that ‘appy Misser Ogg’in…”

“She is often like that Taly…quite often…” replied Oggin in a resigned tone.

“Well we was goin’ to ‘ave a see ‘ow your’n extension thingy was getting’ along….am you comin’ or is you’m gonna a lie down fer a bit longer loike?”

Oggin looked up into the girls face, it was a mask of innocence.

“No…I’ll come with you Taly…I’m curious to see what’s going on too…”

He slowly got to his feet and noticed the Fawn moved further behind the girl, obviously very nervous. Oggin ignored the timid creature and slowly walked toward his cottage, with Taly and her pets at his side. As they drew near, Oggin could see Cara the Hasselsnag and Gladys the Stone Woman just outside his front gate. As he looked it seemed that the pair were sort of shimmering slightly and staring very intently at the garden. Beyond his front hedge he could see a great pile of building materials, where Kajoa’s very best roses should have been and at the small front window, the lady herself was looking out. Her expression told Oggin that this had better be the finest extension in existence or he’d be living with Cyril the Sleeping man for a week or so. Just then, Taly let out a cry.

“Ooo look…is a Fluffy….!” And ran off toward the two strangers that Oggin had seen before, they were stood a few yards off and Oggin thought it strange he’d not noticed them before. Taly seemed to greet the shorter of the two like an old friend and oddly, the Fawn nuzzled up to him at the same time. Oggin started to get a dull pain behind his eyes and supposed that it was because the morning sun was behind them, so he looked away. (Of course he was quite wrong…but that’s another story.)

As he turned back to his cottage he was all but bowled over by the figure of The Shed Master and his greasy apprentice rushing headlong to join the two women. The fast striding Shed Master was shadowed by his scuttling apprentice, who was apparently trying to catch his master’s robes as they billowed behind him. The Shed Master suddenly stopped as he reached the cottage but sadly, the apprentice did not and bumped into his Master’s be-robed behind. He received a sharp stab in leg for his trouble from the Shed Masters staff and fell to the ground whimpering, at the same time offering profuse apologies, through gritted teeth.

Oggin looked back his garden, the whole front of his cottage was now bathed in the same shimmering light as the women and then grew so bright that Oggin was forced to shield his eyes from the glare. After a few moments the light faded and revealed a neat, flat roofed extension to Oggin’s house. Through the large windows could been seen the open mouthed face of Kajoa and it struck Oggin that this was one of the few times he’d seen her with nothing to say.

The next few minutes passed in a bit of a blur. The Shed Master, closely shadowed by his apprentice, inspected the work and signed it off as ‘Complete and of a High Standard’ and passed the paperwork to Oggin. The two women, joined by Taly wandered off slowly and Kajoa could be seen feverishly measuring the shelves inside the extension windows. Oggin glanced around and found himself alone and started to trudge his way home. He knew the next day or so would be spent moving Kajoa’s prized Knick-Knacks around and around in an endless parade of mild dissatisfaction and grumbling. Such is life he thought, such is life.

And so Dear reader, this Saga draws to a close. We may come this way again someday. We may find out what happened to The Mammie and her ‘friendly’ postman or even how Hirsh the Boog found true love at last. For now, let us leave the folk of The Village to go on with their lives.

3rd Saga Part 6

Oggin slowly walked back across the green towards his cottage, hands in pockets and deep in thought. He was a little worried by the sudden appearance of The Shed Master and the offer of help from The Stone Woman. His past experience of dealing with fairy folk and their go-between’s gave him pause to doubt the smoothness of proceedings and this in turn would bring conflict with Kajoa. Something he did his very best to avoid at all times. A movement caught his eye and he glanced over to see Simon Patel, the pie maker, cleaning the windows of his pie shop. Simon’s wife, the redoubtable Janet, stood in the door of the shop, with floured hands and arms folded across her ample bosom. She watched her husband like a cat watching a rat and a slight waft of steam issued from the door above her head. Oggin gave the pair a nod of acknowledgement and received an answering nod from Mrs Patel while Mr Patel simply continued his closely supervised work. As Oggin shifted his glance back toward his front garden he thought he caught sight of two figures passing further down the lane, by his cottage. The pair were walking away from him and seemed to be strangers. One was a tall and lean looking, he was dressed in a short, brown leather coat and bluish trousers and had a wide brimmed hat on his head. Oggin noticed he was wearing a bag of some sort across his shoulders. His companion was also quite tall but thin and seemed to be skipping. Oggin stopped and stared as the figures started to move out of sight and it struck him the second person looked as if he had long tall ears. Oggin closed his eyes, shook his head and looked again but the ears had disappeared and he felt like he was suddenly getting a headache. Turning his attention back to his cottage, he was surprised to see a shimmering light over the small front garden, quickening his pace he took his hands out of his pockets and hurried forward toward this new sight. All at once his ankle struck something and he found himself lying flat out on the grass. When he tried to get up a weight between his shoulder blades pressed him back down and a soft girlish giggle came from above him. Oggin closed his eyes and fought the impulse to struggle, it was the Hasslesnag and he knew it would do no good.

“Good Morning Oggin of Ogg…Are you in a hurry?”

“Good Morning Cara…I was…” replied Oggin, in a pinched tone.

“Oh there’s no need of hurry Oggin…no need at all….In fact it would be better if you slowed down a tiny bit…the delivery is still coming in…”

“Delivery…?”

“Yes Oggin…all that which will be needed for your extension is being delivered….”

“Delivered…?”

“Oh Oggin…for The Mother’s sake please pay attention!....All the materials for the extension are being put in your garden…ready for the build…”

“Where are they coming from…?”

“All the four corners of Oggland and beyond…Flat glass from across the Small Water…seasoned hardwood from the dark forests of Boog…Smooth white timber from Westex….”

“Okay…okay…I get the picture….and I suppose they’re getting here by magic…”

“Well yes….how else…?”

“Of course….silly me…how else indeed…”

At this point, several things happened at once. There was a very loud and piercing banshee wail from a short distance away, this was followed by a quiet ‘pop’ and the weight disappeared from Oggin’s back and suddenly his limited view was filled with a pair of scruffy tartan slippers, with one pom-pom missing. Kajoa!

“Ye lang streak a shite ye...wit are ye daein’ striched oot playin’ thea diddy here weel ma roses is bein’ spoil’et tae bits…ye stupit hawfwit ye…”

“Well my flower….”

“Dinae speak tae me…ye tumshie…ye are as much use as diddys on a dour so ye’are….”

“Extension..!” Oggin blurted out while Kajoa drew breath.

“Whit…?”

“It’s the materials for your extension my rose bud…the extension for you to show off…I mean display…display your Knick Knacks…”

“Oh…oh…why did’ye no say so…ye numpty…”

“It was going to be a surprise my petal…”

“Surprise ye says…weil I’ll be surprised if ye git it done so I weil...”

Oggin kept very still as he let out a low breath. He watched as Kajoa retreated back towards the cottage, her red hair bouncing as she walked and her third best house coat flapping as she went. Much as he loved this woman and he really did, he decided to stay just where he was for a few moments. Just to be on the safe side.