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.