Monday, November 8, 2010

08. Baldy Nov 08 Mon

(2:53 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

(3:40 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

So what happened to that word well gentle reader? It seems it must have run dry. I may need to dig it a bit deeper.

However, in thinking about the word well, I remembered my 2005 NaNoWriMo Novel:

"Tings - Anuddah Bahamian Novel"

and I remembered that I had used words in that one to key off my thoughts and I thought to myself, might it be interesting to re-use the same four key words each day in the same order again this year to see what results. Will I get a lot of overlap or will the same words this year bring forth fresh, new ideas. So here goes.

*** Corgi ***

What does this word bring to mind.

So, I think of my childhood and my Corgi cars. I also think of the Corgi breed of dogs. And so here we go...

I forgot to tell you gentle reader that Next door to Mary's house there lives a man who she has her eye on. Who she has had her eye on for a number of years now but she has been too shy to make her interest plain in any way. And you know how some guys are. With some guys, unless you hit them over the head with such things they will never get a clue. This guy next door was one of those sorts of guys when it came to matters of the heart.

Now, why did I bring this guy up in the context of the word Corgi, gentle reader? Did he have some fantastic collection of Corgi cars from his childhood? Some extensive collection purchased from the toy store that used to be above the City Pharmacy? No. Sorry.

This man next door went by the name of Devlin Bain and he had two dogs who lived with him. A corgi named Rug and a pottweiler that was named Killer but who preferred to be called Stan the man or Stan for short. Go figure.

(3:58 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

Stan the Man and Baldy got along quite well but Baldy had a hard time with Rug. Rug's nickname around the neighbourhood was Rat. Luckily for the neighbourhood, Rug was an inside dog and Stan the Man wan an outside dog. That suited most everyone just fine.

So where are we now gentle reader? Well, it seems that digging out that word well a little more may have had a salubrious effect on the flow of words from the same. Fantastic I say, especially if it can continue to flow freely for the rest of the month.

Now, when we left off yesterday, Mary had begun to cook, Buster was in the dilly tree and Baldy was off to the Fort for band practice.

Not a whole lot happened by way of the treasure side of things for the rest of the day. Mary and Buster ate lunch together on the front porch. Mary liked her front porch more than her back porch because she liked the hustle and bustle of the street. Not that it was a particularly Hustlely or Bustlely street by any means. It was a rather quiet street by the standards of other nearby streets but there was much more action and things of interest on the street than in her back yard. in general that is...

(4:07 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010) 17241

*** Sun ***

(4:50 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

Well, I have a decent reason here gentle reader, I had to make a quick dash out somewhere.

Sun, well that ball of fire in the sky. That energy provider. That light giver. The sun was in short supply today. Lots of clouds in the sky. Grey clouds. Brisk wind. Cool air. Not quite snappy cool though.

But we are still on yesterday in novel time right gentle reader?

After lunch, Mary put Buster back in the dilly tree and went inside to take a lazy afternoon nap and let the football game watch her. Now this may be a strange coincidence or it may be a contrived fict, but Mary liked the piratical teams like the Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She had a bit of a soft spot for the Minnesota Vikings as well.

She dreamed of sailing ships full of hard men roaming the shallow seas dashing out to capture infamy and wealth. Then dashing back to live a life of riot and abandon.

(5:02 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

(5:18 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

Little chunks slipping away here and there.

Mary dreamed the afternoon away while dinner simmered on the back burner sending tempting smells through the house. Baldy came home around five hungry and ready to eat.

"Where have you been all day?" asked Buster. "Have you been practicing the whole time?"

"Nah, we quit practice around two then I went down by the Fish Fry and hung out playing dominoes and talking to some tourist gals who are in town making a few shorts on the sly."

"Someone came here on vacation to sew shorts illegally?" asked Buster.

Baldy laughed, "No, they are not sewing, they are filming some short films under the radar. You know, no permits, no insurance, that sort of thing."

"And they just told you they are here breaking the law?"

"Well, I do have a way with the ladies," smiled Baldy.

(5:25 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

"Yeah right, you an your old ugly self. A ladies man? That's a laugh."

"Come down here and say that gully. See if I don't fix you quick!" snarled Baldy.

"Touchy, touchy."

"You two quiet down out there," called Mary, your noise woke me up from a sweet dream. I may just not give you any dinner for that."

Baldy let out a small yelp and dashed inside smiling and wagging his tail. He went to the bed and licked Mary to say sorry.

"Yes, I love you too. Oh alright, I'll get up and get you some dinner soon. Just let me freshen up first," said Mary as she clicked off the set with the remote.

(5:30 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010) 17706

(5:58 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

OK, so I had my dinner tonight while Baldy, Mary, and Buster had their dinner last night. Basically a day out of sync again.

*** Tea ***

Well, I am off the caffeine for a while now so not coffee or my regular teas for me these days. I do happen to have a mug of some herbal brew on my desk right at this moment though.

Tea for one.

While at Mary's it was tea for three. And not no play play herbal tea either. Good strong black tea. tea to keep you up at night tea. Mainline caffeine tea. That's what Mary served up after dinner.

Despite the tea, everyone in the house got a good night's sleep. They woke early in the morning, still not adjusted to daylight savings time having just ended and all had good strong tea again with a breakfast of tuna and grits that Mary made up quickly.

"I think we should have a look at the map and box again," said Mary, maybe we can see something we missed before.

Mary got the map and the box from their hiding place and put them on the table. "Hmmm, let's see."

They all looked at the map.

Yv yj'i jhuqikhu jxqj oek iuua.

Oek ckij qffbo q byjjbu xuqj.

Dej je cksx eh Y cqo rkhd.

Jxud oekh tuiyhui Y mybb ifkhd.

"What could this mean? Anyone have any bright ideas on how we can figure out what this means? Anyone recognize where this is supposed to be?" asked Mary?

"I'm still drawing a blank," said Baldy.

"Same here," put in Buster, "heat it up again and let's see the rest then."

Mary brought the lamp over and took off its shade. She held the map near the bulb and the writing came into view again.

Wisdom before treasure.

Je vydt jxyi jhuqikhu

Oek ckij vyhij vydu myitec

Jxud myitec qdt jxu dehjx ijqh

Mybb wylu oek oekh vyhij sbku

The teacher says to look for important information below the door of my house.

"OK, so we solved the second plain text clue here. Baldy dug up the box under the doorway of Blackbeard's Tower. It's too bad you lost the coins and the gems Baldy. What if they had some important information on them somehow? Anyway, no use worrying our heads about that now. Let's pretend they were a distraction. Let's pretend that the important information is what we still have. Could "Wisdom before treasure." be some kind of clue?"

"I don't know Mary. It doesn't sound like much of a clue but it might be I guess. Let me see that box now please," said Baldy, leaning over to look at it.

"Here you go Baldy," said Mary pushing the box in front of the dog, "You have been dying to look at this haven't you. Do you see anything we missed?"

(6:53 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010) 18199

(7:21 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

Life interrupts art again it seems. Plus the NaNo site is telling me to please enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. Not what I need with being off of caffeine and all.

*** Nuttin ***

Nuttin. Man dat don't mean nuttin to me. You come round here aksin fa sumtin but you een ga get nuttin from me today. You hear me? Nuttin is kinda like nought or naught if you prefer. Da big zilch, nada, zero, the empty set. No, not the empty headed set but sometimes they amount to nuttin so you may be on to sumtin after all gentle reader.

(7:34 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010)

Life interrupts art again it seems. And now the NaNo site is not responding at all it seems. Oh well. Perhaps by the end of the night gentle reader.

Baldy looked at the lines on the inside of the lid, he looked at the whole outside of the box, trying his best to get excited about it the way Buster had. He just couldn't do it. Yes they might help but something told him that you just could not call these few lines important information. Why did he have to run into that mangy pack? He let his mind travel back to when the contents of his box spilled on the ground. When that had happened, everything slowed right down. He replayed the scene in his head, looking carefully at every coin and every gem as it fell slowly to the ground. Nothing looked odd, nothing looked like important information. Could the important information be how many coins and how many gems? What sort of gems? He would make a list later and see if any ideas struck him but that did not seem very likely. It seemed to be something to obscure to be the important information spoken of.

In frustration he stuck his snout into the box and growled. He took a deep breath, hoping to smell the important information. Just to catch a little sniff of it would make him happy. What was that? He did smell something. This was a metal box, but he smelled a very faint whiff of cedar. He growled again and began snarling and trying to tear at the lining of the box.

"What is it Baldy?" asked Mary reaching for the box, "Have you found something?"

Baldy let go of the box and pushed it across the table towards Mary, "Pull out the lining," he said, "I think there is something under there."

"Oh, you've ripped the nice lining, why did you do that? Let me see if I can fix it. I may have some glue in my shed."

Baldy began to bark at Mary. "No, don't fix it, rip it out."

Mary didn't listen she came in with her glue and glued the thing and then took the box and the map off the table and went and hid them again.

"OK, I have to go do some shopping and visit some friends who are sick. Baldy, why don't you go next door and see what Killer is up to today? Don't you two go beating up on Rug though. And tell Devlin I said hello," said Mary. This was about as close as Mary ever got to admitting to anyone that she had any interest at all in Devlin.

"Oh, come on Mary! I have to wait again to try and find the treasure? No way!"

"Don't you go barking at me like that mister! I will leave Buster in the dilly tree so you keep your eye on him and don't let anything happen to him while I am gone."

"Well, gully, it looks lie you and I are going to be doing some treasure hunting today while Mary is gone. I'll go over by Stan now and come and get you after she has been gone for a while. Later."

"That sounds like it will be a blast. I think we should maybe go and try to talk to Zevelyn again, see if he has any new ideas," said Buster.

(8:53 pm Mon Nov 08, 2010) 18895

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