Bot Story:
    Book 1 – Nancy and the Ferrets

Chapter 4

Mr. Mike sat on the edge of the large stump, several sharpening stones at his side and a rag on his knee. He was intently studying the edge of a long, slightly curved sword. He turned the blade in the sunlight trying to catch a reflection off the edge. He picked up his polishing stone and took three short, precise strokes on the left side of his blade, about a foot down from the tip. He then took a long stroke down the entire length of the right side and another down the entire length of the left. He set the stone down, picked up the rag, and carefully wiped the blade. Then went back to studying it in the sunlight, turning the blade slightly as he did so.

Satisfied he stood up and slid the sword home, into the brown and silver scabbard on his left hip. He picked up his stones and rags and walked to the front door of his home. His hand was on the door handle when his head went up and he went on alert. He did a mental scan of the surrounding area: Weasy! Sparkle and Fizzy were with her, and also a tourist. Mentally he filed away the newcomer's name and IP address. He opened the door, set his things on a bench just inside the door, and closed it again from the outside. He walked back toward the middle of the clearing and stood facing the trail to the south. His arms crossed and a slight scowl on his graying muzzle.

Weasy spied Mr. Mike standing in the clearing just as she stepped from the shade of the forest. She walked down the incline of the trail and straight toward him. He unfolded his arms as she walked right up to him, stood on tiptoe, and wrapped her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her lower rib cage and picked her up. She put her face next to his and whispered in his ear, "Did ya miss me?"

"When you are away from my side, I sometimes worry," he whispered back and gave her a squeeze.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'd never let anything bad happen when I know you're waiting for me. You know that." She loosened her grip.

He lowered her, but she still clung to him as he addressed the others over the top of her head, "How was the hunt?"

"I caught this pretty little ferret," announced Fizzy, grinning and looking at Sparkle.

Mike rolled his eyes, he could imagine who actually caught whom. Sparkle just smiled sweetly.

"Mike," Weasy said, while turning to stand by his side. "This is Nancy Drew. She helped us with the hunt and she knows a lot about crawdads, she even has a special recipe she wants to share with us."

"I am honored milady, welcome to our humble home." And Mike bowed deeply.

"Boiled in ale I'm told," added Fizzgig. "Where's Marley, I'd better talk to him."

"Wait!" called out Nancy. "Here, thanks." She held the dagger out to Fizzy.

He took it, gave it a spin around his index finger, and slid it into its sheath with a snap of his wrist. "Thanks, glad to be of help," he said.

Mike raised an eyebrow then said to Fizzy, "Marley is in the cellar, probably napping."

"Thanks," and Fizzy turned to walk to a door set in the side of a hill.

Nancy turned to watch him go. Then she caught sight of the large round, green-framed windows encircled by red brick and set in a white stucco wall; and the round green door similarly set in the wall; and all set in the side of the hill – her mouth dropped open. "Wow! Is that what you meant when you said you lived in a hole? That looks like a Hobbit Hole!"

"Would you like to see it?" asked Weasy.

"Sure!"

Weasy walked Nancy to the front door and opened it. Sparkle started to follow, but Mike stepped toward her, put his paw on her forearm, and said, "A word Miss." Sparkled stopped and looked up at him, a questioning look on her face. And so Weasy and Nancy entered the ferrets' 'hole' and closed the door.

Inside a hallway led straight back, it was round like a tunnel, but the walls where framed with curving beams like the frame of a wooden sailing ship and finely finished in deep brown. The wall surfaces where covered in an off-white plaster and pictures of different sizes covered them. Polished brass fixtures hanging from the ceiling lighted the hallway. And the floor was made of a reddish terrazzo tile. An open door was at the far end of the hall and another was on the left about halfway from the end. "This is beautiful," breathed Nancy.

"The main room is here," said Weasy, stepping through the door on the left. Nancy followed. A large round window was set in the outside wall. And the way the window was set deeply into the wall; Nancy guessed that it was at least three feet thick. A red brick fireplace was set in an off-white plaster wall in the far end of the room, and another door in the wall opposite the window. There were four stout wooden posts several feet in from the corners of the room and Nancy's eye was drawn toward the ceiling. She searched her memory of classical architecture to try to find the word; "Is that a double-barrel vault?" she finally asked. Smooth curves were sculpted in plaster, and a polished brass chandelier hung from the center where the arches crossed. The floor was light oak, inlaid with darker wood to mirror the cross shape of the ceiling.

"A double-barrel vault? I guess so," said Weasy slowly. "That sounds about right. Want to see the bedrooms?" She ducked back into the entry hall without waiting for a reply and walked to the end.

Nancy followed her and she found herself in another hallway, with identical construction to the first. It ran to the left and the right. They turned right, walked down toward the end, then right again. "This is the front bedroom," Weasy said. "Mr. Mike and I sleep here."

Nancy looked in. It was of identical construction to the main room, but not as long. It had a fireplace set in the wall to the right, and a large round window set in each of the other two walls. A large fleece hammock hung between two of the posts and the left wall. Many thick rugs were on the polished oak floor. "Very nice," said Nancy. "It really looks cozy."

"We have the bath here," said Weasy, backing out of the bedroom and into the hallway. She opened a door at its end.

"Nice," thought Nancy. "Small, but nice." She nodded and smiled.

"And a kind of study here," said Weasy. "With Fizzy, Sparkle, and Marley's bedroom through that door."

Nancy stepped into the study, it was constructed just like the other rooms and two of the walls were lined with books. She stepped through the door in the back of the study and found herself in a large bedroom with a single window. A brick fireplace was in the wall left of the door, and a pair of fleece hammocks hung between the posts and the walls on the right and far walls, one hammock in front of the window. Like the first bedroom, the floor of this one was also covered in thick rugs.

"When Marley is being Marley, he gets to sleep on the couch in the main room," Weasy giggled.

"Ah, okay." Nancy wasn't sure she wanted to find out exactly what Weasy meant by that.

Weasy led the way back out to the hallway and down toward the other end. "The dining room," she offered, poking her head in a door. "And the kitchen," she said, indicating a doorway down a little further.

Weasy and Nancy stepped into the kitchen. Mike and Sparkle were there and they had filled the sink with water and put the crawdads in it. Some were trying unsuccessfully to escape.

"Oh hi," said Nancy, "this is really a beautiful home." She looked around the kitchen in admiration.

"Thanks," said Sparkle. "I hope you find everything you need here."

Muffled voices came from through another doorway off the kitchen. "That is the pantry and the door to the cellar is through there too," offered Weasy.

Nancy heard a door open and then she saw Fizzy back into the pantry, he seemed to be tugging on something. "Okay, be careful." It was Marley's voice, with a slight echo. He was out of sight.

Nancy stiffened then she forced herself to relax. She noticed that Mr. Mike was watching her very closely; his right paw had come to rest on the hilt of a dagger on his right hip. "I am neither rodent nor bird," thought Nancy, she smiled at Mike.

"He disturbed you that much?" he asked her, as he studied her face intently.

"It will pass, unless he develops a taste for beef," she joked. Trusting the comment Milliscent made about rodents and birds was strictly true.

Mike removed his paw from his dagger and chucked, "That is probably not what he was hungry for."

Weasy smiled knowingly and mumbled, "More like anything with double-X chromosomes."

"Okay, now try it," Marley said, his voice echoing. "I'll guide it."

Fizzy bent his back and started tugging on a couple of heavy straps, working hand over hand. "Good, steady, steady" came Marley's voice, sounding closer. Finally an oak barrel suddenly appeared and Fizzy tumbled backward. The barrel, on the level floor and suddenly free of gravity, rolled toward him banging him on the shins. Fizzy howled. Marley followed, making his appearance by falling flat on his face, his arms reaching for the barrel.

Weasy and Sparkle squealed with laughter then Sparkle caught herself and quickly added, "Are you okay baby?" as she moved toward Fizzy.

Nancy suppressed a smile just as Marley turned his head and caught her looking at him. She asked sweetly, "Is that ale for tonight's dinner?"

"Uh what?" said Marley, scrambling to his feet. "I heard guests where coming and I..." his voice trailed off. He hung his head a bit and walked over to her and looked up into her face. "I'm sorry, uh, I was not nice earlier. Can you forgive me?" He studied her face.

"I think I can handle that," she said and smiled as she leaned down toward him, her blouse parted ever so slightly.

The movement caught Marley's eye and he shifted his gaze and licked his lips. The corners of his mouth began to turn up.

"Sheesh, he just does not stop," thought Nancy, she picked up her foot and lightly set the toe of her cowboy boot on his bare toes then pressed down.

"OW!" he howled.

"Oh, so sorry. You distracted me," said Nancy. She happened to glace at Mike and noticed he was smirking.

MARLEY, said Mike really loudly, "LET'S GET THE BARREL SET UP AND TAPPED, THEN WE CAN LET THE LADIES HAVE THE KITCHEN." Mike turned to Nancy, "deaf as a stone." He tapped his ear.

Fizzy, Marley, and Mike wrestled with the barrel and lifted it up on a cart in the kitchen that seemed to be custom made for just that purpose. Marley searched through a drawer on the cart and produced a bung and a mallet. He inserted the bung, put away the mallet and turned to Nancy.

"All done," he announced, careful to keep his eyes on her face and not let them wander.

Then Mike ushered Fizzy and Marley out of the kitchen. He called over his shoulder, "It's a beautiful evening we can dine under the stars. We'll get things set up out by the garden." He grabbed a stack of plates that were on the counter and the three males left.

Nancy turned to Sparkle and Weasy who were watching her expectantly. "I need a stockpot about this big," she made a circle with her arms. Sparkle moved to get the pot and Nancy asked Weasy, "Where do you keep your spices?"

Soon the three females were busy with diner.

Nancy estimated how many quarts of water and how many of ale would be needed for the sink full of crawfish and she set Sparkle to the task of filling the stockpot. Then turned her attention to the spices. She selected a few, satisfied that she'd not need any that Milliscent offered. She measured them out in the pot using her palm. Then put the live crawfish in the stockpot and turned up the heat.

"I'll make a salad," said Weasy.

"We have some bread, do you want butter and garlic?" asked Sparkle.

As they worked Nancy said, "This home of yours is fabulous. I never would have guessed I would be in a real Hobbit Hole. All the curves are amazing, really unique."

"Mike says that curves deflect the weight of all the dirt over our heads," said Weasy. "Curves are stronger than straight lines."

"Ah, you'd be right about that." Nancy remembered a similar discussion from her classical architecture class. "What happened to the Hobbits?"

"What is a Hobbit?" asked Sparkle. Sensing a story she got three mugs and filled them with ale, then gave one to Weasy and one to Nancy. She took a sip of her own and leaned against the counter.

"Uh, Hobbits are people about your size. They live in holes exactly like this one, at least the rich ones do. And they are farmers, they grow things."

"Like grapes?" asked Weasy.

"Or grains and hops for ale?" added Sparkle.

"Exactly," answered Nancy, taking a sip of ale, "Um, this is good!" She continued, "Hobbits love ale, and they love parties, and they love music and dancing."

"They sound just like ferrets!" squealed Sparkle excitedly. "Can we meet some?"

"Do they have fur like us too?" asked Weasy, licking foam from her upper lip.

"And a tail?" added Sparkle.

"No," answered Nancy slowly. "Not fur exactly. They are sort of furry, but not real fur. Not nice like yours. And no tail either. They are like people, humans, but your size. Bigger around the middle though."

"Like Marley?" asked Sparkle, she giggled.

"Ah, bigger around than Marley actually. Broader hips and shoulders with a shorter body and longer arms and legs, but your height."

"But they act like ferrets, right?" asked Weasy.

"Well," said Nancy slowly, not sure how the ferrets would react to her answer. "Hobbits make their living at farming. They very rarely become pirates or thieves, but like you they don't believe in shoes. Never wear them."

"Piracy is a noble profession and so is thieving," said Sparkle. She quickly added, "And shoes are a horrible invention."

True I suppose," said Nancy, "but then farming is a noble profession too." She paused a bit then added, "Oh, there was one Hobbit who became a thief, a very famous one. He stole a great hoard of gold and gems from a nasty dragon."

"Oh, wonderful!" Sparkle's tale fluffed out "Dragons and hoards," she said, a far away look in her eye. "If we had dragons in SkunkWks we could go a thieving their hoard too. That would be a proper adventure!" Her tail twitched excitedly.

"I'd like to meet some of these Hobbits," said Weasy. "I wonder what dances they know? Are you sure you're not talking about ferrets?"

"And what kind of ales they make," added Sparkle, taking another sip.

"Sadly," said Nancy, "I've never met a Hobbit. And no, they are a separate species, not ferrets. I've only read about Hobbits, from myths and legends. I'd like to meet some Hobbits too." She sighed. The three females were silent for a time.

"How long do we boil these?" asked Weasy. "The normal time or something different?"

"Normal," said Nancy. "Just like boiling them in water."

Weasy looked in the pot, "Then they should be just about done." She got a pair of tongs and handed them to Nancy.

Sparkle opened the oven door and peered in, "The bread is probably hot now and the butter melted. I can smell the garlic." She removed the foil wrapped bread and set it on the counter. She carefully unwrapped the bread, placing it on a serving board.

Nancy picked up the stockpot and poured some of the excess stock down the sink. While Weasy put the finishing touches on her raisin salad. Sparkle grabbed the cart with the barrel of ale and started pushing it toward the door. Weasy balanced the serving board in one paw and the bowl of raisin salad in the other. And Nancy picked up the pot of crawfish and the tongs.

"Show time ladies," Weasy said. And the three females trooped out of the kitchen and toward the garden.

<end of chapter 4>