PATCHWORK PIECES

Otago Witness, Issue 3912, 5 March 1929, Page 9

PATCHWORK PIECES

By Eileen Service. (Special foe the Otago Witwese.) XCII. —ONE MORNING. The Toggerdick was grumbling. He grumbled as he dressed himself in his yellow breeches and scarlet coat, he grumbled as he put his shoes upon his yellow-stockinged feet, and when he donned his scarlet hat with its yellow plume from the wacker-bird’s tail/he grumbled more than ever—awful grumbles like thunder, and waves, and trains going over wooden bridges. “Dear me!” said the Ginkle. (He was the Toggerdick’s next-door neighbour, and had just come to ask for the loan of a frying pan.) “ Whatever can be the matter with my dear friend Toggywog ” (which was what he called the Toggerdick when they played “ grab ” together). “He seems sort of peculiar this morning. Perhaps I’d better depart.”, Sp. he tip-toed away until he' came to his own gate, where he ceased going jerkity-jerk like, a pair of scissors being made to walk across the table, and fairly fled into his house, banging the door behind him. And “Dear me! ” said the.Loodle, who was the Toggerdick’s neighbour on the other side of the fence, and who had come along in the hopes of borrowing a saucepan. “My dear friend Dickywick ” (which was what he called the Toggerdick when they were having a game of dominoes) “is apparently not in the best of tempers this morning. Perhaps I had. better go home and not bother with, w’hat I was going to ask him.” And in the manner of the Ginkle he, too, went softly away, scampering like a rabbit, however, as soon as he was near his own house. As for the Toggerdick, he grumbled until he could grumble no more. Then he..sat down on his front doorstep and began, to ,cry. You. m ’ OU M have thought, now, that the Ginkle would com e to offer him a handkerchief and ask . what the matter was, or that the Doodle would run across to inquire, if he would like a sniff of smelling salts. But no. Neither, of them made an appearance, although the sobs of the Toggerdick were loud enough for both to hear, and the sight of him, bi" and mournful as he sat and wept on his doorstep was plainly visible as they peeped and peered through the lace of their drawing-room curtains. It seemed as if to. go over to the Toggerdick was the last thing that either of them wished to do; and yet they were his neighbours. Now, what was the matter? Well, if you had asked the Ginkle he would have gone very red and said there was nothing the matter at all. Goodness mp! has he not very fond of dear Toggywog? What made you think he did not want to go to see him ? But if you had kept your eyes open you would have observed him casting glanees at the sofa, and if you had turned .your gaze there, too, you would have seen that there was something poking from underneath. Perhaps, now, you would have made the Gtnkle go out of the -room for a minute—suggested that the kettle was empty, er that the bath was running over. And then you would have looked under the sofa to’ see what the something was. And you would have discoveied that it was a teddv bear without any eyes. Or suppose you had gone to th e Loodle to ask him about the business. He would have blown out his cheeks and declared you were mistaken. Why, he and dear Dicky wick were the best of comrades. Only a villain woul* suggest otherwise. But if,- after seeing him keep starin" at the armchair by the corner and thinking it looked somewhat suspicious, you had managed to make him go out of • the room by inquiring if the fowls were in the garden or the puppy biting the cat, and had bent down by the chair to see what you could see, you would have \beheld that, hidden beneath it, was a gollywog without any hair. And then, being interested in all branches of private detecting, you would have scratched your head and frowned; for -something would have told you that the teddy bear and the gollywog concealed under the furniture were in some wayconnected with the fact that the Ginkle and the Loodle did not seem very anxious to. go to. the Toggerdick. In other words, you would have decided that here was a mystery. You woifld have been quite right. There was a mystery, and the mystery was this. On the night before when the Ginkle had been going home after a game of “ grab ” with the Toggerdick, he had taken away the teddy bear from the Toggerdick’s nursery, and a little later the Loodle, who had called in for a game of dominoes, had carried off the gollywog, another of the Toggerdick’s toys. When they; heard the Toggerdick grumbling next,:morning, both the.Ginkle and the Loodle - were troubled with their conscieneer, and thev rushed to hide the teddy'■ bear and the gollywog, one choosing _ the sofa and the other the armchair. It was a further pang of conscience which made them keep inside and. not go to try to comfort the Toggerdick. .. ...

Npw, /what. would have happened you never can tglp if the wacker-bird had not c P. ni ° by. He it was . who had. ;supplied the, feather in the Toggerdick’s. scarlet • cap, and he was always flitting,along to look at it and to admire the; way. its end stuck up, and its bright and jaunty colour. To-day;•■however, he

found a bad state of affairs. The feather hung badly owing to the way the cap was put on the Toggerdick’s head, and Was being jerked so violently by the sobs of its wearer that it was in danger of falling out. The wackerbird was filled with indignation. Going up to the Toggerdick he gave him a sharp peck upon the nose. Then he flew angrily away. The Toggerdick shrieked with pain. “Wow!” he called, “Oh, wow, .wow, wow! ” He jumped up and danced and leaped and squirmed, for his. nose was as. sore as it could be.

“ Ginkle,” he cried, “ come here quickly. Loodle,” he pleaded, “ confe here, too.”

The Ginkle thought: “ He’ll not ask about the teddy bear now-. He’s too worried about his nose.”

And the Loodle decided something similar with regard to the gollywog. So the pair of them came out of their drawing rooms.

When they reached the Toggerdick’s side they petted and stroked and soothed him, so that before very long he felt better. Then thej r remembered what was hidden in their houses, and they looked away and wriggled and blushed all over their faces.

The Toggerdick, however, did not seem to notice. He was taking one after another of those long breaths which come after a fit of crying, and kept dabbing his nose with the Ginkle’s handkerchief, and sniffing the Loodle’s smelling salts. At last:

“I’ve been so unhappy this morning,” he said. “ It’s been such a miserable time.”

The Ginkle and the Loodle looked at each other uncomfortably. Then they both asked in squeaky voices: “What was the matter, dear old friend?”

The Toggerdick put his head on one side and twiddled his feet together. “ I felt in the mood for mushrooms,” he whispered, “ and I didn’t know where to find any.” The Ginkle suddenly stood on his head, and the Loodle turned somersaults.

“ Mushrooms! ” cried the Ginkle, “ Why, I’ve a basketful at my house. I was nearly coming over this morning to borrow a frying pan to'cook them in, only ” he stopped.. “Mushrooms! ” sang the Loodle. “I’ve a basketful, too. And I was nearly coming over this morning to borrow a saucepan (I stew mine), only.” He stopped also. The Toggerdick looked at them curiously.

“ Only- what ? ” he said. “ Only what, I wonder. Why did you nearly- come, and then not come at all. Tell me, I beg you.” The Ginkle and the Loodle blushed redder than ever. Then they began to explain that they had thought he was angry with them, because (and here they talked so quickly that the Toggerdick could scarcely understand) they had taken away two of his playthings when they were visiting him the night before, as they wanted to mend them for his birthdav.

“ I thought you thought I’d stolen your teddy and were grumbling and crying at me,” the Ginkle told him. “ And I thought the same about the golly,” the Loodle added. “ There’s nothing of the thief in my character! ” So it proved to be just a misunderstanding after all, and in a few minutes everything was right. The Ginkle borrowed the frying-pan and the Loodle the saucepan, and when the mushrooms were ready they each ran over with a plateful for the Toggerdick, who was so glad that he could scarcely sit still. That night they played “ grab,” and dominoes as usual, a.nd when the Toggerdick’s birthday came round, there was the teddy bear with sofa buttons for eyes, and the gollywog with a shock of hair made from armchair stuffing.

As for the wacker-bird he achieved greatness. • The Ueggerdick had his likeness made into a family crest, for he said, if it had not been for his timely peck he might even yet be sitting and crying on his doorstep with the Ginkle and. the Loodle shivering in their drawing rooms, and teddy bear and the gollywog lying in the dust.