Tera and Hedgehog lived near Shropshire. They had a small house under the hill with the chestnut tree on the very top. Each autumn, Tera and Hedgehog would gather food for the coming winter. The wind would blow gently in the autumn, and turn into an icy chill each December. During the harsh winter, Tera would spend the long months playing for Hedgehog on his fiddle and reading poetry. Each spring they would emerge blinking and scampering into the warm sunshine.
One autumn, Tera entered the little house under the hill with his arms full of groceries. Right away he noticed something was wrong. "Where oh where can the marmalade-pot be?" he cried, hastily putting away the baguette, fresh turnips, and pork sausages he had purchased. "Perhaps on the high mantle in the study?" he asked to no-one in particular, for Hedgehog had not yet emerged from her inner sanctum. Tera was a short, stout sort of fellow, and he blustered about in his waistcoat beneath the high mantle looking for something to light upon.
"Hedgehog, oh Hedgehog!" called Tera quietly into his friend's room. "I simply cannot find the marmalade-pot, old fruit, and I'm too abbreviated to see onto our highest mantle!" Only the sounds of gentle rustling could be heard in response. Hedgehog was sleeping quite late even for a hedgehog, this being autumn and all.
Tera didn't want to wake his dearest, oldest friend, so he cast about for a step-stool or wheelbarrow or something which could aid him in his quest. He took out his gold pocket-watch from a waistcoat pocket and noted the time. "Onion sauce! It is almost three o'clock and the Reverend will be here straight away!" Just then he thought of the elderly clay vase under the kitchen sink. Since Tera's pansies had died the previous summer, the vase had been unoccupied. Inverted, it just might serve as a platform to summit the mantle!
He set out for the kitchen on his short limbs, entirely too quickly. He caught his wool trousers on the rough corner of a small chest in which Hedgehog kept sundries like her favorite skull-mask. "Oh fiddlesticks! Confound this inconvenient item!" he cried, as he sadly ran his hands over the torn knee of his second-favorite trousers. Just then he remembered the time and the impending visit of the Reverend and continued into the kitchen. He found the vase under the kitchen-sink where he had left it, empty except for a fat old spider who had made it his home.
Tera tipped the vase on its side and began to roll it into the study. As he passed by Hedgehog's open door he heard her voice calling out to him: "You stupid fool, Tera! What the hell are you doing?" Her voice sounded snuffly.
"Why good day, old fruit!" Tera called back as he struggled with the vase. "The Reverend will be hear any minute and I can't find our marmalade-pot! Don't you think it may be on the mantle in the study?"
Tera was answered by the sound of Hedgehog hastily getting out of bed. Her lean, disheveled form appeared just behind him. Her mohawk had grown out considerably and she had generous bags under her coal-black eyes. "What the hell are you doing with my vase?" she demanded.
"Oh Hedgehog, dearie, I'm sure you'll remember this as the vase I used to keep my pansies in?" answered Tera cheerfully. "My mum gave it to me upon my nineteenth birthday! Perhaps if I inert it I can use it as a step-ladder to the high mantle."
Hedgehog leaned heavily against the wall, slightly disturbing a small painting of Tera's grandfather. "'Inert'? That's 'invert', you moron," she said, practically shouting when she pronounced "invert".
Tera laughed his warm, piping laugh. "Of course! Silly me, I'm always saying one thing when I mean another." He turned the corner into the study. Soon the vase was upside-down on the old Persian rug and Tera was scrambling to get atop it. Then came the Reverend's rap at the front door. Just in time!
Tea at Tera and Hedgehog's was always a cheery affair. This afternoon was no exception. Tera regaled the Reverend with tales of his rescue of the marmalade-pot, while the Reverend described his effort to repair several pews at the chapel, which had been damaged by water in a flood the previous month. Hedgehog was nowhere to be seen, but her presence was made apparent by the sounds of music which emanated from her room at a quite audible volume:
One autumn, Tera entered the little house under the hill with his arms full of groceries. Right away he noticed something was wrong. "Where oh where can the marmalade-pot be?" he cried, hastily putting away the baguette, fresh turnips, and pork sausages he had purchased. "Perhaps on the high mantle in the study?" he asked to no-one in particular, for Hedgehog had not yet emerged from her inner sanctum. Tera was a short, stout sort of fellow, and he blustered about in his waistcoat beneath the high mantle looking for something to light upon.
"Hedgehog, oh Hedgehog!" called Tera quietly into his friend's room. "I simply cannot find the marmalade-pot, old fruit, and I'm too abbreviated to see onto our highest mantle!" Only the sounds of gentle rustling could be heard in response. Hedgehog was sleeping quite late even for a hedgehog, this being autumn and all.
Tera didn't want to wake his dearest, oldest friend, so he cast about for a step-stool or wheelbarrow or something which could aid him in his quest. He took out his gold pocket-watch from a waistcoat pocket and noted the time. "Onion sauce! It is almost three o'clock and the Reverend will be here straight away!" Just then he thought of the elderly clay vase under the kitchen sink. Since Tera's pansies had died the previous summer, the vase had been unoccupied. Inverted, it just might serve as a platform to summit the mantle!
He set out for the kitchen on his short limbs, entirely too quickly. He caught his wool trousers on the rough corner of a small chest in which Hedgehog kept sundries like her favorite skull-mask. "Oh fiddlesticks! Confound this inconvenient item!" he cried, as he sadly ran his hands over the torn knee of his second-favorite trousers. Just then he remembered the time and the impending visit of the Reverend and continued into the kitchen. He found the vase under the kitchen-sink where he had left it, empty except for a fat old spider who had made it his home.
Tera tipped the vase on its side and began to roll it into the study. As he passed by Hedgehog's open door he heard her voice calling out to him: "You stupid fool, Tera! What the hell are you doing?" Her voice sounded snuffly.
"Why good day, old fruit!" Tera called back as he struggled with the vase. "The Reverend will be hear any minute and I can't find our marmalade-pot! Don't you think it may be on the mantle in the study?"
Tera was answered by the sound of Hedgehog hastily getting out of bed. Her lean, disheveled form appeared just behind him. Her mohawk had grown out considerably and she had generous bags under her coal-black eyes. "What the hell are you doing with my vase?" she demanded.
"Oh Hedgehog, dearie, I'm sure you'll remember this as the vase I used to keep my pansies in?" answered Tera cheerfully. "My mum gave it to me upon my nineteenth birthday! Perhaps if I inert it I can use it as a step-ladder to the high mantle."
Hedgehog leaned heavily against the wall, slightly disturbing a small painting of Tera's grandfather. "'Inert'? That's 'invert', you moron," she said, practically shouting when she pronounced "invert".
Tera laughed his warm, piping laugh. "Of course! Silly me, I'm always saying one thing when I mean another." He turned the corner into the study. Soon the vase was upside-down on the old Persian rug and Tera was scrambling to get atop it. Then came the Reverend's rap at the front door. Just in time!
Tea at Tera and Hedgehog's was always a cheery affair. This afternoon was no exception. Tera regaled the Reverend with tales of his rescue of the marmalade-pot, while the Reverend described his effort to repair several pews at the chapel, which had been damaged by water in a flood the previous month. Hedgehog was nowhere to be seen, but her presence was made apparent by the sounds of music which emanated from her room at a quite audible volume:
The abductions have already begunIt was a tea both the Reverend and Tera would remember fondly for some years.
All around us we've infected someone you love
Initiate the start of an alien war
We're already one!
Give into what you cannot fight
Walk Among Us! Walk Among Us!
