BlackBerry villa a bed time story

Better times

Hillside Ridge is going how we want it, and even the new residents feel a part of it; my little army is training in rescue and first aid. Some of our Comlie had even mastered the rope work and could fire a line over a branch to climb trees at speed; Kim, my aide, was sitting on a log feeding the bull ants that were almost as tall as him; Ho, he said as three of the new residents walked over, and Ho to you Kim, said one of the girls, Ho, girls, said Kim again, giggling one girl said, my name is Pam and this pretty girl here is Ruthan! But my friend Mina here, she pulled he friend over, asked me to introduce you to her, oh, Pam you lie, she's the one who wished to meet you, Kim said oh, I don't know what to say, then say Pam would you like to walk with me, oh, yeha okay, leave him alone Ruthan your mean, no said Kim I would be happy to get to know you Pam, giggling the girls watched as Pam took Kim's arm and walked off, Ruthan said one down two to go, the girls laughed looking around, my mistake was waiting out of the bace at that moment, Ho Hue, Ho, girls, I found myself later walking to the mattress shop of the sugar gliders with Mina, who is above attractive for a girl gimlie, has red hair to her wast: her blue felt clothing was made by a marster it's stitching was of bull rush grass and it was finely stitched along the edges, her boots of crafted bark were the best I'd ever seen, so Hue she said, I hear your on your own, oh, yes, I said, but Mar has plans for me, I'll need to talk to your Mar than, wow you Bunnyip girls are open with your Ah, oh, she punched me in the shoulder, wow, Hue, it's not like that we just see no point in dragging things out, did you know the population of Bunnyip was mostly girls, that's why we dive in head first, I laughed oh boy, Hue I like you and hope you and I can be friends; good friends, we entered the sugar gliders shop where old Mr Lewis sat on a forked beam, Ho, Hue, Ho, Mr Lewis, this is Mina from Bunnyip, yes we've met, I supplied her mattress, Ho, Mr Lewis, and Ho, to you, Mar sent me to ask when her new lemon scented gum mattress will be ready, tell her the day after tomorrow Hue, oh, and Mr Lewis I said, have you seen any golden skinks around in the last day or so, Hue, I know all about the theft and yes, the skinks have been here on my roof over the last few days, but they left today, you didn't notice the way they went did you, Hue, he said, I saw them go to the flats or in that general direction, Mina asked, what's going on Hue, I've seen them go into the stump on the other side of our new home, they don't bother us so what's wrong, I explained as we walked to the stump, as I expected; I found the fake document inside it, Mina said, if you're after Janice wouldn't it be better if you court her in the act, what do you mean I said, Janice wants this so much, and if she comes to get it, you'll catch her, it's possible! yes, you are right: the skinks are probably telling her where it is; she may be on her way here now; let's go. I need help; it was late in the day when we saw the shape of a large goanna rise up; it looked around, then moved up from the flats and onto the area of Hillside Ridge. Janice had her Python skin vest on as usual; oh, said Mina, she's so big, this is a bad idea, no, I said. Janice has to be stopped. We can't let her hatred hurt the residents any more; Janice slinked to the stump and looked around again, then she put her head into the hollow, now! I called. A rope was cut, pulling a loop tight in the stump, the weight of a bag of Rocks falling from a tree; it made a rope spring up from the ground and pulled Janice out of the stump; she dangled by her neck just above the ground, you can't, no she said, this isn't right; you will pay. The Gimlie rescue squad raced in then, raising the stones for Janice to breathe; she put her back claws on the ground and wriggled about. She found she was held with no chance of escape. I hopped up and then on my wallaby, Jone; all five of us were in uniform, and our spears were sharp. Janice hissed, saying out loud, you think you have me, but look to the flats, we looked? but saw nothing was there. Janice turned her head and started screaming with hate, then yelled cowards, the cowardly little scumb, stop it, Janice. I said, we have you in the act of a crime and will hold you in chains until Magistrate Neal arrives. I called Des, saying chain her; with the use of spear pricks, we eventually got it done, then placed a strap over her jaws. It had enough give for her to talk, but everyone asked to shut her up; my Mar came to the army bace with the guild ladies. Hue, she said, this is bad. You have to get her out of town. It's not safe, Mar, please, I said, we'll guard her strongly. Extra locks are even now being installed, with fire pits dug. She knows we'll kill her if aid comes. The Ladies eventually settled with the situation, but knowing we meant business, left us to our prisoner. The night was long, and Janice constantly complained. However, a ruling was made, and Magistrate Neil arrived around lunchtime the next day. Janice was banished! never to return; the population wasn't happy, and even Darryl wombat was yelling at us, but the magistrate added that if she was ever seen again on the lands of the Gimlie's, "it's death". Darryl wombat said Hue; she'll come back. You can't trust her to follow the laws of the Comlie. I think you're right, Darryl, so we'll offer a reward for any sightings of her after today. Janice was poked and prodded out of the area unchained and left; Des told me later of the venom she'd spouted but then said she left, which way I asked, into the hills. My Son, get up you have a visitor, I dressed and found Mina sitting with Mar in the kitchen Mar gave me a cup of lemon tea smiling, Hue said Mina, I came to ask you to take me to the dance on Saturday night, most of the town will be there, your mother just told me her guild of ladies are making the lanterns for the street lights so, I'll ask my friends to help I'll even ask my Mar, she will help, my Mar smiled, we need more members for our guild so please ask amongst the Bunnyip ladies, thank you Mam, I will talk to my Mar, I knew I was not getting out of this, stitched up was how I saw it, so I said, yes I will be honoured to pick you up at sunset on Saturday night, Mina jumped up kissed my cheek and left, Mar you're behind this, I know it, Son, she said, what harm can it do you, I hear Kim and Pam are going along with Des and Ruthan anyway, Mar the girls are like leeches they see a boy and latch on, there's no way of getting them off, Hue, she laughed, just enjoy yourself, I will be there and glad to see you at the town events, ohhh, Mar I said, later that day, I was checking stores at the bace when Des came in. Hue, he said, I've been trapped into going to the dance, ha! You're not the only one Mina asked me in front of my Mar, and I couldn't get out of it, Hue. I'm so happy knowing you're going; I feel this will be a trick the girls will use a lot! Yes, it's something to think about. We'll need backup plans, I think. It's a good idea. Hue, I'll talk to Kim. The harvest was in, and the grain bins were healthy enough to last us the winter, so our harvest dance would be a good one this year; with my best clobber on and itching everywhere, I knocked on Mina's door. Her Mar opened it in a dress of woven reeds. It was green with flowers sewn on it. She looked great, but over her shoulder, I saw Mina standing in a long, felt dress of golden yellow; her hair was up in a bun. "My" mouth fell open and only closed when her father shook my hand. See you there, said Mina as she grabbed my hand and pulled me away from her smiling parents; wow! I said to her, you look fantastic, as do you, Hue, but come; we are meeting our friends at the Billabong before the dance; what, I said, that's way over the hill, but a great place at night, Hue, haven't you seen it with the moon reflecting trees off the water, yes, but never with a girl; she grabbed my arm and held tight; this is great, Hue, let's hurry; Des was standing with Ruthan at the edge of the water hole; they were both holding hands, I looked around and saw Kim, sitting with Pam, they were talking, ho, said Mina, what have we here, we laughed and sat with Kim and Pam, Ruthan said, the dance will go until midnight so let's not stay here too long, oh I don't know said Mina, Hue and I only just got here, we talked for a while then went to the dance where I made a fool of myself dancing, I was happy to see Mar was happy but could tell Dar not being here hurt her, the street looked better this year than ever, with the work done by the new residents, everyone was happy. I walked into the bace happily oblivious the next day, thinking of Mina and of the dance, when a voice said Hue, ho, Hue, I looked up and saw Jinks on my ceiling again, his big eyes were staring down at me, Jinks, you are getting good at making me jump, sorry, he said, as his tung licked across his eyes, I had to see you Hue, it's about your Dar, what, Jinks, he's been gone for over a year, Hue, I had to climb a cliff to escape from one of Molly Blacks kids, he tried to eat me again, you know the red belly blacks from the grass flats, yes, but my Dar, what about him? Hang on; I got to just under the lip of the cliff, escaping him when I heard Janice Joanna's voice; she was talking to someone; I heard his deep voice. So, I peeked over and saw a goanna in a black vest. I'd never seen him before Hue; his tail was cut off at its end, but he was skinny, very skinny, please! Jinks I said, it's my Dar, oh sorry, Janice said, let's go and feed the Gimlie he must be hungry after two days without food, she then said, you've done a good job keeping him fed but now that his son has thwarted my plan to get Hillside Ridge, I'm going to have do something about it, she laughed Hue, then they left, I followed but lost them at the split rock, Jinks, my Dar might be alive, it's incredible, don't talk to anyone about this, if Janice gets a word of it, she might do something, please Jinks, for you and your Dar Hue, I won't say a thing, but I'll go back and try to find them again, I couldn't tell my Mar anything about it, I knew she couldn't take it again, my Dar's loss had almost killed her, so the girls and my friends all hopped up on our hopper's, we left with five days worth of supplies and if needed, could live off the land, we got up to speed fast, and sat up on our hoppers, when we put our feet in the loop stirrups, the ground shot by us, and by the time we needed to camp for the night, we were at the split rock hills, Hue, said Mina, it gets cold here at night so can we build a fire, I had to think about it, but said yes, because tomorrow we'd be on the high slopes of the ranges, Des walked over to me and said, the mats are out so who's sleeping where, ha, said Ruthan you can cuddle me Des, Des looked at me with wide eyes, his face redder than I'd ever seen it, but then Pam said, Kim, your with me, I burst out laughing, but a punch in my arm from Mina, had me bent over in pain, she said, what's your problem Hue, scared of a cuddle, no, I said, it's just the way this all happened, morning found us all still rolled up in our blankets, I noticed everyone was still cuddling and smiled, we packed then and hopped off ready to search the ranges, I was hoping for any information on goanna's we could find, but when Des hopped over close, and said, I like cuddling Hue, yes, I said, it's definitely a good thing, we laughed and split up to search, twice we found caves and hiding places to check, but asking the locals was the key, a koala we met in a blue gum said he'd watched two goannas yesterday, said they went down the side of his hill, Des being our best tracker, looked for tracks, but when he called out! down there, and pointed, I rode over; what is it, he pointed smiling, goanna track's, yes, it was a big and small goanna, a pair heading to the creek ahead of us, split up, I said, but try not to be seen, we need to follow them, but it was Pam who hopped over to me later, and said, I found them, that made my day, where I said, smiling, there she pointed, they are following the creek, and going upstream, let's find everyone and follow, when we were all together I said, check your weapons, Janice might fight, the girls strung their foot bows, and us hiro Types, I said, pulling a short spears and checked my dagger, will go toe to toe, Mina shook her head, foolish boys, you'll get in our way, Kim said, me a hiro, I'll probably run, we left our hoppers and moved upstream, Mina was the first to see her, Janice was by the creeks edge, yelling into a crack in the rock face, we crept up trying to hear them, but when I saw her turn back, with her toung flicking about, and watched her head come up looking our way and knew, get out she called, I smell Gimlie, get out, an older goanna with a black dirty vest on came out, his toung was flicking, but I noticed he was skinny, and that he'd lost a third of his tail, you only smell him, he said, no! said Janice, over by the trees look, damm, said the skinny one, looking our way, I said, get ready to fight, and stood, Des and Kim followed me, while the girls were readying themselves, they'd rolled out their mats, and laid on them, with feet in the bows straps they loaded and shot, I saw the skinny goanna bolt for the Forrest, but Janice just screamed and came at us, I ran at her with Des and Kim following, our spears were up when we stopped, she slowed and started yelling, I will eat you Gimlies, and your father's dead Hue, your to late, an arrow hit the ground beside Janice, she looked past me, then an arrow got her in the shoulder, she screamed and ran at me again, my spear dug into her neck, but she grabbed at it, and pulled it out of my hands, then she came at me, but Kim poked her in the side, she lunged at him as Des drove his spear into her other side, then two arrows hit, one through her neck, the other into her back, she turned and scuttled off, badly hurt I thought, Des's spear was bouncing about still stuck in her side, but fell out when she went over the hill, I ran to the split in the rock face and climbed in; I moved to the back, calling, Dar, are you here, Dar, a faint sound, a voice, came up from a hole in the side of the cave; get a torch, I yelled, we need fire, hurry, Mina came in later with a burning torch, we looked into the hole, at its bottom was a cavern, near a pool of water, and laying by it was a Gimlie in bad condition, he was looking up at us. Who? are you? He said, shading his eyes from our torchlight, smiling down at him. I said, Dar, it's me; we set up a camp and cleaned Dar with water from the creek. We fed him, but tea was his first request, just a cup of nettle tea please Son, Kim had gone out with Des looking for Janice the following day but said they saw an eagle flying off with her body, I knew of a baby wedge tail who was hungry no more, and I wasn't upset, Dar I said, how did you end up here, Harvey carpet snake chaist me into the gap, then I fell in that hole, luckily my pack was on so I lit a fire to keep Harvey away, Janice killed him next morning and was happy I couldn't get out, so had old Lister feed me his scraps to extend the pain she said, but I had to listen to her ranting for over a year I think, yes Dar it has been, Ruthan took charge of Dar's health while we hunted for herbs and food, it took us three days to get back to the town, but as we came up the road heading past the bace, I saw Mar and her guild, they were all standing in a line, then Mar sat on the ground crying, at the sight of us her hands had gone to her mouth, she got up with some help as Dar ran to her, the guild all clapped, I was crying as they embraced, we all had tears, it made me huge on to the first person in range, Mina, held me as hard. I saw Jinks peeking from around a tree, and over Mina's shoulder, Kim pointed, saying, I know who told your Mar., yes I said, and he promised not to talk about Dar, ha, said Des. I'm glad to see them together again; the Villa will be whole again. Blackberry wasn't the same without him, but now we get your Mar back to keep us in line; you know how I missed her digs at me? I looked around at the happy faces and knew my life was blessed.

Does Mina hold my heart? Did my Dad recover? Is everything good in the bush?