EDENVILLE

Wilfred Bodger

By @lyttlejoe

Porter Hobbs was a thirty-five year old researcher for the Pottery and Porcelain Archive and on this day found himself in pursuit of information from a Bessie Herford purporting to have some rare porcelain pieces.
As he pedalled down the main street into Edenville from the High Road he glanced at the piece of paper with directions to Mrs. Herford's and missed seeing the man leaving the village store.
The collision was mighty, crumpling the bicycle wheel and sending both men flying - Porter into some roadside thistle and the other man into the garden beside the store.
Within moments Constable Breem raced up from the Constabulary office, hand waving and whistle blowing. He arrived at the scene, notebook at the ready and asked, "What's the white powder all over the road?"
"Poison."
"What? Poison! You get down to the office and fetch a roll of incident tape from the constable there and be sharp."
Breem turned to the few onlookers and ordered them all back from the scene to preserve the evidence.
"Now, who saw the incident?"
A fellow in farm coveralls and a strand of straw in his teeth lifted a hand.
"Very well, describe it please."
"Aye, him there coom racing down 'ill and hit poor old Wilfred there a devil of a whack."
"Wilfred?"
"Wilfred Bodger, the town rat catcher! That's his poison you see."
"Very good. Right. Okay,"
"What about them then?" A woman spoke up, pointing at the two victims.
"I'll get to them in a minute." He wrote meticulously in his notebook, including the name of the lady who questioned his procedure.
The tape arrived and the man helped Constable Breem wrap the tape around poles and bushes, including a little boy who tried to grab the broken bicycle. The doctor ambled up the hill, looked at the two victims, who were now both on their feet dusting clothes, lit his pipe and waved for them to follow him.
Edward Fudge spent the rest of his day depicting the event in epic proportions to all and sundry as he scooped record sales of ice cream.