EDENVILLE

Preparation Teamwork

By @lyttlejoe
Christmas had certainly come to Edenville. Carols and seasonal music wafted over the village from the extraordinarily amplified church speakers. Inside the church, wearing decorative protective ear muffs, Cuffy wrestled with his Corky attraction. Someone had inserted a slug and only Corky's nose appeared, covered in scarlet flannel and refusing to recite.
Frank was called and he galloped up in his unfinished horse costume, tailors pins prodding him on while slapping at a robin that had tried to nest in the tail.
The magnificent tree Bessie provided required hours of hard labour as many of the townsmen, reminiscent of Egyptian slaves raising monolithic statues, was finally erected in the square and plans were made for the lighting ceremony. Garfield Weebole misinterpreted the lighting bit and jumping the gun, squirted lighter fluid on the lower branches and ignited them.
Heroically, Constable Breem threw the nearest lady on the flaming branches, extinguishing them but in the process felling the tree and knocking over the Parish Notice Board and the Tipplewuck poster.
Rosemary screamed, 'God help you stupid gentlemen!'
Garfield was arrested and his letter to Santa revoked.
Porter Dobbs, hoping to master ice skating, was left unattended by an otherwise occupied Hudson Rock and arms flapping, glided to the centre of the rink and pirouetted a hole through the ice into the swimming pool below. Carlos Monteverdi saw the accident from the hotel window and lobbed one of his Jammy Fairy Cakes to be used as a float.
Unfortunately, one of Adelaide Agincourt's archers mistook it for the pudding target and shot it down before it reached Porter. Carlos fainted. Billie screamed. Bianca jumped up, tragically knocking Hudson into the skate sharpener and Jethro came running with a hose . . . he didn't know why, he just felt he had to do something.
Meanwhile Inspector Fellow was separating Santa Schwinn from the irate husband of one of the ladies who sat on his lap. An ill-fated volunteer elf was used to batter Santa's hat to threads. The husband was arrested. The wife surreptitiously passed Santa a personal card and Doc came and collected the hapless elf.
Edith, Japonica, Twila and Beulah prepared the village hall for the panto auditions. Mayor Maynot took Beulah aside and asked if Cinderella could have a grass skirt. She said absolutely. Bessie dropped by and asked if she could put a star on Ted . . . Ted the Shrunken Head's head for their tree topper.
Regretfully, the star point punctured the balloon that was Ted's head and it whipped away in crazy spirals to the top of the hall.
A test run on the candle lit trail through town left a coating of melted wax that filled the speed dips. Edward Fudge offered a free cardboard scraper with the purchase of each pair of cranberry turkey cones.
Corky interrupted the Christmas music with an announcement that Millicent Peed had been found overturned by the frog crossing and was being towed back to town, free of charge as a seasonal gesture, by Burt Winch Towing and Hair Styling Salon.
The music resumed with Eartha Kitt's, Santa Baby.