Novel Chapter 31

 

Chapter 31

Henry.

'You are hungry, aren't you?' said Henry.

'Yes.'

'What would you like to eat?'

'Bacon sandwich.'

Henry couldn't stop laughing.

'What are you laughing at?'

'No bacon here, Fin boy.'

'Fin Boy? Where'd you get that from?' said Finbar.

'Just came into my head. Here let me show you,'

He pulled a flute from his belt.

'I need to make a whistle for you.'

'What for?' said Finbar.

'So that you can blow it and I can hear it.'

Henry put the flute to his lips 'Watch.'

Deedle ap a doodle de doodle ap a doodee. He played on his flute.

'Did you see that?' he said.

'I heard it' said Finbar.

'Watch' said Henry and he played the phrase again.

'Did you see?'

'Yes' said Finbar.

He handed the flute to Finbar 'Okay, play.'

He messed with it for a while then -  Deedle ap a doodle de doodle ap a doodee.

'Good' said Henry.

Henry went to a Sycamore tree and pulled a small twig.

'You play and I'll make a whistle for you.' he said.

Finbar played and Henry cut a piece that was about as long as his elbow to the tip of his fingers. He cut around this with his knife and broke it off straight.

Then he cut a rim around in the bark of the twig till it went to the other side and twisted the twig in his hand – about as thin as a pencil. When he was sure the bark would come away from the wood he cut a little hole in the shape of a big smile and carried whittling the bark in his hand. All the time Finbar played the flute and saw Henry take the bark off the twig altogether. He put this into his top pocket,

Where the smile hole was he shaped it into a certain shape till he liked what he saw. Then he put the bark back around the twig, making sure the hole in the bark lined up with the smile shape, which had been extended, put it to his lips and it made a noise like a whistle.

'Here!'

He gave it to Finbar who handed the flute back to Henry. Finbar tried the whistle and was delighted when it worked.

'If you need me, blow on the whistle and I'll come' said Henry.

'When do I get a flute?' said Finbar.

'I'll make one for you tonight – then you can learn more tunes.'

'How did I get here' said Finbar.

No answer from Henry.

'Time to eat' he said and they headed off.

The fox was over the threshold of the circumflex when Finbar opened his eyes the next morning. It cleared the way for Finbar as he came out to the clearing. He really didn't know where he was or even the time zone. Henry told him he could either stay or go back to his other life and offered him two plates of food saying that if he ate the mushrooms he would stay with Henry and if he had the soup he would go.

Finbar looked at the mushrooms and didn't notice that they were the same as the ones he had eaten, and maybe sent him into this state, but he didn't know what kind of soup it was.

If he tasted it, that would mean he had chosen it, likewise with the mushrooms.

'Whistle when you want me,' said Henry 'when you have eaten and I will return.'

'Where are you going?' said Finbar.

'Back.' said Henry 'I was kicked out, once – but I'm not kicking you out. You must go, if you wish, or stay, if you want.'

He walked away and disappeared into the trees.

The two meals were there and Finbar didn't understand what Henry wanted him to do, in fact he didn't understand himself as he wasn't feeling on top form as if he was in another world - was it a dream? He pinched himself and deduced it was real.

He smelt the soup – acorn soup? How could he know this as the whole place smelt of acorns. His stomach was churning but had a pleasant feeling of emptiness and he felt, somehow, that he didn't want to disturb it.

He looked around for the fox – the fox with the missing bit of tail; he couldn't find him and went back to the circumflex and stumbled.

Chapter 32

The Whistle