Fellowship of Fantasy Writers. C.B,Macgillavry.

A warm welcome to C.B.MacGillavry. I hope you enjoy her posts.

Tomorrow is the final day of this blog tour. I will be hosting Charlotte Henley Babb.

C.B. Mac Gillavry studied English and Dutch literature, she has an affinity with Colonial Dutch literature. C.B., like so many authors, started writing as soon as she was able to write, although the actual reading started at a later stadium, with the discovery of Jane Austen. She enjoys many different genres and writers, preferably in the original language. The environment is a key topic in her writings and she ideally writes for young adults, in the hope of enchanting them, even if just for a short while.

Fog on the Loch
"Come not between the dragon and his wrath."
--Lear from "King Lear" (1.1.127)
William Shakespeare

'“The name is Alexandra Drerea Ramsey. You may call me Twang.” But the old man looked
puzzled .’
The girl explained. ‘So I added “I shoot pretty well with the crossbow, and that ’s the sound the arrow makes every time I shoot.” And I smiled.’
Twang paused.
‘He still looked at me, but he smiled back, eventually. He cleared his throat. He readjusted his big, fluffy coat. “Did you bake those cupcakes?” he asked pointing at my table.’
She mimed his movements.
‘I had just finished the cakes for my mom ’s birthday, you see. I’d made several cupcakes with sugar
flowers and coloured buttons and the big cake with roses. The one that looked like it was made of china, remember?’
Victoria nodded quickly, she wanted her friend to continue her story. She motioned her to continue.
‘Yes, and …’
‘Well, I said “Of course I made them! And they should be pretty good too!” and that ’s when I heard the foghorn screaming outside. He turned towards the window, he looked worried, absorbed in his own thoughts. It can get spooky around the lake when the fog is that thick and I would have sworn that he was starting to feel a little restless.’
The girl slightly raised her voice.
‘Then he turned to me again and said, “I heard that you weld things together.” I didn’t like this one bit!’
Her cheeks reddened.
‘I had left the newborn dragon, George, in the workshop, because when they are that young they tend to breathe more fire while they are asleep. I didn’t want him to burn down the house by accident. You need to train them first, right? Plus, Charlie, my black cat, was there too, taking a nap and keeping the little one company. I really didn ’t want the old chap to see baby George .’
Twang paused again. Victoria feared this was due to the effect: the girl knew how to tell a story, that
much was clear! She readjusted her long black skirt, fidgeted with the laces of her high heeled boots and sighed. Joe noticed that Victoria could hardly wait for Twang to continue, perched as she was on the sofa,almost lauching herself in the other’s arms.
‘Anyway, I was curious. Why was he asking about my welding? And he said these words, honest to the dragons, he said “My sledge, I think one of the runners needs some welding, and I really have to leave tonight.”’
Twang shook her head in disbelief.
‘I replied, “I understand,sir,but the fog is too thick anyway, you wouldn’t be able to see anything.The
Police notified us that it would last for a couple of days and that it’s too dangerous to drive.”
He looked at me with that puzzled look again and said, “I wasn ’t going to drive, I wanted to slide away.”’
She shrugged.
‘I said, “Well,I suppose that doesn’t change much. Are you hungry? I just made some organic popcorn. I was going to watch some tv before going to bed.”’
She pointed her finger towards the imaginary table with the cakes.
‘He looked at my cupcakes again. I swear, he would have eaten the whole table if I had let him! Not that he would have needed the extra pounds,if you know what I mean …’
Victoria knitted her eyebrows, ‘No, I don’t. I thought it was his coat that was big, not that he actually had a big belly!’
Twang replied, ‘Well, yes, he was filling the coat all right!’
‘What did it look like? You said it was fluffy …’ said Victoria.
‘It was red,with a thick white hem, like it was fur.’
Joe and Victoria both pulled faces at that word, as they felt very strongly against fur and leather.
‘Don ’t get all touchy! I pretended I was passing him the popcorn and actually felt with my hand: it was just fabric, I ’m positive,’ Twang explained.
The others relaxed. Joe smiled amiably and counted on his fingers while he spoke.
‘So, he wasn’t thin, was wearing a big red coat with a thick white hem, he was rather old … What did he look like?’
‘Oh, he had a bit of a beard, white hair, red cheeks … you know, the rubicund kind!’
‘Yes,’ allowed the boy, ‘but he didn’t take the popcorn you offered him and you never let him touch the cupcakes.So maybe he wasn ’t the rubicond kind..’
‘Oh, well,’ Twang was getting impatient, ‘whatever! I wanted to go to bed, but with him there, all
stressed out and all, I couldn’t. He even started flipping through my photo album I keep near the
antique typewriter and I was afraid he might get to the part with the pictures of the dragons! I found it
rather rude to be honest, so I got my angle grinder and my soldering iron at once, and went outside with him to take a look at the sledge. He had the most ridiculous hat on, it was also red and trimmed, but with this white pompon dangling next to his ear.’
Joe and Victoria looked at each other and sniggered.
‘What!’ The snigger turned into laughter. ‘What! I don ’t understand … Oh, stop it! I won’t tell you how it ends if you continue …’ said Twang.
The two forced themselves to stop laughing, wiping the tears from their cheeks, and tried to resume
their seriousness.
‘That ’s better,’ Twang snorted. ‘So,we went outside and the sledge really needed some welding. Lucky for him, I’m good at that too, so I fixed the runner. It looked like I had used glue to repair it. I was quite pleased with myself! Then he thanked me, he said he had to go even if I had told him it wasn ’t safe.’
Twang imitated the man ’s manners, ‘“Don ’t worry, Miss Ramsey, my deer have a kind of built in alarm in the tip of their ears. I never bumped into anything before and I’ve been going about in this kind of weather for quite some time now.”’
She said in her usual way, ‘“Where are you actually going?” I said.’
Then, imitating him again, she said, ‘“I ’m going home. I have done everything I had to do for this year.”’
Twang spoke like her normal self once more.
‘And he winked at me. Then he stepped on the sledge, it didn’t even wobble a bit under his weight.
He waved at me, and turned towards the Church. He had little bells attached to the reins, and they jingled when the whole thing moved. That’s how I heard where he was going. He laughed too. It sounded like “Hohoho …”, very peculiar. I swear I heard the sound over my head at a certain point.’
Joe and Victoria boomed with laughter.
“What! Stop that already. Why do you do that?”
And the two sang, mocking, ‘Santa Clause is coming to town …’