Chapter 3 - The Inheritance

Check out links at end of each chapter...



Chapter 1 - May 14, 2009 - Tutu Troubles

Chapter 2 – Oct. 07, 2009 – About My Friends

Chapter 3 – Oct. 15, 2009 – The Inheritance

Chapter 4 – Oct. 22, 2009 – Finding Answers

Chapter 5 – Oct. 29, 2009 – A New Friend

Chapter 6 – Nov. 05, 2009 – A Treasure Map

Chapter 7 – Nov. 12, 2009 – A Treasure Hunt

Chapter 8 – Nov. 19, 2009 – And Beyond

Chapter 9 – Nov. 26, 2009 – Lost Data

Chapter 10 – Dec. 3, 2009 – Found Data

Chapter 11 – Dec. 10, 2009 – The Castle Cellar

Chapter 12 – Dec. 17, 2009 – Forever Never Ending

RosFrankie and Beyond

Chapter 3

The Inheritance

On a fine afternoon in early June, myself and Mary-Ann-Drusillda are having a relaxing mud bogging session after a fine ramble through the enchanted wood over by Beaver Creek. Both of us love to mud bog. Mary-Ann-Drusillda especially loves to sit in the mud and think about mathematical problems in her head. She is ever so good with numbers and can solve long complicated formulas so very easily. She knows how to work mathematical formulas which other people don’t even know exist. Sometimes, though, it is a little difficult to understand what she is talking about. HOG, however, absolutely hates the very thought of mud bogging for any reason and she never joins us in this most pleasurable of activities. We always feel sorry for HOG that she can not enjoy this wonderful pleasure. However she is always so adamant about not getting her feet mudded that we eventually stopped trying to convince her to join us.

Right now, as we are relaxing our cares away, HOG is rolling up hill. It’s not an easy thing to do, roll up hill, and it isn’t exactly what she wants to do, but HOG has no choice in the matter. Something called ‘genetic adaptation’ makes her do it. Méabh asked us once to look up ‘genetic adaptation’ in one of ‘THE’ books but we still don’t quite understand what it means. ‘Not to worry,’ my mother says, ‘Eventually you will grow and then you will understand it all.’

But we do understand the effect it has on HOG. It means that every time she gets excited or angry or ecstatic or afraid or extremely joyful, she will roll herself into a ball. She has absolutely no control over this happening. When she gets highly emotional for any reason, whether good or bad, she rolls. Eventually she will get her emotions under control and she will un-roll. But once she starts to lose emotional control again, she will roll up into a ball again.

Right now she has been to the post office and received [spelled ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’…] a most exciting letter. She is most eager to run home and tell everyone about this letter. So she scrambles just as fast as her little legs can carry her, and then she rolls and then she scrambles and then she rolls and then she scrambles and then she rolls. Actually, she goes faster when she rolls…except when she is going up hill. Rolling up hill is most difficult. She wants to ask Méabh why it is more difficult rolling up hill, but then Méabh would ask her to look words up in ‘THE’ books and that means getting ‘THE’ books from the red Jeep Méabh drives, which smells worse than Méabh’s toes, and, HOG feels that the red jeep is a place someone with such a sensitive nose as herself should not go. It could be dangerous for her! She could make herself sick! Sometimes the search for knowledge has that effect on certain people of a sensitive disposition. So HOG does not mud bog and she does not ‘do’ books, but she is still a fine friend to have nevertheless. And she makes the best cookies!

But she is so excited and so tired from rolling up hill that by the time she gets to the mud bog she almost rolls in. Fortunately, myself and Mary-Ann-Drusillda see her rolling towards us and we reach out to stop her before she rolls into the mud bog. Myself and Mary-Ann-Drusillda are also fine friends to have!

When HOG finally unrolls herself and gets her emotions under control, she tells us about the letter. It has come from a country far far away. A country so far away that HOG is sure that it isn’t even on any map, although she isn’t quite sure but she is sure she doesn’t want to ask Méabh where it is or isn’t. This letter is from a lawyer telling HOG that her Great-Great-Great-Aunt-HUGS-Five-Times-Removed-On-Her-Mother's-Side has died at a very old age which far exceeds the life expectancy of the average hedgehog by nine generations.

I want to ask HOG why this aunt was always being removed from her mother’s side. Like, did she really smell bad? Or snore loud? Or what? But, instead, I am polite to my friend and I just say, ‘I’m sorry.’

HOG looks at me and gets a little confused and starts to roll into a ball but catches her self real quick. ‘I didn’t even know that I had a Great-Great-Aunt-Anyone-Anywhere! So I can’t miss her, and she was exceedingly old. But this lawyer wrote to tell me that she left me her most valuable possession in her will. It is very valuable. I am to inherit a fortune! I’m so excited!’

Mary-Ann-Drusillda and I wait for HOG to unroll herself, which she always does eventually. ‘But what shall I do with all that money? I love our little haystack in Daisy’s Field and our comfortable life style. Do you think I should buy us a bigger haystack?’

‘Bigger generally means we spend more time cleaning!’ answers Mary-Ann-Drusillda, who doesn’t like house cleaning her half of their haystack half as much as HOG seems to like cleaning the other half. ‘Maybe we can give it to charity?’

‘Yes, or build a bigger kitchen off of the back straw bale,’ answers HOG.

Mary-Ann-Drusillda and I both sigh together. I have a feeling that HOG’s inheritance is going to cause a bit of trouble.

'When it comes, why don’t you just put it in a safe place for a while and just spend some time thinking on all the possibilities?’ I suggest.

‘Oh, that’s a good idea,’ answers HOG, ‘then I will have more time to check out the big new AGA stoves over in the Big Noisy City.’

‘Sigh,’ Mary-Ann-Drusillda says.

‘Sigh,’ I say.

‘It’s suppose to come next week. I don’t have much time. I better go on-line and order a bunch of catalogs,’ says HOG as she rolls away.

In the mean time, life goes on as always for me and my friends. Except that HOG keeps talking about all the things she is going to buy. Even that isn’t unusual except that now HOG is pretty sure she is going to buy lots of stuff whereas before she just talked about it the same way most people talk about the weather, or what time high tide is, or if the apples are ready to be picked from the trees. All sorts of interesting things to talk about but, in actuality, not something anybody can do anything about. Some things just happen on their own sweet time and no one can control their happening.

Eventually a small box comes for HOG. She rolls it home and she and Mary-Ann-Drusillda and Lordy and myself all stare at it wide eyed and almost afraid to open it.

‘It’s not very big for a fortune,’ says Mary-Ann-Drusillda.

‘Maybe it’s a safe-deposit box key,’ suggest Lordy.

‘Oh,’ says HOG, ‘I hope the safe is not in another country far far away which isn’t even on any map!’ HOG doesn’t really like traveling. There are just too many bumps in the roads, and hills which go up. It always takes her much time and much work to roll anywhere far away.

‘Well,’ I say, ‘why don’t you open it and find out?’

This seems like a very logical and good idea. But still HOG dos not rush to open it. She is, quite frankly, rather enjoying the suspense which will be gone once the box is opened. HOG rather enjoys superficial suspense especially when she can roll in the comfort in her own haystack and not worry about coming out of a roll and not knowing where she is because HOG does not like to be lost, and sometimes that is what happens when she rolls.

Finally the moment comes. HOG opens the box. We all stare hard at the contents. Very hard.

‘What is it?’ we all say together. It certainly does not look like a fortune. It is a strange looking piece of metal. It looks like a funny shaped rock but it is not a rock. We don’t think it is a rock.

‘I like rocks,’ HOG says, but, really, what she is thinking is that she doesn’t think she will build a bigger kitchen off of the back straw bale after all.

‘Mmm,’ I say, ‘I think we are going to have to find Méabh and ask her about this. Maybe you should just put it in a very safe and secret place until we can figure out what it is and what you should do with it. I think Méabh is coming to our house tomorrow for a hot shower.’

Méabh lives in a small tent and doesn’t have hot water so she showers at my house. But Méabh is actually very rich and has a beautiful old castle which was built on the Cliff of Moynar by her family hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Once I asked my mother why Méabh doesn’t live in the old castle and my mother told me that the tent is much more comfortable to live in because the castle has no heat or water and it has lots of strange noises and foggy patches, which are or are not ghosts, but, anyway, Méabh prefers to be outside in nature and wilderness and not be imprisoned by the mortar holding the beautiful castle stones together. Sometimes what is beautiful to look at, and is easy to love, is not so comfortable to live with. I almost understand this, and, of course, my mother says, ‘Not to worry. Someday you will grow and understand it all. And you’ll understand it much better than I do.’

The next day, while Méabh is in the shower, I ask my mother why Méabh always wears the color black. ‘But she doesn’t wear black,‘ my mother answers, ‘Her shirt is white, her vest is red and her pants are tan. They only look black because Méabh never washes them.’

‘Ew…’ I say, ‘That’s disgusting! Why don’t we grab her clothes while she is in the shower and wash them for her?’

‘Oh, no!’ my mother smiles, ‘that would be a very big mistake. I know because I made it once. Méabh lost six months of hard work because of my good intentions. The reason her clothes are never washed is because of the way they smell. To us, they smell really bad. But Méabh is a part of the forest. Have you noticed the eagles which land beside her without fear? Or the wolves who rest their heads on her lap? Or the little moles who sit on her shoulder and chirp in her ears? And bears actually bring her honey! They are all familiar with her and know her by her smell. The smell of her and the smell of the clothes she wears. It takes months to get her clothes smelling just right. If her clothes smell like soap or bleach, it scares the animals. Animals have a very powerful sense of smell. How Méabh gets her clothes to smell so animals don’t fear her is one of her many special knowledges. And it’s one of the few things I think I do not really care to learn.’

But I learned something important. Opinion is just opinion – it is not the same as knowing something. What smells bad to one smells good to another. And there is knowing what you know, and knowing what you don’t know, and then there is that very dangerous thing which is not knowing what it is you don’t know. I didn’t know that I didn’t know how important the smell of Méabh’s clothing is. I only knew that they smelled bad to me. It’s generally not good to not know what it is which you don’t know.

Although, in HOGs case, it seems that the less she knows, the less she rolls.

Finally and eventually, after showering, Méabh hikes over to the haystack in Daisy’s Field to see if she can help ‘identify’ the treasure which was willed to HOG.

When Méabh sees the item in the box, you can say that her face glows, if one can ever really say that Méabh's face glows. Face glowing just isn’t a Méabh sort of thing. She holds the strange object gently in her hands almost as if she is petting it. It is about two inches long and has a circumference of about ¾ of an inch. Oblong in appearance, it is not exactly any one type of shape, and it is roughly carved. On the bottom of one end, however, there is a finely carved interwoven design.

'Is it solid gold?’ HOG asks.

‘No, it’s iron,’ Méabh answers.

‘What does the design mean?’ I ask.

‘I can’t say for certain. Before I say anything, I want to go check into some books to see if I can find some confirmation.’

I am always surprised by the fact that Méabh always calls ‘THE’ books, just books, rather than ‘THE’ books. It is another thing which my mother says I will understand eventually.

‘Can I buy new furniture with it?’ HOG asks.

Méabh gives her a look. The kind of look which makes HOG roll. The kind of look which always scares everyone even though Méabh never says anything bad or loud or mean. The kind of look which makes people obey Méabh even though she never orders anyone to ever do anything. Sometimes, though, she will make suggestions.

‘I suggest,’ she says, ‘that you put this somewhere very safe and very secret until I come back.’

Then she takes a note book out of one of her vest pockets, a pencil out of another vest pocket, and a camera out of a third vest pocket. Lordy and I have a competition between us to see who can count how many pockets Méabh has in her vest, but neither one of us ever get to finish counting before we either get distracted or Méabh leaves to do ‘things.’ Méabh always has ‘things’ to do.

Méabh draws pictures and writes notes in her note book, and then she takes many pictures of the strange object which HOG has inherited. She gently gives it back to HOG and starts to leave. Just before she leaves, she turns around and gives HOG another ‘look’ just to make sure HOG has heard her.

After she has gone, I say, ‘I think we had all better leave so that HOG can unroll and find a secret and safe place to hide the, the, the thing.’ I don’t know what to call the thing. Méabh gave us no idea of what it might be.

Méabh tries not to ever tell us anything if we can find it out for ourselves in ‘THE’ books, and she knows that we know that we are welcome to come to her Jeep and look in any of ‘THE’ books anytime we want. Her Jeep is never locked, ever. But with a thing like the ‘thing’ we just really can’t figure out for ourselves where to even start looking. This time we will just have to wait for Méabh to give us some of the answers.

But before Méabh comes back to give us some of the answers, we will have to answer a few questions of our own.


WORDS to look up:
Inheritance,
Adamant,
Genetics,
Oblong,
Circumference

QUESTIONS:
What is a lawyer?
What does ‘five-times-removed’ mean?
What is an AGA stove?
What is a safe-deposit box?
What is ‘iron’? Does it have something to do with pressing clothes or is it like gold?
Have you ever tried to roll up hill?
Have you ever gotten lost when you un-rolled?
What other questions should be asked?

BTW:
MAD mudbog formula: the mathematical formula which Mary-Ann-Drusillda is quoting as she sits is the mud bog is an actual formula straight from the Wizard’s doctoral thesis circa 1973. I have no idea what it means. Just because you love someone, does not mean that you have to always understand them.

Genetic adaptation: a useful characteristic which eventually gets embedded in genes and is transferred from generation to generation.

AGA stove: The AGA cooker is a stored-heat stove and cooker invented in 1922 by the Nobel Prize-winning Swedish physicist Dr. Gustaf Dalén (1869 - 1937), who also founded the AGA company. In 1912 Dr. Dalen lost his sight in an explosion while developing his earlier invention, a porous substrate for storing gasses, Agamassen (Aga). Forced to stay at home, Dr. Dalen discovered that his wife was exhausted by cooking. Although blind, he was determined to develop a new stove that was capable of every culinary technique and easy to use and capable of heating a house. Adopting the principle of heat storage, he combined a small and efficient heat source, two large hotplates and two generous ovens into one robust and compact unit: the AGA Cooker. The cooker was introduced to England in 1929, and its popularity in certain parts of English society (owners of medium to large country houses) led to the term "AGA Saga". Today AGAs are criticized for guzzling energy.

Jeep: is the oldest off-road vehicle. The original vehicle first became the primary light 4-wheel-drive car of the US Army and allies during the World War II and postwar period. The term "jeep" was first commonly used during World War I (1914–1918) by soldiers as slang for new recruits and for new unproven vehicles. Many historians suggest that soldiers at the time were so impressed with the new vehicles that they informally named it after Eugene the Jeep, a character in the Popeye cartoons that "could go anywhere."

Check out:
Castle construction
http://history.howstuffworks.com/middle-ages/castle5.htm
http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/castle_builder/
http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS315US316&q=castle+cellar+image&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=J2ipSd3cN4qhtweSpKTrDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

Genetic Adaptation:
www.usoe.k12.ut.us/CURR/SCIENCE/.../genetics/.../adapt.htm
esciencenews.com/dictionary/genetic.adaptation

Gravity
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newtongrav.html
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question232.htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/what-if-zero-gravity.htm

Mathematics
Seife, Charles – Zero, Penguin Books, 2000.
http://www-math.mit.edu/
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
http://www.teachrkids.com/


Next chapter: Finding Answers due to be posted on Thursday October 22, 2009



All text and images copyright 2009 Jule Dupre
unless otherwise noted.
Observe much - Think long - Say little...
[Credited to Oxford professor of C. Darwin]
Except, of course, in an emergency. Then you should
Look quick - Think fast - Yell loud!
[Credited to The Evil Grandmother]
Remember to always check your references!
Always question, but question with due respect.