Still, FOUR YEARS AGO
*****
“Meep, meep, mou!”
“Do what?” Beau asked.
“Meep, meep, mou!”
“Oh, come with you. Why?”
“Meeping!”
“Show me something? O-K.”
Beauregard put down the hammer, and gave a quick wave to the lady in charge of finishing the changes to the boarding house, before following Beaker through the rubbish filled front room, and down to the all-finished lab located underground, in the old basement.
“Why, Mr Beauregard, sir. I’m so glad you came,” Bunsen said, coming towards him with an outstretched hand. “With just a little tiny few changes to your diagrams and we have created a marvellous Rainbow maker.”
Beauregard’s lower jaw hit the floor. “You actually built
my rainbow maker?”
“Oh, yes indeed, but I don’t know that it is entirely safe.”
“But, but, but…”
“Still, we can certainly show you. Just press this red button on the top of the spherical gadget, and poof instant rainbow, and, most importantly, there is not a drop of rain! Go ahead, and press it.”
Beauregard hung back a second and then extended his brown paw. He let it hover above the red button as if touching it would suddenly prove that it was just a dream, and not real. But it was. Beauregard slammed his paw down hard on the button, and a huge graceful arch of a rainbow bloomed through the air.
Beauregard stepped back and stared with awe at the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. And then, before he could change his mind, he took a running leap and threw himself into the rainbow disappearing with a sparkle of colours and shapes.
*****
Mrs Nancy stood with her hands on her pink hips, and looked up at the indigo sky. “You’re such an old fool,” she said in her cranky voice. “No one is going to fall out of the sky.”
Mr Regard squinted against the violet sun, and had to agree with Mrs Nancy, yet he had felt so sure that the sky was giving him a message. Mrs Regard, threw him a look that told him everything, and then she turned on her heal and marched away followed by Mrs Nancy.
“Oh dear,” Mr Regard said, running a paw through his thick bard, and leaning on his wooden stick. “I guess, life goes on.”
Then he heard a sound like a huge piece of paper being ripped across the middle, and a dark shape covered the sun, before bursting through and falling towards the ground. Finally he could make out the brown shape as being Beauregard. His son was back.
Beauregard fell from the sky and hit into a thick patch of grass in the meadow. He looked up dazedly and his eyes tried to focus on the picture of his father hovering over him. “Gonzo,” Beauregard said, “Would have loved that.”
Then he passed out.
Later, Beauregard, Mr Regard, and Mrs Regard were sat in front of a fast burning wood fire. Mrs Regard was ignoring Mr Regard, but he didn’t care, he was so intent on talking to Beau.
“Tell me,” he said. “Have you enjoyed being out there?”
“Oh yes,” Beau said. “I’m in show business, and…”
The living room door slammed open and Mrs Nancy stood silhouetted against the outside sun. Her face was covered in a vicious glare, and her eyes were flashing. “Indeed you are,” she said. “So, I have seen.”
“You?!” Mr Regard said, jumping up from the chair, and propelling himself across the room towards him with his stick. “What are you doing here?”
Mrs Nancy pushed past him, shoving him out of the way with a flick of her pink wrist. “I’m not talking to you,” she said, and she gave Beau a thick sarcastic smile. “I’m talking to
him.” She pointed at him with a red fingernail. “The big failure of Raenbu.”
Beauregard tired to speak, but no words came out. Mr Regard positioned himself between the two of them. “What are you saying, Mrs Nancy?” he asked.
Her gaze struck deep into him. “I thought I said…”
“I don’t care,” Mr Regard shouted. “IF you have something against my son, you take it up with ME!”
“Beautinglroth,” Mrs Nancy said, addressing him. “Is it not true that your father, Mr Tinglroth, served on the Raenbu council before me?”
“Yes, he was very powerful in Raenbu.”
“And are you not aware that I replaced him a long, long time ago?”
“Yes.”
“And are you or are you not aware that I am even more powerful than he was?”
As Mr Beautinglroth Regard looked into Mrs Nancy’s red-lined eyes, he realised that she wasn’t going to budge an inch. She obviously had something against Beauregard, and trying to stop her wouldn’t help.
“Beauregard!” Mrs Nancy said, turning back to him. “Is it not true that where you live now, everyone laughs at you all the time?”
“Not all the time…”
“And am I right in thinking that you had a hugely exciting part in The Great Muppet Caper?”
“Well, I…”
“I thought you played a dumb, thick, dense, unintelligent, dim, brainless, dull, stupid taxi driver? Is that true?”
“I…guess….”
“And did you not get laughed at because of your stupidly stupid little ‘red-hand’ jokes?”
“Yes….”
“Well then, because you have left our town, and because you have not proven yourself worthy of being out there while you were gone, you are being sent by the council back to the other side of the rainbow, and if you ever, ever, ever, set paw in Raenbu again until you have proven yourself worthy to come back, we will KILL YOU!” Mrs Nancy was getting angrier, and angrier, and her last few words left her mouth with drops of spittle that plopped against the stone floor of the house.
Beau looked from Mr Regard, to Mrs Nancy, and then to his mother who returned his gaze without blinking. “Do you really want me to go?” he asked.
“YES!” Mrs Nancy screamed.
“Yes,” his mother said. “Until you prove yourself.”
“Noo!” Beau’s father shouted, but then the council guards burst into the house…
*****
A long time later (at least, to Mr Regard it seemed a long time, but it could have been days or years, no one could tell in Raenbu) Mr Beautinglroth Regard stood staring up at the indigo sky, hoping, wishing, somehow praying that his son would return. One day Beauregard would prove himself worthy. He must. And then he could come back to Raenbu, where he belonged.
It was just then that there was a sound of ripping, and a small green frog fell out of the sky landing onto of Mr Regard. As the two struggled to there feet, Robin grinned.
“Gonzo,” he said, “Would have loved that.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
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