The People - Part Four

     Able Mabel was out in the sun, hoeing in her garden in a straw hat with a wide brim and pink ribbons and a long floral dress and boots.  Her new neighbour whom she hadn't met yet, whose name was Andy or Handy Andy as people called him because he could swim like the dickens and rescue you if you were drowning, looked over the fence and saw her.  He liked her, but he'd had enough diving into the water to rescue people for one day, so he went inside and had a nap.

     The five restless characters had been waiting for six years for the writer to put them into a story or a poem and give them something to do, but every time they tried to attract her attention she would get a headache and go into the kitchen and make cinnamon toast, or order a pizza, or go on holiday.  (She sold watches to toddlers so she could afford to go on holiday.)

     A bee stung Able Mabel.
     "Ouch!"  she screamed and went inside.  "I feel a headache coming on.  I must be allergic to bee stings."

     The five restless characters felt so restless that they stood up on the bleachers and began swinging from the pipes along the ceiling.  The writer went for the kitchen in a hurry and made a whole loaf of bread into cinnamon toast.  This didn't seem to help, in fact the headache was getting worse, so Able Mabel phoned and ordered a pizza with irregular toppings because she was feeling muddled.

      "Chocolate and tofu toppings please," she quipped on the phone.
     "I beg your pardon, Ma'am?"  said the puzzled fellow at the call centre.  "Uh, I'll see what I can do...".
       She plumped herself down on a chair, put her head on the table, and waited for the pizza man, moaning as if she were in labour.

To Be Continued