The Girls of Ohmer Chapter 5 Tom the tinker

The Girls of Ohmer Chapter 5 Tom the tinker

Tom the tinkers menagerie was in the center of the village commons. Looking quite out of place among the other architecture, with its bright colors and banners. The only reason the village elders put up with such an eyesore was the fact that Tom the tinker had a way with gadgets. The convenience that his gadgets provided along with the overall improvements to the village that Tom had donated, were enough to make the less colorful minded turn a blind eye. To say that Tom was eccentric was an understatement. He was downright ludicrous! But genius has its privileges and Tom took advantage of every one.

Prior to setting up the managerie, Tom had been a watchmaker, a wood cutter, an ironworker, a gold miner, a traveling showman, an acupuncturist, a painter, a poet, a wrestler, a baker, and an ostrich farmer. That's not to say he didn't do other things as well, but listing them would take more time than we have today.

Tom finally settled on being a tinker because by the nature of the job, he could do anything he pleased and still be considered as tinkering. Today he was in his basement tinkering with a bent cog in his mechanical manservant.

"Good gravy! How in nantucket did this goobercog get so out of wack?" He was hunched over the workbench trying to manipulate two thin tools inside the nostril of the mechanical man. Then there was a snapping sound followed by  a wizzing boinging sound.

" DAGNAST IT! THE FLIPPING FLURN JOIST JUST SNAPPED!" Flipping flurn joists were quite unreliable, almost as much as the flopping variety. Tom dropped the tools onto the bench and tugged on his braided beard. " think think think think" Tom tugged and Tom talked, that was his method. "Think think think think , Eureka! I've got it!!" He shouted. " all I have to do is realign the temple servos and that will...."

Just then, a loud horn bellowed, startling Tom out of his thoughts. "JUMPIN JIMINEY! " he shouted releasing his beard and placing his hand over his heart " I have to remember to turn that thing down. C'mon Wentworth, let's see who's at the door." Just then a squirrel wearing a sleevless tuxedo jacket hopped off the top shelf of the workbench onto Toms shoulder.

Tom ascended a spiral staircase to the first floor, stopping to cover his ears as the door horn blasted again. In doing so he accidentally knocked Wentworth off his shoulder and down the collar of his loose fitting coveralls. The squirrel, being startled, began running around trying to find a way out. So when Tom finally opened the front door, he was doing a spastic version of the hokey pokey and laughing wildly.

" Ha ha ha whoo hooo ha wheeee wen wen wentworth!"

The three young girls on the porch stepped back. They knew the tinker was kooky, but this looked like a madman.

Tom was hopping and bouncing, shaking and squirming, all the while slapping himself all over.

"Ha ha how can I ha ha ha help you yoooo hooo hoo young ladies today?" Tom finally found his composure as he shook the squirrel out from his pants leg. Wentworth tumbled across the porch and clanged against an empty milk bucket.

" Ahem! How can I help you ladies?" He bent down and scrutinized the three through his spectacles. Noting the wonderful sparkly quality of their hair and clothes and caticorn. " Ahh! Circus performers! How wonderful! Come in come in! I've not seen a good balancing act in ages!" With that Tom did an about face and walked inside.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. If Nina had not been the one to send them here they would have been sure it was a mistake.

Wentworth scurried inside followed by Vay who was instantly squealing with glee. " A squiyoe a squiyoe!"
Erika followed close behind with Bear Dog Vampire bringing up the rear holding Popsicle.

The inside of the menagerie was more colorful than the outside
It was cluttered from floor to ceiling with all sorts of strange items, most of which were unidentifiable by anyone but Tom himself.

Tom was heading straight back into the building jabbering on about a troop of performers he had traveled with years ago, when Erica shouted something that stopped the old men in his tracks.

"Serendipity sent us!"

Tom turned around and Vay bumped into him in her earnest pursuit of the squirrel. Wentworth scurried up Toms coveralls and perched on his shoulder. " now that is a name I haven't heard in many years."

In response Erika said" Brock has returned."

Tom took a moment to steady himself " Oh dear, oh dear, that is a terrible development. Come sit down in the kitchen I'll make us some banana juice and we'll talk about this."

++++++++++++

Nina streaked across the landscape atop Blue. He had been running all out for hours and was starting to fatigue. " Hold on there blue boy" Nina said as she patted his neck" we're almost there."

They turned to follow a valley that led into a box canyon. Nina slowed blue and stopped as the canyon terminated at a rock wall hundreds of feet high. There was a cave that had been covered over by a huge boulder with a magical seal. This had been the final resting place of Brock, the most evil of all men, the most powerful of all wizards. The seal had been broken. The stone had been shattered into dust. There were telltale signs on the sheer wall of the canyon, blast marks deep in the strata of the rock.

Nina dismounted. She groaned and stretched her aching back. It had been years since she'd ridden so far without a break. She dropped the saddle from blues back and set him to graze on the sparse grass while she looked around.

She approached the mouth of the cave cautiously, looking for any sign of demons or magic traps. The inside of the cave was dark, but as her eyes adjusted she could see the shattered shackles that had held Brock for a thousand years. How had he done it? Between the shackles, the charms, the magical shield, and this cave on hallowed ground, he should have been interred for eternity. Nina thought back through memories long past of that final battle when Brock had been defeated and peace was restored to the land. That was also the day when men lost the use of magic.

Brock and his millions of minions had been sweeping across the land like a plague, swallowing up whole cities and destroying them. A thousand rabid wizards, each controlling a thousand undead soldiers. They were called the black wind, because their howls of fury sounded like a hurricane from hell.

Nina shivered at the memory, then she smirked at the simplicity of the trick that destroyed Brocks whole empire. It was just a matter of ...
" Oooops" Nina stumbled over a twig, there was a cracking sound and the whisper of a rope sliding through a pulley. A noose cinched around Ninas ankle and she was dragged through a tunnel, yanked upward, and slammed into the ceiling of the cave. She dangled unconscious in the darkness.

++++++++++++++

In the kitchen Tom was stuffing whole bananas into the head of a mechanical monkey while listing the benefits of drinking a full serving of banana juice every day. He cranked the tail of the device and yellow juice was dispensed from...ahhh...lets just say a spout on the front of the juicer.

"Ha ha ha monkey pee!" Vay shouted with glee.

Erika gave Vay a stern look though she was suppressing a smile. "Vay! don't talk like that!"

Bear Dog Vampire laughed behind her hand and quietly repeated " monkey pee" to which all of the girls couldn't help but giggle.

Tom brought a pitcher of banana juice and some mismatched cups to the table as he began a dissertation on the benefits of animal urine in farmercology and chemicalology. Just when it seemed he would go on forever Bear Dog Vampire interrupted.

"Hey mister! Do you know why our Nina sent us here?"

Tom stopped, looking quite confused. " Nina? I thought you said Serendipity sent you." He tugged on his beard mumbling to himself " Nina Nina Nina Nina AHAH! She did it! Serendipity actually figured out the soul charm! Why I knew that was a smart girl. Yes yes as smart as they come. You know I used to tell her that she would do great things. Did you know that one time.."

"Mr Tom! Could you please tell us why Nina would send us to you?"
Erika was growing impatient. She had the sense that things were getting worse rather than better, and Tom's rambling did nothing to reassure her.

"Ok, alright little miss, don't get your socks in a waddle, I've been trying to figure that out myself." Tom sat and gulped some banana juice." Ahh that hits the spot! Now, as near as I can figure, and I can figure pretty darn close, your Nina used to be a sorceress. Not just a sorceress,  THE sorceress. She held off the million minions, and put Brock in his place for good!" He stopped for a second then continued less enthusiastically " well I guess until now."

"But what does all of this have to do with my parents and my little brother?" Erika couldn't understand why all these terrible things were happening right now, all of the sudden.

Tom straightened."That I cannot say child, But you and your sisters and caticorn are welcome to stay with me until your Nina returns. It will be safe here, there are many ummm, precautions, that have been put in place to make my home safe. Just stay inside and no harm can come to you. It's getting late and I have work to do. Maybe the morning sun will shine a light on this dilemma and we can figure it out then. Now, who wants a muffin?"

The girls finished their banana juice along with some excellent mango muffins with peach jelly. Then Tom led them upstairs to a room they could use as their own for the duration of their stay.

Before bidding them goodnight Tom handed Erika a bottled concoction labeled " Tom's Terrific Tonic" the back of the bottle had claimed that it cured dandruff, eczema, baldness, poison ivy, pimples, near sightedness and scabies.

" Here" Tom said, "that will get the glue and glitter off your sisters in a jiffy!" He handed it over with a wink, touching his finger to his nose at the same time. Then tom did an about face and skipped across the hallway, down the spiral stairs and out of site. The girls could hear him descending all the way to the basement, then a door slammed and the house was silent.