SERIALIZATION OF “the Zany Time Travels of Warble McGorkle” – Chapter 47 of 61
Warble Threatens Albert and Reminisces About the Halcyon Days of Yore
CHAPTER 47
Warble Threatens Albert and Reminisces About the Halcyon Days of Yore
“Leave him be, Taterskin,” Albert gently but firmly commands his dog. “He's not worth the risk of infection. He's not worth shucks, to be blunt about it.”
Taterskin reluctantly stops his growling and snarling, resumes his normal relaxed demeanor, and trots after his master, who has abandoned the field.
“Don't look at me in that tone of voice!” Warble yells after Albert, who is walking away from the scene with his canine friend and bosom companion. “After we get back to our customary time and place, you'll be fired, young man! And,” he adds, as a parting shot, “I'm going to deduct the cost of those extra price tags—time and materials, shipping and handling, to be specific—that I was forced to place on you due to the uncompromising nature of market forces related to supply and demand.”
“But I don't work for you!” Albert objects, turning around.
“Never mind, I have connections,” Warble says, realizing that what the mechanic is saying is, indeed, true. “I can have you fired. And your dangerous dog declawed, debarked, decommissioned, and neutered to boot!”
A feeling of calm comes over Warble. Almost euphoric, indeed, is the wave of emotion that washes over him, as the harsh treatment he had dealt out to Albert reminds him of the halcyon days of yore when he fired people by the score (he hired them just so he'd experience the thrill and have the enjoyment of firing them) while working for Morley Moore in Brooklyn, New York (as those of you who read the first volume in this series no doubt recall with warm and fuzzy reminiscings).
Warble lays down in the grass and, just after tagging a dandelion with his “price tag bazooka,” gently glides into that altered state and alternate world known as sleep.
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Blackbird Crow Raven’s “the Zany Time Travels of Warble McGorkle” is being serialized in this space each Sunday and Thursday; it is also available in its entirety from here.
You can listen to the recording of this excerpt, by the author’s alter ego, here: