Total Turtle Tea Trolley

Far above the treetops of the Metmow, Nola’s wicked crows are flying, searching for the greenish, innocent shell of Fluffy the Crab, Nola’s escaped former factotum. They can see across the green expanse of forest enclosing Nelliphant Acres, where polite and well-regarded elephants live in their sprawling Victorian houses. At this moment, an elephant is coming out of one such house’s rear vestibule to hang a line of laundry. She bears a woven wicker basket of clothespins on a small, light howdah, and is followed by her husband, who is trundling an enormous wheelbarrow full of laundry. Lavender sheets, bold brown and green jacquard bathsheets and towels, and a pink fold-up washable sun hat are all carefully pinned. As crows have an excellent eye for color, they appreciate the display, but they remember all too well Nola’s instructions. She had held up a paint-chip the color of a young, uncooked crab, and had glared at them. She had then provided them with the requisite Pantone number, in case they needed to advertise in print media. Now, they cannot not trifle with lavender or pink.

Wheeling in the sky, they suddenly see a swarm of winged creatures coming towards them. They are the urtleopts, winged turtles who protect the Metmow from all such intruders. The crows scatter, but two turkey-platter-sized urtleopts are on each of their tails, flying with tremendous speed. Each crow is soon sandwiched between the shells of two urtleopts, and escorted out of Metmow airspace before anyone on the ground can notice a thing. Nola will have to be informed of this unforeseen impediment. Perhaps she can meet with her friend René Tutwiler, a dealer both in arms and art.

Below, all is calm and peaceful, as the elephants finish hanging up their laundry. When the last clothespin is fastened, they are overjoyed to see the Total Turtle Tea Trolley making its way toward them across their spacious back lawn. The Chief Tea Turtle is wearing a rainbow-colored silk turban sewn all over with tiny amethysts, and an ecru linen open-weave dust ruffle. The Under Tea Turtles are wearing black-and-white checked keffiyehs bound with red and white cords, and poly-cotton blend oxford blue pinstriped cloth dust ruffles. The Tea Treats for today include caramelized onion dip with kettle-cooked potato wedges, almond lace cookies, miniature fudge bars, and small cylinders of fresh Gouda cheese, cored from an enormous golden wheel. The tea for today is Infuso di Frutta, from Assisi, brewed fresh in a white and pale blue Sèvres teapot emblazoned with the image of a single Napoleonic bee. The elephants set to the collation with a will, and neither they nor the Tea Turtles will ever know of the sinister incursion which has taken place above their very heads.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 10th, 2011 at 7:56 pm and is filed under tea trolley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.