Listening at Windows

He had seen Miss Book heading purposefully to the new Hospital, and as he had little to do except to find a good fluting pitch, Tepic carefully followed her. Carefully positioning himself under a window, he began to softly play, not enough to disturb the patients, but loud enough to earn a few coins from the passing visitors and staff.

Playing quietly also meant he could hear clearly the conversation from within. Miss Book had joined Kasa and Beryl, and they were talking about the Bear Gang. They were saying something about them being drugged to make them do what they were told, but there was no clue as to what would stop them. They did mention that silver was not going to work, which was a shame.

Dr Jekyll joined them, telling them about a tranquilliser the Cabbits were making, Tepic nearly snorted his own flute, here were the Bear Gang beating up on people, making buildings fall down and setting stuff on fire, and the Militia were just going to make em have a nice sleep! Miss Book was talking about the dart guns the Militia used during the zombie plagues. Now they were a good idea for the cat and the fox, but bears, now bears were difficult!

The two cabbits, Miss Zaros and Miss Kea arrived at the same time as Dr, Sonnerstein, who took the time to greet Tepic on his way passed. Once inside, all they talked about was the Gang not being stable, bits of em shifting and them being on drugs that made em nuts. None of that seemed like new stuff to Tepic, the bear was certainly shifty and unstable, and definitely off his rocker most of the time.

Miss Zaros told em all about the stuff she had made to knock the trio out. To Tepic’s ears it sounded very weak stuff, any light would make it worthless, though it might make em sleep for an hour or so. That is, it would, if they could get it in any of the Gang……..

The more he heard, the more he was glad he and the other urchins had been working on their own solutions. The only thing the adults had thought up was their tranquilliser stuff, no back up for when it didn’t work, no traps set up, no organised plan for tracking em down and cornering em. Typical, soon as people grew up, they lost all imagination.

Beryl came out and chatted to him for a bit, Tepic mentioning how the others didn’t seem to be taking the situation seriously. Even though he was whispering, he had forgotten how good Dr Sonnerstein’s hearing was. No wonder Scald wrote everything down, otherwise they wouldn’t get away with anything! So Tepic had to mention they were dealing with a bear, you know, a creature with thick fur, tough skin and loads of fat – not the sort of thing a needle would stick in easy. The Doctor did think that over and did mention it to Miss Book, so at least they were considering the problem.

After the meeting, Tepic stopped Miss Book on her way past and asked her what she was going to do if the tranquilliser didn’t work. She glanced at the rifle on her back, and the young lad sternly told her not to try anything without having a couple of blokes with rifles at the ready. Miss Book was a Hero, of course, but even heros need time to swing a rifle into position, and the Gang were fast! He wondered f he should give her some of the stuff they had ready for the cougar, but if she found out what they were planning, she would probably want to stop the urchins. There was also the problem of who else might be affected. he had mentioned to Beryl he had best stay away from the Sneaky Vole if the Gang came calling, but how about Lisa, the cats, and even possibly the cabbits? Still, the plan was a good one, and a lot less dangerous than the one this lot had come up with!