The kitchen is filled with the obnoxious stench of something unearthly and an ominous hush. The Deputy Prime Minister sits on high among the saucepans, surveying the scene before him with some ferocity. And it is indeed an odd scene, even in these strange times.
“Terry!” hisses Lucy. “Get down from there!”
Lucy has had Terry since he was a scruffy little kitten and for many years he has been both closest confident and mortal enemy. And it struck her that cats and Deputy Prime Ministers were strikingly similar in many ways, so she gave him the job. She was originally going to give it to Ian, but thought this was much funnier.
Terry refuses to move his elderly frame and promptly goes to sleep where he sits. Picking up a broom, Mumsie tuts and waves it encouragingly in his general direction.
“Excuse me, but is he alright?”
They had almost forgotten about Nigel Farage. He looks surprisingly dapper for a door-to-door salesman, resplendent as he is in a boating jacket and salmon pink trousers. He has placed his trilby on the kitchen table, along with a suspiciously over-sized briefcase, apparently filled with dusters. He jabs a finger towards the far corner of the room.
“That chap there, is he alright?!”
“That chap there,” Ian replies “Is Tony Blair.”
“Is he really?” Nigel squints. “So he is. I’m sorry, all those unfortunate years before rehab have played havoc with my memory. I was living in a tree for four years, you know.”
Nigel’s much-publicised stint as the Tree Man of Bermondsey kept the press and the nation entertained for quite some time. At one point, lives streams of the tree were being beamed around the globe at all times of the day and night. The public, fickle as they are, eventually lost interest when Jeremy Kyle took up shouting at traffic for a living, and everyone watched that instead.
In the far corner, tied to a kitchen chair, is Tony Blair. Bearded and bedraggled, in truth anyone could be forgiven for mistaking him. His head rests awkwardly on his chest and soft gurgles emit from somewhere beneath the bristles. On his shoe reclines Terry’s contribution to proceedings.
“He’s having his nap,” says Mumsie, helpfully.
“Right.” Nigel nods. “Anyway, I’ve come about these dusters. I’m got some smashing ones, do you want to have a look?”
He reaches towards the briefcase, causing the Chancellor to leap forward most unexpectedly.
“Stop!” cries Ian.
Time stands still for a moment. A puff from Blair breaks the spell.
“Don’t wake Tony up, he’ll only want feeding,” scolds Mumsie.
“Mum, you’re getting him confused with the cat,” Lucy huffs back. “Ian, what’s wrong?”
The Chancellor moves his formidable frame in great strides towards Mr Farage.
“There’s something not right here,” growls Ian, as quietly as he can. “I mean look at him. Does he look even remotely like a travelling duster salesman to you? He looks like he should be directing a cheap porn film.”
“Well, you’d probably know more about that me,” Lucy raises an eyebrow. “So I’ll take your word for it.”
“And there could be anything in that suitcase,” Ian continues. “It could be a trap!”
There is a ministerial gasp.
“A bomb?!”
“…Or even recording equipment or something. He could be a spy!”
“What? No, I really am just here about the dusters…” Nigel attempts to prove this by opening the suitcase, but finds his hand enveloped in Ian’s enormous mitt as both men scrabble for the handle.
“No, I’m not sure he’s a spy,” the Prime Minister whispers back. “He looks far too dodgy to be an actual spy. I think someone wants us to believe he’s a spy.”
“Why would someone want us to think he’s a spy?”
“I don’t know… maybe so we get suspicious and demand to search the suitcase?” Lucy pauses for dramatic effect. “And then… the bomb explodes!”
“I think I really am the last person to become a suicide bomber,” remarks Nigel, reasonably. “Look, if you’re not interested in my dusters, I think I’ll go.”
“You’re not going anywhere until we find out what you’re doing here!” Ian hisses, ever wary of waking Blair. As he tightens his grip on the suitcase, Nigel tries to wiggle his hand free from the crushing grasp.
An almighty crash erupts from a high shelf as a blur of copper, steel and fur obeys Newton in a quite spectacular fashion. As Terry hits the floor, Mumsie is after him with the broom, mindful of further accidents. As kitchenware continues to cascade about the room, Terry is swept with little ceremony right out the back door.
“Bloody hell, that made me jump,” mutters Lucy, rather understating the matter.
“Bugger,” sighs Ian. “Look at that.”
Following his gaze, Lucy sees only the front door creaking ominously in the wind and the dust kicked up by Nigel’s heels as he made good his escape.
But the suitcase remains.
And Tony Blair is now very much awake.
Who Shot Tony Blair? 
You know, I can totally see Jeremy Kyle shouting at traffic for a living!
And I love the travelling sales spy 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I really, really hope he does take it up. It would be a great improvement on his show.
He has escaped! But we have his suitcase… 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think it really would!!
Well that is a good thing there could be information to be gleaned from it… as long as it isn’t a bomb…or full of dusters…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Those dusters might come in handy, you know. I suppose the only thing for it is to investigate the suitcase. We could always make Blair open it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That is true, dusters have a lot of uses!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like political sanity after the last few months in Westminster!
LikeLiked by 2 people
You see? Me as Prime Minister doesn’t seem so unreasonable after all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, no…I’m quite coming to terms with it. That and my minister’s salary and expenses, of course.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do find those things to be most convincing factors. There is the public to win over, of course. But they’ll see sense soon enough.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t we bribe them, or something?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that’s probably it. Perhaps with gin.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good-oh. That’s settled then.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We are such an efficient Government.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Isn’t “political sanity” an oxymoron?
mgh
LikeLiked by 2 people
I fear it is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
God help us all.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m finding it very hard to mistrust a man with such fine dress sense! I can only assume his nefarious nature is hiding a hero of henormous hstature…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some absolutely fabulous alliteration there, dear chap. As for the dress sense, we need more of it! Particularly the trousers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I make the English language work for me! And the more outlandish the ensemble the better, plus I expect at least two cravats to play pivotal roles in plot development!
LikeLiked by 2 people
TWO cravats! I mean, a one cravat pivotal plot development is par for the course – almost a tradition. But a two cravat pivotal plot is most courageous. Sir, I accept your challenge!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have total faith in your literary mastery! For you this does not even border on a challenge; it merely reads in the local paper about a far off land that delves in two cravat pivotal plot developments, and then things no more about it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
By jingo, you’re right! A scribe of my considerable standing should shrug off such a thing with certain success. I’ll see your two cravat pivotal plot developments and raise you a pantaloon back story!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Do not jest with me woman! I have searched far and wide for an author with the talent to pull off a pantaloon backstory! The stakes have been raised quite significantly…
LikeLiked by 2 people
I never jest about such serious matters as pantaloon back story wagers. The dangers involved are massive. Many have tried and failed, leaving reputations in tatters – not to mention the state of the pantaloons themselves, of course. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it, godammit .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well you most definitely have the fire, the determination, the relevant case studies of previous attempts…and you don’t mind getting dirty! My faith in you has never been firmer; sally forth and pantaloon backstory away!
LikeLike
Always a delight to know that you are behind me, and especially that you are firm. Onwards and upwards!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well there’s another image that will come in handy in the morning! Brace yourself and enjoy the ride!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hahaha! I can absolutely see Nige in a boating jacket and salmon trousers! Poor Terry! You should remove the broom from Mumsie immediately! He clearly still knows exactly the best place to poo!
Why is it that this seems almost like a slice of relaxing normality after watching the actual news today… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I could totally picture him in that outfit, worryingly 🙂 Good old Terry is still a hero, despite his advancing years. Mumsie is slipping gently into senility but she is in the right place to go about it 🙂
It is actually preferable to the real life state of affairs, isn’t it? I think my system works much better…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am with Nigel in the tree! Though , I did not get the coverage I was hoping for, broadcast on the internet and television… You’ll find my pajamas in the suitcase, or at least that is what my operatives in Belgium told me to say….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aha, so it was you who was Nigel’s tree-dwelling companion, was it? It does rather steal the limelight. I shall keep an eye out for the pajamas. And I would keep an eye on the Belgians, if I were you… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Conspiracies among the conspirators, an OUTRAGE! I will watch my back, setting up the surveillance equipment in my tree-fort, I proclaim Manchester Succeeds from England! First up, I liberate the donut shops! Pastry Liberation Front! (yeah I am over the top on this one) 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
A revolutionary! I like it, Ted, I like it very much indeed!
LikeLike