The Advent Of Smouse - Chapter 7 - Malt Whisky

Hi,

Welcome back.

Welcome back to the Advent of Smouse,

Chapter 7,

Malt Whisky.

Perry and her mother,

Still flabbergasted by the perfect sketch of Smouse and the improbability of not one,

But two very oddball animals appearing on the same day,

Try to come up with a plausible explanation.

Nothing they envisage makes sense.

Their solutions seem to sit somewhere between fantasy and reality.

It's what it is,

Perry.

No rhyme nor reason,

But they seem to be ours to enjoy.

Vera Black philosophically ends the conjecture.

Perry beams in agreement.

Mind you,

Her mother continues conspiratorially,

We might keep this to ourselves for a while.

Perry giggles.

It reminds her of bubbles.

She places her finger on the lips and mouths.

Shh.

Vera Black laughs out loud.

Leaving her mother to continue her art,

Perry takes Smouse and her laptop up to her room to do some homework before lunch.

A sense of peace fills the house.

It lasts until Martin Black returns.

Taku has had some success in restoring most of the new faulty office computers,

But some are still down.

He strides into the house in the middle of a heated conversation on his mobile phone and makes for the kitchen,

Where he finds his wife and ex,

Who has returned from football training,

Preparing lunch.

Dropping the phone onto the bench,

He slumps into a chair.

His wife and son stare in consternation at this most irregular behaviour.

Vera hastily pours him a large whisky and she and ex sit opposite him as he explains that his store manager has just advised him that when the IT staff at the main store tested the new display stock,

Nearly half of the computers behaved erratically and crashed.

His description perfectly matches their experience at home.

He's now really concerned about how widespread the problem is,

Whether or not the whole shipment is affected.

The launch date is scheduled for Friday.

The amount of capital tied up in the new release is huge.

The advertising campaign alone is costing a fortune.

Oh,

Dad,

That's awful.

Perry with smouse hidden in her jacket pocket enters the kitchen as he finishes.

She rushes over to him and gives him a hug.

Embarrassed,

He shrugs her off.

Responding to her mother's signal,

She withdraws and sits next to him at the table.

Tucked inside Perry's pocket,

Smouse's whiskers start to twitch as he catches the scent of something special.

He recognises it immediately.

The smell of malt,

The essential ingredient in his whisky.

He carefully peeks out of Perry's pocket.

He can see the tracks of the aroma.

It's coming from the glass on the table in front of Perry's father.

The glass is still full.

He watches as Martin Black lifts the glass,

Takes a sip and replaces it.

Smouse slips back into his hiding place and waits.

When everyone is distracted by the meal being served,

Well camouflaged,

He sneaks onto the table and gulps down several very large mouthfuls of the whisky before retreating to the safe safety of the pocket.

As the warm liquid slides down his throat,

He settles back and breathes a sigh of pleasure.

He vaguely wonders where Mentor is.

Perry feels a sense of peace pass over her like a gentle whisper.

She carefully pats her pocket to see if Smouse is still there.

At the table,

Martin Black is staggered to discover that his glass is empty.

He'd only had one sip.

He looks questioningly at his wife.

She shrugs.

He looks suspiciously at his children.

They laugh and vehemently shake their heads.

Riffly he refills his glass.

He must have taken a larger sip than he thought.

During lunch,

The family explores a variety of options and explanations,

But nothing leaps out at them and unless they can fix the problem,

Black Enterprises is heading for disaster.

The fact that Perry's and X's laptops are now working is encouraging and Taku and Tomari have agreed to come into the store tomorrow morning to see what they can do.

Smouse,

Tucked in a warm glow inside Perry's jacket,

Automatically computes all the information.

The meal is more relaxed than usual and afterwards Vera Black suggests that her husband and the two children go for a game of golf.

They take some persuasion,

But eventually they agree.

She assures them that she has plenty of painting to occupy her.

Back in her bedroom,

Perry remembers Smouse.

She can't take him to golf.

She carefully removes him from her jacket and tucks him between her pillows.

As she leaves,

He immediately closes his eyes and drifts into sleep.

He dreams he's tiptoeing downstairs into the kitchen where he discovers the bottle of whiskey sitting on the kitchen bench.

The aroma is overwhelming.

Before he can stop himself,

He has the lid off.

The bottle is rather heavy,

But he manages to tilt it far enough to allow it to trickle into his mouth.

Not too much.

He stands the bottle up and recaps it.

All he needs now is peanut butter.

He fine tunes with his nose until it picks up the scent.

It leads him to the walk-in pantry.

He spots a small jar on the third shelf up.

The hard part is opening the jar,

But with a little tenacity and perseverance,

He manages it.

He's halfway through the jar when Mentor's voice drifts across his senses,

Almost causing him to overbalance.

Smouse,

What are you doing?

He guiltily turns around,

But her voice drifts away and he feels himself floating back to the comfort of the pillows.

Smouse,

Smouse,

Wake up.

Mentor's voice penetrates his deep sleep.

He struggles to open his eyes.

Gradually the room comes into focus.

The afternoon light is much lower in the sky.

Mentor's nose is close to his face.

He quickly gathers his wits as she reminds him that they have to report back to Ag and plan their next course of action.

As the voices of the returning golfers come closer,

They quickly transmute and transport themselves back to the space orb.

Back in the space orb,

They discuss what they have seen and heard.

Smouse foregoes mentioning the whiskey and peanut butter.

He fires up the communication system.

He is delighted to see not only Ag's face come into view on the communication screen,

But also Angelica's.

After exchanging pleasantries and information about home,

He and Mentor quickly recount the happenings of the day.

Ag and Angelica are amazed at how quickly they have assumed the role of pets and are easing their way into the family.

They agree that it is puzzling as to why some of the computers are not corrupted by Madrogue.

Mentor has a theory that she'd like to test.

She wonders if it is connected to the nature of the computer operator.

The neighbours had a positive effect.

They were actually able to restore the computers.

Even within the Black family,

There was a remarkable difference between the reactions from the computers.

She suggests that tomorrow,

Using the guide,

They'll create a checklist to appraise the earthlings to determine how advanced they are along the path of harmonious personal relationships and what effect that is having on Madrogue's ability to draw power.

If they start with Peri and her brother,

Who have contrasting personalities and different reactions from their laptops,

They may be able to find a solution.

Ag applauds the idea.

Before they sign off,

He fixes Smouse with a stern gaze.

Malt whisky needs to be taken in small doses.

That's all for now.

See you next time for chapter 8.