A friend rang me today and asked whether I had started on Procrastinator yet. No, sorry I am too busy! Lil’Snail will have to do for now.
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Yesterday we had another workshop and the saga between Magician and Devil continues. Who has the right to wear the spokesperson badge? Devil is working extremely hard to establish himself in his new job, but Magician doesn’t tire of interferring. At least some of the other Dedes are starting to get so over the feud and are happy to give Devil a hand. But see for yourself…
I asked Harvey what he enjoyed most at the cafe yesterday. He didn’t have to think long. He said, he loved that he was taken seriously. Everybody at the lunch valued his view point and at no time was he given the feeling he is just a silly puppet who shouldn’t have an opinion. I have to say, he did engage people in serious discussions, more so than he does at home. Mr XL, his sponsor, can be really proud of him. I wonder if it would be beneficial if the Dedes got out more. I have to put this forward to the Dede committee. But first I am looking forward to the workshop this afternoon, where people visit us at our studio to create a new film and we are expecting one very very special guest.
Today was a special day for Harvey. He went out for lunch to meet up with his sponsor Mr XL. In the old days they saw each other every day, as Mr XL had his office right next to ours. But then we moved out of the building and so did Mr XL. I wasn’t aware until recently that Harvey and Mr XL are in frequent phone contact to exchange the latest tips on the horses. Mr XL let it slip when I arranged the meeting, and it finally explains my exorbitant phone bill. Mr XL is apparently very lucky with the horses. Harvey isn’t. Now I am not quite sure whether Mr XL isn’t forthcoming with the right tips or if Harvey isn’t listening properly, though big enough ears he has!
Sunny took the advice of our reader Arlo and created posters with the images of the two missing puppets to hang up on the lamp posts in the neighbourhood. This one is right opposite our house and all the Dedes can easily see it from the studio window. So far we have not seen anyone taking notice, apart from a few dogs sniffing around before they did what dogs do. And certainly nobody has come forward to shed any light on the disappearance. Mabybe Sunny should have used a ladder?
It so happens that the first anniversary of the day when Sunny created Lil’ Sculpture is approaching. You might remember it was last year on Waitangi Day when Sunny, the wannabe artist, all of a sudden got frantically busy and came up with a cute little figure. I was very miffed with him, as he actually didn’t come up with the concept but just copied the work of Artistatexit0. If you can’t remember, here is the story. Anyway, Sunny isn’t the most reliable Dede. He is so involved in his own little world, trying to create his 15 minutes of fame, that he usually forgets about anybody else and doesn’t keep in touch. Funnily enough, when he realised that it is Waitangi Day this week, he all of a sudden remembered that Lil’ Sculpture almost made him famous and he wanted to go and look his little mate up and reminice about the good old times (They weren’t actually that good… but I won’t enlighten him about this).
He got a big surprise when he arrived at the bookshelf, where Lil’ Sculpture has been residing like forever, to find the little man was nowhere to be seen. Worse, there was no-one else around, no neighbours, that Sunny could ask about the whereabouts of his creation. He tried to keep a brave face, but I could see that he was very distressed about the disappearance of his artwork.
Devil and I had breakfast together. I know he is extremely scathing about the committee when he is with Mouse, or so Mouse says. They have been good mates for years, and I assume he feels he can let rip.When I last spoke to Mouse she said he didn’t think he made any mistakes at all. But when I listened to Devil, his point of view didn’t seem particularly skewed, it all made perfect sense to me.
Right away he made it clear he wasn’t unhappy he lost this particularly ungrateful job. Nobody appreciated his efforts and the committee were the worst. To be honest, they had no clue what they wanted, nor did they know what is involved in a spokesperson’s job, but they expected miracles from him. Their motto basically is, we say jump and you jump, to hell with the implications. And while one member of the committee said jump to the right, the other said jump to the left, so he ended up standing in the middle of the road. Just look back at the last year. One day they wanted a zazzle shop, the next day they wanted to sell books, then they wanted a facebook page, a week later they thought workshops would be all the rave… and each time they expected him to put his full heart into the campaign while he knew very well that next week at least one of them would change their mind. He tried to tell them they should focus, it’s no good trying everything, but they didn’t want to listen to his expertise and it got really, really tiresome in the end. He got so sick of the uphill battle. Good luck to Magician. But of course, he will be the hero for a while as new brooms always sweep clean.
“So why are you so down then? You should be skipping and dancing. It sounds like it was a job from hell anyway.” I asked.
“I am simply grieving for the engery I spent” he said. “You know I am not the youngest anymore. In fact I am the oldest of the Dedes. It gets more and more difficult to re-invent yourself, but that is what I have to do!”
Good on you, Devil!
I bumped into Mouse and took the chance to ask her how it was decided that Devil should be sacked. Our reader Cathosster queried yesterday whether there should have been a vote and asks, where is the democratic process in all this? Mouse reminded me that there was in fact a vote by the Dede committee members. She even pulled out the minutes which she still had on her clip board to show me. “Here you are,” she said, “the woodheads had requested to speak to the committee at their meeting. They spoke at length about the future of the Dedes, and so on and so on… you can read it for yourself”. She handed me the minutes. It was all above board. In the end it was motioned to vote on the dismissal of the spokesperson and the result was 3 for and 2 against letting Devil go. Sorry, I am not a big expert on the Dede Society Constitution, but I believe Mouse when she says there was no foul play.
“So, what do you think about all this?” I asked.
Mouse seemed a bit uncomfortable and humed and hawed. “But you and Devil were such a formidable team,” I continued, “will it be the same with Magician?”
“Look” she said, “I am the administrator. I will work with whoever. It will be different, but I am sure it will work.”
“She is scared she will be next” said Pirate who just happened to pass by at that moment.
“No, I am not!” replied Mouse defiantly and then pulled me into a quiet corner. There she told me in confidence that she finds herself in an impossible position. Devil is one of her best friends, but each time when they see each other now, he is terribly negative and scathing about the Dede committee, and he wants her to agree with him. But she, Mouse, is still working there and loves her work. While she can understand Devil’s hurt, she also sees how he could have done things differently to avoid the situation. But of course Devil doesn’t want to have a bar of this yet (or maybe he’ll never want to hear it). The whole thing strains their friendship to the max. He treats her like a traitor and while she knows he really needs her badly right now, she doesn’t want to see him. She feels like a real bad mouse at the moment and wishes it will be over soon and everybody is back to normal.
Yesterday we were finally introduced to the new spokesperson. It is the Magician. I never would have guessed it, as he hasn’t stood out in any way so far. He kept a very low profile. Indeed, I have never heard his voice before. But obviously he was in the right place at the right time. As I understand it, the Dedes have been dissatisfied with Devil’s performance for a while. (Personally I think it all started when Devil resigned last year to prove a point, but then he took his job back when everybody begged him to continue. But that is a different story.) So back to the Magician. He obviously had asked the Dede committee every so often if he could be of service, but they said they were happy with the Devil they know… Then, recently, two self-appointed advisors, I think they call themselves the woodheads, showed up and told the committee that they are going nowhere fast with the Devil. They painted a very bleak picture for the future of the Dedes if they didn’t get a new spokesperson. They pointed out the Devil has his own agenda, and rubs people up the wrong way to boot. The Dedes thought about it and had to agree. But what to do? Luckily the woodheads had a solution: the Dedes simply need a magician, and then they conjured him up. What could the Dedes do, except to say: yes, you guys are so right! And here we are.
“Coffee.” I heard a thin voice from poor Devil’s bedstead. I was so happy to hear his voice that I immediately ran to the kitchen to prepare him one, thinking it would be nice to choose the monkey cup.
“Not that idiot” he said, when he saw me coming. I wasn’t quite sure who he referred to, me or the monkey, and pulled away, but Devil grabbed my sleeve. “Ah well, I don’t have to look at his pancake face when I drink from the cup.” You better go back to sleep, I thought.
dedepuppets 