“I am very disappointed in you,” said Devil, who somehow managed to make his way back onto the scene. Like most of the Dedes he had been packed away.
“But why?” asked Foxy Lady and pulled the picture of the dashing fox closer to her heart.
“I would have expected a girl of your intelligence to stand up and fight for her believes! Not run away and follow a mirage into some romantic dreamland.”
Of course Top Dog had to say something about the deal. He doesn’t particularly like the owl, as his charm doesn’t work on her. “Can we call you Indian Gift from now on?” he asked and added with a big smirk “I knew the artist can’t be trusted!”
“Oh, shut up you disingenuous old thing. It was all done amicably” replied Pinkpok obviously angry that he tried to spoil her joy.
“Oh, how I wish they had let you go!” said Top Dog and wandered off.
Our friend wizened_gnome sent us a quote by Oscar Wilde yesterday. “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live….Selfishness always aims at creating around it an absolute uniformity of type. Unselfishness recognizes infinite variety of type as a delightful thing, accepts it, acquiesces in it, enjoys it. It is not selfish to think for oneself.”
Cat licked that one up like a bowl of milk. “Ha!” she said, “I love this quote. It proves, it’s not us cats who are the selfish ones. We don’t give a toss what others do. The baddies are always the dogs!”
Oh dear, it didn’t take long and we received a complaint. Cat has totally misinterpreted this quote, I was told, moreover, she is an arrogant piece of work. Mhm. I guess, as quotes are always cited out of context, they are open to misinterpretation too.
Mouse is wondering what happened to the happy-go-lucky Dedes?
“I don’t like where we are heading,” she mumbled and looked in the box of half-finished heads. “I have to tell the artist we need some amicable Dedes.”
Yesterday was Truth Tuesday again and Mouse started packing her bags. Truth is, the Dedes are on the move. They will be moving from the big smoke to the countryside. This is a major undertaking. The Dedes came into existence because of changes to the current abode and now they are partially responsible for leaving it behind. It is simply because I want to have a bigger studio space. More space for more puppets and more puppet making workshops. So please, if their reporting gets a bit erratic over the next two months be lenient and don’t give up on them.
Today Top Dog snaked up to Devil. It looks like his popularity is waning and he tries to drum up more followers. He said: “I could do very well with a devil like you on my team!” But Devil doesn’t want to have a bar of it “No way” was the short and definitive reply.
“Not even if I gave you my soul?” Top Dog believes that this is an offer no real devil can refuse. “What soul? You don’t have a soul!”
Devil was deeply insulted by Top Dog’s offer. “What does he think? Does he really believe I am as mean-spirited as him?” he asked Pinkpok, the wise owl.
“Of course no-one thinks of themselves as being nasty, not even Top Dog, ” the owl replied “I know, you are well-meaning, but you often tick the Dedes off because you blatantly call a spade a spade. Sometimes it would help to present the spade nicely wrapped.”
Today is Truth Tuesday again. As we didn’t get new questions, I am showing you a snapshot of my puppet play area. I work with natural light in the morning. That is why on some days the pictures are duller than on others. The sun simply doesn’t work on command, at least not mine. On stage there are two Dedes currently in progress. One is an owl that is earmarked for @moss.creek (the winner of the last contest) and a unicorn. Do you have any suggestions for other characters the Dedes need?
Yesterday Mouse asked for inspirational quotes to keep her going in the face of adversity. We got a few and the Dedes are presenting some of them over the next week. Here Punch Drunk makes a start and shows what @nevermindsmallthings commented. Well, it’s not the right thing to say to Mouse right now, and mhm, to be honest it is a little depressing rather than inspirational, but it is very Dede! Punch Drunk just loved it so much and since we hardly ever see him, he was allowed to go first. We don’t want him to wander off to Top Dog’s camp too.
Feel free to send us your quote.
“Here is one fellow who helped me become more understanding about others” said the Benevolent King and shoved Bad Conscience forward. In the old days, the King had huge problems with his subordinates, but nowadays he is loved by everyone. Well, it is easy to love him… He has no power at all and is a mere figurehead.
“Bad Conscience really helped me to reflect on what I was doing” he continued. “Maybe we should send him to Top Dog. He might be able to help him too!” He obviously remembers the time when he was imprisoned vividly. He is so grateful there is no death penaltiy in Dedeland. If there was, he wouldn’t be standing here today. He still might be loved by everyone, though, more in a martyr kind of way rather than a truly refined one.
Bad Conscience always looks a little down and introverted, but he has his uses at times. “Give me half a chance and I will latch onto you… That is how it usually works” he explained. Of course he believes he is a nice fellow. He doesn’t speak much but enjoys to go over the old stories again and again. Truth be told, most Dedes dislike like him, as he extremely difficult to shift.
“But believe me” he said frustrated “I’ve tried the likes of Top Dog before, they are immune!”
The Dedes started a new feature called Truth Tuesday. And today is the first one. They had the idea, as they occasionally get questions that are not related to the storyline. If we get questions, they will be answered on Tuesdays from now on. We are quite happy to do a shoutout for the person who asks. If you don’t want to be mentioned, please note this in your comment. Of course the questions should be in the Dede spirit and we reserve the right not to answer. With that sorted, we actually got a question last Sunday. A follower from Turkey asked “How many persons are you?”
Well, I am one person and there are sixty-five Dedes at the last count. As far as I am aware, I am reasonably sane and do not have multiple personalities. 😉
Meanwhile, Norman T Newbie isn’t particularly interested in what the readers ask, he wanted to know, why is everyone so upset about Top Dog. He seriously believes that it would be fantastic, if he came into power and explained: “For us it would definitely mean a brighter future. Usually puppets have a resurgence, when freedom of speech is curtailed!”
Scardy Pants who was within earshot said “I’d rather not test that one out.”
Yesterday, the Dedes had a break and did a bit of house-keeping. They announced the winner of the latest Instagram contest and also decided to start a new feature called Truth Tuesday. Readers can ask questions and on Tuesday, the Dedes will answer as honest as possible. Apart from this, nothing happend on the weekend. Unfortunately, as soon as there is a bit of a lull, Top Dog rears his ugly little head.
“C’mon guys” he said right after breakfast today, “you must see everything is terribly wrong in Dedeland.” And then he ranted on that the administration is run by a busybody rodent (Mouse). He even doubts that she has a work permit. He also pointed out that we have some unemployed puppets and looked disdainfully at Rob D Light, who was still sleeping under his blanket of newspapers. “And to top it all off” he said concluding his monologue, “the artist wants to make new Dedes. What shall we do with this influx? Tell me, what has this world come to?”
Everybody looked a bit sheepish, but no one said anything. It seems fatigue is starting to set in.
Nobody said anything, except for the new puppet Norman T Newbie. He was clapping his hands wildly and shouted excitedly “Well done my hero. No, we don’t want to have new Dedes!”
Of course Top Dog enjoyed the admiration. “I could go on and on” he said. “Truth Tuesday, struth, what’s that all about? No one wants to know the truth! It is far to complicated. Quick and easy solutions are the fashion of the day. Black and white! Who needs grey?”
L’Artiste was flabbergasted when an angry mob of Dedes showed up at the studio door.He had no idea what grief his flippant comment caused the other day.
“What have I done?” he asked truly surprised.
“You intimidated Cash Cow!” said Bobby, the policeman.
“Stop here,” said L’Artiste, “what happened to irony?”
“What about irony?” asked the policeman suspiciously and stop for a second, “have you killed her too?”
Now poor L’Artiste had to come clean. “You got it all wrong guys” a very embarrassed artist admitted, “I love that cow.”
Then he showed them his diary. Here he calls his object of desire “Katching Moo.” Not a very imaginative or particlarly well discuised pet name. It is a combination between the sound of a cash register and the word catching. And Moo of course identifies the cow.
The book was full of little hearts and stories. A silent witness to his hopes that one day she will answer his prayers and be his. Honestly, look at the image of them together! You can see the love, can’t you? It is definitely Cash Cow who plays hard to get! She could have any artist if only she wanted.
“Admit it,” said Sunny to Mouse (who is a workaholic) “you have all laughed at me because I want to be an artist.” He just assumed that Mouse and the others all thought artists are slackers.
“We have not laughed at you, Sunny, we laughed about your approach,” Mouse explained and pointed to the billboard she just had installed. Then she reminded Sunny, that he spent years trying to find a patron without having any work to show. Worse, while he was trying, he ate all the other Dede’s pizzas. Everyone can recall the last sure thing he followed up. The time, when he tried to get the money from his deceased great-uncle in Nigeria. He is still waiting. The reminder, though true, made Sunny very uncomfortable and he quickly headed for the exit.
Then Rob D Light passed by the billboard, looked at it and shook his head. “Lucky them who still can afford dreams,” he thought, “I simply need a job for survival.”
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