“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.”
Oh dear, it is nearly a month since the dedes reported last. The reason? They were tidying up. If you have seen the studio before, you know this was a major.
Magician was happy with the result, but Esta Blished, who suffers from Alzheimers feels a bit disoriented in the empty space. Even worse. most of the Dedes got tidied up as well and are packed away for the time being. Only a few of them are still in the cupboard. Nobody really know what the artist was thinking, leaving Top Dog in the cupboard. After a weekend in the confined space, being forced to listen to the narcissistic Top Dog, Foxy Lady lost it and tried to push him off the shelf. Fortunately someone realised what she was up to and slammed the door shut just in time. Instead of falling off the shelf, Top Dog only bumped his head on the door and had to go to hospital with suspected concussion and a broken hand.
He came back this morning and the first thing he did was taking his bodyguard Norman T Newbie to the side and instructing him to go and to find the culprit and deal with it. I wonder what that means.
Deutsch Fraulein started reading the same night and she couldn’t put the artist’s diary down until she was finished. Top Dog had given her the one written when the artist travelled to New Zealand for the first time. It wasn’t an outstanding work in the sense of literature, but Deutsch Fraulein found it very insightful and loved the honesty. Something she misses when she is reading posts on her mobile phone.
The next day Deutsch Fraulein had to seek advice from her friend Socialite. “I don’t know what to do” she said. “I read one of the Artist’s diaries and Top Dog asked me to tell him some juicy bits. I don’t want to disclose secrets, but you know, I can’t say NO to a Dede.”
Socialite might not have been the right Dede to ask for advice. She was as curious about the content as Top Dog. “Don’t worry” she appeased Deutsch Fraulein “for us Dedes the artist is a person of public interest, so she doesn’t have the same privacy rights as a normal person!” she explained.
“Really?” Deutsch Fraulein wasn’t convinced and decided to get a second opinion.
Next she asked Foxy Lady: “You are a girl, what would you do?”
“Give ’em the sanitised version, like people do on social networks nowadays. Leave out the bad bits, pretend doubting never happened” the vixen advised.
“But I found the problems were the interesting part. It was so comforting to read about the ups and downs. That made her so human and made me realise I am not a nutcase with all my doubts.”
Then Alien, who always seems to be on a different planet, entered the discussion. “Why all the drama?” he asked Foxy Lady. “Everyone knows you have to travel on your own to find yourself. And to make sense of your impressions its best to write an honest diary on the way. I do it too. If you want, you can publish my diaries!”
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.
“Right, I have enough” said Mouse to Devil. “We have to do something new! What about taking ballet classes with the Grande Ballerina?”
“How is that suppose to help?” asked Devil.
“It will take our mind of things!” answered Mouse.
“Yeah, but ballet?” Devil wasn’t convinced “We could have a party, as Pinkpok is leaving us soon.”
“No, she doesn’t like a big farewell, she is very sad” said Mouse. “Don’t make it even harder for her.”
Indeed Pinkpok had packed her stuff and was ready to leave the Dedes. Not!
She was crying all night and here she is waiting, sad and exhausted, at the backdoor for her ride to the post office.
What she didn’t know then, was that her new owner moss.creek had already contacted the artist saying that she felt very uncomfortable separating Pinkpok from her Dede friends. A Dede needs like minded puppets around her. And moss.creek quite enjoys seeing the wise owl popping up in the story now and then.
Push Push the elephant suggested that Pinkpok could become a sponsored Dede just like her. Push Push and Harvey, the rabbit, are both owned by collectors but are still living in the Dede household, so that they can participate in the story. They have an obligation to write Christmas cards to their owners and can be recalled any time. Both moss.creek and Pinkpok were delighted with the solution. Phew!
Pinkpok, the wise owl, is finally preparing to leave the Dedehousehold. In this very short time she lived here, she has become Mouse’s confidant.
“Top Dog unsettles everybody. He has no empathy whatsoever. What can we do?” asked Mouse while she helped Pinkpok packing.
“That actually isn’t true! Top Dog can read the Dedes very well, so he has rational empathy. But he uses his knowledge to his advantage and doesn’t feel the pain he causes. That makes him a psychopath and there is not much you can do, but run!” lectured Pinkpok.
“It’s so sad that you have to leave soon. I could learn so much from you,” remarked Mouse dolefully.
Top Dog who has extremely good hearing and loves to eavesdrop on other Dedes conversations overheard everything.
“Ha, they say I feel no pain,” he said and grabbed himself a bottle of beer. “Of course I feel pain if I don’t get what I want. But I am not a whiner, I have better ways of dealing with the pain.”
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.”
Devil was so surprised about Top Dog’s offer, he couldn’t get over it. “I can tell you what the problem is, my dear” said Pinkpok. “Everyone is the centre of their own world and therefore, how they act is normal by their standards. Of course, as everyone is normal, all the others are expected to act in exactly the same way as oneself.”
This threw the cat among the pigeons. No-one could really make sense of what the owl meant. One reader even said “I conclude I’m a descendent of the Dedes – brain totally mushed and have resorted to the gin bottle 🙃”
Oh dear, we see the headlines: puppets drive readers to bottle.
A so wild discussion ensued.
“I don’t get what Pinkpok is trying to tell us,” said Calamity to Pavlova, the lab rat.
“It’s simple,” explained Pavlova, who always has to try new things in her job. “We believe what we do and think is normal. If we come across someone who has a different world view, we tend to believe we are right and they are wrong. It is easier than engaging with the otherness.”
“Do I have to understand that?” asked Calamity. Ah well, some Dedes never get it!
Now that Pinkpok is already old news, the Dedes continue with their inspirational quotes. Calamity showed the one she tries hard to live by. But she is adamant in her picture the shadows definitely outweigh the highlights. According to her, she can’t do anything about it no matter how hard she tries.
“Who cares about inspirational quotes anyway” said Munch to Kin, “all I care for is junk food.” These two special characters came out of the closet for the weekend. I made them a while back to promote my friend’s book about good nutrition. And this Sunday they will have an exciting outing. They will attend Storylines Auckland Familydays, where we will be making puppets from junk.
Mouse loved the inspirational quote our blogger friend Tony from xraypics sent. She thought of Top Dog and relaxed a little. If this is true, there is no way he will ever come to power.
“But what if,” asked Boy depressed, “you are the fig tree and the world wants nothing but peaches?”
Mouse didn’t know what to say, she is not one to think on her feet. When no response was forthcoming Boy mumbled “I might as well give up now!”
Devil quickly pulled out another quote, sent in by blogger Jessie from A world named. Boy looked more content and agreeable. Even though both quotes say basically the same: There is no need for him of trying. But then his mum called out from the laundry, obviously battling with his smelly socks “It’s not so easy sometimes.” Ah well, unconditional love!
dedepuppets 