Page 13 of Mr. Darcy Comes to Town

“Your name is Pickle, correct? It’s one word in Spanish. Could you not learn it?” Jeffry asked, chattering his teeth afterwards in an attempt to calm his fraying nerves.

“It’s a confusing word,” the turtle said to the water vole.

That is Bruce…I think, Jeffry reminded himself.

“I agree,” Pickle said.

Jeffry decided he should just answer the initial question. Perhaps that would take their minds off of his use of a Spanish word. “That was Mr. Darcy, sí.”

“There he goes again. He’s irritating me.” Jack turned around so his rear was facing the guinea pig enclosure.

I am irritating him?

“I beg your pardon, that just slipped out. It’s a habit that I’ll attempt to quash.”

“Harry likes the Darcy man,” the fawn said from where he stood next to the rabbit hutch, seemingly ignoring the discussion about how to say “yes”. “My name is Carl, and I can tell that Harry likes him.”

Jeffry snatched up a plump raisin and began nibbling as if he would go mad at that exact moment if he could not distract himself with food.

“Harry is a good judge of character,” Clive noted. “For a dog.”

“I like Mr. Darcy for Lizzy,” one of the nameless birds chirped.

“For Lizzy!”

“For Lizzy!”

“For Lizzy!”

Jeffry waited for the silly birds to calm down before explaining. “The challenge is that Mr. Bingley’s sister wants Mr. Darcy for herself.”

“The cat’s pet human?” Bruce the turtle asked.

“Yes,” Jeffry said in a deliberate way to show he could say it in English. No one seemed to notice his effort, though. Sigh. “But Caroline is not a good choice for Mr. Darcy. He would not be happy with her. And, Lizzy will marry no one if she does not marry Mr. Darcy.”

“That’s not good,” Jack said, turning around and facing forward once more.

“That is an understatement,” Jeffry said in a musing sort of way. “We have to give Lizzy time with Mr. Darcy.”

The menagerie fell silent. Finally, the turtle asked, “How? I am stuck in this pond.”

“That is unfortunate,” Jeffry said kindly. “I feel for you. Hmm, I think the best thing is for me to make certain I go with Lizzy everywhere she goes.”

“How?” the fawn asked.

“Fear not, I am able. Now, she is going nowhere at the moment so I will take a nap,” Jeffry told them, turning around and around until he found as much straw as Lizzy had strewn about his enclosure. He pushed it about until he had a meagre nest and settled onto it. “Just a power nap, mind.”

“What if the Darcy man comes back?” the water vole asked.

“What is a power nap?” Jack demanded at practically the same time.

Ignoring Jack’s question, Jeffry mumbled with confidence, “He won’t be back today.”

“But what if he does?” one of the red squirrels asked. “Come back, I mean.”

Jeffry opened one eye and caught sight of her ear tufts twitching. “He won’t.”

“He might,” a different red squirrel said. The two squirrels chased themselves around the large dead tree propped up against the brick wall for their enjoyment. “He might, he might, he might.”