Interlude: The other Side of the Grove
Elsewhere, in a less privileged section Koalaville…
'Hey Chigow, what's in that big basket?' Blimpy asked as he approached his friend, who was sitting at the base of his tree.
'I'm glad you asked. Look here!' Chigow answered, removing a cloth that was covering the contents of the basket.
'Walnuts! And without the shells! It must have taken a long time to gather 'em, and especially to crack all the shells. How long did it take you to do that?' Blimpy asked as he reached over, took a walnut from the basket and stuffed it into his mouth.
'It didn't take me any time at all. I traded for 'em. All these walnuts for one bottle of eucalyptus liquor,' Chigow responded, 'but it was our last bottle.'
'Oh, no! Well, these are good, anyway. Quite a good deal you made, I'd say. There must be hundreds of 'em in this basket. If we don't eat 'em ourselves, we could trade 'em for at least three bottles over in Koalatown,' Blimpy suggested.
'Just what I was thinkin'. Maybe we should take a little stroll over there today, and make the trade,' said Chigow. 'But let's make sure nobody sees us comin' or goin'. I heard that Doctor Koala is tryin' to figure out how the liquor is getting' into our grove. He suspects it was Warooey and Usotsky, or maybe your brother Bumpy and his homely gang. Nobody suspects us, and let's keep it that way.'
'Right,' Blimpy laughed, 'let those other mangy koalas take the heat! My brother deserves any trouble we can get him into. The last time I saw him, he punched me in the snoot just 'cause I said he was as dumb as he is ugly. It still hurts a little. You and me should concentrate on doin' business as we see fit. We'll be better off for it! Why, we traded the last batch of eucalyptus liquor for all those nice berries and a beautiful wooden box with real metal hinges. It's even waterproof!'
'Yeah, that's a real beauty. It'll last us a lifetime, unless we trade it for more liquor. Uh, you know, I was thinkin', maybe we shouldn't trade after all…' Chigow said slyly.
'What? This is goin' great! Why should we stop now? There are a few koalas here in Koalaville who would give us anything for that liquor. Who are we to disappoint them?'
Blimpy protested.
'Oh, don't worry,' Chigow tried to calm him down. 'I didn't say we shouldn't smuggle in any more liquor. I just said maybe we shouldn't be tradin’.'
'Well, that Tama who makes the stuff over in Koalatown isn't gonna give it to us for free.
Eucalyptus liquor is legal over there, and it's his business to make it and trade it for stuff,' Blimpy explained.
'Yeah, I know, but what I mean is, suppose we sneaked over to Koalatown some night when everybody's asleep, went to Tama's supply shack, and helped ourselves without anybody noticin'?' Chigow said with a devious smile.
'Oh, you mean we should steal it? Hmmm, that would have its advantages,' Blimpy thought out loud, 'but suppose they catch us?'
'If we're clever about it, they won't, and when they notice it's missin' the next day, they wouldn't suspect us. After all, there are more than enough crooks who live right there in Koalatown, and who steal things all the time: Chuppy, Guppy and Moldy, just to name a few.
They're always the usual suspects when somethin' happens over there. Nobody would think that we were behind it.'
'Hmmm, that sounds logical, and it might be fun, too!' Blimpy seemed to like the idea.
'It's settled, then,' Chigow concluded. 'We'll sneak over around midnight. Let's take these walnuts and put 'em into a bag. Then we can take the basket with us tonight. It should hold a bunch of bottles.'
'Good idea,' Blimpy said, and they began putting the walnuts into a cloth sack that
Chigow had next to him. Then, after carefully making their plans for their nighttime visit to Koalatown, they both ate a few leaves and a couple of walnuts, and then took a wonderfully long nap.