5.7: A second urgent confab

On returning to the Potting Shed, in something of a brown study, Alcock decides he needs some unofficial council. Now is not the time even for the 4 C’s.

It is an interesting aspect of the governance of the Potting Shed that none of the other original members (aside from Alcock) serve on any of the more important committees. (‘Patron level’ viewers will already know this.) Hannah, Lois the Hippo and her brother Hipparchus all resigned their previous roles some years ago so that Alcock could draw on the next generation to help him run the commune. But, especially when he is in some doubt, the Chairman likes to consult his more senior colleagues informally. 

Unable to find Hipparchus - who is, of course, talking to the youngsters, next door - he finds Hannah and Lois and describes to them his depressing encounter with the spiders. He now thinks that they look to be settling in rather than moving on. 

“We could ask Florence to try to see them off?” suggests Hannah. 

Florence the cat is a friend of the Potting Shed and an external governor in Alcock’s beloved labyrinthine committee structure, but also unpredictable and sometimes ferocious. Alcock can almost picture the scene of likely devastation.

“Asking Florence would be like deploying a tactical battlefield nuclear weapon. She would kill them all without a second thought except perhaps of the pleasure of it. No, we must not involve her.” 

“Perhaps we could ask the Pod?” suggests Lois. “Lottie described how she was able to quell the awakened stones through her minion peas.” 

“But the Pod is an ally of all nature. She did not hurt the stones but merely ‘paused’ them. She would be as likely to see ‘just desert’ in the spiders’ ways as in ours.” 

On this rather inconclusive point, the conversation comes to an end. Having checked that everyone is inside, Hannah bolts the front door and they settle down to uneasy dreams.