The persistent weed Looms Large in a corner.

 No matter how many times it has been cut down, chopped down, hacked and attacked, it always returns with a vengeance. It is so tall that it’s topmost flowers, feeble spindly red spikes, are now taller than the fence so if anyone, for example a small wooden doll, were to climb to the top, they would be able to see what was on the other side and this is precisely Doll Splinter’s intention. She  knows there are two sides to any story or fence and is not afraid of heights.

But one thing holding her back is Egg O who is being released from prison. If she is not there to greet him his temper might loom as large as the weed, if not larger. She has plans to tackle his temper but of course he does not know that yet.

All Egg O can think about right now is his release date which came about much sooner than expected and it was all thanks to Doll Splinter and her Campaigning Spirit. Day after day she marched with a banner up and down outside the prison demanding that prisoners be allowed books and when the ban was finally lifted Egg O set about buying books with gusto.

Before long his cell was piled high with books. They wobbled in precarious stacks by the bed and formed a wall between his bed and Spud’s. Soon the warders could not see in and Egg O took to quoting and declaiming while standing on a stage made entirely of the Collected Works of Shakespeare. Spud spent his time miserably flicking through the pages of Cookery books discovering the many ways chefs torture potatoes.

“Egg O” he said, ” I’m all alone bounded on every side by dusty volumes.”

“Indeed” replied Egg O, “so take a leaf out of my book and learn a few quotes.”

“Beat half the potatoes with a fork  then whip into peaks” quoted Spud, “meanwhile plunge the chopped and sliced potatoes into boiling oil…” and with that he threw himself on his bed and wept.

The warders grew tired of the weeping, the quotations and the teetering piles of tomes. When the cell was so full that no-one could move for books they came to the bars of the cell and announced:

“It’s the end of a chapter Egg O. Your release date has been decided.”

Books are powerful things!