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The fat lady stepped out into the pleasantly cool evening. Everywhere she looked she saw a photo opportunity! Having just come from a dry, hostile, dessicating heatwave in the California desert, the moist English atmosphere felt so very life-affirming. She could feel the moisture resurrecting her skin, and revitalizing her breath. Green, green everywhere soothed her parched eyes. Herbal fragances relaxed her. She felt her shoulders drop 3 notches. "This must be the Garden of Eden," she mused. She took a deep breath and sighed. There was so much life! So many plants everywhere, all healthy and thriving, not dry and drooping. Birds! New birdsongs tantalized her ears. Was that a magpie? Dogs! My, how she missed her dogs, but seeing these sweeties made it better. Ruddy-cheeked boys running on the lawn! Oh, she should have brought her grandchildren. Chickens! Her favorite, red hens, contrasting with the green everywhere. A horse! Such a pretty little white one. "Just think! My dear grandmother used to come here everyday as a little girl to fetch some milk for her family. It certainly hasn't changed much in a century. She would recognize it instantly. The old barn and Victorian house surely haven't changed at all. She must have walked right up this road and through this old gate. What a wonderful----what the heck!" The sudden very loud roar from overhead nearly caused her to hit the ground! Looking up, she saw a huge jetliner just a few feet over her head! "Right. The airport is nearby. Blimey! (She was proud of her English vocabulary). It's always something! How do these people stand this?" Little did she know that very soon she too would just put her conversation on hold for a few seconds as the plane passed over, and then continue on, hardly noticing the noise at all.
Eventually the fat lady ended up on a footpath/farm road with a sign that cautioned of heavy machinery use. "I suppose that's true, with all these fields of crops. But it could also be that the BLACK CAT stalks out there." She shuddered. She had heard of the rumors of a large black beast seen right in Broxted, and greatly feared. It was especially seen at night, on one's way home from the local pub. "It might be fun to go to the pub yonder (The Prince of Wales) according to my map, and return back this way in the dark, with Mom, and tell her the story of the BLACK CAT". The fat lady would never admit that she couldn't go by herself. She looked down at the dirt track to see if there were any large pawprints. Instead she found a good-sized chunk of iron thingie. "A fiendish thingy!" she exulted, quoting a line in a Beatles movie. "I'll bet a Barltrop Smithy made this! Won't mother be pleased!"
The fat lady looked around in all directions, but saw no one. Still she clandestinely slipped the iron piece into her pocket. Excited, she ran (well, no one but her would know she was actually running) back to her room. "MOM! I have a find! Find of the day!" she crowed. "What is it, Susie? A raven feather, or something as precious?" said the old lady with a smile. "Almost as good," replied the fat lady, "something perhaps made by a Barltrop!" The old lady immediately produced her magnifying glasses and studied the piece of metal. "Hmmn...Looks like a possibility, probably part of a hoe. Did you notice the initial? I wonder...What are you going to do with it?" "Take it home, of course, in the stow-away baggage Bag. And these too!" answered the fat lady as she emptied about a dozen rocks from her pocket, and a raven feather too! "I brought home half of Edinburgh Castle last time, in me pockets (using the Liverpool 'me'). But that was before 9-11. I'll have to be trickier this time!" she announced.