01 - Beach and Beyond

The Fivepenny Mice begin their adventures

By AW

Chapter One - Cunndal

'You can never have enough cheese!' explained Suzie to Victoria and Paprika, as they prepared for their outing on the last afternoon before their long journey.

'Where are we going?' squeaked Paprika, excitedly.
'Along the road through Fivepenny to Eoropaidh, and carry on till the road runs out!' replied Paprika.
'But won't we get wet?' squealed Victoria, alarmed.
'Of course not!' said Suzie. 'We go through a gate, and there's a path round. We're nowhere near the water!'
'Then we see the beach!' said Paprika.
'Exactly! We TweedyMice will get a much better view from the cliff top! Down on the beach it would seem like the Sahara Desert to us!' explained Suzie. 'Now, look after the cheese while I fetch my rucksack!'

'Er...!' stuttered Suzie, a few seconds later. 'I said, look after the cheese!'
'Oops!' grinned Paprika. 'We thought we should check it!'
'We did leave you one piece!' squeaked Victoria.
(Gulp!) 'Come on - let's go...!'

'There! That's the Dunes beach - it's proper name is Traigh Shanndaigh!' declared Suzie, as they looked out over a vast (to them) beach.
'Is that an ocean?' asked Victoria, in awe of the watery expanse.
'The Atlantic Ocean!' stated Suzie. 'Over there, next stop, Canada!'
'Wow!' wowed Paprika, jumping around in excitement, and almost being blown away.
'Be careful, Paprika!' warned Suzie. 'Or you'll be on your way to Hudson's Bay!'

'Whew!' gasped Paprika, as they arrived back from their outing.
'Oh, look!' A double rainbow over there!' exclaimed Victoria.

'Yes, it is!' said Suzie. 'But we have a big journey tomorrow, so get your food sorted out...'
'Cheese!!' squeaked Paprika and Victoria in unison.
'Yes, cheese! And get some sleep!'
'Are we staying in the eccentric b&b you told us about?' asked Victoria.
'We are...!' replied Suzie.

Chapter Two - Ullapool

'The Lewis Cheesemen Unmasked' read Paprika.
'Chessmen, not cheesemen!' corrected Suzie, as the mice began to explore the eccentric b&b in Ullapool. 'It's about the chess pieces found on Lewis!'
'If we got - er - enough TweedyMice together, we could play chess!' pondered Paprika.
'How many, cleverclogs?' asked Suzie.
'Er... four rows?'
'It's 32, actually,' supplied Victoria, knowledgeably.
'They'd be running around everywhere!' said Suzie.
'Especially,' added Paprika, 'if we used the little baby mice as prawns.'
'Pawns, I think,' corrected Victoria.
'Hey, he's eating biscuits!' exclaimed Suzie. 'Are they cheese?'
'No, he couldn't find them!' replied Paprika.
'Hee hee!' giggled Victoria. 'I wonder why!'
'Victoria,' hissed Suzie. 'Wipe your whiskers - you've got crumbs!'
'Ooh, crumbs!'

'There's lots to explore here!' said Victoria. 'Let's see what else there is!'
'There's lots of books!' said Suzie, as they ran along the shelves.
'Ooh!' exclaimed Victoria. 'That's tall!'
'I think it might be ivory!' observed Suzie.