Screw Pile Developments

Early Morning — The Workshop

Raven was back in the workshop early after breakfast. Daan had been showing him how to make a small hole in each stone for the string. Each stone was held securely in a vice, one by one, and carefully and slowly drilled with a press to make the hole. Daan encouraged Raven to not rush the process. It was exacting work, needing careful concentration and attention to detail, at every step. The one stone that was critical to get right was the red stone from Earth. If it cracked or broke while drilling, or the hole was drilled in the wrong place there was no way to replace it.

Daan picked up the red stone from out of the pile on the bench and examined it carefully.

Raven nodded in agreement. The red stone was indeed special.

Over the next few days, Raven continued to drill through all the stones. It was just as well that he followed Daan’s advice, as one or two of the stones did crack and break while he was drilling them. Eventually all of the stones had been drilled ready for stringing.

Except one. The red stone.

Carefully, for the final time, Raven placed the red stone into the jig ready to be drilled. He had one chance to do it right. The drill came down and slowly bit into the stone, the dust spiralling back up the drill. He held his breath, would the stone break? Little by little he wound the wheel down, until the drill exited cleanly on the underside of the stone. The stone did not break and Raven let out his breath with a relieved whoosh.

All the stones were now ready for the next step, stringing, but for now that would need to wait.

---

Mid-Morning — The Hundeerwagons

The Hundeerwagons were being loaded with the usual chaotic energy that comes from attempting to get twelve boys and three excitable pups all together in the same place and at the same time.

Hamish as usual was glued to Seb’s side.

Seb looked down at Hamish and put his arm around him.

Finally both Hundeerwagons were loaded. The destination was Veldmeer, Grandma had declared that all the boys needed to get some new clothes. The weather had just started to show the first signs of cooling as the long summer days would soon give way to the cooler days of autumn.

As usual, Daan and Marta took charge of the vehicles, but that was not before the need to evict Angus from the driver’s seat.

Daan had presented an alternative reality check.

Angus looked quite put out.

Angus considered the proposal.

---

The Drive — Greyfall Valley

The road from Headwall gently wound its way beside the Grey River all the way down the valley, past green meadows still filled with summer flowers and patches of verdant forest reaching as far as they dared up the sheer rock sidewalls on both sides of the valley. The Greyfalls themselves disappeared from view once they rounded the first bend, but other falls, thin white ribbons of water dropping vertically from the cliff tops, flashed into view; then they were gone again just as quickly at the next bend.

The tall mountains filled the windows, giving way to the sky as the valley gradually opened before them.

Raven watched the Grey River from his window. The same river that had given him the dark grey stones, now polished and drilled, waiting for him on his return.

Lewis tilted his head back as far as he possibly could, looking up at the deepest part of the sky, where the darker shade of blue deepened to indigo at the edges.

He took off his glasses and polished them on his shirt, replacing them and pushing them up his nose.

Seb leaned across Hamish and looked up.

Lewis continued to tilt his head back, just looking.

---

Veldmeer

Daan, leading in the first Hundeerwagon made another turn in the road around a long curve, the treeline broke open and there straight in front of them the town of Veldmeer and the lake swung into view.

The lake appeared still and calm, catching the deep light of the Hundeerde sky. Snow capped mountains rose behind it, dark with forest below. Near the shore, where the Grey River finally let go of the valley and spread itself into the lake sat Veldmeer; at its centre the old town, looking as if it had come straight from a fairy tale. The clock tower rose high above all the other rooftops with woodsmoke threading its way up into the air.

Fergus wiggled around in his seat to get a better view, pressing his nose flat against the window, and making a foggy smudge in the process.

The Clothes

Buying clothes for twelve boys required a certain level of military precision. Grandma Bella decided that swamping the clothes shop keeper with all the boys at once might be a bit chaotic. So she divided them into three groups of four; Grandma Bella would stay in the shop commanding the whole operation, with Grandpa Jake, Marta and Daan rotating four boys through at a time.

All was going well, T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, jackets, socks and then — came the issue of pants and underwear.

Rupert had disappeared into the changing room to try on some jeans. He was in there for quite some time, and Grandma Bella was just about to send in a search party when he nervously poked his head around the curtain.

There was a problem. A certain breezy problem.

Rupert, looking slightly embarrassed, sidled cautiously out from the changing room, holding his hands firmly behind him.

Grandma appraised the fit of the jeans from the front.

Angus curiously poked his head around Rupert’s behind.

Angus waved his tail for good measure.

Grandma Bella enquired of the shop keeper if they had any human pants in stock. Apparently, they did not.

She folded her arms and made an executive decision.

---

The Town

As each group of boys rotated through the clothes store, the others were able to explore the old town a little more. There were more than one or two curious looks from the locals, of course all the town knew that twelve human boys had just come to live at Headwall, but this was their first opportunity to see, and sniff them up close.

The town had the usual shops, but some were very different. The hair groomer seemed to be doing a brisk trade, with fur washed and blow dried, tail fringes trimmed, and nails clipped. Another shop seemed to specialise only in meat products, with a whole wall dedicated to different types of dried jerky. All the chairs in the furniture store had tail holes at the back.

How the Hundel greeted each other was also different. Young pups would caper around barking excitedly, their tails wagging nineteen to the dozen. Adults might rub the other person’s chest and give them a scritch behind the ears.

Some would even…

Far and wide, the local folk were friendly and welcoming, eager to stop and meet the boys and say and sniff hello.

For most of the boys, it was quite the culture shock, as was their lack of tails to the Hundel.

---

Lunch — Lakefront Restaurant

For lunch, they took over entirely one of the pretty lake side restaurants, with tables outside on the terrace, covered in red and white check table cloths.

The special of the day was spaghetti and meatballs in a rich tomato sauce, and sensibly, Grandpa had made a booking with the restaurateur that morning when they arrived and the chef had made plenty to go around.

When the food came out Charlie couldn’t contain his delight—

Hamish took the business of eating spaghetti very seriously, methodically slurping up each strand carefully, one at a time.

In contrast, Angus and Fergus had decided that spaghetti sauce should be smeared everywhere, and they would need quite the clean up at the end of the meal.

Charlie conferred quietly with Samson over the numerous butt sniff greetings they had received from the town’s folk that morning.

Charlie thought carefully as he twirled his spaghetti expertly.

---

Afternoon — Return to Headwall

Back at Headwall, the numerous bags of clothes from the shopping expedition were carried inside to the dining room. Rebecca was ready with black markers for the boys to name all their new clothes on the tags. No one likes sharing underwear, even ones with tail holes.

As soon as Raven was done with naming his new clothes, he was eager to get out to the workshop and find Daan. Daan had promised him that he would show him how to thread, tie and knot each stone for his necklace.

Raven quickly got the hang of how to make the knots in between each of the stones, and the necklace began to grow.

Finally it was done. There was no mirror in the workshop so he took the necklace inside the house and headed for the one place he could be assured total privacy — the bathroom.

With slightly shaky hands he tried the necklace on and adjusted the string.

For a while he just looked. Then he murmured quietly to himself.

A single stone, different from the rest, right in the middle among the grey.

The Red Stone.