The party was pretty good that night but there was something missing. The drumming went on and on the frenzy bubbled and boiled. The women were getting the itch scratched and the scratchers were willingly scratching. The Cheese scratched Jo and Vickie, and Joanne cut a deal with them and got scratched too. Kurt and his Big Stick was in great demand. There was still something missing. 'Oh well,' thought the Cheese, 'I'll figure it out in the morning.'

In the morning the drummers came to the tipi and cornered the Cheese. "We need some drums. The hollow log is splitting. When you go the the Coots, see what you can find, please."

"Sure, I'll give it a good looksee. Who knows, I might find a trap set."

That brought out a good belly laugh.

"Seriously, what kind of things would you need."

"Metal hoops, hi strength plastic for heads, metal hooks to fit the hoops, good strong rope, but small in diameter, oil drums, small grease drums. Things like that. Hollow things we can convert. If you find metal cylinders we can cut them in half and make gongs. Bells, whistles, hardwood dowels, copper or stainless pipe for windchimes or flutes..."

"Whoa, you're all going!" exclaimed the Cheese.

And so it was. The drummers went, the Vegans went, the Kid went, too. "I want to see that old coot and give him a piece of my mind!"

"I'm coming too," said Two Voices. "Who knows what we'll find."

A gen-u-wine excursion took off for the village, three carpets, two mats, and a huge flying sled, piloted by none other than the Two Voiced One. "I have a few tricks for the Coot."

The kid was disappointed, the old coot was lying crumpled in the middle of the village road, dead. He was covered by the third mat. Every thought of drums was dropped! An immediate search was instituted for Carol and Auntie Beck. Every house was ransacked but no girls. Finally, the Kid said, "I know!" and off he went to the mineshaft. Sure enough, in one of the locked rooms off the main chamber were Carol and Beck, a little worse for wear but basically undamaged...although Beck thought she might be pregnant. "He didn't come back yesterday and we thought we were going to starve to death in there. What happened to him?"

"It looks like he tried to fly the carpet," said Two Voices, "and it took him for a ride and bucked him off. I expect it would have sent out a signal tomorrow."

"The carpet can do that?"

"If you're not entered in the computer it protects itself."

"How did you get caught," the Cheese asked Carol, "I'll bet he tricked you."

Carol explained, "We came in low over the mountains because of a smoky fire, there was a signal fire in the middle of the road, I came to help. The next thing I remember is waking up, tied up and that evil old coot raping Beck."

"See if we do that again," interjected Auntie Beck. "The next time we'll reconnoiter first."

"We have a surprise but we should wait until it's time to go," said Carol. "And I'm not telling!"

The Cheese delegated a burial party, even though the kid wanted to just haul the old coot off to the woods. "The animals will do the dirty work for us."

They re-ransacked the houses and garages, found metal hoops, hi strength plastic, metal hooks, good strong thin rope, oil drums, small grease drums, metal cylinders, hardwood dowels, copper and stainless pipe, a snare drum, a couple of doumbeks, all manner of shop and garden handtools, scrap sheet metal, a welding torch kit, a lathe with a burnt out motor, miles of copper wire, nails, rebar, concrete in bags, garden tools, explosives, oil, three bicycles, two tricycles, a heavy duty hand wagon...and three guitars, a really good classical with a hardshell case, extra strings and a tuning fork. A Martin Dreadnought look alike, and a thin f hole hollowbody. They found two Violins, flutes, a bassoon, a couple of harmonicas...real instruments.

The Cheese looked at the classical and said,"Ah, Music, sweet music. Sweet Music filling the air, people swaying, music playing, and dancing in the sheets! That's what I've been missing."

"Time to go. Lets blow the tunnel to the lab."

Carol exclaimed, "Wait! I need to get out my surprise," she ran into the lab, went into one of the rooms and brought out a basket of seven kittens and a mother cat. "I've been missing my cat!"

"Kittens means a Tom here somewhere."

"Ayup!"

"Now, There's a story."