A Tale of Two Pixies – Vol. 2

By Jim Arbery

The threat to humankind is not from artificial intelligence.

The danger, for us all, comes from human intelligence, and the belief that we know best.

When a stone falls down a well and there is no sound, we assume there must be an answer to that puzzle worth knowing about.

Why is there no sound, do you think? And does it really matter?

Just asking...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9781035852734

Jim Arbery

From what we know about Jim Arbery, most of his material comes from discussing life in general with us pixies, that’s why the following story makes sense. And he doesn’t smoke that green stuff, but he does tend to blow off steam sometimes. Apart from that the author is almost normal.

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Dedication

For Anita, Jane, John and James

Copyright Information ©

Jim Arbery 2024

The right of Jim Arbery to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781035852727 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781035852734 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

For all those people and creatures who have contributed to my experience and imagination over the years, I say, thank you.

Introduction

If you have the ability to imagine, you may need help or hold the key to another world. The truth is just around the next corner.

For a brief moment in time, the world is not what it is supposed to be. Sometimes, you may wish to be back in what you think is the real world.

The distance between our imagination and what we think is reality is gossamer thin.

The test is, can you fathom which is which?

Background

The following notes are for pixies and people who have not read Volume 1.

The Cast Includes:

Pixies: They live in the world of today, and all that that implies.

Mixie, an ex-pixie regiment member, and is a partner of Dixie, home, Pixie Villa.

Dixie, an ex-pixie regiment member, and is a partner of Mixie, home, Pixie Villa.

Trixie, Chinese pixie multimillionaire, a computer whizz kid and, Embassy Official.

Vixie, a friend and assistant of Trixie, has an interest in gardening.

The pixies work together as a group from time to time, bringing baddies to some form of justice, a controversial and debatable subject.

Also, at times, Trixie and Vixie live at the Pixie Villa.

Marmalade is a companion to Mixie and Dixie. She is a basic cat, with a modicum of intelligence and a large appetite.

Humans: They live alongside pixies, some five degrees to the left of your world.

Tilley, a PA finance advisor to Trixie, is also a secret agent working with the pixies. She has a PhD degree in the magical world of finance and lives in an apartment at Pixie Villa.

Dolly the Witch, a mature woman, registered nurse, reputed to have ‘other powers’. Rides a powerful motorbike and is partner to a person known as the Author.

The Author, partner of Dolly, an aged man, a grumbler, with a bittersweet disposition.

Gil, head of security at the Embassy, associate of Trixie and Vixie, friend of Mixie, Dixie and Tilley, oh yes and Marmalade.

Chapter One

Lockdown Lingers

At the end of volume 1, Covid-19 was sweeping throughout the world with the pixies and their friend, Tilley, going into lockdown at that time. Oh yes, also Marmalade.

The virus with the strange name and its cronies were still working diligently, their objective being to survive and multiply at all costs.

The name, Covid, had become a challenge to humanity who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) understand that a threat to their position as the chosen life form of the universe could possibly be in mortal danger.

Also, widely abroad in the community was, a human confidence and assumption that an elixir to combat Covid would soon put the virus upstart in its place, was taken as a given.

Take that, was the collective human response to the cheeky little bugger!

In the meantime, Covid and its minions moved remorselessly forward, aiming to conquer everything in their path; creating a mucous of mysterious mutations along the way.

So, where was everyone on this bright and sunny day in the age of Covid, and what were they doing?

Well, Tilley’s parents had caught the last flight to the Cook Islands, and were pleasantly marooned in a luxurious form of lockdown.

Gil was presently at the Embassy, plus keeping an eye on Tilley’s parents’ place.

What of Pixie Villa and who were ensconced therein?

Let’s see… Tilley was working from home and continuing to learn about the pixie way of life; never ceasing to be blown away by their constant chatter and antics.

Often, pixie conversation kept her enthralled, plus dipping into stories that Dixie had gathered together in his library, describing past adventures of M and D and others.

What of Trixie? She, with everyone else, was presently taking the air on the back-of-villa sundeck, checking the progress of her interest in a Libyan shipping company on her laptop.

Mixie, on the other hand, was combing through her dictionary, challenging the necessity of certain words in the English language.

Whereas Dixie, as per usual, was reading a magazine.

What about Vixie? Well, everyone assumed that she was closeted beneath her gigantic straw sunhat resting on a deckchair.

While unknown to most, Marmalade was keeping Vixie company under the hat.

It was at this time that Tilley, from her position sitting on the doorstep to the lounge, knew all she had to do was wait a moment or two for a guaranteed bizarre and outrageous pixie interaction to take place.

She was not disappointed, with Dixie saying as he waved his magazine, This is interesting.

With her head still buried in her dictionary, Mixie didn’t respond to Dixie’s remark. Trixie, on the other hand, was tapping and scrolling and she too didn’t break her concentration as dollar signs danced before her eyes.

While, on the other hand, Vixie, not wanting to appear rude, said pleasantly, I am not the slightest bit interested, thank you all the same.

Now, Tilley knew from experience that all the non-interest would not deter Dixie for a nanosecond, as he continued to expound on his newfound information.

Taking a deep breath, he said, Did you know that a scientist in Mangalore has discovered that human tooth plaque gathers more on the right side of the mouth in the southern hemisphere, and on the left in the northern hemisphere?

Tilley bit her tongue, forcing herself to remain silent.

Looking blankly at Dixie, Mixie pursed her lips, blinked, and said, Some words are stupid.

Trixie, on the other hand, raised her head, blinked twice, saying, Libya is a good place to invest.

A small brain in a large cat thought, what is plaque when it’s at home?

It was now, however, that Vixie, her interest aroused, said, Is that the grunge human beings manufacture in their mouth for some horrid reason?

It is, indeed, said Dixie, and what’s more, has made many a dentist almost as rich as Trixie.

There was a long thoughtful pause from the hat before its occupant said, I wonder if that north–south thingy has anything to do with the axis of the earth?

Dixie flicked a page or two before saying, Damn, the answer to that question is in the next edition, but what is it you mean, Vixie, by the axis thingy?

Well, she said thoughtfully from beneath her straw bunker, we know that the earth is not exactly in an upright position, by some 23.5 degrees, so perhaps the tilt has some influence.

I haven’t noticed any tilt, thought Marmalade.

In the meantime, from her doorstep front seat, Tilley held on to her ribs, waiting for the out-of-left-field remark, which was sure to come from one of the pixies.

Sure enough, with a cough to clear her throat, Mixie said loudly, What on earth is the word zygapophysis doing in a day-to-day dictionary, other than taking up precious space?

Nodding sagely, Trixie murmured, with a faraway look in her eye, My shares in that shipping company are making big bucks.

The hat shifted slightly, as Vixie yelled, Can someone please explain to me just what are we talking about?

With a gasp, Tilley couldn’t hold herself together any longer as she said, You lot have got to go on the stage as a group act, with tears running down her cheeks.

A disgruntled, Why? came from the hat, it’s not funny, you know.

It is from where I’m sitting, said a breathless Tilley.

Shush, whispered Mixie. There’s someone at the front of the house.

Tilley hadn’t heard a thing and had never got used to the extraordinary hearing of the pixies. "I didn’t