"Over the Top" - a story from the Overground

[GuyBarry]

BRUCE GROVE was walking beneath the railway arCHES, HUNTing for his lost dog.

[The Orange One]

"Why does he find it so easy to get loST? ONE BRIDGE, PARK empty, nobody here? Why?"

His dog was, of course, in the way lost objects are, in the next place he was searCHING. FOR Dawdling in the shadow of a tree was a man we'd almost forgotten, one with a history of animal cruelty and had just captured the lost dog. A man who had tied up several TURKEYS, TREETop high; a man who'd once been fined for intoxicating his neighbour's peacock.

It is one of the men to whom we once bid adiEU, STONily turning away from his imprisoned companions as he escaped jail with minimal sentence - Roy Aloak!

[GuyBarry]

Roy hid behind a BUSH, EYeing Bruce warily. Then his bROTHER, HITHErto unseen, came and joined him. They started sWAPPING stories.

[greatkingrat]

They remembered their local parish priest, CANON BURY, who preached the GOSPEL, OAK walking stick in hand, every Sunday.

[GuyBarry]

Despite moving from Lancashire to the SOUTH, BURY had been an excellent priest. His parishionerS HAD WELL appreciated him.

[The Orange One]

Roy's brother, KEN TONy Aloak, also noted that where Bury had chosen to set UP, MINSTER Abbey, also housed another notable figure from Roy's past.

"I can tell you what he was like, but I can't remember his name off the BAT. TERSE. A PARKa around his torso. Paid off your bet with the peacock. Wes?"

"No, not Wes TACTON. CENTRAL to that episode he was, perhaps, but it wasn't him - I think he's now Wes Tacton-Chalfont these days, after he married his parole officer. It's on the tip of my tongue, something Sicilian."

"So then, not WES T-C, ROY."

"DON!!"

"Yes, of course!"

[GuyBarry]

Bruce overheard the sudden shout and realized that at last he kNEW. CROSSing over towards the bush, he had a plot to HATCH, ENDing the mystery of his dog's disappearance.

[greatkingrat]

The plot involved musiC, ALE, DON, IAN ROAD, AND BARNS. BURY the priest would also play a critical role.

[GuyBarry]

But just then Bruce's elderly father, THEOBALD S. GROVE, arrived on the scene. Travelling from CAMBRIDGE, HE, AT His son's request, had come to help look for the dog.

[The Orange One]

I'm sorry about bringing back some of the old characters, but I miss them. Plus needs must! We do after all have several stations in common with the Tube. We also have Harringay Green Lanes, Walthamstow Queen's Road, Leyton Midland Road, Leytonstone High Road, Watford High Street, Shoreditch High Street, Queens Road Peckham... maybe this wasn't such a great idea.

He'd also brought in some musicians and his groundskeeper (recently fired fROM FORD, as you may remember) Harold WOOD. STREETs around the area were filled with the musicians, who were disemBARKING by the coachload - having arrived from the glEN, FIELD, TOWN and even from the odd cross-Channel ferry.

[GuyBarry]

I'm sorry about bringing back some of the old characters, but I miss them. Plus needs must! We do after all have several stations in common with the Tube. We also have Harringay Green Lanes, Walthamstow Queen's Road, Leyton Midland Road, Leytonstone High Road, Watford High Street, Shoreditch High Street, Queens Road Peckham... maybe this wasn't such a great idea.

[Well, funny you should say that...]

Just at that moment, two familiar-looking delivery men passed by.

"Dudley, remember when we had to deliver that package to those SHEPHERDS? BUSHes all over the place?"
"I reckon they were sheep-sHAGGERS, TONy."
"Could have been. Do you remember what it weighed and how far up we took it, DudLEY?"
"TONS, TONE - HIGH."
"ROADs up there were pretty awful. What was that big animal we nearly collided witH?"
"OX, TONy."
"Where are we going next, DudLEY?"
"TO N. MIDLAND ROAD, it says here. Is that short for North Midland Road?"

[The Orange One]

Ha! I wondered if Dudley and Tony would return. A more ridiculous pair of delivery men I have not encountered.

Meanwhile, back at the railway arches, Bruce's plan was underway. The musicians began to CLAP. TO Northwood they could be heard, and then they struck up a tune, written to ecHO MERTON's latest carnival.

[GuyBarry]

Tony and Dudley were still oblivious to all this.

"Yes, I think it is. Do you remember that pub we went into once with the weird name that sounded like rhyming slang? Up in FINCHLEY?"
"ROAD AND FROG?"

"NA-La-na-la-na!" sang out the musicians. Yes, they were performing a version of the UK's 19th-placed entry at the Manchester Eurovision Song Contest, originally performed by KEN SINGTON, OLYMPIAn-level car park attendant. Tony jumped HIGH.

"AM SPARKling with excitement!" he said, a little poetically.
"Well you can stop all that. After this one we've got to get right across to SOUTH KEN, TONy."

[The Orange One]

The Aloak brothers moved from their hiding spot, leaving the dog tied up to listen to the musiC.

"A-NA-DA-WA!" TERrified wildlife fled from the spot, including Roy's turkeys, as the musicians continued to sing from the Eurovision songsheet. Street vendors were setting up stalls for food and ale as the chorus continued to CLAP. HAM HIGH STREET stalls sell is the best food you can get in London.

[GuyBarry]

Someone had thrown the remnants of a sandwich down and the turkeys started to PECK. HAM, RYE bread and pickle were lying all over the place.

"Right, here's the plan," said Bruce to Theo. "I've codenamed that BUSH 'H'. I'LL PARK myself next to it and get into a CROUCH."

"'H'? I'LL have no trouble remembering that," said Theo.