“ Meanwhile, we have time for another lesson, Lester,” Nogdorf said. “Let’s go for a little walk.” Their walk took them through the thickest part of the woods with lots of brambles. Pretty soon they came to a lovely creek. The breeze coming off of the creek helped to cool them down during the heat of the day. Nogdorf bent over and picked up a white mushroom that looked a lot like a cauliflower. He said, “Pick any mushrooms that look like this.”

  Lester complied, picking a few mushrooms. “Why are we doing this, Nogdorf?”

  “This is a mushroom that will help Lily with her problems. It helps regenerate the myelin sheath and restore damaged nerves. Lily has been showing signs of Alzheimer's and this will be just what the doctor ordered for her.”

  After another short walk up a beautiful flower covered hill, they arrived at a hollow tree that must have had a 5 foot circumference. Nogdorf went up to the trunk and knocked. He knocked again and the door opened to an old boar and what a strange sight she was. Lily had her underwear on her head for a hat and was wearing a silk pajama shirt and an old-fashioned hoop skirt. What a combo. She had a confused look on her face and asked who they were and why they were there.

  Nogdorf said “We have come to fix a meal for you.” He went straight to the kitchen, asking Lester to follow him. So, we will tear strips off of the mushroom and fry it up. It is really very simple. Pay attention.” They fixed Lily her food (medicine), both taking a turn to work on it. Nogdorf had fixed enough so that they could put the extra into leftover containers for Lily for the next week. They took Lily her food and instructed her about the next few days’ medicine and then headed back the way they had come.

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  Lester asked Nogdorf, “What will she do when she runs out of medicine?”

  Nogdorf explained, “We will return and repeat the process. This is not an instant healing process. It will take her some time before she is well again. This takes great patience and will be a good lesson for you to practice on.”

  Little did Lester and Nogdorf suspect that the dark creatures were even now moving toward their garden. They arrived first and finished up for the night before the dark creatures arrived. Lester eagerly left for home to try the cookies on his wife and to see if she would sleep through the night. Nogdorf left for home and curled up on the recliner with a martini and turned on star trek to relax.

  The dark crew heading toward the garden consisted of Sneaky the copperhead, Corrigan the wolf, Bobby Bear and Ronald Rifferty, the rat. When they got to the garden, they started setting up. Corrigan had changed Sneaky and Trouble’s recommendation of attacking at night and decided to attack first thing in the morning. Ronald began chewing on the rope they needed. Bobby set up a camouflage, making him a part of a large tree. Corrigan did some scouting and Sneaky dug himself a hole to hide in.