Chapter Six

                                                                                                                         CHAPTER SIX


    Entering Saturday, I headed straight for the tall metal building with the smoking chimney that I had happened upon last year and where I had first met the town mayor assisting the building’s owner, a man named Tinny Tim who was a metal fabricator.
I rapped on the door and let myself in to see the large, burly man, with his curly black hair, fastened into several braids with bits of tin and wearing his tin apron, visible through the window of a door behind the front counter. 
I pushed through the door to see that he was working on a large metal sign, outlined with lights.  The sign read,
                                                                ‘Live the Shelf Life in Saturday!
                                                A Place for Everyone and Everyone in Their Place! 
                                                                            Grand Opening!’
Tinny Tim looked up and a big grin spread across his face.  “Hey there!”  He shouted.  ( Tinny Tim shouted everything as he was hard of hearing due to all of his years working around machinery )  “Looking for the Mayor are ya?” 
“Hello Tim!  Yes, “  I replied, speaking clearly so he could get what I was saying “but first I was hoping to find you, which now that I have, I’d like to know if you could help me with something?”  There was an item I hoped he would be able to make for me as a gift for someone else I would be visiting later on in the next town over. 
I pulled a sketch of the item out of my bag and showed it to him.
He nodded enthusiastically as I explained what it was and who it was for. 
Just then the sound of a door slamming shut came from out front and a second later the wild, red haired head of Pree Thigs tromped into the back room to join us. 
Pree stopped short and exclaimed “Ay there!  That you Smudge?  ‘Bout time you showed back up!”
“Hello again Mayor Thigs!  And yes, I’m back, but it’s Smidge.  Justa Smidge.”
“No, I think it was Smudge the last time.”  Pree argued.
“It is Smidge, Pree, I think I would know.”  I corrected.
“Are you sure about that?”  said Pree, raising her eyebrow at me “I’m rarely mistaken and I’ve always had a knack for remembering names as most government officials do, so logically, it’s more possible that it is you that’s got it wrong.”
“That I’ve got my own name wrong?”  I asked.
Pree turned away from me then to examine the sign Tim was working on.
“Wow, Tim, looks great!  When can ya have it up?  Just lookat that sign Smudge, it’s the finishing touch on my latest endeavor to improve the town.”  Pree pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and began wiping a bit of grease from the corner of the sign.
“It’s finished now, Mayor.  I just finished wiring up the lights.  I can have it up in front of the building by the morning.”  Shouted Tim.
“That’s what I like to hear!  If you didn’t already have yourself a fine tin mansion right here, Tim, I’d offer you half price for one of the new units in trade for all of your hard work!”  Pree shouted up to Tim’s ear, standing on her toes.  Pree Thigs was still just a young girl and a short one at that, even if she was Mayor, suit with tails and all. 
At her mention of payment for Tim’s work, I dug into my bag for the tin of fresh cinnamon buns I’d packed to give Tim for making the object I’d just discussed with him. 
Immediately taking the lid off the tin, Tim flashed me the biggest grin yet before taking a huge bite out of one of the sticky buns, then forced a muffled “’S’good!”
“I’ve brought something for you as well Mayor.”  I said turning to Pree and handing her a flattened top hat.
She took it from me looking at it curiously.  “What is it?”  She asked.
“Give it a shake.”  I instructed.
Pree shook the hat in a downward motion and it popped out into it’s correct form.
“Aha!  A top hat!  This is just what I need to complete my outfit for the grand opening!”  She shoved the shiny black top hat I’d encircled with a pink satin ribbon on top of her head, frizzy, red curls sticking out around her ears and neck. 
“It also makes you look taller.”  I complimented which put a smug smile on her face.
“C’mon Smudge, let me show you the new addition to the town!”  Pree pushed open the door and sidled out onto the street.
“I never really liked playing with dolls much as a young girl, Smudge, but one thing I could always appreciate about them is they get on quite happily in very small houses.”  Said Pree, guiding the way down the street and over to a large, square shaped metal building.  She stopped in front of a set of double doors.  “That’s how I came up with me new idea for housing more people efficiently.  We’ve just finished construction and our first tenant moved in yesterday!  Come, I’ll introduce you’se two and show ya ‘round.  I checked on him this morning and he seems to be settling into the shelf life quite nicely.”
I followed Pree through the doors into a large warehouse type building.  All of the walls had floors set into them at different levels, like giant shelves and small staircases connected them to each other at the corners.  Pree walked over to the first set of stairs and pushed a button on the wall attached to a small speaker with the number one on it. 
“Nick.  Nick are you home?”  Pree spoke into the speaker.
A crackle came back a moment later and a man answered “I’m here.  Did you forget something?”
“No, Nick, I’ve brought someone to tour the units and thought you might want to come meet her and tell her how you’re enjoying the new shelf life?”  Pree explained.
“Oh.  Yeah, alright.  Be right down.”  The man said.
Pree adjusted her new hat and leaned back on her heels.  “What do you think?  Folks’ll move on in and live on these different shelf units within this building, saving space all over town and we did it all with metal!”
“Well, “ I started but was interrupted by a small, skinny man appearing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Ah, Mayor Thigs.  I was just finishing my unpacking.”  He said
“Smudge, this is Mr. Nicolas Knack.  Everything still working alright Nick?”  asked Pree
“Uh - It’s Smidge, Justa Smidge” I corrected “and it’s nice to meet you Mr. Knack. “  I held out my hand which he shook lightly.
“Um, Nice to meet you too, yes Mayor, so far everything is ok.”  Turning back to me he elaborated “I’ve just moved in yesterday. Seeing as I don’t need much space, these new units Mayor Thigs has built is perfect.  If you’re on the small side.  You look on the small side.  Might work for you.”  Nick tilted his head looking me over.
“I’m not looking for a new residence at the moment but it does look like Pree has put a lot of work into these new homes.  What has brought you Saturday Mr. Knack?”  I asked.
“Uh, well, my job mostly.  I sell vacuums.”  Answered Nick.
“Vacuums you say?  Well, I can think of at least one person in need of a good vacuum here in Saturday.”  I replied, remembering the state of Pree Thigs house inside a hay stack.
“What?  Don’t look at me.”  said Pree gruffly. “Vacuumin’ don’t agree with me asthma.”
I choked back a laugh.  “Well, Mr. Knack, I wish you luck in your work, perhaps the new residents here will make good customers for you.”  I turned back to Pree
“What’s the total amount of units?”  I asked.
“There are eleven in this building.  Three on each side except the front which has two and the main entrance in the middle, leaving the center of the building for a courtyard, which we’re still working on.  Bedrooms are all on the top shelf, living areas in the center and bathrooms and kitchens on the bottom floor, keeping all of the plumbing at the bottom as well.”  She explained pointing at the different levels. 
“If you’ll excuse me, ladies, I have a pot on my stove for a little dinner and need to get back to it, maybe I’ll see you again Miss Smidge.  It’ll be nice to have a neighbor in this building to blame the creaking and other strange noises in the night on.  For now I’m afraid I place all of the blame on my gold fish to ease my mind.” He gave a weak smile before jogging back up the stairs.
As we walked back outside a thought occurred to me.  “Pree!  I’ve just had an idea!”  I said excitedly.
Pree stopped and tilted her head to look up at me.  “I don’t know that I like that Smudge.  You havin’ ideas.  Not in Saturday.  Not after the whole leather incident.”
“Leather incident?  I didn’t have anything to do with any leather incident.”  I said, confusion written on my face.
“Of course you did!”  Pree snapped back “Was your fancy leather boots you wore last time that set me off to making all those plans for leather houses and did you know?  Leather comes from animals Smudge!  Animals!  And the cute ones too.”  Pree glared up at me her fists clenched at her sides.  “The CUTE ones!”
“I didn’t...”   I started but Pree cut me off.
“Course I didn’t have a clue ‘til I contacted some folks in the leather business with my order all ready.  It was them that told me the specifics. 
When I found out, of course I lost my temper, which got me asthma all riled up, next thing Tinny Tim’s callin’ ol’ Doc Pinion to come settle me down and get me breathin’ right.
Then what was I gonna do?  No plan B’s for me Smudge!  Aw, those leather folks, when they heard my struggle, suggested sumthin’ called pleather.  Pleather Smudge.  You ever heard of pleather?”
“It’s Smidge and ...”  She didn’t let me finish.
“Turns out that’s only good for arm chairs and pants.  Why in this great big world would anybody come up with sumthin’s only good for arm chairs and pants?”  Pree squeaked.
“I’ve often wondered about the reasoning of pleather myself Pree.  Now, I assure you, I never intended for you to make any plans regarding leather or pleather but I do think you’ll like the idea I’ve just had!”  I said, finally able to get a word in.
“Lay it on me.”  Said Pree flatly as she examined the trim on one of the windows to the warehouse.
“Gnomes!”  I exclaimed.
Pree turned toward me looking at me like I was an annoying little sister.
“Your idea is Gnomes?  Nobody’s idea is Gnomes Smudge.”
“Now just listen”  I held my hand up “I’ve just come from the Gardens of Gnome and they’ve all been forced to the outskirts to live in tents due to the giant mole problem.  Plus, the gnomes are not at all very tall so they would be a perfect fit for your new shelf life houses and it would give you more business!  It’s almost perfect!”  I explained
“See, you said almost perfect.”  stated Pree “I only consider perfect ideas for my town.”
“Oh Pree,” I groaned “You will learn as you get older, nothing is ever perfect, now, the reason I said almost is because the gnomes are gardeners so I don’t know that they’d be happy just sitting about on a giant shelf but if there were land near by that they could use to grow all of their produce, why then they could make a living as well and provide wonderful food for the town!  Just tell me you’ll think about it Pree.” 
“Hmmph.  I do like to up my numbers so ... I’ll think about it.” Pree replied skeptically.
“Wonderful!”  I exclaimed happily feeling relieved on the inside to have found a possible solution to the gnomes problems. “Now, I must get back to Tinny Tim and see if he’s finished with the item I’ve asked him to make.” I patted Pree on the top of her new hat, tilting my head to admire how well it suited her.
She glared at me sideways for a moment and reached up and adjusted the hat.  Then she smiled.
“Roight then!  I’ll leave you’se to it Smudge.  Got business of me own to tend to!”  She tromped off down the street in the opposite direction.
I turned and went back to Tinny Tim’s metal shop and found him inside, polishing up the metal object and holding it to the light.  He turned and smiled when I approached and handed the object out for me to inspect.
“This alright?”  Tim shouted.
I turned it over in my hands.  “It’s perfect Tim!  I thank you so much!  I think this will work quite well.”
He beamed back at me.  “You come on by anytime you need somethin’ outta metal now okay?”
“I will sir, it was wonderful to see you again!  I’m off to Sunday now, goodbye!”  I waved and headed out the door and down the street, passing all of the odd little houses I remembered from my last trip here.  Houses made of piles of brambles, houses made of tin, a few out of crumbled looking stones and of course a couple of houses in the distance made of stacks of hay, one I knew to be the residence of Pree Thigs.  Odd little places but it did tend to make the town have a cozy feel to it.  A friendly feel and I liked it.  I hoped maybe someday soon someone would be able to talk the gnomes into liking it too and that Pree would take my idea seriously and they could make Saturday their new home.
At the end of the street I passed under the arch way that was the exit to Saturday and the beginning of Sunday, where the street turned into a little dirt path that began winding up into the grassy, flower topped hills.