Coming soon to Whimsey Village: Radio station WHMZ! With the fabulous Quickly cousins as disc jockeys! Political commentary by Mayor O'Brien, recipes and menu suggestions from the local chefs and traffic updates from Officer Quickly!

                                       WHMZ Saves Whimsey Village!
                  Radio station WHMZ proclaimed itself “The Voice of Whimsey”. Often the voice of Whimsey was a crackling noise offset by a high-pitched screech.

[ A quick aside here- the four older Quickly girl cousins had been named as follows: Brooklyn, Savannah, Charlotte and Alexandria. Their mother had continued this trend by naming her last four daughters after cities also. Phoenix, Syracuse, and the twins Niagara and Sacramento.]

    The youngest four Quickly cousins were employed as DJs or presenters at WHMZ. Or as they like to put it “entertainment executives”.  Phee was the head entertainment executive. She leaned heavily towards classical music and junk food trends. Phee prided herself on having introducing the fried “Twiker” to Whimsey Village. A Twiker was a Twinkie stuffed with slices of Snicker bars and deep fried in doughnut dough.  It became one of Mayor O’Brien’s favorite snacks.

   Syra was obsessed with steel drum music and cupcakes. Kristy the cupcake lady was one of her sponsors and frequent contributors. The twins Agra and Acra felt that hard rock and gourmet cooking were a delightful mix, with Acra leaning just a titch towards southern delicacies interspersed with French pastries. The combination seemed to work well.

   The girls relied on their cousin Officer Quickly for a lunchtime traffic report, which mainly consisted of instructions about maneuvering through Whimsey since the roundabouts had been removed. He included an occasional squirrel count; the fierce ones had the tendency to block trolleys. The trolley engineers usually kept bags of nuts to throw and distract the squirrels. This allowed the trolleys to move forward, but also intensified the problem. The squirrels were not dumb. They had managed to get the humans to feed them without the need of purring, fetching or acting like any ones best friend. The squirrels had mistaken a few residents for large nuts and had attempted to bury them. It was an easy mistake to make.  

   Firefighter Quickly was always good for a few fire prevention tips on a slow recipe day. Although he did go on and on about setting crème Brule’ on fire, and the incompatibility of candles and curtains. Good grief, you set one bedroom on fire as a teenager and people will never let you forget it.

 The weather report was usually obtained by sending the O’Brien maid out to the gazebo to see if she got wet, wind blown or sun stroke.  She was a good sort and happy to get away from Mrs. O’Brien’s singing lessons.

   The opening line up that bright autumn day was Syra’s favorite Jamaican music to cook by. Dinner was going to be very interesting in Whimsey that evening.

   The outer door into WHMZ’s studio was suddenly thrust open and Mayor O’Brien burst into the room as only he could. Through the thick glass Syra could see him panting and gesturing wildly. Syra could tell Timmy was very distressed. (The Mayor had briefly courted one of Syra’s older sisters before Mrs. O’Brien decided that she was his intended, but before that had happened, Phee, Syra, Agra and Acra had enriched themselves with many dollars in “just go away” payments.) So figuring that she probably owed him something, Syra put on a long playing rendition of “Put the Lime in the Coconut”, which while not being Jamaican was one of her favorite songs. The end result was a few perplexed housewives, (in the far off reaches where the reception was poor), and some very unhappy Whimsey Village cats.  ( you know, put some lion in the coconut and mix it all up…)

    Wheezing and sputtering Mayor O’Brien finally got out his emergency: The Whimsey Hollow trolley had stalled and was stuck under Halloween Cliff!!!! The mayor’s eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out from fright.

    Syra thought fast. The Count would NOT be happy, the Spring time folk would not be happy and the folks stuck under the cliff would be dis -gruntled.

    “We must gruntle them immediately!” shouted the Mayor as he came to. “Well, I don’t know what you want me to do!” shouted back Syra. “Oh,” moaned the Mayor.”Oh,oh,oh.” He buried his head in his hands and she could hear him muttering about dire consequences, election results, and shuddering spasmodically.

   Syra knew that if Timmie wasn’t reelected he would suffer at the tongue of his mother and his wife, and the village would be under the thumb of the Count Acheron as he took over City Hall.

   Now how do you put a good spin on a trolley full of people stuck in a gloomy cavern growing chillier, damper, and more eerie by the minute?

   

Syra knew there was a radio speaker in the trolley and almost all of the businesses in Whimsey Village. The only exception was Miss Jeri’s Clinic, the mortuary, and the veterinary clinic. For some reason those proprietors felt that WHMZ was not conducive to their ambience, and the hounds had been known to howl at the vet clinic.

     Syra abruptly dashed into the inner studio and stopped the song in mid verse.  “Breaking news” she shouted into the microphone. “ Whimsey Village residents are invited to join the Whimsey Hollow Trolley for the Autumnal Stalactite tour! Then journey on to the Autumn Leaves and Easter Lane! You can enjoy twisted ice cream from Annie’s Ice Cream Delightsand Cupcake delights at Kristy’s and enjoy a special Stacie Spa Day!”

   Kristy heard the announcement and hurriedly decorated dozens of cupcakes with glowing stalactite frosting, Annie swirled chocolate and glowing ice cream and made a sign promoting Stalactite Sundaes.

 Karlie’s party supply filled hundreds of glow in the dark balloons with helium, and Graham’s Toy Store pulled out glow sticks and every imaginable spelunking toy they could imagine.

  Barely 20 minutes passed before the trolley sputtered into life and continued on. Each succeeding trolley would stop for 15 minutes each way under the cave. An astonishing number of Whimsey Villagers rode the trolley that day and purchased stalactite themed goodies.

  Syra saved the day for Mayor O’Brien and for the Whimsey Village Trolley, and the village is already scheduling the next annual Autumnal Stalactite viewing day!