In a digression leading, somehow, into Chapter CCCXXVI of her epic romance, Oy, Rodney, Violet Crepuscular describes her Halloween. “Let me first digress on the subject of Halloween night in my neighborhood, dear readers,” she writes. “The children in this part of town all have bad teeth. This is why I hand out toothpaste sandwiches to all the trick-or-treaters. I think this is also why they festooned my trees and shrubbery with toilet paper. It seems no one here is devoted to good dental health.”
But to return to the story–
As slovenly Scurveyshire workmen haphazardly labor to replace the roof of Coldsore Hall, two of them tear away the wallpaper in the attic, revealing, to their terrified amazement, a portrait of Black Rodney, the medieval sorcerer whose curse haunts the hall today. “We are able to reproduce this picture, which was painted during the lifetime of its subject,” Ms Crepuscular writes, “and here it is.” 
Summoned to the attic to see it, Lord Jeremy Coldsore is taken aback by the portrait’s astonishing resemblance to the legendary cricketeer, Sir Dorphin Magma, whose bat is enshrined in the Scurveyshire Museum of Cricket Bats. “It was always easy to pick him out of a crowd,” Jeremy confides in the workmen. “And to think he was my boyhood hero!” He turns to his friend, the American adventurer Willis Twombley. “Send for the constable!” he says. “I want Sir Dorphin arrested immediately!” Only then does he discover that the immortal batsman emigrated to Central Asia some twenty years ago and hasn’t been heard from since.
Constable Chumley elucidates, if that’s the word for it: “Yen sorthy mannikin mote a sweeth back when, I’ll frithit.” Jeremy sighs. “That does leave us in a bind,” he admits.
“I think he must of come back, ol’ hoss, in secret-like, and is hidin’ out somewheres in this here vicinity,” says Twombley. “All we gotta do is find him and shoot him. How’s about I round up a posse?”
“With that sallow complexion of his, he shouldn’t be hard to find,” says Jeremy. “We’ll get to the bottom of this mystery yet!”
Here the chapter ends with a police officer knocking on Ms. Crepuscular’s door, accompanied by an angry parent.
Black Rodney bears an amazing resemblance to a fellow I used to work for, except that the employer didn’t have that kindly glint in his eye. Strangely, we used to call him Purple Randy and while he didn’t leave cuss bags about, he did cuss a fair amount. Frankly, I think he could have used some toothpaste rolls to clean up his mouth. 🙂
Ms. Crepuscular is a strong believer in good dental hygiene.
Me too, but I’ve never poisoned anyone for the cause. 🙂
Black Rodney appears to have been dipping into Violet’s toothpaste sandwiches. Look at those shiny choppers!
It might just be a coincidence, but Black Rodney has a very close resemblance to a certain M&M’s chocolate.
That sounds so funny! You handover toothpaste instead of chocolates! Seriously! Very funny!