QUAD COUNTERQUAD

It was a dark and stormy night. . The rain came in off the Transylvanian Sea in folded sheets and washed straight down the black stones of the walls of Castle Frankenstein. . Inside his castle, Dr Frankenstein was putting the finishing touches to his preparations – for his daring, some would say fiendish experiment, while his assistant Igor watched closely, his beady eyes darting here and there, missing nothing. . “Ve are ready at last! Brink in der first patient!” . Igor jumped to attention at Dr Frankenstein’s command. Since that unfortunate business at Castle Drumpfenstein, I mean Trumpenstein, he was wary of causing Dr Frankenstein any displeasure. . “Vill that be der Normein, der Charltein or der Rinkeindinkeinstein (Einstein for short) Herr Doktor?” . “Rinkeindinkenshtoon or vhatever its damned name is, you fool! I told you how many times? As it iss der larchest of der three mongreils we have, it vill be der easiest!” Igor brought in a very reluctant hound: an alleged Brittany

THE THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SAGA OF NORMIE By IAN MACDOUGALL The following is a true account of one of those crises in life which we all encounter from time to time, and from which we can emerge with a changed outlook; sometimes but not always ‘sadder and wiser.’ . Normie was not a mere one in a million. He was absolutely unique. That said, I must add that for the majority of our friends, his passing was an occasion to be celebrated with the finest bubbly, and it was generally agreed by those who knew him that ‘we will never see his like again.’ The religiously inclined, with one notable exception, added an ’Amen’ or a ‘God willing’ followed by a short prayer of thanks at that point, and an extra swig of bubbly. The exception was my dear wife Jenny, Normie’s adoring and ostensible owner, custodian, keeper, curator, charge d’affaires or whatever other term might apply, which could include ‘host’ as in the ‘host-parasite’ relationship; or perhaps ‘dupe’ as applied to the victim