BOOFULS PUPKIN
by
T.J.Hurford
Boofuls Pupkin is a dog. A wild-eyed and very scruffy English dog. A mongrel. He has a coat of long, thick, golden blonde hair that he flaunts and which everyone admires. It will prove to be both his undoing, AND his salvation.
Boofuls Pupkin lives in a house in London. He is the family pet of Samuel and Margaret Trollope and their teenage son, Sidney. Margaret is a paid harlot by trade and Samuel is in the army of the King.
When Margaret dies suddenly, Sidney is told by his Father that he will have to join the army too which will help with the household budget.
Sidney is very upset. A 'Mother's boy', he dreams of becoming a world-famous hairdresser. He runs away with Boofuls and together they travel to France.
Sidney works well and hard as a travelling dentist and barber. Toward the end of their first year abroad, he has saved enough for them to buy a small house with its own shop on the outskirts of Paris and here he continues his business. Gradually though hairdressing takes over from dentistry and unnable to afford models, Sidney experiments on Boofuls before making his creations more permanent as wigs.
Boofuls is mortified, with no command of the language and his hair constantly changing both style and colour, he is a laughing stock of the village canines. They make his life a complete misery with their constant bullying and taunts but there IS a light on the horizon although neither he nor Sidney yet know it.
The Emperor Louis Quatorze, ( The Sun King ), is a thoroughly spoilt young man. At only fourteen years old, he is probably the most important ruler in the world. Louis, however, is BORED. His Advisers and Courtiers; ministers and Civil Servants actually run things for him with word from him here and there. Louis is looking for something that will make his reign special and allow him to outshine his Father from whom he has recently inherited the crown.
Louis has ordered a great palace to be built at a village called Versailles on the outskirts of the capital. It is quite close to where Sidney has his shop and one day, as Boofuls is sitting beneath a Chestnut tree on the outskirts of the village enjoying a brief respite from the near constant bullying, a carriage thunders by. There is a brief image of a young boy staring out at him, a startled look on his face and then the gilded coach and its team of horses are gone. Boofuls starts to wipe the dust off his paws and then, in shocked recognition, realises that today's 'look', which he had not noticed before, is yellow and black stripes!. He looks like a gigantic Bumble Bee. He gallops home.
Louis has it!. Or al least, part of it. He has been inspired by the marvellous dog that he saw the day before. He will dress his Courtiers in wonderful new styles and colours. Without further ado, he goes in search of the dog and its owner.
At the 'salon' of Sidney Trollope, young Louis finds the other part of what he is looking for. Sidney is, to put it mildly, flamboyantly eccentric. He lisps exaggeratedly, flinging his arms about with wild abandon. His clothes are poor quality but violently coloured. He does not cut hair. He CREATES styles. His wigs are confections of dyes and powders with wonderful fantasies nestling in them. Louis is immediately taken with a blue wig sporting a wonderful miniature galleon. He takes both Sidney and Boofuls to the new palace at Versailles and installs them in a large suite of rooms. Sidney is commanded to train the Courtiers to walk like he does with an exaggerated swagger, to design clothes made from primary-coloured silks,satins and bows and to give lisping lessons in beginners, intermediate and advanced classes. The King will, of course, receive private lessons.
Without Sidney Trollope and his wonderful dog, Boofuls Pupkin, the reign of the Sun King would most probably have sunk without trace into the obscurity of history. As it is, Louis is remembered as one of the most spectacular of all Monarchs, but he could definitely not have achieved so much without the help of this interesting young English hair dresser.
Sidney establishes himself with salons in both Paris and London. He is a friend of Kings.
Boofuls Pupkin is the most important dog in France. What he says, goes. The dogs in the village who used to bully him are now in employment. Boofuls holds no grudges!. They are working as models at Sidney's Parisian salon. The chairs in which they sit face huge windows and they have a wonderful view of the city AND the canine population of Paris who come daily to scoff and make faces at them all day and every day.
Without Sidney Trollope and his wonderful dog, Boofuls Pupkin, the reign of the Sun King would most probably have sunk without trace into the obscurity of history. As it is, Louis is remembered as one of the most spectacular of all Monarchs, but he could definitely not have achieved so much without the help of this interesting young English hair dresser.
Sidney establishes himself with salons in both Paris and London. He is a friend of Kings.
Boofuls Pupkin is the most important dog in France. What he says, goes. The dogs in the village who used to bully him are now in employment. Boofuls holds no grudges!. They are working as models at Sidney's Parisian salon. The chairs in which they sit face huge windows and they have a wonderful view of the city AND the canine population of Paris who come daily to scoff and make faces at them all day and every day.
end
copyright. T.J.Hurford 1994.
A more complete version of this will soon be available on my short story blog, oswald's lamppost
A more complete version of this will soon be available on my short story blog, oswald's lamppost
No comments:
Post a Comment