The Humanimals of Mizzer

Shrinking Soup

Time and time again, we find that the most remarkable adventures and acts of bravery are not done by us Dragons and Dinosaurs indeed not so much by any of the ‘Top-of-The-Food-Chain Kings of the Wild’ but by the small and meeker creatures either herbivorous, domestic or both or otherwise very low on the food chain, Prey Species. It seems more often then not the Small Creatures find opportunities those Greater and Grander do not Beulah’s Adventures should stand as an example to all of us the potential in all Creatures

From the Memoirs of Fossil

Beulah solved every riddle on the first floor, she then went up the stairs and found at the top of the stairs was another different game, touching a case with which one could display various things she discovered the game ‘Creepy Collections’ a few of the shelves would display a few objects that had something in common, Beulah must fill the rest of the shelves with that kind of thing, when shelf had the object she would touch it and it would stay in place, like with Mystery Bins she had to win three rounds to win the puzzle piece.

The rest of it was I Spy Riddles, Beulah solved them, but worried she wouldn’t be able to stay awake long enough...She was also getting thirsty.

And then...As if sensing her wish a mechanical hand came out of the wall with a glass of ice water in its hand, Beulah turned to the Skeleton who simply nodded his head, Beulah drank deep, handed the glass back to the hand which retreated back into the wall.

Finally after getting the last puzzle piece, she went back to the front hall and put the pieces back in place, when she finished the cracks between the pieces of paper healed and the piece of paper was whole once more what’s more her name ‘Beulah’ appeared next the word ‘Dear’ on the note

The Skeleton recited the rhyming message “It’s time to get out. Are you ready now? I wrote this message to show you how. Go to the room with the spider in the ceiling to find a door I’ve been conceiling. Find three books on a shelf with white head. Pull them in this order: Blue, Green, then Red. Skeleton.”

Beulah knew that meant she was to head to the Library upstairs, she went upstairs headed left to the Library pulled the books in the way she had been instructed, and the ‘white head’ statue pulled itself forward and the bookcase swung around revealing a hidden room!

She entered to find the Skeleton sitting at a writing desk, the Skeleton turned to her and said “You read my message I presume...And now you’re in my secret room!”

Beulah noticed the blue wallpaper with pink flowers (The wallpaper was peeling in sections) and the clunky heater under the window...While other rooms in the house had a very Gothic feel...This room felt positively modern by comparison!

“Ready to get back outside? Asked the Skeleton “Go through my window!” The Skeleton waved his hand and said “Open wide...” And the Window opened without being touched.

Beulah looked at the window...It seemed like a Human could fit through it (A Skinny Human) But as a Dung Beetle Humanimal she had a lot more bulk to her body.

Gingerly she poked her head through...Then she did her best to suck in her gut (Not that it did much, Exoskeletons aren’t as flexible as flesh) And tried to crawl through.

For a moment she feared she was well and truly stuck in the window...But then she felt the window frame bend and become as malleable as flesh...It was still tight but she was able to crawl through

‘Is this what it’s like for Mammals when they’re born?’ Beulah thought to herself as she pulled the last of herself through the window

There had been a rope provided to climb down but Beulah didn’t need that she simply opened her Carapace and buzzed down to the ground, the Skeleton followed her down on the rope.

The Skeleton landed in front of her and said “You’ve escaped my house! Well done! But, this game has just begun...”

Beulah’s antennae drooped hearing that there was more?

The Skeleton went back into the house leaning out the front door he said “If you dare to come back in...A new adventure will begin...”

Beulah grimaced ‘A new adventure?’ She thought ‘How many are there?’

Before entering the House again she flew over to the river...She stood on the shore with the chunks of ice gathering on it, the sky was black as pitch but the moon and stars shone brighter than the brightest jewels! Beulah took a moment to soak in the this brightness before returning to the house and she entered the front door.

The front door closed behind her again the Skeleton said “You’re trapped inside my house once more, could there be another door?”

As if on cue, a mouse came through a mouse hole right next the front hole, Beulah couldn’t tell if the house was real or not...Like the other things in the house she detected no scent from it.

“If you want to get out now...” Said the Skeleton “...Go to the kitchen, I’ll show you how.”

Beulah went right, into the dining hall, she entered the double doors into the kitchen

The Skeleton was sitting on a stool, next to him was a recipe card almost as large as himself!

“To get out this time...” Said the Skeleton “...You’ll have to make my favorite recipe...”

He patted the card next to him “...Shrinking Soup!”

The game was the same, solve I Spy riddles and games and a new ingredient would be won.

So once again Beulah started solving I Spy riddles...The location of each riddle was the same but there were new things in the rhyme.

When she got to the Key Cabinet, one thing she had to find was ‘Your Name’ according to the Skeleton, and that was when she noticed her name was on an envelope! ‘To Beulah’ had it always been there and she hadn’t noticed the first time?

This wasn’t the only Riddle that involved her name, when she went upstairs and did the riddle in the chest at the foot of the bed, her name was on the cover of what seemed to be a very old and worn book ‘What the Moon Brought Beulah’ the picture on the cover was a moon with a mouth, nose and eyes and standing before the moon were two little human girls one with blonde hair, one with dark hair...Beulah wasn’t sure what to make of this at first but then she realized why signing the guest book was so important...Her name would be integrated into these riddles! This really was like those fairy tales in books and on TV.”

After finishing the last riddle the Skeleton instructed her to head to the Kitchen to make the soup.

The Skeleton recited the recipe

“Into the pot, six ingredients will go. First pour in four eyes stacked in a row.”

Beulah grimaced “Eyes?!” She finally exclaimed “You do realize I’m not exactly a carnivore...”

The Skeleton began to drum his fingers in an irritated manner

Beulah took the jar with four eyes and winced as she poured them into the pot.

The Skeleton said “Look to the left of the pickled snake. Take that red bottle and give it a shake.”

The red bottle seemed fairly normal, Beulah hoped it was ketchup...Or cocktail sauce.

Either war she shook the bottle and one blob fell into the soup.

“Now you must measure precisely,” Said the Skeleton “a one-pound egg will do nicely.”

Beulah took the brown egg and cracked it...The yolk was green and so was the white...Then the egg shell halves fell in.

Beulah winced, you may find it strange that a Creature that eats manure was disgusted by these things but Beulah ate very good quality manure, plus she was concerned about who or what those eyes came from.

The Skeleton continued “To give this soup some shrinking power, sprinkle in a bit of flower.”

By ‘Flower’ he meant the clay jar with a daisy on it. Beulah opened it up and emptied the ‘Flower’ into the soup, several live flies flew out the jar and flew away.

“Before this soup gets too cold,” Said the Skeleton “Add a pinch of something OLD.”

She saw a large jar with ‘OLD’ on it, she picked it up and turned it around it was ‘MOLD’ she uncorked it and a slimy blob of mold slid into the soup.

“A bit of bug spice and the soup is complete.” Said the Skeleton “Add some caterpillar-nice and sweet.”

Beulah had suspected the Skeleton liked to eat insects seeing bugs on the dishes in the dining hall, but here...And it was caterpillar at that! Caterpillars are child insects! She took the spice jar with the green caterpillar on its label winced and she shook it into the soup.

The Skeleton said “Get the largest spoon to stir the soup, let it boil then take a full scoop.”

Beulah took a giant soup ladle, stirred the soup with it, the soup was even more disgusting than it should be even with all those disgusting ingredients! She poured the slop into a glass bowl

“Now go find a door that’s fir for a mouse...” Said the Skeleton “...Then eat this soup to get out of the house.”

Beulah took the bowl of soup back to the front hall, stood in front of the mouse hole, took one sip of the soup, immediately she started shrinking!

She ran through the mouse hole back outside, as soon as she was outside she noticed she was getting large again.

Once she was large again the Skeleton opened the door and said “You’ve escaped my house again! DO you dare to come back in? There’s still something you’ve never seen, the plans to fix my ghost machine!”