Dream CLXV

A friend of mine and I decided to wrap Christmas presents in the local churchyard.  He decided he was going to play a trick on his sister, so he got various fan memberships for the Funky Winkerbean comic strip, including a stuffed toy called "Horace the Pizza-Loving Pig."  The pig had a rather agonized expression.

I was still wrapping when she arrived.  She was shocked at the prank, believing it was something she did and forgot about.  The pig came with an invoice for $89.

I was still wrapping when a door in the side of the church opened up, and someone came out.  At first I thought it was a zombie, but then realized it was one of the senior priests.  He had on shabby trousers and was largely bald.  He and his assistants started to place Christmas decorations around the churchyard.

Since we hadn't asked for permission to be there, I figured it was time to leave.  Besides, I didn't want to be in their way. 

It started to rain.  I hurried to gather up my supplies, and started bringing some of them to my car.  I could hear the priest reacting when someone told him of our presence there.  "Oh, 'Deliverance,' is it?" he said, referring to me by some private nickname of his own. 

I was returning to gather more of my supplies when I saw him laboriously climbing the hill I was on top of.  I hurried to assist him, but he made it to the top before I could reach him.  He started placing decorations in various preset spots on the hill. 

I went to the bottom of the hill and back toward my supplies, when I wondered if he might fall from the hilltop.  I turned to look back, and he did indeed begin to fall.  I ran back to try and catch him, but he lodged in the mud halfway down the hillside and seemed to be okay.  His assistants rushed to help him.

They carried him back to the doorway.  "He's forgotten he's Scottish!" one of the assistants said.  "He said something nice about Charles, and he usually hates Charles!"

"Charles the king?" someone asked.

"No," I said. "Charles the King was executed at 3 in the afternoon.  This was a servant named Charles, who was executed in the morning, before 9."