The Hanwellian Hydra

The weed-cher jobs in the winter are scarce. Some monster-plant hunters give up their trade, and others collect scraps to survive. Weed-chers Sevan of Ealing and Kash of Acton found the same commission on the Ealing notice board - to chop off many heads of the Hanwellian Hydra.

The weed-chers arrived at the dwelling of Mrs L, where the Hydra resided. When they forced the stubborn garden gate to open, they were immediately attacked from the air by the pieces of a reed blind that fell on their heads. It would be the first job for them that day - to remove the broken blind that obstructed the entrance and assailed Mrs L's visitors.

Mrs L of Caucasus was a versatile and talented grandmaster of all sorts of things. She used to be a gymnast, a project manager at an international pharmaceuticals company and even a weed-cher! As Sevan and Kash entered her garden, they admired Mrs L's weed-cher skills: a healthy twenty-year-old camellia on the right and two neatly trimmed rose bushes on the left. Because of her lung operation, Mrs L had to give up her long-distance travels and the demanding side of the weed-cher craft.

Seeing that the two daredevils are eager to face the Hydra, Mrs L gave them a choice of weapons. It was a test that Kash failed. The young weed-cher reached for shears but Mrs L advised her to use the loppers instead for their exquisite leverage. Kash should have known that from her previous adventures! Sevan smiled and attended to discarding the broken reed blind at the gate, giving Kash more field to prove (or embarrass) herself.

Mrs L pointed Kash to the corner of the garden where the fearsome hydrangea with many, many heads was terrorising other plants and threatening the safe passage for Mrs L. When the old weed-cher master disappeared in her house, the young weed-cher didn't give the Hydra time to attack and quickly chopped off all the bottom monster heads. Kash approached the other heads with more caution and cut them halfway. When Mrs L reappeared, she certainly didn't consider the Hydra defeated. She told Kash to cut deeper - otherwise, the heads would quickly grow back.

While Kash had a second attempt on the monstrous hydrangea, Sevan picked up a broom and used his whirlwind technique to sweep all the leaves from the path and blind the Hanwellian Hydra so that Kash could use the surprise element to deliver her deadly chops. Mrs L, who had hidden in her house during the battle, came out again. She was approving but still not fully satisfied with Kash's weed-cher craft. The Hydra was still a threat and needed more precise trimming!

For the third attempt, Kash handed over the loppers to Sevan as he was the more experienced foe of all sorts of plant heads and limbs that needed chopping off. His accurate cuts disarmed the ferocious hydrangea completely and rendered her unable to harm Mrs L anymore. In the meantime, Kash decided to deal with a mess created by a pesky fox burglar that broke into the garden, breaking a part of the fence. To be clear, it was the fox that broke the fence, and not Kash.

After Sevan's intervention, Mrs L was finally pleased with the plant-monster slaying job and wanted to reward the adventurers with gold! She said she would love to see them again when the days get longer and warmer to share her plant-hunting knowledge with the new generation of weed-chers.