A Fistful of Litter

Two unnamed strangers, escaping the brief hail storm and the jurisdiction of Northolt after their exploits in neighbouring Greenford, arrived at the little town of Sudbury Hill. There, they found two families vying to gain control of the town: Friends of Grove Farm and LAGER Can. The Strangers decided to ally with both families by demonstrating their speed and accuracy with the litterpickers to both sides. Unfortunately, there was a shortage of litterpickers and litter bags.

Mike of Grove Farm, staying on the West Side of the lane stretching between David Lloyd and Sudbury Hill Station, had a cunning plan. He was going to break into Fort Container where a bunch of litterpickers and bags were stored but he couldn't figure out the sequence of the safe's lock. Without the litterpickers, a few new people who came today to join the Grove Farm family couldn't prove themselves. The two Strangers decided to run to the other side of the lane.

On the way, they met the third of their kind, the Masked Stranger. The two convinced her to go with them as they recognised that she knew the litterpicking craft and was fast on the draw. Three Strangers arrived at the East Side and met Cathy of LAGER Can and her dog Minnie. Cathy wanted to clear the whole lane of scum but she was on her own, and Minnie was deaf, part blind and couldn't hold a litterpicker in her paws. Cathy pulled out a spare, short litterpicker hidden in her stagecoach and gave it to the Masked Stranger whose picking skills were supreme.

The leader of LAGER Can had a good amount of litter bags. The redhead Stranger seized the opportunity and sprinted with Cathy's bags to Anna of Grove Farm on the West Side and shared the treasure, then ran back to the East Side. While the Grove Farm family, armed with LAGER Can bags and the litterpickers eventually retrieved by Mike, progressed to the East, the Strangers worked with Cathy on her side of the lane. They collected bagfuls of litter, especially metal cans and plastic and glass bottles, most retrieved from the thorny bushes along the road. Cathy wanted to keep that litter separately as she planned to build fortifications on the East Side, using the bags full of recycling materials.

When the Grove Farm family reached the East Side, the fortifications were up and none of the families had any ammunition - the lane was cleared of rubbish, so there was nothing left to pick up. The two families pledged peace, dropped their litterpickers and even sang Happy Birthday to a young, new Friend of Grove Farm. Two of the Strangers, seeing the positive influence of their actions, left the town and let the allied families work together to bring order to Sudbury Hill. The Masked Stranger stayed in the town to continue supporting Grove Farm and LAGER Can in their joint mission.