[Hood and Hy-Jinx walk the road - tinkles are illustrated coming from her bells]

Every step is a tinkle - seven of them to be precise...in fact eleven but the final four are lost amidst the sound of the other seven. Hood is grinding his teeth. Every step is a tinkle. Tinkle tinkle, tinkle tinkle. At his wits’ end, he can take no more, and with a faint murmur and a wave of his hands the sounds stop. Hy-Jinx halts abruptly - in mock shock. She shakes her head, wiggles her bottom, jumps in the air and claps her heals together. Nothing.

“Cool,” she says. “Why not do something about the weather though?”

Hood’s face darkens but he remains silent. They walk on in silence. Hood likes silence.

After an hour Hy-Jynx is at her wit’s end. Grinding her teeth. she can take no more. The silence is unsettling, and so she unslings her mandolin from her back, cradling it in front of her, and as they walk on, she strikes up a tune.

I had bells on my head from the day I was dead

To the time I was twentity-two

But all that changed and was rearranged

On the day that I happened on you.

She pauses for a moment, humming the rhythm, before slowly continuing, strumming the tune and singing in a melancholy voice.

They said he knew magic and oh it was tragic

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The faces he pulled when I rang.

The little ones tinkled on socks that were wrinkled

And the large ones on my hat clanged.

And so now in silence we’ve walked for a mile hence

And all that I’ve heard is the breeze.

And I guess that’s all that I’ll ever hear

Until I fit bells to my knees.

She looks at Hood for some sort of reaction but he stalwartly walks on, unphased. Hy-Jinx continues regardless:

And so if it please you I’ll continue to tease you

Since I’m now bored out of my mind

But your expression’s suggesting this tune it is testing

So I’ll just drop a few steps behind.

Hey, ho along the road we go.

The wind in our faces, the rain on our heads

If this silence continues I’d rather be dead.

Hey, ho along the road we go.

Bu bu duh bu duh ba du badada badada dada da (TWANG!)

Hey, ho along the road we go.

Bu bu duh bu duh ba du badada badada dada da (TWANG!)

..Hy-Jinx continues in this vein...twanging a note from her mandolin every third or fourth step. She can see the effect it is having on Hood; the tension in his shoulders slowly rising. But, an unusual moment of reflection overcomes Hy-Jinx, and she reflects that she’s probably not being perhaps the best travelling companion - perhaps may even be considered slightly annoying - so she slings her instrument back on her back and walks on, peering at the sights of sea, rock, mist and the occasional gull - though continuing to hum gently to herself.

After a few minutes, overcome with an idea she runs a few steps forward to fall back in line with Hood.

“How about a game of I-spy?” she asks enthusiastically.

Hood’s heart sinks.