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tirsdag den 8. oktober 2019

Words for Wednesday - 2 October -- Susan in Paris

The Words for Wednesday for October is at Elephant's Child's blog. I think she already posted tomorrow's words. I'm hopelessly behind. This little cameo from my childhood was what I could do with the words

curse
petrified
Pogo stick
little
Paris
assistant


And/or

rooster
happiness
immortal
dark
stormy
knights


 Susan was with her family in Paris. She enjoyed her stay, but felt so sorry for all the petrified gargoyles on the roof of the Notre Dame basilica. She felt ever so tempted to un-petrify them, but she had promised both Thora and Gilvi not to use any magic whatsoever in France. It would be too dangerous.
 One of the times it was very hard for her to keep that promise was when the shop assistant kept imploring her to buy a book. She could just not understand enough of what he said to grasp whether he was warning her not to buy he book or contrariwise trying to make her buy it. In the end her Mum bought it and the little assistant was all smiles. Mum's guess had been right. That evening at the hotel while mum and dad took a nap and Linda was busy playing one of her interminable game & watch games, Susan leafed thorough the book.
 It was written in an old font, almost illegible, but with illustrations of gargoyles and gryphons and other strange animals. On the last pages was an index, written larger and with the Latin names in ordinary letters. Suddenly it dawned on Susan. The bestiary was written in German, they used to print books in those funny letters. Now she could read parts of it. Slowly she laboured through a chapter on roosters. It was interesting, but speculative, to put it mildly. When she reached a paragraph on black roosters and immortality she closed the book and hid it on the bottom of her suitcase.
 When Mum and Dad returned, the bright day had turned into a dark and stormy evening. Well girls dad said, as this is our last night in Paris, we've decided to eat at "The 7 Knights". It should be one of the best, most authentic French restaurant around here.
 They all washed and put on their best clothes. The dinner was awesome good. The girls and mum and dad ate a lot of different dishes, not daring to ask what was in them but only enjoying the different tastes, textures and colours. It was pure happiness.
 When they had eaten their way through all the main dishes, there was a break before the desserts were served. Susan and Linda looked at the chef preparing whipped cream in a strange contraption.
 Susan began laughing and said to Linda: "Do you remember that funny cartoon where Gyro Gearloose is trying to whip cream by jumping around on a Pogo stick with a canister of cream strapped to his back."
"Yes," Linda said, "and that contraption reminds me of your red Pogo stick. I see the connection." The girls quietly laughed together.

When we arrived home from Paris, Susan's only thought was the book in her suitcase.
 

And here I stop. I missed one word. Maybe I can sneak it into (hopefully) tomorrow's story.

4 kommentarer:

  1. Ah, did the bookseller recognize that Susan knows magic and wanted his book to go to the right person?

    SvarSlet
  2. Eating strange food without asking what was in them - I'm not sure I would be daring enough but if it doesn't make you sick, it wouldn't be so bad.

    Magic books - yes, why not buy them? I do like the idea of getting a book and finding surprises there.

    Have a lovely day

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. I think no restaurant in it's right mind would serve things to make you sick. But there were for sure some strange items in the table that day. Susan and her family did not speak French, only a few words here and there, but it was all in all a nice holiday.
      And as for magic books - they need the right owner, but then I think most books are actually magic.

      Slet

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