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fredag den 23. oktober 2020

Words for Wednesday - 21 10 part 2 - Journey to Unicorn Island

   From the words and phrases we were given for Wednesday I used the ones with a line through them in the list. (Psst, what's the correct English word for this Kkkkk?) Another way of saying that I still have Hypothesis, Calf and Goody two-shoes left over.
  I'm not sure what to do about
Goody two-shoes, for even after googling, reading and thinking, I'm not sure, I understand the meaning well enough to use it.

thanks
preparation
hypothesis
gradual
island
calf

     and/or one or both of the following phrases:
short end of the stick
goody two-shoes


Susan enjoyed the train ride to Grandma's train station. It was a long ride, each half took more than an hour, and then she had to change trains at the Central station in Copenhagen. During the trip from Elsinore to Copenhagen Susan ate all her sandwiches, and drank the juice. Then she went out into the narrow corridor, pulled down the window and put her face into the wind. She felt the regular heart-beat like rhythm of the train beneath her feet, saw fields being harvested, cows grazing and followed the dizzying up and down of the power lines along the track.

The second train, was the one going to Germany. It was exciting, because at least today some of the rail cars were German. Only one of those was second class without reserved seats. Susan climbed aboard. The ivory and red coloured trains were quite different from the normal Danish red ones, looking a bit like a circus caravan in Susan's eyes. In the German train she pulled up all the tiny tables hidden in armrests and under the windows as she was all alone in the compartment in all she found six small tables hidden in the compartment. One for each seat. She had fun folding them out and back again. At the next station a family of three entered her compartment. She sat down at the window, ant pulled out the tiny table by her seat. Then she wrote and drew in her diary until she reached her destination. She carried her suitcase down the corridor, hustling and bustling with strangers all trying to get on and off the train. Finally she succeeded in getting off the train by following closely in the wake of a very fat man getting off there as well. She found the bus to the island, it was not departing quite yet, so she sat down her suitcase next to the post with plans for departure, and walked around for a bit.

The bus drove through the town, and doubled back after reaching the old paper mill, then it left the town, Shops and bigger houses gave way for farmhouses and smaller villages like the one Grandma lived in. Gradually all the other passengers got off and when they crossed the bridge to the Island, only Susan and two elder children, brother and sister were left in the bus. The two got off at the next stop after the bridge and Susan was all alone. The bus rode along over the dam, where Susan felt that the driver got very close to the water, driving another way than the one Dad normally chose. Susan felt a bit lost, but in the end the bus swung left into the known road, sand Susan recognized the place where she once brought a miniature grandfather clock for her home made doll house. Not much later the bus arrived at the last of the bus stops. Susan was happy, she was beginning to feel a bit green at the gills. The bus driver asked her if she was all right, as no-one was at the stop to pick her up. "Yes," Susan answered, "I've been here many times before. I know the way, but thanks a lot for asking."
She picked up her suitcase and began walking away from the bus stop towards The Magician's House. Where was Heidi? She had promised to be at the bus stop. True to her word Susan knew the way. and walked on in the balmy Autumn afternoon.
As she turned a corner in the road, she saw a small, dark moving figure at the end of the road. It quickly grew larger, split into three, and then Susan could recognize Heidi, Tage and Lis who came running towards her.
"I'm so sorry," Heidi gasped, "Aunt Jemima arrived, and she ... " Heidi had to stop and catch her breath. "She's intolerable," Tage continued, "going on about our family all the time. Her hypothesis is that the more ancestors you had, that were wizards or witches, the better you are."
"We're going to prove her wrong by having you call every mouse from two kilometres and more into her bed," Heidi said laughing so hard that she had to stop from lack of breath once again.
"I think it's hopeless!" Lis said. "Even if you called a calf right up to her in the middle of a big town she would still only see what she wanted to."
"And she kept us for so long. We had to dress properly, shoes and all for to pick you up at the bus stop," Heidi said indignantly. "We could not run around as peasants' children was her words. I don't give two hoots about my ancestors, or yours," she said, hugging Susan tightly. "Just you take care and do not let yourself be fazed by her attitudes."
"I won't," Susan promised. "But I won't take it lightly if I do not pass the exams given us the next days. Do you know any more about which subjects and when?"

... to be continued.

4 kommentarer:

  1. I do love train trips and particularly liked your metaphor about the heart beat of the train. (Indeed trains are the only mode of transport where I don't get sick.)
    Sadly too many of us have an Aunt Jemima in our family tree. Perhaps they are there to remind us of people we don't want to become?

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Not a bad reason for aunt Jemimas. Everything is there for a reason, I was told long ago when complaining about pests. I still have not quite absorbed this piece of wisdom.

      Slet
  2. Wonderful descriptions of her trip, and as for Aunt Jemima, there's one in every family.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Yes, it seems there's actually a truth behind those stereotypes in stories and jokes.

      Slet

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