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onsdag den 11. november 2020

WfW - 11.11 - Aunt Jemima

In October the prompts are provided by Margaret Adamson, and her friend Sue Fulcher. But they are published at Elephant's Child's blog. Today she has given us two times six words.

Botanic
Gathering
Finger
Port
Canine
Elastic Band

And /or
Department
Prose
Stable
Wink
Chandelier
Pirouette

   And even given two times six words and having an idea, I did not succeed in using even one of the words ... well, there's more story to be told yet. This is of Aunt Jemima, as per title, but also about genealogy. A subject, I do not know much of, but have tried my hand at in the past week. If I have made any mistakes please correct me.

"So you are Susan,"Aunt Jemima said  as Susan and the three wizard children arrived at the Magician's House.
"Yes," Susan replied, curtseying to the lady. She was sitting in a rocking chair, and was not nearly as imposing as Susan had imagined. She was small. Even smaller than Susan's grandmother, and then she was thin, beautiful, and completely white-haired. She was dressed in a black velvet dress with starched, white ruffles and mother of pearl buttons and looked more like an English queen or something from an old painting than an intimidating aunt. Susan had expected something in the style of her own aunt Cleo cheroot and all.
"Please tell me who in your family are the magicians," Aunt Jemima said as Susan had sat down in the sofa.
"My grandmother is, and quite a few others, too," Susan replied quite in accordance with the truth. "I do not know much about my family history. My aunt, who is not a witch because she is too sad, has dabbled in genealogy, but she did not get very far."
"How strange," said Aunt Jemeima. "A sad witch who is not a witch and has no forebears."
Susan whispered to Lis, "What kind of bears?"
Lis bit her lip so as not to laugh: "No, not bears at all ... it's just a fancy word for ancestors."
Thank you. "Susan whispered back.
"Yes, I have ancestors," Susan said. "Just not that many, or rather ..." Susan hesitated.
"Just speak freely, my child," Aunt Jemima urged her.
"Well, my aunt, and her genealogy. She did not get very far. For my grandfather's mother is a gypsy, born somewhere on a country road between Haparanda and Helsingborg. And my grandmother's family - these are the ones where the witchcraft comes from, and there she found my grandma's great-grandmother - and she was a witch. But then she did not get any further, because the parish registers were gone. The rectory had burned in that parish, and with it the registers. It was not long after that fire that it a law was introduced requiring all parish registers  to be kept in duplicate, which may not be kept under one roof."
"It's quite a story," said Aunt Jemima, shaking her white-haired head. "But it makes it a little hard to figure out what kind of witch you are."
"She's a super good witch, Auntie," Heidi said. "She can summon animals as easily as nothing. Susan, could you please summon a few mice so Aunt Jemima can see how good you are at it?"
"I think that would not be a good idea, my dear Heidi," Aunt Jemima said with a nervous glance in Susan's direction. "Cassandra and Kaithan probably wouldn't be thrilled to have the house filled with mice either."
"No problems,"Heidi assured her, "they are used to things like that. We are, after all, children of wizards."
Aunt Jemima took a deep breath, but before she could say anything, Kai came in and said that dinner was served.
The kids did not say very much during dinner. Susan mostly because Kai's full name, Kaithan, made her shake with pent-up laughter every time she looked over at him. Luckily, it eased off a bit during the meal. Heidi and the twins were used to her aunt's visit, and knew from experience that it was better to keep their mouth shut. Their parents did not agree with them on what were appropriate topics to discuss at a dinner table in Aunt Jemima's presence.
While sitting at the dessert, a glorious blackcurrant ice cream, Aunt Jemima asked, "You did not say anything about your father, sweet Susan. Is there no wizard's blood at all from that side?"
"My father, no I do not think so. Oh, yes. There is my aunt Cleo. She predicts people's future, but never for any of her family, in both cards and coffee grounds." Aunt Jemima smiled indulgently. Susan continued: "But I'm not related to her at all. She's married to my father's ... cousin, or was it uncle? She probably doesn't count at all, even though she's very sweet and tough."
"Soon it will be bedtime for you kids," Sandra said. "You have to be wide awake tomorrow. Susan and Heidi, if you tag along, I can show you where Susan is going to sleep."

8 kommentarer:

  1. This is a fascinating excerpt - even without using any of the prompts. I am ignorant about genealogy but didn't detect any errors. A very minor quibble - I think we would tend to say 'She predicts people's futures' rather than future in the singular. And having said that, I am wondering whether I am right or not.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Uh, Future in Danish is one of those words, like milk that can't be counted.
      I tend to singular, as every person has only one future. Like people having a hole in their ears rather than holes, as the latter would mean more than one hole in each ear. Do I make sense?

      Slet
    2. You do make sense, but she predicts more than one person's future which is why I made it a plural. And in one of my ears I have two holes (which is a long story).

      Slet
    3. I have on hole in each ear ... long story too ;) But holes or hole, I think I'll keep the singular. Google even agrees with me giving two hits on " She predicts peoples future" and none for "She predicts peoples futures", whereas "to predict people's future" has ten times as many hits as the plural alternative. Bugger, I think my language has been permanently affected by Margarets words ;)

      Slet
    4. sorry for typos in this. I typed the right spellings into Google ;)

      Slet
  2. Anbd thanks for commenting. I'm always warmed by your kind words.

    SvarSlet
  3. While i do laugh with friends, i do not laugh at them.

    Wonderful story, and i would have to ask an editor or grammar teacher. It seems since you are predicting the future of many people individually, it would be "predicting people's futures," and that "predicting people's future" would mean the future for a whole people group.

    Since i'm no editor or grammar teacher, use what seems best to you, either way, the meaning does come through.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Thank you.

      After having read some articles on the distributive use of singular/plural in this kind of sentences, I'm not much wiser. It seems to be one of theose borderline cases, where both - or neither - are correct. If I ever meet a professor in English linguistics I'll be sure to present this problem.
      In Danish we have the absolute same quandary. Only here with singular being the correct, while people tend to use solely plural when talking and both in writing. And yes, we understand the meaning ;) Luckily

      Slet

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