Words for Wednesday ~ September 13

Today is Wednesday. And this means Words for Wednesday!

This challenge started a long time ago, and now it has become a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.

The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss.
Use all Words, some Words, one Word, or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement. 

-- 🇦 -- ⛸ -- 🇧 -- 🚲 -- 🇨 -- 

In September River at Drifting through Life is supplying the prompts for Words for Wednesday.

Today we had these Words:
Threadbare
Season
Disconnected
Everybody
Unusually
Mysteriously
    and/or:
Excrutiating (I took this to mean Excruciating)
Public
Safe
Gained
Roof
Lucky

A winter scenery in Susan's home town, Elsinore, from the first winter Susan is an apprentice witch. Not much magic in here, but if the words are right next Wednesday, something is sure going to happen.
As always the not-magical parts are autobiographical.

The threadbare fabric in Susan's trousers were almost at the breaking point. It was always like this at the end of the winter season. She had been skating and sledding in the great park almost every day. In the short winter days she was in a hurry to make the most of it. As soon as she came home from school, she put on her skates, sweater, mittens and muffler, and then biked to the part of the great park-like area that was flooded each winter. There she just threw her bike next to the lots of other bikes on the brink, pulled off the skate guards and put them on the rack of her bike and had fun on the ice. But soon, far too soon, the lamps turned on, and it was time to bike home. As usual, Susan's bike lamps were not very good, and in the slippery snow her dynamo was of no use,. She disconnected it for faster speed. But as she biked solely along lit up roads and her reflectors were in place, she did not care. At home she ate a few slices of bread with a hot mug of cocoa and did some homework until Mom returned and it was time to clear the table for dinner.

At dinner everybody told of their day. Susan asked Mom and Dad if tomorrow when it was Friday and all her friends were going skating in the park until later, she could be allowed to return home later that four o'clock,
"Oh please, Mom," she said, "all my friends are allowed to stay after the lights have come on tomorrow, most of them have a curfew of seven. And I think it is one of the last skating days this winter. Cousin Anna is also coming. May I stay out too?"
"You may," Mom said, "but if you're not home by seven, you'll  be grounded for the rest of the month."
"Thank you!" Susan said. "I will be home at seven at the very latest."
 "Remember to take along a couple of battery lamps with new batteries in them. Your dynamo is no good in the mash along the roads," Mom said, "and you can take the thermos with hot cocoa along."
"Oh, thank you. I will do. I'll go and find some batteries and lamps immediately, so as not to waste my time on that tomorrow."
"Clever thinking," Dad said, a big praise from him.
Linda finished her last bit and said: "I'll have Bente and Karin over tomorrow, if that's OK. The new magazines are out, and there's some make up ideas we want to try out."
"That's fine too," Mom said. I'll be home at around half past four tomorrow. Don't make too much of a mess in the bathroom."
"We'll mostly stay in my room, I think," Linda replied. "Can I take the hallway mirror into my room?"
"Yes you can, and you could ask Dad to bring it up for you tonight, then it's safe."
"Will you, dad, please?" Linda asked. 
Dad nodded and rose. "I can do it now, wile your Mom brews the coffee."

The crate with battery lamps was unusually messy, it took a long time for Susan to find a white and a red cover, bulbs and lamps that fit together.
"If you can't find any red lamps you can take some of the red paper from the sardine tins to wrap around one of the white ones," Mom said.
"Is that even legal?" Susan asked.
"I doubt it," Mom answered, "but better than two white lights confusing the cars."
Mysteriously this made Susan and Mom both laugh out loud.

The lessons next day passed excruciatingly slow. But finally the last bell rung. Susan hurried home and put the milk to boil while dressing with an eye on the pot. Milk always boils over when you're not watching. As soon as it boiled, she poured a bit over the cocoa drink powder in the thermos and shook it to dissolve the powder, then she filled up the thermos. She debated with herself whether to bring her magic wand or not. On one side she was not allowed to wear it in public places, and she was not sure she could keep it safe, but on the other side it was not safe at home with her curious sister and her friends either. In the end she decided that taking it along was the better course of action.

She then cleared out her school-bag, put in the thermos, the battery lamps, a spare pair of mittens and her wand. She hung it on the bag hook on the rack and secured it with an end of twine. Then as an afterthought she put her winter boots in the bag as well.
Biking along the long road leading off the main road to the park she spied a girl biking in front of her.
That top hat, Susan thought to herself, and those long braids. It just has to be cousin Anna.
Susan pedalled faster and gained on the girl. Soon she was within hollering distance and called: "Anna, please wait for me!"
It was Anna, who slowed down waiting for Susan. The two girls biked together the last half kilometre. Anna told that her curfew was at seven, same as Susan's.
"Oh, your mom did allow it," Susan said. "Then I did not lie when I said that you were allowed ..."
"I said the same to my mom," Anna said laughing.
Then the roof of the girl scouts' place could be seen over the treetops, Anna and Susan turned right into the park, feeling very lucky to be allowed to stay out for so long this evening. 

Drawing of a battery lamp -- Nefa-lamp -- from here.
All the bottom part is just a battery case with a fixture for a holder on the bike.

And the red and translucent tops (the white one is more opaque than the ones I remember) from here. Tightening the tops turned on the lamps.