The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over as a moveable feast with many participants supplying the Words.
When Delores closed her blog forever due to other problems, Elephant's Child (Sue) took over the role of coordinator.
Now, after Sue's demise, River has taken the mantle of coordinator upon her shoulders.
No matter what, how, where or who the aim of the words is to encourage
us to 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.
This month the words are given by Sean Jeatings and can be found at River's blog Drifting through Life
If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please leave a comment
on River's blog, then we can come along and read it and add a few
encouraging words.
It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.
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.
We were given:
Children
Couple
Emancipated
Fun
Idyll
and/or:
Happen
Just
Moment
Peaceful
Things
Yet another chapter in my story of June, my solitary hero - I used all the words, only not Emancipated
, in the order they were given.
Sanne, Jonah and their children lived in an old two storey house. It had been the home of a couple of peasant families working on the farm from which the plot was taken. Some years ago the house had been renovated and made into a one family house. The old pantry had been made into a bathroom, and the upstairs kitchen removed so that it was just another room. Also the old living room and one more room had been made into one, making a spacious living room with a grand view over fields and meadows. The house was a bit small for the eight-headed family, and Sanne wondered how two families had been able to live there.The garden was big and worn, with a fun old playhouse and idyllic corners with flowers and vegetables growing side by side. Sanne asked June if she wanted some tea. They drank the deliciously hot tea and ate some cookies that Peter, the second son, had mate. The cookies were not perfect rounds, but the taste was fine.
After the tea-things had been cleared away, and Sanne had answered questions about homework from Daniel, Peter - who was also praised for the cookies - and given Andrew a hand with the dishwasher, She and June looked at the transcriptions, June had made.
"You did a really good work," Sanne said, "transcribing a language you do not know. There's very few mistakes, and the sentences are short and repetitive, making it easy to read. It is tough luck for the smugglers that you happened to move into that house."
"So, you also think it's smugglers?" June said.
"Must be. It's some list over goods arriving, only it's meaningless. Let's take one sentence at a time. This one," Sanne said, pointing to the transcriptions from the first night, "says: 'Chives delivered, blue. Parsley will be delivered Thursday. Green.' That just sounds like some sort of code words for illegal substances."
"It sounds like something out of The Famous Five," June said with a timid smile. "But I must admit that I've been thinking of smugglers as well."
"Smugglers?" a male voice asked, making June jump from her chair.
"Jonah!" Sanne said sternly. "You are scaring the living daylight out of our guest, and you frightened me as well!"
"Oh, Sorry!" Jonah said. "I thought you had heard me coming. I was surprised to hear you talking about smugglers. Peter at work (he said this as if it was one name) mentioned something about smugglers. A friend of his is at the police, and they're having trouble with smugglers. International ones, smuggling in narcotics or something. It is not a secret, directly, but also not a ting they want circulated, so please keep quiet about it."
June told of her findings, and Sanne's translations, while Sanne went for baby Jacob, who had just awakened from a nap.
"Just a moment," Jonah said. "You're telling me that you have seen these Morse signals for several nights, and that they translate via Morse and Polish to messages of incoming herbs?"
"That's the core of the matter, yes." June admitted.
"Come with me into the kitchen while I cook some dinner," Jonah said, "and tell me all about it. Is this OK with you, Sanne?" he asked.
Sanne nodded, "Jacob is a bit fuzzy, some quite will be good for him, and it sounds like you two need to compare notes. Sorry to be such a bad hostess, June."
"I do understand," June said. "One of mine was always fuzzy after a nap."
June followed Jonah into the kitchen. It was big and June just sat there waiting,m while Jonah gathered the ingredients, then she went with him into the peaceful garden gathering herbs and picking tomatoes for dinner. "Normally the children helps me," he explained. But right now there's a movie on TV they all wanted to see. And it'll give us a chance to talk things through."
"Well there's really not much more." June said, and then recounted her sleepless spells, the signals from the water and her visit to the big oak tree, and last night's more furious signalling.
"What did it say?" Jonah asked.
"We did not make it to there yet," June replied. But my guess is more of the same. It's a bit longer, but the parsley/chives words looked like cropping up there too."
"You'll have to get Sanne to translate it after dinner, I take it you're staying. Making dinner for one more when cooking for six already is no trouble."
"I'll stay," June said, "and thank you for your hospitality."
... to be continued
* * * * * * * * *
På dansk
Vi fik de her ord til i onsdags:
Børn
Par
Frigjort/selvstændig/befriet
Sjov
Idyl
og/eller:
Sker/hænder
Bare/lige
Øjeblik
Fredfyldt
Ting
Endnu et kapitel i min fortælling om June, min ensomme helt. Jeg brugte alle ordene undtagen Frigjort/selvstændig/befriet i den rækkefælge vi fik dem i.
Sanne, Jonas og deres børn boede i et gammelt toetagers hus. Der havde tidligere været et tofamilieshus, hvor de par boede, der arbejdede på den gård, jorden til huset var taget fra. For nogle år siden var huset blevet renoveret og omdannet til et enfamiliehus. Det gamle spisekammer var blevet til et badeværelse, og køkkenet på første sal var blevet fjernet, så det nu bare var et værelse. Desuden var den gamle stue og et mindre værelse slået sammen til ét. Det havde skabt en rummelig stue med en storslået udsigt over marker og enge. Huset var egentlig lidt for lille til en ottepersoners familie, og Sanne undrede sig over, hvordan to familier havde kunnet bo der. Haven var stor og slidt, med et sjovt gammelt legehus og idylliske hjørner, hvor blomster og grøntsager voksede side om side. Sanne spurgte June, om hun ville have lidt te. De fik en god kop varm te og spiste nogle småkager, som Peter, den næstældste søn, havde bagt. Småkagerne var ikke helt runde, men de smagte godt.
Efter at teen var blevet ryddet væk, og Sanne havde svaret på spørgsmål om lektier fra Daniel og Peter – som også blev rost for kagerne – og hjulpet Andreas med opvaskemaskinen, kiggede hun og June på de transskriptioner, June havde lavet.
"Du har gjort et rigtig godt stykke arbejde," sagde Sanne, "det er svært at at transskribere et sprog, man ikke kender. Der er meget få fejl, og det er let at læse, for sætningerne er korte og gentager sig selv. Det er uheldigt for smuglerne, at du tilfældigvis flyttede ind i det hus.”
”Så du tror også, det er smuglere?” sagde June.
”Det må det være. Det er en slags liste over varer, der ankommer, men det giver ikke rigtig mening. Lad os prøve at tage én sætning ad gangen. Denne her," sagde Sanne og pegede på transskriptionerne fra den første nat, "der står: ’Purløg leveret. Blå. Persille leveres torsdag. Grøn.’ Det lyder altså som kodeord for ulovlige stoffer."
"Det lyder som noget fra De Fem," sagde June med et genert smil. "Men jeg må indrømme, at jeg også har tænkt på smuglere."
"Smuglere?" spurgte en mandestemme, hvilket fik June til at springe op af stolen.
"Jonas!" sagde Sanne strengt. "Du skræmmer livet af vores gæst, og du forskrækkede også mig!"
"Åh, undskyld!" sagde Jonas. "Jeg troede, I havde hørt mig komme. Jeg blev overrasket over at høre jer tale om smuglere. Peter på arbejdet (han sagde det, som om det var mandens navn) nævnte noget om smuglere. En af hans venner arbejder i politiet, og de har problemer med smuglere. Internationale smuglere, der smugler narkotika eller noget i den retning. Det er ikke direkte en hemmelighed, men heller ikke noget, de ønsker skal komme ud, så vær venlig at holde det for jer selv.”
June fortalte hvad hun havde set og om Sannes oversættelser, mens Sanne hentede baby Jacob, der lige var vågnet fra sin lur.
"Lige et øjeblik," sagde Jonas. "Du siger, at du har set morse-signaler flere nætter, og at det er morsekode, der på polsk fortæller om aflevering af krydderurter i forskellige farver?"
"Det er det korte af det lange, ja," svarede June.
"Kom med mig ud i køkkenet, mens jeg laver lidt aftensmad," sagde Jonas, "og fortæl mig alt om det. Er det i orden med dig, Sanne?" spurgte han.
Sanne nikkede: "Jacob er lidt hysterisk, lidt ro vil gøre ham godt, og det lyder som om, I to har brug for at snakke lidt. Undskyld, at jeg er sådan en dårlig værtinde, June."
"Det forstår jeg godt," sagde June. "En af mine sønner var også tit hysterisk, når han lige var vågnet."
June fulgte efter Jonas ud i køkkenet. Det var stort, og June sad der og ventede, mens Jonas samlede ingredienserne, og så gik hun med ham ud i den fredfyldte have for at plukke urter og tomater til middagen. "Normalt hjælper børnene mig," forklarede han. "Men lige nu er der en film i tv, som de alle sammen gerne ville se. Og så får vi en chance for at tale tingene igennem."
"Tja, der er egentlig ikke så meget mere," sagde June og fortalte derefter om sine søvnløse nætter, signalerne fra skibet og hendes besøg ved det store egetræ samt gårsdagens endnu mere heftige signaler.
"Hvad betød de?" spurgte Jonas.
"Vi er ikke nået så langt endnu," svarede June. "Men jeg gætter på, at det er mere af det samme. Det er lidt længere, men de polske ord for "persille" og "purløg" dukker vist også op der.”
”Du må få Sanne til at oversætte det efter middagen. Jeg går ud fra, at du bliver til midag. Det er ikke mere besvær at lave mad til seks end til syv.”
”Jeg bliver,” sagde June, ”mange tak for jeres gæstfrihed."
