E-Book, Englisch, 352 Seiten
Plichota / Wolf Oksa Pollock: The Heart of Two Worlds
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-1-78269-076-4
Verlag: Pushkin Children's Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark
E-Book, Englisch, 352 Seiten
ISBN: 978-1-78269-076-4
Verlag: Pushkin Children's Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark
Anne Plichota was born in Dijon, France, and after studying Chinese language and culture spent several years living and working in Korea and China.Cendrine Wolf was born in the Alsace region of France. She studied sports, and went on to work with teenagers in deprived neighbourhoods.Cendrine and Anne have been friends for almost two decades and have always wanted to find a project to work on together (including plans to open an English delicatessen in eastern France!). They are glad they have finally found one.
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SITTING DROWSILY BY THE ROARING FIRE IN THE HUGE hearth, the Runaways were trying to regain their strength and composure after the turbulent events of the past few hours. Curled up in a comfortable armchair, Oksa was desperately fighting sleep, although she couldn’t have said why. It would feel so good just to let go… She rested her head against the padded back of the chair and looked around at the modern paintings on the walls of the lofty converted church nave.
This house—which had once belonged to Leomido, Dragomira’s late brother—had lost none of its magnificence, but there was something missing—its owner would never be back… Oksa took a deep breath to stop tears welling and tried to attract Gus’s attention. He was sitting a few yards away, completely expressionless, and his poker face made her seethe with frustration. She kept shooting glances at him, by turns furious and pleading, her stomach churning with conflicting emotions when, suddenly, just as she thought she was about to explode, she felt something leave her body. The almost unbearable weight lifted as she incredulously watched an almost invisible emanation—a transparent figure which looked just like her—make its way over to Gus and do what she desperately wanted to do : lift Gus’s chin with her fingertips and force him to look at her. Gus frowned, puzzled by the vague sensation, as Oksa avidly watched this bizarre phenomenon, feeling the touch of her friend’s skin beneath her own fingers…
“What’s happening to me?” she wondered, wide-eyed. Too tired to react, Gus didn’t look away and they both sat there, motionless and bewildered. For the first time in days, Gus wasn’t avoiding her eyes and looked more surprised by this than anyone. Oksa held his gaze and the strange figure soon disappeared, but the most important thing was that contact had been re-established, even though it still felt a little awkward.
“Ahem, ahem…”
Two small creatures in bright-green dungarees had positioned themselves near Gus. One was podgy and the other slender, but both had huge eyes like Manga heroes, broad faces and a thin, translucent down over their pinkish skin.
“Oh, hello Lunatrixes!” said Gus.
“Our wildest compliments are to be presented to the friend of the Young Gracious,” began the Lunatrix.
“Um… thanks…” muttered Gus, surprised at being addressed with such deference.
When the chubby-cheeked little creatures didn’t say anything else, he had to press them:
“Can I do something for you?”
Leomido’s Lunatrixes nodded frantically, pushing a third Lunatrix in front of them—their child and the only Lunatrix to be miraculously born on the Outside.
“He’s so cute!” cried Oksa.
“The domestic staff of the Master-Impictured-Forever make the avowal of a request whose contents will be set forth, friend of the Gracious family… The lineage of the Lunatrixes has preserved the recollection garnished with warmth of your erstwhile consent to cradle his body and lavish caresses on him…”
Gus tossed back a strand of long black hair, revealing his handsome Eurasian face. When he’d stayed with Leomido before, he’d let the Lunatrix baby go to sleep on his lap. He’d been so angry that evening. At Oksa and himself. Like today… He glanced furtively at his friend, who was also bound to remember that evening. She smiled at him, sharing the memory, and, dropping all restraint, gave him a wink… which he impulsively returned. Her face lit up.
“The questioning is whether the wish for a recurrence would be conceivable?” continued the Lunatrix, purple with embarrassment.
“Of course!” replied Gus, bending down to pick up the gurgling toddler.
His body was plump and soft and he was just over a foot tall. His large blue eyes shone like marbles, as he gazed adoringly at Gus. He curled up on his lap, as Gus gently stroked his back, and, a few seconds later, was sound asleep, snoring happily. Beside themselves with gratitude, the Lunatrixes bowed several times, so frantically that Gus was afraid they’d topple over.
“The friend of the Gracious family must be showered with gratitude.”
“I’ve had enough showers to last a lifetime!” said Gus, with a wry look at the torrential rain through the window.
To the amusement of everyone there, the Lunatrixa threw herself down on the floor so violently that she slid over the waxed parquet like a penguin on ice.
“Ooohhhh! Your domestic staff is in possession of such a hollow brain!” she lamented. “Will you grant forgiveness for such a wretched declaration?”
Everyone tried their best not to laugh at the small steward’s melodramatic reaction.
“It’s already forgotten!” said Gus reassuringly.
“Your goodwill knows huge dimensions and our gratitude will last until the end of the world!”
This stark reminder of their perilous situation made the Runaways’ blood run cold.
“ yes, we’d almost forgotten that small detail,” scoffed Tugdual.
His grandparents, Brune and Naftali, looked at him reproachfully. Tugdual loved making light of the most serious events, but those close to him knew it was just his way of bearing the unbearable. With a false smile that fooled no one, Tugdual drew himself up and stalked out with one last glance at Oksa. The silence in the room, punctuated only by the snoring of the young Lunatrix and the noise of the rain, grew heavier. No one felt like talking—the Runaways were all dazed with tiredness. Dragomira’s bracelets jingled as she got up, wrapping her crimson woollen cardigan tightly around her. Brune and Naftali also rose to their feet and headed for the comfortable bedrooms upstairs, followed by frail Reminiscens and the Bellangers. Those who were left in the huge living room sat lost in their own private thoughts.
Unlike the other Runaways, who were fighting a losing battle with drowsiness, Oksa felt more awake after the interlude with the Lunatrixes. She walked over to Gus, her eyes on the toddler, unable to work out why her heart was racing.
“Gently does it,” murmured Gus.
She hesitated. Did he mean the hand she was stretching out to stroke the little creature? Or the way she’d acted towards him?
“I’m not a brute!” she protested.
This remark made him laugh and Oksa couldn’t help joining in. It seemed like the truce he’d declared by winking back at her was holding.
“Go on then…” he said, jutting his chin at the Lunatrix, who was sound asleep and snoring gently.
Oksa lightly stroked the downy skin with her fingertips. Her gaze wandered from the chubby little sleeper to Gus, whose expression was unreadable. Only his rapidly quivering eyelids betrayed his inner turmoil. Suddenly they both started to speak at exactly the same time, drowning each other out. They burst out laughing in surprise.
“What did you say?” they both asked in unison.
Gus looked up at the ceiling, not wanting to show how amused he was.
“Um… I can’t remember…” admitted Oksa.
“It can’t have been important, then. No change there!” retorted Gus, gently teasing her.
“Oohhh, you should be ashamed of yourself!” said Oksa, pretending to be cross with him.
“Me? What about you?”
Oksa’s face clouded over and she glared at her friend.
“I knew it wouldn’t be long before the snide remarks began,” she muttered.
All the merriment had disappeared from Gus’s eyes. Had he been trying to hurt her or had she just misinterpreted his words? Oksa grimaced and her eyes darkened.
“Let’s drop it,” murmured Gus. “Look over there. What on earth do you think it’s trying to do?”
Seizing this lifeline, Oksa turned round. The creature which had just come into the room, a very wrinkled kind of walrus, was struggling in vain to throw a colossal log onto the fire. Another odd-looking creature with a mane of dishevelled hair next to it was frantically dancing from foot to foot.
“Hey, dimwit! You’re certainly living up to your name! Can’t you see that log will never fit in a million years?” yelled the shaggy creature, jumping up and down.
The walrus turned round with an uncertain look on its face.
“I’m not a dimwit, I’m an Incompetent…”
“I rest my case!” shouted the other creature.
“What are you then?”
“A GE-TO-RIX! And unlike you, Incompetent, I’ve actually got some brains up here!” it said, patting its head. “That’s why I said you’ll NEVER fit that log in the fireplace, it’s mathematically impossible!”
The Incompetent looked so disappointed at this information that Gus and Oksa burst out laughing. Coming to its aid, Oksa said:
“Incompetent, why don’t you try spitting at it?”
“Spitting at it? But that’s very rude!” it objected naively.
“No, go ahead, I promise it’ll work.”
The Incompetent obeyed with a revolting hawking noise and the middle of the huge log dissolved immediately as if attacked by a powerful acid, giving off acrid fumes. Laughing and coughing, Oksa got up to help the blissfully happy creature put the two pieces of wood in the hearth.
“You’re incredible, Incompetent!” she giggled.
“Thank you, but I feel a little under the weather: I have terrible acid reflux.”
“Poor thing…” said Oksa sympathetically, patting its soft head.
“My Young Gracious,” broke in...
