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Everyone says my Nana is 1)weird, and to be honest with you, she is.
Unlike all my friends’ grandparents who live in the new Evening Dale 2)Retirement Village down on the 3)waterfront, she lives by herself in a quiet little cottage, on a block of land, a little bit out of town.
Once a week, she walks all the way into town to buy fresh bread from the bakery, post her letters at the post office, and pick up one or two things from the grocery store. Usually she doesn’t need much from the store because she has a garden back at the cottage where she grows fresh veggies and fruit. Other than that, and apart from when I visit, she hardly ever sees anyone. I suppose she is always writing letters to her friends and her sister though, but some of them live on the other side of the world.
I asked her once why she didn’t want to move into Evening Dale like all the other grandparents I thought she might enjoy the company. But she just laughed and replied, “Why would I want to live in that fancy place when everything I need is all right here? Besides,” she added 4)mischievously, “that place is just for old people anyway!”
Her garden is very big and everything is overgrown, but usually when I mention it to her, she replies, “That’s the way I want it to look. Besides,” she always adds, “the Fairies like it that way.”
“Nana, there’re no such things as Fairies!”
Last week she said to me, after I’d told her that the hedge out front needed a 5)trim, “What’s the point in containing nature? It kills all the magic.” And I knew it was coming so I didn’t interrupt. Besides…
“Besides,” she says like I knew she would, “the less lawn there is, the less I have to cut!”
“Oh, Nana!” I say.
“You can mow the lawn for me if you like, dear!” she says.
“Umm, I just remembered, Nana, I have lots of homework to do,” I reply nervously.
“Oh that’s a shame!” she says.
Right at the bottom of her garden, in one of the only clearings, with some kind of vine that Nana is very proud of growing over it, is a big stone 6)birdbath. And next to it an old wooden seat where she likes to sit.
When I was younger, Nana used to take me down there and as she worked planting this or that, she would sit me on the seat and I would watch the birds coming to have a drink and splash around. The birds were never afraid of Nana; she seems to 7)have a way with animals as well as plants.
Gretel, her 8)fluffy ginger cat, used to come along and sit next to me watching the birds attentively.
“Don’t even think about it!” Nana used to tell Gretel in a stern voice.
Gretel would act all innocent and curl up next to me in the warm afternoon sunshine for a 9)catnap. Although, if you looked closely she’d always be keeping an eye on the happily bathing birds. But Nana’s got eyes in the back of her head, as my mum always says, and Gretel knew she’d never 10)get away with chasing them.
Nana talks to her plants as well as animals, and sometimes she talks to herself as well. That could be another reason why everyone thinks she is strange.
“My gran says that your Nana is going 11)loopy,” said my friend Chelsea, as we walked home from school.
“Well at least my Nana doesn’t dye her hair blue. Yours looks like a clown!” I replied.
Chelsea laughed, which made me feel relieved because I had kind of felt mean as soon as I’d said it.
“She does a bit, doesn’t she?” she said, still giggling to herself. “Wouldn’t it be strange if everyone had blue hair?”
“Not really if you think about it,” I replied, “because if we all had blue hair it would be normal to have blue hair, wouldn’t it?”
“Hmm, that’s true,” Chelsea 12)conceded.
Secretly I wondered whether Chelsea’s gran was maybe a little bit right about Nana. Yesterday I caught her out in the garden talking to herself. Well not really talking to herself. More like talking to something that wasn’t there.
When I asked her, “Who are you talking to Nana?” She replied, “I’m talking to the Fairies, dear, like we used to when you were young.” She took a pause, “Don’t you remember? We used to sit on the seat that Granddad made for your mother and me and talk to the fairies when they came for a drink at the birdbath.”
“I remember the birds coming for a drink, but I don’t remember any Fairies,” I said, “especially considering that Fairies don’t exist.”
“Of course they exist!” she replied with a 13)wry smile and a 14)raised eyebrow. “Who else would I be talking to? Myself?”
I raised my own eyebrows, then walked inside to have a 15)shortbread from Nana’s magical shortbread tin. It always seemed to be full, no matter how many of them I ate.
I have to admit there is definitely something a little bit magical about Nana.
“Could you put the kettle on while you’re in there, dear?” She called after me. There would be a small smile on her face. I couldn’t see it but I knew it would be there.
“The Fairies and I could use a cup of tea!”
每个人都说我奶奶是个怪人,老实说,确实如此。
她不像我所有朋友的祖父母那样住进坐落于海滨的“黄昏谷安老社区”,而是独自一人住在离小镇稍远那片土地上的一座安静的小村舍里。
每周一次,她会步行到镇上,去面包店购买新鲜面包,去邮局寄信,并到杂货店里买一两样东西。她一般不大需要商店里的货品,因为她在她那小村舍后面的花园里种了新鲜的蔬菜和水果。除此之外,若非我去看望她,她几乎不见任何人。她总是给朋友和姐妹们写信,虽然我想他们之中的一些人住在世界的另一边。
我曾经问她,为什么她不像其他老人们那样住黄昏谷,我认为她也许会喜欢有人陪伴。但她只是笑着回答说:“既然我所需要的一切都在这里,那我为什么还会想住那种昂贵的地方呢?再说,”她调皮地补充道,“那个地方只是给老人住的!”
她的花园非常大,所有的东西都疯长,但每当我向她说起这事时,她总是回答说:“这就是我想看到的样子。再说,”她总会补上一句,“精灵们喜欢那样。”
“奶奶,根本就没有精灵这回事!”
上星期,我告诉她门外的树篱需要修剪,她对我说:“遏制自然意义何在?那会破坏所有的魔法的。”我知道还会有后话,所以没有插嘴。再说。
“再说,”如我所料,她说,“那里的草坪越少,我需要修剪的就越少!”
“噢,奶奶!”我说。
“如果你愿意的话,你可以帮我修剪草坪,亲爱的!”她说。
“嗯,我刚想起来,奶奶,我还有很多家庭作业要做呢,”我紧张地回答道。
“噢,那真可惜!”她说。
在她家花园的深处,唯一的一片空地上爬着某种葡萄藤,那是奶奶引以为荣的植物。空地上还有一个巨大的石制鸟浴盆,旁边有一把旧木椅,她很喜欢坐在那里。
当我还小的时候,奶奶常常带我去那里,她会让我坐在那把椅子上,然后自个儿在一旁忙着种点这个、种点那个。而我会看着鸟儿们前来喝水,拍打翅膀溅起水花。鸟儿们从来都不惧怕奶奶;就像和植物相处一样,她似乎也很善于与动物相处。
她那只叫格雷特尔的毛茸茸、姜黄色的猫常跟着她一起过来,并坐在我旁边聚精会神地看着那些鸟儿。
“想都不要想哦!”奶奶总是带着一种严厉的语气对格雷特尔说。
格雷特尔会表现得非常无辜,蜷缩在我旁边,在午后的暖阳下打个小盹。尽管如果你仔细看的话,其实她一直都在密切关注着那些快乐地戏着水的鸟儿们。但就像我妈妈常说的那样,奶奶的后脑勺可是长着眼睛的,格雷特尔也知道自己永远也不可能有机会去抓它们。
奶奶除了会跟动物说话,也会对她的植物说话,有时候,还会自言自语。那可能也是为什么每个人都觉得她很奇怪的又一原因。
“我奶奶说,你奶奶在变傻,”当我们放学回家时,我的朋友切尔西说。
“嗯,至少我奶奶没把她的头发染成蓝色。你奶奶看起来像个小丑!”我回答说。
切尔西大笑起来,这让我松了口气,因为我刚一说出口就觉得自己有点刻薄。
“她是有点,是吧?”她一边说一边还咯咯地笑。“如果每个人的头发都是蓝色的,那多奇怪啊?”
“如果你想一下的话,倒也不见得,”我说,“因为如果我们的头发都是蓝色的话,那么蓝色的头发就很正常了,不是吗?”
“嗯,也对,”切尔西承认道。
私下里我猜想切尔西的奶奶对我奶奶的看法也许有点道理。昨天我就在花园外面撞见她在自言自语。嗯,也不全是自言自语,倒更像是在对着某个不存在的东西说话。
当我问她:“你在跟谁说话呢,奶奶?”她回答说:“我在跟精灵们说话呢,亲爱的,就像你小时候我们常做的那样。”她顿了顿,说:“你不记得了吗?我们常常坐在你爷爷为你妈妈和我做的那张椅子上,当精灵们来鸟浴盆喝水时跟他们聊天。”
“我只记得鸟儿们来喝水,但我不记得有精灵啊,”我说,“尤其是,精灵根本就不存在啊。”
“他们当然存在啦!”她扬起双眉,苦笑道,“不然我还能跟谁说话?我自己吗?”
我也竖起了眉毛,然后进屋从奶奶的魔法酥饼罐里拿出了一块酥饼。无论我吃了多少,罐子似乎永远都是满的。
我不得不承认,奶奶的身上确实有着某种神奇的东西。
“趁你在屋里的时候帮我烧壶水,亲爱的?”她在后面叫我。她的脸上会带着一丝微笑,虽然我看不见,但我知道她脸上一定挂着笑容。
“我和精灵们想喝杯茶!”
Unlike all my friends’ grandparents who live in the new Evening Dale 2)Retirement Village down on the 3)waterfront, she lives by herself in a quiet little cottage, on a block of land, a little bit out of town.
Once a week, she walks all the way into town to buy fresh bread from the bakery, post her letters at the post office, and pick up one or two things from the grocery store. Usually she doesn’t need much from the store because she has a garden back at the cottage where she grows fresh veggies and fruit. Other than that, and apart from when I visit, she hardly ever sees anyone. I suppose she is always writing letters to her friends and her sister though, but some of them live on the other side of the world.
I asked her once why she didn’t want to move into Evening Dale like all the other grandparents I thought she might enjoy the company. But she just laughed and replied, “Why would I want to live in that fancy place when everything I need is all right here? Besides,” she added 4)mischievously, “that place is just for old people anyway!”
Her garden is very big and everything is overgrown, but usually when I mention it to her, she replies, “That’s the way I want it to look. Besides,” she always adds, “the Fairies like it that way.”
“Nana, there’re no such things as Fairies!”
Last week she said to me, after I’d told her that the hedge out front needed a 5)trim, “What’s the point in containing nature? It kills all the magic.” And I knew it was coming so I didn’t interrupt. Besides…
“Besides,” she says like I knew she would, “the less lawn there is, the less I have to cut!”
“Oh, Nana!” I say.
“You can mow the lawn for me if you like, dear!” she says.
“Umm, I just remembered, Nana, I have lots of homework to do,” I reply nervously.
“Oh that’s a shame!” she says.
Right at the bottom of her garden, in one of the only clearings, with some kind of vine that Nana is very proud of growing over it, is a big stone 6)birdbath. And next to it an old wooden seat where she likes to sit.
When I was younger, Nana used to take me down there and as she worked planting this or that, she would sit me on the seat and I would watch the birds coming to have a drink and splash around. The birds were never afraid of Nana; she seems to 7)have a way with animals as well as plants.
Gretel, her 8)fluffy ginger cat, used to come along and sit next to me watching the birds attentively.
“Don’t even think about it!” Nana used to tell Gretel in a stern voice.
Gretel would act all innocent and curl up next to me in the warm afternoon sunshine for a 9)catnap. Although, if you looked closely she’d always be keeping an eye on the happily bathing birds. But Nana’s got eyes in the back of her head, as my mum always says, and Gretel knew she’d never 10)get away with chasing them.
Nana talks to her plants as well as animals, and sometimes she talks to herself as well. That could be another reason why everyone thinks she is strange.
“My gran says that your Nana is going 11)loopy,” said my friend Chelsea, as we walked home from school.
“Well at least my Nana doesn’t dye her hair blue. Yours looks like a clown!” I replied.
Chelsea laughed, which made me feel relieved because I had kind of felt mean as soon as I’d said it.
“She does a bit, doesn’t she?” she said, still giggling to herself. “Wouldn’t it be strange if everyone had blue hair?”
“Not really if you think about it,” I replied, “because if we all had blue hair it would be normal to have blue hair, wouldn’t it?”
“Hmm, that’s true,” Chelsea 12)conceded.
Secretly I wondered whether Chelsea’s gran was maybe a little bit right about Nana. Yesterday I caught her out in the garden talking to herself. Well not really talking to herself. More like talking to something that wasn’t there.
When I asked her, “Who are you talking to Nana?” She replied, “I’m talking to the Fairies, dear, like we used to when you were young.” She took a pause, “Don’t you remember? We used to sit on the seat that Granddad made for your mother and me and talk to the fairies when they came for a drink at the birdbath.”
“I remember the birds coming for a drink, but I don’t remember any Fairies,” I said, “especially considering that Fairies don’t exist.”
“Of course they exist!” she replied with a 13)wry smile and a 14)raised eyebrow. “Who else would I be talking to? Myself?”
I raised my own eyebrows, then walked inside to have a 15)shortbread from Nana’s magical shortbread tin. It always seemed to be full, no matter how many of them I ate.
I have to admit there is definitely something a little bit magical about Nana.
“Could you put the kettle on while you’re in there, dear?” She called after me. There would be a small smile on her face. I couldn’t see it but I knew it would be there.
“The Fairies and I could use a cup of tea!”
每个人都说我奶奶是个怪人,老实说,确实如此。
她不像我所有朋友的祖父母那样住进坐落于海滨的“黄昏谷安老社区”,而是独自一人住在离小镇稍远那片土地上的一座安静的小村舍里。
每周一次,她会步行到镇上,去面包店购买新鲜面包,去邮局寄信,并到杂货店里买一两样东西。她一般不大需要商店里的货品,因为她在她那小村舍后面的花园里种了新鲜的蔬菜和水果。除此之外,若非我去看望她,她几乎不见任何人。她总是给朋友和姐妹们写信,虽然我想他们之中的一些人住在世界的另一边。
我曾经问她,为什么她不像其他老人们那样住黄昏谷,我认为她也许会喜欢有人陪伴。但她只是笑着回答说:“既然我所需要的一切都在这里,那我为什么还会想住那种昂贵的地方呢?再说,”她调皮地补充道,“那个地方只是给老人住的!”
她的花园非常大,所有的东西都疯长,但每当我向她说起这事时,她总是回答说:“这就是我想看到的样子。再说,”她总会补上一句,“精灵们喜欢那样。”
“奶奶,根本就没有精灵这回事!”
上星期,我告诉她门外的树篱需要修剪,她对我说:“遏制自然意义何在?那会破坏所有的魔法的。”我知道还会有后话,所以没有插嘴。再说。
“再说,”如我所料,她说,“那里的草坪越少,我需要修剪的就越少!”
“噢,奶奶!”我说。
“如果你愿意的话,你可以帮我修剪草坪,亲爱的!”她说。
“嗯,我刚想起来,奶奶,我还有很多家庭作业要做呢,”我紧张地回答道。
“噢,那真可惜!”她说。
在她家花园的深处,唯一的一片空地上爬着某种葡萄藤,那是奶奶引以为荣的植物。空地上还有一个巨大的石制鸟浴盆,旁边有一把旧木椅,她很喜欢坐在那里。
当我还小的时候,奶奶常常带我去那里,她会让我坐在那把椅子上,然后自个儿在一旁忙着种点这个、种点那个。而我会看着鸟儿们前来喝水,拍打翅膀溅起水花。鸟儿们从来都不惧怕奶奶;就像和植物相处一样,她似乎也很善于与动物相处。
她那只叫格雷特尔的毛茸茸、姜黄色的猫常跟着她一起过来,并坐在我旁边聚精会神地看着那些鸟儿。
“想都不要想哦!”奶奶总是带着一种严厉的语气对格雷特尔说。
格雷特尔会表现得非常无辜,蜷缩在我旁边,在午后的暖阳下打个小盹。尽管如果你仔细看的话,其实她一直都在密切关注着那些快乐地戏着水的鸟儿们。但就像我妈妈常说的那样,奶奶的后脑勺可是长着眼睛的,格雷特尔也知道自己永远也不可能有机会去抓它们。
奶奶除了会跟动物说话,也会对她的植物说话,有时候,还会自言自语。那可能也是为什么每个人都觉得她很奇怪的又一原因。
“我奶奶说,你奶奶在变傻,”当我们放学回家时,我的朋友切尔西说。
“嗯,至少我奶奶没把她的头发染成蓝色。你奶奶看起来像个小丑!”我回答说。
切尔西大笑起来,这让我松了口气,因为我刚一说出口就觉得自己有点刻薄。
“她是有点,是吧?”她一边说一边还咯咯地笑。“如果每个人的头发都是蓝色的,那多奇怪啊?”
“如果你想一下的话,倒也不见得,”我说,“因为如果我们的头发都是蓝色的话,那么蓝色的头发就很正常了,不是吗?”
“嗯,也对,”切尔西承认道。
私下里我猜想切尔西的奶奶对我奶奶的看法也许有点道理。昨天我就在花园外面撞见她在自言自语。嗯,也不全是自言自语,倒更像是在对着某个不存在的东西说话。
当我问她:“你在跟谁说话呢,奶奶?”她回答说:“我在跟精灵们说话呢,亲爱的,就像你小时候我们常做的那样。”她顿了顿,说:“你不记得了吗?我们常常坐在你爷爷为你妈妈和我做的那张椅子上,当精灵们来鸟浴盆喝水时跟他们聊天。”
“我只记得鸟儿们来喝水,但我不记得有精灵啊,”我说,“尤其是,精灵根本就不存在啊。”
“他们当然存在啦!”她扬起双眉,苦笑道,“不然我还能跟谁说话?我自己吗?”
我也竖起了眉毛,然后进屋从奶奶的魔法酥饼罐里拿出了一块酥饼。无论我吃了多少,罐子似乎永远都是满的。
我不得不承认,奶奶的身上确实有着某种神奇的东西。
“趁你在屋里的时候帮我烧壶水,亲爱的?”她在后面叫我。她的脸上会带着一丝微笑,虽然我看不见,但我知道她脸上一定挂着笑容。
“我和精灵们想喝杯茶!”