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The adventures of a little dime #1
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The adventures of a little dime #1 |
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Titia Geertman Member Ascendant
since 2001-05-07
Posts 5182Netherlands 
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I remember, long time ago when my two girls were at the age of 2 and 5 years old, my mother used to tell them little bedtime stories about the adventures of a dime. Each day a new story and each day both girls were eager to go to bed to hear what adventures the little dime had encountered that day. You must know that my parently home was a very, very old house, the foundations were from about the 12th century, the house itself was rebuild in the 17th century on the old foundations. It was a marvellous, spooky house, with high ceilings, hidden closets, arched basements and two long attics. The environment where fairytales easily could come alive. And I will tell you the stories my mother told us, yes indeed us, because although I was a grownup, I always was as anxious as my two children to hear about the next adventure. Here her story begins:  The introduction To get to the arched basements, you had to open the hatches on the outsite pavement and go down the old steep stone stairs, bend you head for the arch to reach the damp cellar. Stepping on those large old red tiles, was like stepping back in time. At the end of the cellar was a wall and in the middle of that wall was a square hole. Once you got through that (with a little effort), you entered the oldest part of the house, the place where once the kitchen of the first house had been. Some walls were still tiled with old cracked white tiles and at the end of the room a wide stone staircase ended up nowhere, because a new old house was build on top of the old cellars. You couldn't stand straight, you had to walk bend over in order not to hit your head against the 'ceiling'. You still could see where the stove had been at the blackened stones and the chimney going up and in one of the corners a Roman spiraled stone staircase held a lot of memories of past times. I used to dream a lot of dreams, imagining the 16th century, dinners being cooked in copper pots. It was very dark, moist and lots of spiderwebs were hanging about. In one of the corners was a little drain and while cleaning that drain, I found a little dime and I started wondering where it had been and what it had seen and I dreamed up the adventures of a little dime. 1. The old house with the dime Once there was a little dime, laying in the drain of the old cellar. It was cold, wet and dirty in there. She was pressed against a match, who was pushing her further down the filth because the match demanded more space and was saying ugly things to her. 'You dirty dime, move over will you". There were some little stones too and a green frog. The frog didn't make a sound for he accidentally had jumped into the drain and almost on top of the little dime. The drain wasn't smelling so nice and the little dime wasn’t either, because she had been in there for such a long time. She remembered vaguely the time she was tucked up warm in some little girls purse, but when this little girl started to count all her dimes, this one had fallen down just into an opening in the cellar's hatches on the street and that's how she ended up in that filthy drain. And during all the years she had been there, more things had fallen into the drain. She tried to speak to them, but they were never nice to her. She knew that if she hadn't fallen down, she would now have been in the girls piggy bank, wich is of course a better place to be. Oh she knew she would have been hussled around once in a while, but most of the time it would have been quiet and much more agreeable with the other dimes. Sometimes the little dime cried silently, because she was feeling alone, without any friends. One day the little dime saw a light in the cellar and she heard footsteps coming near. Oh dear, was it cleaning time again? Once in a while some one came down and scrubbed the floor and swept the water into the drain, causing her to almost drown. But then….Oh la la, what was that? A big hand groped about the drain and somebody called: "I will clean that drain to, because it's smelling terribly bad". Suddenly the little dime found herself laying in a big, wet hand and a voice said: "Hé, that looks like an old dime", and the little dime was changing hands for a while and then she felt a cold stream of water flowing over her. "What an old, dirty dime is that, give me the scouring powder" the voice said. And the little dime was rubbed and scoured and rubbed and scoured. "Stop please, that hurts a lot you know", the little dime was yelling, but nobody heard her, because nobody spoke the language of little dimes. The voice said: "Now it's shiny again and you know what? I'll show it to the kids when they come home tonight and they can put it in their piggy bank, but for now I'll put it down on this dish on the table". And so the lady did and the little dime, all cleaned up, ended in a dish on the table and wondered what would happen next. I'll tell you tomorrow, what happened next. Titia Like scattered leaves...my words will flow [This message has been edited by Titia Geertman (11-17-2004 09:07 PM).] |
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| © Copyright 2004 Titia Geertman - All Rights Reserved | |||
Marge Tindal 
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
Titia~ This is priceless !!!!!!! I can't wait to find out the next adventure~ You are a marvelous storyteller~  *Huglets*  ~*Marge*~ ~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost, |
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Titia Geertman Member Ascendant
since 2001-05-07
Posts 5182Netherlands |
Hi Marge, just wait and you'll have a lot of bedtime stories to tell your little girls. I'm still seeking someone who will make little drawings to the stories and then I'm planning to make a little booklet. But...they're the stories of Mommy Muys, I'm just passing them along as I remember her telling them. There are a lot more to follow. Titia Like scattered leaves...my words will flow |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
The evidence of a talented family continues to shine through, even on a dirty little dime stuck in a drain... Titia, I am so proud of you for carrying on such a marvelous tradition! I am sure that an illustrator will be found...for I can imagine these scenes in my mind very well...it would be an artist's delight to mix their lines with your Mum's imagination! |
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nakdthoughts Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200Between the Lines |
smiling at such a delightful tale... hugs M |
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miscellanea Member Elite
since 2004-06-24
Posts 4060OH |
Titia, Thanks for sharing your heritage and your precious story. I agree with Sunshine. This would make a delightful childrens book! miscellanea |
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JamesMichael Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336Kapolei, Hawaii, USA |
Enjoyed...James |
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