Bromfords of the Kollobita´´rtainnen - Part 30

🎄🎄🧨🎄🎄🤶🎄🎄🎄🧨🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🧨🎄🎄🎄🎄⛄🎄🧨🎁🎇🌝❌❌❌

"Bromford"

We sail tonight for Bromford,
We're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny moor,
Took off to the land of nod
Drank with all the Chinamen,
Walked the sewers of Paris
I danced along a colored wind,
Dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me
We sail tonight for Bromford,
Don't fall asleep while you're ashore
Cross your heart and hope to die
When you hear the children cry
Let marrow bone and cleaver choose
While making feet for children shoes
Through the alley, back from hell,
When you hear that steeple bell
You must say goodbye to me
Wipe him down with gasoline
'til his arms are hard and mean


From now on boys this iron boat's your home
So heave away, boys
We sail tonight for Bromford,
Take your blankets from the floor
Wash your mouth out by the door,
The whole town's made of iron ore
Every witness turns to steam,
They all become Italian dreams
Fill your pockets up with earth,
Get yourself a dollar's worth
Away boys, away boys, heave away
The captain is a one-armed dwarf,
He's throwing dice along the wharf
In the land of the blind
The one-eyed man is king, so take this ring
We sail tonight for Bromford,
We're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny moor,
Took off to the land of nod
Drank with all the Chinamen,
Walked the sewers of Paris
I drank along a colored wind,
I dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me

Walls, we are surrounded by walls, brick walls made of large, coarse, almost natural stones coming into sight in the spot of the flashlight.

The llama is turning around and bumping into a shelf with canned goods. Some cans with peaches fall and roll to the floor causing a sudden shocking noise.

»Llama! « Kylie says startled.

»Hmm«, Claude Sideburns is making this wondering sound, »look there is a light-switch next to that staircase. And this place looks kind of familiar to me. «

Before any of us can switch on the lights, a door opens at the top of the staircase and a figure in a pink bathrobe is turning the light-switch.

»So? « A female voice says. »This place looks kind of familiar to you, Claude? What are you doing down there sneaking around in the storage cellar of Brompton Castle? «

She is turning her head with curlers in her grey hair and shouts over her shoulder.

»Gilbert! The boy is home! Oh, sorry«, Hildegard is turning to Sideburns, »shall I call you Master Claude in front of your friends? But now, come up here all of you. I want to close this door. The cold and dampness of the cellar creeps into my bones. «

We climb the stairs and pass the cellar door to the kitchen of Brompton Castle. Hildegard, Claude Sideburns' housekeeper and mother puts a rolling pin back on the counter next to the stove.

From the hallway Gilbert, Sideburns' butler and father enters the kitchen in a jogging suit and with completely disheveled hair.

»What is all this fuss in the middle of the night? Decent people are trying to get some sleep here. «

»It is 8:30 p.m., dad«, Claude Sideburns says offended, »it is evening and not the middle of the night. «

Gilbert steps forward and gives his son a hug.

»Good that you are back«, he says breathing into Claude's thin, white hair. »We were worried when you disappeared in that stone circle. We searched and waited for you for one week. Then we went to the police. But they just looked at us as if we were a bunch of decrepit idiots or demented lunatics when we started talking about black sheep and fauns and gate-portals to other worlds and places. «

Hildegard is patting Claude's back.

»Sit down, now, all of you«, she says. »Do you want some tea? Some coffee? I could warm up some stew from today's lunch. «

We gratefully accept the invitation and sit down around the kitchen table. Gilbert and Hildegard are joining us, asking lots of questions about our travels and adventures. Gilbert is heating up the wood stove. And soon we are in the middle of a comfy feast with good food and full of stories.

»So«, Gilbert asks at last, »do you think you found a treasure after your long journey with strange treasure maps to strange and foreign places? «

»I wish I could say that. « Claude Sideburns suddenly looks a little bit sad. »I have learned that I definitely won't become a Professor for archaeology in this life. Reading all these scientific magazines about lost treasures and places won't take me any further. I will have to do something different for a living. «

»Says the man in his early sixties«, Hildegard coughs. »We, your parents are in our eighties. None of us is getting younger. This may be not the time and the place to talk about this. But this old ruin of a castle doesn't pay or maintain itself. Maybe it is time to sell Brompton Castle. Time to let it go and to move on. «

»I don't like this idea«, Claude says. »I always dreamt about turning Brompton Castle into a hotel. There are enough rooms in it. And I think there are enough people who would like to spend their holidays and vacations at a slightly haunted and creepy place. We could renovate while operations are ongoing and perhaps hire people if the work becomes too much and too difficult for us. And we have a real showplace with that circle of stones in the front yard. Maybe even beings from the other world of Greenlion could come visit and spend time with us. «

Gilbert is chewing on a crust of bread.

»The circle is gone. I got out the shovel and dug right after you disappeared and the portal closed, but there are no stones in the mud in the front yard any longer. «

»The remains of the hedge labyrinth are still there«, Hildegard adds. »Maybe we regrow it and open it for visitors. But I think instead of a hotel we should start with a bed and breakfast in the beginning. «

»We can talk about this and make our plans tomorrow or maybe next year«. Claude Sideburns is spooning the last stew from his bowl and leaning back in his chair stroking his stomach. »That was good. Thank you, mummy. «

»And what are your plans? «Hildegard turns to Kylie, Nigel, the llama and me.

»We want to go home«, I say looking at my friends who are nodding in agreement.

»You can spend the night in our guest rooms«, Hildegard invites us, »And in the morning Gilbert can drive you to Brighton with the car. From Brighton Pier you could take a ship. Or he could take you to the train station. Or you could take a plane from Shoreham Airport. We will see in the morrow. «

And with this words she bids us goodnight leaving the kitchen in her pink bathrobe and with the curlers in her curled up hair.

Today is Saturday, the 30th of December 2023.