Travelling to grandpa

"Is that a telegram?" Mother asked in amazement.

"Your father has sent it."

"He is a bit old-fashioned." Mother laughed.

"I have never expected that this kind of letter is still exist nowadays!" Father also laughed. "Hey Kids! Come here and see this! I bet you have never seen something like this!" He fluttered the brown envelope to the kids.

"It is a letter, isn't it?" Conrad asked.

"No-no." Mother shook her head. "It is called telegram."

"It is a kind of letter, but the text is not too long. It is like an old-fashioned sms. The difference is that it is delivered by the post on paper."

"Why would someone send a telegram, instead of sending an sms, or using the messenger? It seems a bit of weird to send a few words on paper."

"Well, your grandpa is a bit weirdo. But don't you want to open, darling?" Mother asked father smiling.

"Yes, yes...", Father answered, and opened the envelope.

They leaned over the piece of paper and all of them red the text at the same time.

"The train leaves from Paddington Station at 15:15.

Tickets and identification cards will be at pay office 2.

Wear them, do not take off!

Do not bring too much stuff."

"It is okay. He will receive you. You will meet your grandfather tomorrow! It will be a great summer!" Their parents smiled at them. "Are you excited?"

The twins were everything, but excited. With the contents of the telegram, their last hope was also smoked away that their parents would take them. They would travel to a grandfather, they had never seen, never known. All this was the fault of the chemistry. They had hated this subject, up until now, but their hatred increased a lot.

Valerie and Conrad were not in the sunniest mood in the next morning, despite their mother had found their grandfather's picture, taken fifteen years ago.

"He looks like a geezer!" Conrad said disgusted.

"He just looks old, because of his white hair!" Mother replied. "He is working in a chemical industry, so he could help you with the supplementary exam. So be polite!"

"Or?" Valerie asked angrily. "He will send us home?"

"In this case you also will have to travel home!" Conrad said with pity, and looked at his sister.

"Nice idea!" Father replied. "But we won't come back home for three weeks. So If you will be sent back home, you will have to work to pay for your food!"

"I don't really think, that anyone would give you payment for your work, or let you work, without parent's consent, so you have to eat, what you will find in the freezer, and the pantry."

"Hooray! Ice cream during the whole holiday!" The kids were happy. "We want to stay, you could travel to the Maldives!"

"I recommend you to look around in the fridge and in the pantry first." Mother told them seriously.

The kids gave her a suspicious look, but they went to investigate the food resources. They quickly understood what mother wanted to say. They barely found anything. Not that much, that would be enough for both of them for three weeks.

"Why didn't you stock some food? It is against common sense!" Valerie erupted in despair.

"The food would just spoil until we were home." Mother answered smiling.

"Then buy food for us!" Conrad cried.

"We don't have more money. We have spent everything on the holiday." Father answered.

"So, it is decided. You two go to your room, and put on your beds what you want to take!"

The twins were heading to their rooms unwillingly. An hour later their mother went there and found that neither of them put anything on their beds, so she became angry, and confiscated their cell phones.

The twins didn't do anything until lunch. They hoped, their behavior would melt their parents' heart, and bring them to the Maldives instead of sending to an unknown grandfather.

They failed again. Mother and father didn't say a word, but packed two small suitcases with the kids' stuff. They carried their protesting, and crying kids to the car and left to the Paddington station.

The Paddington station was a huge building, full of interesting things, especially for someone who had never traveled by train, like the twins. The colorful vehicles, the huge hall were astonishing, the statues, the souvenir stores. But these wonders were not taking any effect on Valerie and Conrad. Their parents were happy, and showed each other the sights, and didn't let the kids' behavior ruining their mood. They even made a selfie, at the statue of the famous bear! This also felt very embarrassing for Conrad and Valerie, although most of the tourists did the same, and there were older people among them.

The real embarrassment came after that. They went to the pay office number 2, to get their tickets for the train, and the clerk gave their identification card with a childish strap. Moreover their parents forced them to wear around their necks, and made a lot of photos, crying "cute, very cute". Everyone were watching them, with wide smiles. The twins were red from the harassment, but they were helpless. It was a real relief, when they arrived to the platform.

"Is it really our train?" Conrad asked suspiciously.

"Yes," father said after checking the tickets. "Why?"

"Because it is too short."

Their train consisted of only one wagon. It was a really modern, shiny one, but it was the only one there.

"Where is the engine?"

"This train has a built in engine, so it doesn't need a separate engine, like in the animations." The ticket inspector answered them cheerfully.

He asked for their tickets, red them with a cell phone-like device, and guided them inside. The inside was very comfortable, it looked like an airplane's interior. The parents put the suitcases to the luggage rack, and tried to kiss their kids good-bye. They failed, but smiled anyway.

"Are you sure, you don't want these ones?" Mother asked and waved the two Paddington bear plush toy to the twins. They shook their heads. "Then, we will bring them with us." She was laughing from happiness. Both she and her husband liked the plushies. For the warning sign they got off the train, and wave to their children. Valerie and Conrad didn't wave back. The train set off.

"Are you sure, that they will be happy with your father?"

"I don't know." Mother smiled back. "I hope my father will give them a chance. That's why I forced them to wear the school uniform. To be likeable for the first sight. They are too similar. My father and the twins. All of them are stubborn, gloomy, but persistent. Not a good combination, but they will learn to accept each other after a bit of time."

"None of us had another choice." Father sighed. "Valerie and Conrad have to learn their lesson."

Valerie and Conrad didn't learned, instead of they were being bored. All of their hopes of traveling to the Maldives had flown with this train. They didn't get back their cell phones, so they couldn't do anything. They missed the chats and the games so much! The ticket inspector regularly checked them, but he could offer only coloring books of Paddington bear, and colored pencils, to spend the boring hours of traveling. So the offer was refused.

"I won't color, like a five-year-old." Valerie grumbled.

"This strap is also very childish." Conrad added. "Why don't we take them off?"

The straps were actually very cute. Little bears, and engines were embroidered on them, and the twins liked them in secret. But it was embarrassing, and the kids were very angry for their parents, so they took off the identification cards off their necks at the same time. They both hid theirs into their suitcase.

"Dad put the chemistry book into my luggage." Conrad gloomed.

"Mom also put that to mine." Valerie sighed. "I suppose against boredom."

"Where does exactly grandpa lives?"

"I don't know, Mom didn't tell me."

The kids looked each other in panic. They don't even know where they were traveling! Before they could ask someone, the train suddenly started to shake, and a yellow light covered everything.

"Valerie! Valerie! Wake up! Valerie!" Conrad shook his sister.

"Hello!" Valerie greeted her brother cheerfully, after she opened her eyes. She had a very beautiful dream of being in the Maldives, lying in the golden sand, and taking a sunbath.

After looking around, she realized, that the sand is real, but there is no ocean, and sun. It was a grey night.

"What's happened?" She asked shocked. Her brother shook his head.

"I don't know. I don't even know, where we are." He answered in despair. "The only thing I have found earlier, is that road sign."

"Where?"

Valerie cheered up, but when they reached the sign, she became in despair again. There wasn't anything particular. It was a simple white table, with the letters of H (DT) on it.

"What does that mean?"

But Conrad was just as clueless as her sister, so he just shrugged.

"I hope that DT doesn't mean detour."

"And the H?"Valerie asked. " Home?"

"Or hell? Look around!"

Valerie and Conrad took a look around but they didn't see anything, but sand, sand, and sand everywhere.

"There is a road, isn't there?" Valerie pointed to a narrow, barely visible line.

"Road? Do you call it road?" Conrad snorted.

"Kind of."

They both explored the thin, hardened line. It really seemed to be some kind of road.

"Let's go!" Valerie cheered. "I hope at the end of the road, there is grandpa's house."

"Stop!" Conrad stopped his sister, grabbing her collar. "Do you really think, that grandpa's house will be there?"

"What else would be there? The iron-nosed witch's gingerbread house?"

Conrad became angry and let her collar loose. He turned his back to his sister. Valerie didn't mind. She felt she had been right, but she didn't want to walk toward the unknown darkness alone.

"Don't worry, the iron-nosed witch is only dangerous for boys!"

"Do you really think, we should go and leave marks to find our way back?" Conrad laughed bitterly.

" I didn't say stupid. But we can't find any stones to sign the way. Unfortunately we don't even have bread crumbs." Valerie's stomach rumbled.

"Are you hungry? I think mom and dad packed us some food. Where are the suitcases?"

The suitcases were nowhere. Conrad looked at his sister in despair.

"Maybe somewhere under the sand."

"Do you really want to search for them? We don't even know where to start! Look around! There isn't any trace of our suitcases!"

"They have to be around the road sign! We landed there, so our suitcases also had to be there!"

Conrad started in the direction of the road sign, and Valerie followed him unwillingly. They didn't find their luggage around the sign, so they started to dig the sand. After a while they gave up all their hopes. They didn't find their suitcases, and it seemed to be hopeless to dig the whole ground.

"Our only chance to follow the road." Valerie declared.

"It seems so."His brother sighed. "But let's wait for a while, probably grandpa is already searching for us. He will come to this sigh, because he is waiting us to be here. Let's stay at the road sign for a while."

Valerie nodded, and the both sat down at the road sign. They leaned their backs to the pole.

"It is getting colder."

"Fortunately the sand is warm."

"Yeah..."

They didn't say more. They were too tired to speak. The event of the previous days made them exhausted both physically and emotionally. They were both hungry, but the warmth of the sand was very comfortable. Too comfortable. Their eyelids were started to get closing, and they fell asleep.

In the morning Valerie woke her brother up.

"It is still dark! Sleep!" Conrad murmured.

"It is still dark, but it seems, it will remain dark."

"What do you mean?" Conrad annoyed.

"Look at the sky!"

Conrad turned to the other side and tried to fall back asleep, but his sister moaned until he opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.

"It is just a starry sky!"

"Take a closer look!"

"I am not good in geography."

The next moment he realized: he couldn't recognize a single constellation. Okay, he only knew the Great Bear, but that wasn't found anywhere. One more critical object was also missing.

"Where's the Moon?"

"I didn't put into my pocket." Valerie snorted.

"Where we are?"

" I don't know. I hoped we are somewhere in Britain, but there isn't any desert."

"Not even nearby. We didn't travel for so long, to be in the nearest one."

"So, we are not on Earth anymore."

"It is highly possible." Conrad sighed.

"Do you think, it is the Moon?"

"Nope, we would see the Earth and the Sun."

"Probably on the dark side?, In this we wouldn't see either the Earth, or the Sun."

"Good idea. But in this case there is a huge problem. Well, two huge problems."

"What do you mean?"

"The Moon doesn't have atmosphere, and the dark side is very cold. We would have drowned before we froze."

"Yes. This road sign is made by people, so we are absolutely not on the Moon."

"So we are somewhere on Earth."

"I am glad, we agree."

Valerie smiled at her brother, and Conrad smiled back.

"Could we agree in leaving this place?" Valerie asked.

"I don't think it would be a great idea."

"I don't think we have a better idea!"

"But grandpa..."

"Grandpa, grandpa, grandpa! He won't come for us! He has already forgotten about us! He hadn't even met mom in the last 15 years. He would have been here, if he wanted to!"

Valerie run out of breath. They both fell silent.

"You are right." Conrad replied after a bit of silence. In this silence his stomach growled, and the sound was clearly audible."We don't have any other chance to find some food, just to follow that road." He sighed, got up, and set off with his sister.

The road was narrow, and long. But after a lot of walking the scenery of the desert didn't want to change. There wasn't a blade of grass, so they didn't find anything edible. Both of them were in despair, but had a weak hope to meet a human, or they would reach a town, so they went on. They hadn't got any other choice, but following the narrow road.

"Let's go back!" Valerie cried, and fell to the ground. "I am unable to walk anymore!"

"Let's take a rest. Just a bit. We have to walk further."

"Are you deaf? I can't walk anymore!"

"Me neither. But we must. Don't you think, that the sky starts to lighten, and wouldn't be so dark?"

Valerie looked around. Her brother was right. The black darkness turned to gray.

"Maybe we are close to a town!" She cheered instantly.

"Probably." Conrad nodded. "But I also need some rest."

So they were resting, and watching the sand around them, and the sand started to bulge in a place. They wouldn't notice at first, or they couldn't believe their eyes, but the small hillock was absolutely there, and grew.

"Hey, do you see that?" Conrad asked his sister.

"Hopefully it is edible!" She replied, and they hurried together to the hillock.

The hillock grew for a while, and the top cracked. A small hand reached out, and the twins backhanded. The little hand waved for a while, and little arm followed.

"It looks like it needs some help." Valerie said quietly.

"No! It looks like it wants to eat us!" Conrad cried, but he couldn't prevent her sister to run back and grab the tiny hand.

He wanted to cry to warn her, but that thing grabbed Valerie's fingers, and suddenly born to this world. He run to them, and three of them watched each other silently. The third one was an alien. It looked like a big, white, palm-sized golf ball, with one hand, which had a white glove. It had eyes and mouth, and blinked at them cheerfully, confidentally, and didn't seem to be harmful.

"It is very cute!" Valerie delighted stroked the sphere. The sphere made a gurgling, high-pitched sound. It obviously liked the stroking.

"Do you think, it is edible?" Conrad asked, and began to stare hungrily at the sphere.

"Don't you dare!" Valerie cried, and hugged the strange creature.

"Why? We are hungry! If this creature is edible, I will eat it!"

"But it is too cute to eat!"

"Bunnies, and piglets, and little calves are also cute, but we eat them anyway!"

"None of them wears clothes, so this one is definitely not edible!"

"Let's check! Give it to me!

"No!"

Conrad grabbed the sphere, and began to pull. Valerie didn't let him, but Conrad was stronger. The sphere's hand unleashed her fingers. In the next moment the sphere started to cry. It was extremely loud, so Conrad became frightened, and throw the sphere away. It still cried, that their ears almost couldn't bear the sound. Valerie run to the abandoned little one, and as soon as she grabbed the tiny hand, the crying stopped. A the sphere was a bit teary and sad, so Valerie stroked it again.

"Why are you so violent? Do you see how peaceful it is?"

"Peaceful?" Conrad protested, but the sphere started gurgling cheerfully again, so he had to admit. It is a peaceful creature. Under appropriate circumstances.

"Okay, it is peaceful. But I bet it is also hungry."

"It doesn't look like."

"Maybe it's mother is hungry. Imagine, that it comes, and eat us!" Conrad successfully frightened his sister. "So leave it, where you have found it, and let's move on!"

"I can't leave it here! It is so tiny!"

"We don't have any food for us, how do we feed this creature? We don't even know what it's eating!"

"But it would be lonely without us."

"Leave it here!"

"No!"

"Hey! What are you doing on my field?", snapped an angry voice behind them.