ESL Blogs

Upon a time lived an old man near to a little village and everyone of the local peopleo had heard about him but nobody has known him so really. He lived outside of the village in an old farm house. The house was very old but it was surrounded by a beautiful flower garden.

He always had gone very rarely to the small village. Only if he needed buying some things from the little store, he went shopping. He didn't need so much because he planted potaoes, vegetables at a little farmland. He owned also some chickens, two cows, some goats and sheps, two horses and other animals and pets.

The kids from the village were always afraid of coming too close to the old man's house because there lived also a big shaggy dog. He never barked but he looked very dangerous.

Nobody in the village knew the age of the old man and nobody had known about the sad story of his life.  He never showed his emotions ... what means his facial expression was always the same, his eyes were blank, his skin pale, his hair white and his hands bore witness to hard work.
He never looked at anyone when he came to the village for shopping. No one had ever heard his voice except the owner of th small store. The old man always had left  as fast as he appeared again. Nobody had ever asked him how he is and if he needed help ... perhaps.  It seemed that everyone, the old man and also the people of the village, had been satisfied with this situation of silent coexistence.

One day, it was a beautiful summer day with clear air, singing birds and without any clouds at the sky, as the old man had lay inside the house on his sofa  taking a nap after hard working. It was after lunch. The dog lay outside of the house in the shadow of an apple tree. Nothing disturbed the noonday silence.

There was a large pond near to the farm or better we should say it was a small lake. Bathing and swimming wasn't allowed because around the lake was a dense reed belt and that was very dangerous  particulare for kids.

But as everywhere, kids never care when their parents are absent.
There is a small gap, free of reeds but there is just a small stripe with flat water. Just some stepsuntil the steep precipice. As often in the past,  the nice weather had lured out some kids to meet each other at the lake. First they played on the beach... but then as if they had had a silent agreement, they run all together with loud shouting into the water. Oh how refreshing it was!

Suddenly they approached the abyss. One of the elder kids told the younger to be careful and to go backwards but it was too late. One of the youngest boys slipped and went immediately down . Two of the oldest kids were able to dive and they catched the little boy before he totally disappeared. But there has not been any signs of life anymore and the both boys were too weak to pull him out of the water. A very dangerous and desperate situation for the kids.

Suddenly appeared the old man. A few of the kids had forgotten their fear, were running to the old  house and asked him for help. He took first the little boy and pulled him out. The older were able to help themselves. The old man was very routined in first aid , the little boy opened his eyes, he coughed and spat out much water. He was still very weak when he was brought  to the old farm house ... acompanied by the kids.

The kids were surprised because the house was inside very clean and tidy. There were many family photos on the walls  and in high shelves tons of books. They kids were standing with wide open mouths in the middle of a big sitting room with soft carpets under their feet. Suddenly the house wasn't so creepy anymore. The old phoned the doctor and the ambulance arrived soon. Also the parents of the little boy had heard about the accident and arrived to accompany her son to the hospital.

The old man gave the kids lemonade and told them to go home.

He felt tired but one of the elder boys wanted to stay. He asked the old man for his permission to stay and to ask him something. First the old man refused but then he allowed the young boy stay.

                                               ---- to be continued -----