Merry Christmas! Here in Ukraine it's not Christmas till the 6th January so we're all in the office and working today :)
The sleigh ride The stars were twinkling in a cloudless night sky and the moon was just peeking palely above the horizon. The air was cold and crisp, though tainted slightly with the strong smell of horse sweat. There were four horses in total, harnessed in pairs to the front of the sleigh, and the reins were tied loosely round a small post at the front of the sleigh reserved for just that purpose. They were pulling a large sleigh intended to seat eight people, four facing fowards and four facing back. Heavy, colourful blankets lay on the benches to protect the passengers from the cold, tossed hither and thither by the violent bouncing of the sleigh. "Ow," said Bill. "That's the twenty-third time you've said that," said Ben. "You're getting repetitive." "It expresses my feeling adequately," said Bill. "And why are you counting?" "Better than counting the number of bumps this damn sleigh keeps finding." There was a moment when the sleigh became airborne, then crashed to the ground again with a BOOM. "This is definitely a rough ride." "It would probably help if there was snow," said Bill. "Wasn't snow part of the plan?" "It was," said Ben with a heavy sigh. "But the police were not part of the plan, and the idea was to leisurely and luxuriously glide away from the scene of the crime, not flee in a sleigh." Bill looked around the sleigh, and shifted one or two of the blanket piles. "What happened to the henchling?" he said. "I'm sure we brought them with us." "Fell out half a mile back," said Ben. "When we took the speed-bumps rather faster than was good for suspension on this thing." "What suspension? And shouldn't we have gone back for them?" Ben's gaze was eloquently baleful. "Do you want to try turning these beasts rounds? I figure that the henchling will either get picked up by the police and that'll buy us some more time, or they'll get missed completely in which case that's one less thing to worry about. And I think we did have suspension on the sleigh until we hit those cyclists. I think we left it behind with them." "On them." "Through them, if you want to be pedantic." "Hmm, maybe not quite so pedantic. What were they doing on the ice rink anyway?" "I think they'd be trying to get out of our way," said Ben, "and they sort of got funnelled into the rink by the crowds and the general confusion. We did bring two of them with us for a while, but they fell off again when we took those sharp corners." "The ones where we demolished a statue and sent two prams through the plate-glass window of the supermarket?" "That's the ones. The cyclists ended up in the statue I think." "Ow," said Bill. "Twenty-four."
Greg - ah, yes. Well then... happy December 25th! And I will try to remember that come January 6th.
Ah, I do so enjoy the banter between these two. I can tell you had great fun writing this one, as the details are sparkling. I can picture the whole thing, and this smile just won't leave my face while I do :)
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Merry Christmas! Here in Ukraine it's not Christmas till the 6th January so we're all in the office and working today :)
The sleigh ride
The stars were twinkling in a cloudless night sky and the moon was just peeking palely above the horizon. The air was cold and crisp, though tainted slightly with the strong smell of horse sweat. There were four horses in total, harnessed in pairs to the front of the sleigh, and the reins were tied loosely round a small post at the front of the sleigh reserved for just that purpose. They were pulling a large sleigh intended to seat eight people, four facing fowards and four facing back. Heavy, colourful blankets lay on the benches to protect the passengers from the cold, tossed hither and thither by the violent bouncing of the sleigh.
"Ow," said Bill.
"That's the twenty-third time you've said that," said Ben. "You're getting repetitive."
"It expresses my feeling adequately," said Bill. "And why are you counting?"
"Better than counting the number of bumps this damn sleigh keeps finding." There was a moment when the sleigh became airborne, then crashed to the ground again with a BOOM. "This is definitely a rough ride."
"It would probably help if there was snow," said Bill. "Wasn't snow part of the plan?"
"It was," said Ben with a heavy sigh. "But the police were not part of the plan, and the idea was to leisurely and luxuriously glide away from the scene of the crime, not flee in a sleigh."
Bill looked around the sleigh, and shifted one or two of the blanket piles.
"What happened to the henchling?" he said. "I'm sure we brought them with us."
"Fell out half a mile back," said Ben. "When we took the speed-bumps rather faster than was good for suspension on this thing."
"What suspension? And shouldn't we have gone back for them?"
Ben's gaze was eloquently baleful. "Do you want to try turning these beasts rounds? I figure that the henchling will either get picked up by the police and that'll buy us some more time, or they'll get missed completely in which case that's one less thing to worry about. And I think we did have suspension on the sleigh until we hit those cyclists. I think we left it behind with them."
"On them."
"Through them, if you want to be pedantic."
"Hmm, maybe not quite so pedantic. What were they doing on the ice rink anyway?"
"I think they'd be trying to get out of our way," said Ben, "and they sort of got funnelled into the rink by the crowds and the general confusion. We did bring two of them with us for a while, but they fell off again when we took those sharp corners."
"The ones where we demolished a statue and sent two prams through the plate-glass window of the supermarket?"
"That's the ones. The cyclists ended up in the statue I think."
"Ow," said Bill.
"Twenty-four."
Greg - ah, yes. Well then... happy December 25th! And I will try to remember that come January 6th.
Ah, I do so enjoy the banter between these two. I can tell you had great fun writing this one, as the details are sparkling. I can picture the whole thing, and this smile just won't leave my face while I do :)
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