Travel Writing Game

Written by Xsandra and Dorii

Attitude is a Little Thing that Makes a Big Difference!

August 17^th 2005

“We’re Back to Square One”

… Sooty shearwater, great cormorant, sparrowhawk, looking through my book of bird species never ceased to amaze me. Watching the pictures of the birds, the patterns on their wings, the uniqueness of them all, yet they all have something in common.

It was still early morning and the train swayed restlessly back and forth, following the rails that would carry us both to my destination. The trains are nice here, not like where I come from. The design is boring, but every seat seems to have been specifically made for someone who is a little claustrophobic; big seats, big armrests and even a decent amount of legroom. If anything, the public transportation of this place is something I could get used to very easily. Closing my book, I reached for my bag, digging through it, finding my other book, Across the Nightingale Floor. I pulled it out and placed it safely on the edge of the gray coffee table. Digging deeper into my bag I pushed aside my iPod, adapter and other miscellaneous items before finally finding my lipstick at the very bottom. Dior Addict, the only way to go.

… The train came to a screeching halt, or at least that’s what is sounded like. It seemed like a small station, Slagelse, the sign said. I looked around, idly running my finger over the colorful birds on the front of my book. Looking outside at the rain, not surprising, since the weather is always shifty in this country, I noticed the collection of random posters on the wall with seemingly food brands, Ängelmark and Finax looks like breakfast, and that instantly sparked my hunger. There was a small stand with newspaper headlines plastered all over the front. The Strange words in the even stranger language made so sense, but I could discern something about the military and use of MP5’s. Strange, I thought, the Danish military were not known to be violent. My attention was drawn by a flashing yellow light, hanging over a small sign of a man holding out a hand, as if to stop you, universally that would mean no trespassing. I idly wondered why the flashing light was on, but it was most likely because the sign was only there temporarily.

My train of thought was abruptly interrupted when a child merrily yelled; “Look mommy, a bus!” I couldn’t help but smile at the small connection to my native language. I had not met a single English person in my stay, yet everyone seems to understand what I’m saying just fine.

When the wheels of the train started turning again, carrying us away from civilization, I sighed and pulled my bag up on my lap again. I placed my supposed lunch on the table, and though it was still early, I figured I could just buy something later, my sandwich had been specially made for me at the bed and breakfast in Copenhagen, and contained a sweet potato salad, with garlic and red onion.

I noticed the man sitting across from me, a silent man holding on to an interesting book. Looking a little closer, I saw the outlines of people, seemingly celebrating. I took quick notice of the name on the front, Kroyer – with that crossed out ‘o’. I need to look that up, those letters…

(Please note that the politician we chose is Winston Churchill, and the top-headline is a direct quote from him whilst the second headline was the random headline we went with. Furthermore our chosen planet is Earth, and since the story takes place here, we did not feel the need to accentuate that any further in the writing itself - even so, the word limit is slightly exceeded, and if that is not acceptable, we will of course look into it)