The travel agent 19/21

“Riddle!” Shouted Gordon, as the horse set foot on the bridge.

“This I must see for myself,” said Eve and she slid off the horse and went down the riverbank to look under the bridge.

A strange sight met her eyes. A small fat man was sitting in a comfortable chair, with a large quill pen, a pot of ink and a big book set on the table in front of him. Even more strangely, the underside of the bridge had been decorated in bright yellow paint. Heavy canvas dyed bright red had been hung as curtains, positioned to give the illusion of a small room.

“I chose the decorations myself,” the fat little man said proudly. “One of the good things about earning all this money is that I can redecorate whenever I want. Paint is quite cheap and it doesn’t take long to do. Now then, price for a one way trip over the bridge is a riddle; you must give me the answer when you want to come back.”

Eve was beginning to get the idea that everyone in this so-called world was just putting on a show to prove how different they were to normal people. Rather like an outdoor museum really, where actors played the roles of the ancient villagers and pretended to show people how they lived. She decided to play along for the time being.

“How do you make a bear cross?” she asked.

Gordon solemnly wrote it down in his book. “Wait a minute,” he said and started turning back pages. “It’s not the one where you poke him in the eye is it? Only I’ve already got one of those.”

“No, that one is ‘how do you make a venetian blind’” giggled Eve, as she turned and went back to George who was waiting patiently.

“Gosh that was clever, I wonder how she knew that one? I’ve always thought it was jolly difficult.”

‘This is all beginning to get silly’ thought Eve, as they rode over the bridge and continued along a track by the side of a forest. ‘Cheap old suits of armour, very old-fashioned facilities at the so-called inn and now trolls who live under bridges. I wonder how they’ll cope with trying to convince me that there really is a dragon.’

“Nearly there,” said George over his shoulder, as they came in sight of a castle just across the fields to their right.

“That castle looks interesting, can we go over there and have quick look?”

“Sorry, no we can’t! The people who live there stay very private and don’t like strangers wandering around. If you want to have a look round a castle, you’ll have to wait until Saturday when the giant comes to Lurbridge with his carrying box and collects anyone who wants to have a look round his place.”

Eve had a bit of a laugh trying to make up her mind about staying on until Saturday, just to see how this lot of con men could get round producing a giant.

She had another laugh to herself a few minutes later, when they were nearly opposite the castle. The path took them round a bend to the left, where a strange looking wooden building could be seen.

As they got nearer, Eve could see that it was very like one of the old cottages she’d seen in the village, but there was a flap let down in front of an open window rather like a counter. A large sign over this window said, ‘Ye olde Ice Cream Parlour and Souvenir Shoppe’.

Two plump middle aged ladies were leaning on the counter looking out, while a very tall younger lady was peeping over their shoulders. Eve just burst out laughing; she couldn’t restrain herself any longer.

George stopped and seemed as surprised as Eve, although he wasn’t as amused. “Morning ladies, this is something new isn’t it?”

“Morning Sir George,” said the more intelligent looking of the older ladies, “that lot over at the Gate put us up to this. Anything I can get for you?”

“I’d rather like an ice cream please,” said Eve.

“Sorry deary, right out of ice cream.”

“How about a souvenir then?”

“Just sold the last one, you should have been here earlier.”

“Yers right!” spluttered the other old lady, trying hard not to laugh.