Brummel and the frightened girl
Brummel is sleeping well, now and then he even snores. He lies at the feet of the girl he freed from out of the closet. Her name is Elsie, that’s all he knows about her. she is so tired that she immediately falls asleep and Brummel sits next to her and soon he too falls asleep.
When Elsie wakes up, she rubs her eyes and looks
Elsie wakes up with a start and sits up. She rubs her eyes and looks gingerly at Brummel. Has she dreamed now, or has it all happened? Elsie pretends not to see Brummel and walks to the window.
Then Brummel wakes up and laughing he says: “You don’t believe it, do you? Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I am real, just feel.”
Elsie turns and says: “You can do me something. Maybe you are a very bad bear that wants to hurt me.”
Brummel becomes quiet, bows his head and sighs. But he makes another effort to gain her trust and says: “My uncle and my dad are the only ones who know that I am a real bear. They can tell you that I am sweet.”
He slowly walks to the fireplace and lies down in front of it. Lays his paws on his neck and starts to sing a song about a girl who is very afraid of a teddy bear.
Elsie only half listens and looks around. She walks slowly to the window and peers over the lake. The wind has to lie down, and the snow is drifting down in big flakes.
She keeps an eye on Brummel and sits down in the window frame and pulls her knees up and slaps her arms around them. She tells Brummel about her parents, who will miss her and who are probably worried about her. She had never explored the area in her alone, that was foolish of her. Now I’m sitting here with a stupid bear who thinks he’s a real bear. Nonsense, there are no bears that can talk, except the ones that you can put batteries in it. Yes, that’s it, she thinks.
She looks at Brummel suspiciously but is not certain.
She feels her stomach rumbling with hunger and thinks that it must be late already. Oh, what is she supposed to do? Suddenly she opens her eyes. Is she imagining it or is there someone outside? She sees a shadow looming through the snowflakes. Yes, there is someone. With his head bowed the shadow approaches the boat and to her horror, she recognizes the man. It is the man that most of the people in the village are a little afraid of. She dives deep under the window frame and waits anxiously.
“Brummel, I am home. What bad weather. I just got some groceries for us. A new jar of honey and more goodies.”
Brummel runs to the door and welcomes his uncle. Uncle picks him up and gives him a big hug. “Uncle I’m so glad you’re back and we have a visitor.”
“Visit, we have a visitor. That’s strange. Who comes to visit us? Most people in the village already disappear when I walk into their street.”
Brummel walks ahead and points to the window frame. There Elsie is hiding deep in the corner and she looks at Uncle with wide, frightened eyes.
“The door was open, and I was so curious that I sneak in. Then I heard someone coming and I hide me in the closet, but then someone locked it, ” she whispers.
Uncle starts to laugh loudly and says: “That’s right, I locked it. But I didn’t know you were hiding in there. How did you get out? “
Elsie tells the whole story and uncle listens patiently while he prepares a sandwich and a cup of hot chocolate for her.
“Luckily Brummel was here, otherwise you might have died of the cold. Tell me where you live, and I’ll call your parents because they will be worried about where you are.”
Elsie immediately feels better, but she still doesn’t quite trust it yet. They remain strange, those two, she still thinks
Brummel sits on Elsie’s lap and Uncle tried to reassure her
“Don’t be a scared girl. I know that people in the village think I’m a strange guy, but I’m quite nice. Well, I do understand. If I saw a grown guy talking to a bear, I would also think he is out of his mind, “uncle says, laughing.
Elsie nods and thinks there is something in it, she picks up Brummel and hugs him. “Brummel is really sweet, but it is a bit strange that he can talk and move. At first, I thought he was running on batteries, but I can’t find them anywhere. I feel like I’m in a fairytale.”
Uncle smiles and tells her that now and then he also feels like he has ended up in a fairytale. “Darling, let’s keep it our secret. In the village, they already think I’m crazy. Let’s keep it that way. That’s the best for all of us. “
Elsie nods and answers very mature. “I agree with you.”
Uncle calls Elsie’s parents and they are so happy that she was found. “We’ll come to get her right away,” her mom had said. But uncle is willing to bring her and they agree. Elsie gets a thick sweater from Brummel’s uncle. That sweater is of course much too big for her, but it keeps her nice and warm. They have to leave Brummel behind and so Elsie and uncle leave the houseboat together. She turns around once more and to her great joy, she sees Brummel waving behind the window. “Now I’m sure I haven’t dreamed, Brummel is real,” and she waves back exuberantly and skips home with Uncle.
