Knox Box of Miscellany

Dawn Knox – A rearranger of words into something hopefully meaningful…

When Daffodil Arrived, by Mr. Hornsby – #MuseItUp #DaffodilAndTheThinPlace

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Daffodil and the Thin Place

Daffodil and the Thin Place

The story ‘Daffodil and the Thin Place’ is written from the view point of thirteen year old Daffodil, who sees the people of Puckle’s School with 21st century eyes. Just for fun, I thought I’d consider the thought of some of the secondary characters on ‘D-Day’, the day Daffodil arrived in their lives.

Firstly, James Hornsby, the school master:
“It had been a trying day. One of the girls had had an accident, although it wasn’t clear exactly what had happened to her. My good lady wife had taken the other scholars out for a walk down the hill to give them some air and I had stayed behind to keep an eye on our patient and hope that Dr. Pursey, would find time to visit. He has many influential patients and is a busy man but his housekeeper had said he would try to be with us later on in the day. I’d called the girl’s father but so far, there had been no response. Hopefully by the time he comes to visit, his daughter will be well. And as if that wasn’t enough to worry about, a new scholar arrived. Mr. Meek, the curate, had mentioned that a new girl might be joining us in the near future but I hadn’t expected anyone so soon. And what a strange child she was! I could tell from her outlandish attire she wasn’t from these parts. I’d never seen anything like the flouncy skirt and frilly blouse she wore but she explained that her mother was foreign and I assumed that was some sort of national costume. At first, she seemed rather vague about her mother’s people and I wondered if she was a gypsy. She vehemently denied this however, which was fortunate as I will have no part of their spells and curses and if she’d claimed to be one of them,  I would have sent her away. I had half a mind to tell her to be off, anyway. There was something quite disturbing about her but I put it down to having a foreign mother. And it wasn’t just me who thought the child was odd. The other scholars laughed openly when I introduced her, which was, of course, extremely bad manners and I told them so. But who would call their daughter ‘Daffodil’ and then dress her up like a doll? Still, it’s not the child’s fault and I shall endeavour to correct her behaviour while she is under my care in school.”

If you would like to find out more about how Daffodil arrived at Puckle’s School, you can purchase a copy of the ebook ‘Daffodil and the Thin Place’ here on the Muse It Up Publishing website. All proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards the renovation and upkeep of the 12th century church of St. Nicholas, Laindon with Dunton, Essex. #MuseItUp  #DaffodilAndTheThinPlace

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