Once upon a time there was a Girl who moved so very far away from her family and friends, and she missed them very very much.
She lived with a lovely man. Mr. Man, as a matter of fact. He was sweet and kind, and took very good care of the Girl. But he, too, lived so very far away from all of her family and friends.
Even the younger Girl, the daughter-Girl, was sometimes sad at the sheer distance between where she was and where everyone else was.
All of the friends and family missed them too, and for most of them, it was a very sad thing, but there was nothing that they could do except threaten to kidnap the daughter-Girl and to send little packages that reminded Mr. Man and the Girls that they were loved, adored, and missed.
But for some of the friends and family, there was a PLAN brewing.
You see, Mr. Dan was a teacher. He taught other kids that were about the same age as the daughter-Girl. And Mr. Dan thought that those kids needed to SEE THE WORLD. (And learn about Shakespeare.)
So Mr. Dan made arrangements for those kids to see the world... and he made sure they started right near the place where Mr. Man and the Girls were... in London!
Everyone was so excited when he told them. Mr. Boo wrote letters and drew pictures and packed them very carefully into a package for Mr. Dan to bring. Ms. Christi went shopping for TONS of frivolous things that the Girls missed from home and packed them carefully into a package for Mr. Dan to bring. Mr. Zach made sure to drool on everything that Ms. Christi bought before it was packed, just to make sure that he sent his love too, then helped to pack it all into a package for Mr. Dan to bring. Had more people known about Mr. Dan's trip, he might not have had room for his clothes at all. He might have had to wear the boxes of macaroni and cheese and cans of green chile , Ranch dressing powder, and enchilada sauce as trousers and wrap them in the wax paper to keep warm.
It was cold and rainy when Mr. Dan and his kids arrived. They were 24 hours too late for the snow, and it might have been a good thing, too, as desert coats are not as warm as coats of wool. It didn't take long at all for Mr. Dan to to boot the kids to the curb and want to meet up with Mr. Man and the Girls. He even set a place - Piccadilly Circus.
What with travel time and Mr. Man and the Girls trying to walk to Oxford Circus, it took a while before the meeting-up actually happened. But when it did, there was lovely goodness. Everyone was so Happy to see each other! Mr. Dan and Mr. Man shook hands, very proper like. But the Girls squealed and hugged and chittered in delight.
It had been a long trip for Mr. Dan, and it was lunchtime, so the group of chittering, excited Girls and the two very accommodating Misters went to Chinatown for lunch.
Chinatown was fun. The daughter-Girl particularly liked the roasted ducks that hung in each and every shop window, commenting on their delightful crunchiness and utter uselessness as creatures of the wild.*
After a delightful lunch in which Mr. Dan and the Girl exchanged bags of goodies (the Girl sent tea and English biscuits and Ms. Christi sent Malt O' Meal) and Mr. Man artfully ate not only HIS lunch, but also Mr. Dan's (without his even noticing, actually,) the decision was made to take a tourist-y type trip to the London Eye.
Mr. Dan was scared.
Mr. Dan had grave misgivings about the safety of said Eye, and about his inherent ability to remain cognoscente during it's uppermost route. But the Girls were persistent, and when Mr. Man bought the tickets, there was no backing out for Mr. Dan. All he could do was grin and bear it.
Once Mr. Dan, Mr. Man, and the Girls were in the Eye, daughter-Girl kindly offered to hold Mr. Dan's hand. She is a sweet one, that daughter-Girl. Mr. Dan thanked her, but decided to be VERY brave and said that someone had to take many pictures or no one else would believe that he had actually managed to do it.
Mr. Dan got more and more brave as the Eye circled, and soon, with only minimal moral support from Mr. Man, was looking out of the glass wall.
And only moments after that, Mr. Dan was an old pro, taking pictures and chit-chatting, and not bothered by the height in the least.
They saw many things from the sky.
They saw Parliament and Big Ben...
... and buildings with green tops.
But no matter how much Mr. Dan tried, he just could not see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Mr. Man couldn't see his mum's house either. So they were both disappointed. The Girls weren't disappointed, though... they had Mr. Dan and Mr. Man to look at.
After the Eye, the quarto were almost out of time for their visit. They decided to go for a walk. They found, to daughter-Girl's delight, the soldier who never blinks or moves. She was sad that he didn't have on the clothes she'd imagined him having, and she was far too well behaved to go and try to make him react, but she watched and giggled at all of the other people who stood in front of him making silly faces or doing silly things to try and get a response. They didn't... he never moved a muscle.
After a few short Underground rides, and a bit of coffee, it was time to say goodbye. Everyone was sad, except daughter-Girl, who instead really was hoping that she would know some of the kids that Mr. Dan was meeting, and even more secretly hoping that Mr. Dan would have her talk to the other kids. But alas, that was not to happen. What WOULD happen, however, was that daughter-Girl would take her own train home (the first time by herself, even) earlier than Mr. Man and the Girl, and that Mr. Man would leave his 'brolly in the coffee shop, thus requiring a return trip.
It was a wonderful day and a wonderful visit. And the most exciting thing for Mr. Dan? Says he, "I'm actually going to make it into your blog?! Wow!"
THE END
*Ashley's favourite animals are ducks, and she was actually devastated by the windows of roast ducks. She absolutely refused to go into and eat at any of the shops that had roast ducks hanging in their window.
