Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Now lets go back to Aden .

He, too, had put his foot down the ladder and the rung had disappeared behind him. But he felt that he mustn’t scream or shout for help in front of Rosalynd. What's more, he thought, I can only land in the basement. There's only a short distance in between, so I can't get more than a few bruises. Well, when he came to regret it, it was too late.

He was wrong- he wasn't in his basement. He was in a brightly lit corridor he'd never seen before, and there were doors stretching on both sides of him as far as the eye could see. Next to him were to walkie-talkies. He picked up one of them and stuffed it into his pocket. Well, as the old saying 'curiosity killed the cat', that's just what happened He was curios about what lay behind the doors. Without thinking, he walked to the nearest door- a brilliant golden white one- turned the door- handle, and went in.

Aden crawled to his feet. What happened? He was in a room with a small rectangular table in the center. Several chairs were stacked in a corner, and a coach was parked against the wall. On the left of the couch was a chest. Everything except for the coach was made of wood, and walls were of mud. To Aden, it looked like a very old-fashioned living room. Suddenly, he heard people talking,"....I left it at the living room," came a man's voice. "I'll get it." This time it was a lady's: soft and light, like she was singing and talking at the same time. Suddenly, Aden realized the horrible thing: He didn't know how, but he had broken into someone's house. And people were inside it! His heart was beating in his mouth. The man mentioned a living room... this was probably it! And the lady was coming!

There was only one thing he could do now. He quickly lay down and pretended to have fainted.

A second later, he heard footsteps and then a shrill high scream. Someone came running. "What's the matter?" he asked urgently. It was the man's voice.

The next thing Aden knew was someone pouring buckets of water over his head. He tried really hard to stay still, but he chocked and coughed and spluttered. He couldn't help sitting up and sneezing the water out of his nose.

When he finally dared to open his eyes, he saw a beautiful lady was kneeling next to him, holding an empty bucket. He gasped. She looked exactly like Rosalynd! The only difference was just that her eyes were amber, and Rosalynd's were blue. Everything else was the same: the wary golden hair, the white skin, the rosey lips. Then it was the lady's turn to gasp." Fredrick! Fredrick, the boy's awake!" A young man came running. He had straw-colored hair, brown eyes, and a high nose. "Thank goodness!" said the man called Fredrick. Then Fredrick turned to Aden. For a moment, Aden was scared they might do something horrible to him, but then he looked at the man's kind eyes and the scared feeling vanished immediately." I think we need some explaining here," he said to Aden. "Shall we sit and talk? But first, you must dry off."

He stared puzzledly at Aden’s T-shirt and shorts. Aden stared back at him, and then it hit him-the man was wearing a tunic! And the woman too! Why hadn't he realized it earlier? I thought no one wears tunics now, thought Aden. They just wore them in Ancient Greece. How strange. But he had no time to think anymore because the young lady had brought a small sized tunic and sandals for him. After he changed, they sat down on the stools. "Now let's hear your story," said Fredrick. All the time Aden had been changing his clothes, he had already come up with a plan. He was a good actor, so it wasn't hard. He sighed, and put on a really sad face and voice.

"I am called Aden, and I'm 10 years old. My father and mother were really cruel to me, and made me work day and night and whipped me. One day-that's yesterday, I think, but I've lost track of time- they said I cost too much money with the amount of food and clothes. That's just an excuse to get rid of me, I suppose, for they barely give me a stale crust and a pint of water everyday. So they dropped me in a rubbish heap in the dead of the night, which was about to be set alight the next morning. Luckily, I found a a box of matches that still worked, so I lit one and by the light I found those weird clothes and put them on. They were better than my ragged tunic before, at least; the cloth left of it can barely be made into a handkerchief. Well, there was only one thing left to do except to sit there and wait to be set alight with the rubbish the next day; I groped my way blindly towards the direction of what I thought was the entrance with some help from the matches. But before I even got halfway there, something hard fell down from the top of one of the rubbish heaps and, most unfortunately, struck me on the head. Then I was knocked out. I had a vague impression of being carried by someone later on, but I don't remember clearly. Then I woke up, and now I'm here."

"What a poor child!" cried Fredrick after Aden was done with his story. "I am Fredrick, and this is my wife, Dorothy. We are Greeks. And-his face went red-"wealwayswantedtoadoptaboylikeyou!" he said really quickly so the words stuck together.

Aden felt dizzy. What? he thought. They always wanted to adopt a boy like me? And they're Greeks? I thought Greeks didn't wear tunics now! And who hasn't heard of T- shirts and shorts? He needed a place to live in before he figured how to get back and find Rosalynd, so he said, "Yes! I'll be really grateful!" Fredrick let out a sigh of relief, and Dorothy smiled. "I think a nice feast will be a start," she said and went into the courtyard.

"Come, Aden, "said Fredrick, and he led him to another room in the house. This was a bedroom, no doubt; there were two wooden beds in one side of the room, and a wooden chest beside one of the beds. On the chest were a candle and a book. Aden managed to catch a glimpse of the title before Fredrick called him: The Olympics. "Aden, please come over for a minutes." said Fredrick. "This is the bedroom. You can sleep here," he said, rolling out a sleeping mat on the floor. "And there's the chamber pot." Fredrick pointed to a small pot in the corner. "I'll leave you to yourself for the time being. Feel free to explore," he said. And with that, he left the room. Aden was dazed. His thoughts were all mixed up in his head, and he was getting a headache.

Suddenly, Aden felt really sleepy. He curled up into a ball and fell fast asleep.
***
"Aden? Aden!" Aden felt someone shaking him. He groaned, but sat up and opened his eyes anyway. It was Fredrick. Aden could tell Fredrick was trying really hard to keep calm, but actually he was containing a mass of excitement inside him.

As soon as he saw Aden open his eyes, he could hold it no longer. "Look look look look look look look!" he bellowed, jumping up and down whilst pointing out of the window in a frenzy of excitement. The "window" actually just consisted of a square hole. Aden crawled to the window and stuck his head out. A billowing red banner caught his attention. The words on it were printed in huge golden block letters. It read: CHILDREN OLYMPICS! SPECIAL! HURRY TO THE TOWN SQUARE TO HEAR THE NEWS AND PARTICPATE! "Quick!" cried Fredrick. "I want you to participate! I've been in the Olympics once too, you know!" and with that, he took Aden by the hand and bounded away. In no time, they were at the Town Square.

The Town Square was already bursting with people (all wearing tunics) chattering excitedly. In the middle of the square was a messenger. He had a little wooden desk before him, on which was an inkwell, a piece of stick-like grass, and an inkwell.

Then the messenger started to speak, and the square fell silent. "Gentlemen and boys," he began,"Welcome to the 7th Olympics. This time it is very special, and it is my honor to announce to you that this time we are going to have a Child Olympics!" He paused, and everyone applauded.
The messenger continued, "There will be a chariot race, a horse-riding race, a long distance running race, a short distance running race, and a discus-throwing race. If you wish to participate, please come and sign up at the counter."

With a roar, all the boys with their dads in the square rushed forward. With lightning speed, Fredrick yanked Aden to the front of the line.

"Name, please," said the messenger simply. "A-d-e-n, Aden," said Fredrick, so excited that he looked about to jump out of his skin any moment. The messenger scribbled on a piece of paper. "Game."
"What are you good at, Aden?" asked Fredrick. "I don't know, but I'm strong. Very, very strong," said Aden. "Discus-throwing, then," said Fredrick, still hopping about like a squirrel.

"Next!" called the messenger.