1. Coedwig Challenged


    Date: 3/26/2017, Categories: Supernatural, Author: Annamagique, Source: LushStories

    For December, the weather was very mild, especially for Bavaria. At this time of year there is normally snow or, at least, icy weather but this year the temperature was much too high even for frost. Even so, it is still a beautiful place to be. The fields are green and the pine trees still have their needles. Even the mountains of the Alps are resplendent in their nakedness, grey and imposing with little flecks of white where the small amounts of snow fill the crevasses on the highest peaks that are shielded from the winds by the sheer rock walls. I peered from the window as my flight approached Munich's Franz Joseph Airport, the mountains visible in the distance and, as the wheels thumped against the tarmac of the runway and I was thrown against my seatbelt as the pilot braked hard to reduce the momentum, my heart leapt with joy. I felt as though I was home. Although I am English I have come to regard Bavaria as my adopted home. Every time I come here I never want to go home. There was no problem leaving the airport. I waited patiently at the baggage carousel until my suitcase appeared then followed the signs to the exit and the 'S-bahn' or metro station. I checked my watch and noted the temperature on the revolving screen just beyond the doors, nine degrees. I was a little early for the hotel check in so I headed outside, my coat still over my arm, and into the small Christmas market in the courtyard before the shopping area of the airport. The aroma was heady. Christmas ...
    ... spices and Gluhwein, sausages cooking and coffee... Mmm, coffee, that was what I needed, a cup of strong black coffee one of the things I love about Europe, not weak and wishy-washy as it is so often served in cafés in England. I bought a cup in McCafe and sat down with it at one of the tables outside. Almost immediately I was joined by a tiny Sparrow, watching me from the next table, looking for a little crumb or tit-bit from me. Soon, there was another, then another. They fluttered from table to table, watching me with their little heads on one side. “Wald!” I peered around, hearing the thin, high pitched voice. I was alone and yet I heard it again, almost imperceptible. I shrugged my shoulders mentally, it must have been something squeaking, a stall holder perhaps, closing or opening a door to his little chalet. I looked again at the little birds, still perched around me. “I'm sorry.” I said to them, “I have nothing for you, not even a... Oh, wait!” I remembered the little biscuit in its plastic wrapper that came with my coffee and crumbled it before unwrapping it. “Here you are.” I said, spreading out the crumbs for them at the opposite side of my table. They flew across and pecked at the tiny crumbs, taking them back to the other table before eating them. “Bitte Schon.” You are welcome, I replied, smiling, to the imagined thank you from them as they fluttered to and fro between the tables, “Danke, Wald.” I thought I heard the voice again and looked around but still I was ...
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