Better on our own - English

In the Caves

"They're fine, I think," I started and hesitated for a moment, but then decided to say it out loud. I had no one else to talk to about it except Susen and she was too busy with James that I wanted to ask her for a little of her time. I just wished her happiness. Besides, Penny had known Norman since she was little. "Norman and Sarah are together, but I'm not entirely comfortable with this Norman," I added hesitantly and Penny gave me an astonished look as she walked next to me because of the corridor here was a little wider. Cody was just curiously walking ahead, but was only a step ahead of us, which was certainly within reason.

"Why not?" Penny asked me now, but somehow didn't seem very surprised by my statement.

"Because he makes it pretty clear every time I even talk to Sarah that he doesn't like it, and on the other hand he seems to be interested in another girl himself."

"I'm sorry for Sarah, but it wouldn't surprise me with Norman. He's always been very fickle. One day he was on fire with magic, the next he was back playing the superhero in holey underpants. He always have had the craziest ideas and completely threw himself into it without thinking about the consequences," Penny explained to me and I looked up and listened. Every boy had silly ideas, but Norman seemed to top them all. "At least it was never boring in Pontypandy," she remarked with a smile.

"It sounds like Norman has been keeping you pretty busy," I said, perhaps trying to get more out of her. She didn't seem to have a problem with reminiscing, at least not in this topic, and maybe she would say one or two things that could be important for further investigations.

"It would be unfair to say it was just Norman. Everyone in town played their part. Even the tourists. But let's just say that it's not without reason that Norman has an entry in the book of world records for the most rescues."

"Really? How many does he have?" That really surprised me. Norman didn't seem like that anymore today.

"Oh, I think there were 756 at the time, but I don't know how many more were added after I left," she replied, shrugging her shoulders but still smiling and my jaw dropped open. How could one boy cause so many incidents by himself? But that wasn't the most important thing, because here was an opportunity that I had to seize.

"Why did you leave?" I asked her as coolly as possible. I certainly wouldn't mention that I already knew a lot thanks to Sarah's parents and Sarah herself.

"I was offered the job in Tonypridd. It made sense to me." That shrug of the shoulders again, but the smile had disappeared and was replaced by more of a thoughtful expression.

"Have you ever regretted it?" I asked, trying to sound as neutral as possible. I hoped it worked because she didn't give me any indication that she suspected something or was confused about it.

"No," she said immediately, but I heard her voice tremble. Penny might not lie, or at least she didn't like to lie, but if she did, she certainly didn't do it well.

"Mum, will you tell us about your adventure with Dad and Cousin James and Cousin Sarah?" Cody asked his Mum, who must have been bored by our conversation, and she smiled at him again.

"It was in the mine shafts that we had to go into after the entrance was buried and the caves were in danger of being filled with water thanks to a heavy storm," she then began the story and told it to us as we delved deeper into the cave. She interrupted her story every now and then to explain to us what a stalactite or a stalagmite was, what the rock of the mountain was made of, showed us quartz veins and we even discovered a small gold vein in the weak light of our helmet lamps.

The cave itself was exciting, but hearing the story of what she had experienced with Mr. Jones and the children in the old mine shafts was even more captivating. She had saved his life back then, after he had actually wanted to rush to her rescue - and in principle she had saved him not only once when the bridge gave way under him, but also by leading them all out of there . Had Mr. Jones already had to save her? It seemed so unbelievable to me that these two perfect firefighters needed rescue themselves, but apparently accidents happened to experienced people like them too.