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Story Two by CATHY BARNETT
Melting Man
Old image of Edinburgh

I had travelled three days and nights I was tired and needed to rest. I came across an old town called Edinburgh.
      Edinburgh was a large town to me. It seemed even larger as I got closer to the centre of town. There were big buildings and a lot of people around shouting different things and there was a market in the middle of the town. People were walking and running about the place. They were selling all kinds of goods. As I looked on to my right I saw the castle which was very large and was on a hill. There was a road leading from the castle down to the town. I found a small stairway away from the cold and damp and fell asleep.
      When I woke up next morning I was hungry. I walked about the town to see if I could get some food even if I had to steal it. I could run faster than any grown up (I am only fourteen years old). I was hoping to find a better life and make some thing of it. The life I had was going nowhere. I had no family to look back on. My parents were very poor and lived in an old cottage which was falling apart. I was wearing what I had on when I left home which was an old blanket over my head and some torn trousers and old torn soft-leather soled shoes. I am cold and hungry and have nowhere to stay.
      Been in town for two weeks and still have not found a place to stay. I have been sleeping in the graveyard. No one will find or touch me, and I felt safe, but frightened. The graveyard was so peaceful and damp and cold, but I liked the grave that I was lying on. It had a name on the headstone – a nice name. I could just imagine what this person was like in his lifetime. The inscription was:

      HERE LAY A VERY GENTLE MAN
      COLIN McKAY
      BORN 1850 — DIED 1900

Maybe that’s why I stayed on his grave for so long as he made me feel safe. I knew one day things would be all right.
      That day came one morning when I was walking through the old square. A young man in a very smart suit who was dark and handsome, about thirty-five to forty years old, came up to me and asked if I had eaten anything for days. I told him all about myself and he offered to take me somewhere where I would be warm and safe and have new clothes and plenty to eat and drink. I didn’t know what to do. I went with him.
      He took me in his carriage; he told me his name was Albert. We seemed to travel a long time. We were in the country and I could see Edinburgh fading away in the distance and in the other direction I could see a large house approaching.

House

There was some thing about the house that I was not sure of but the man said, "there is nothing to be afraid of". We entered through the two large doors and came to a hallway with stairs. The man told me to wait then he disappeared through another door.
      The hallway was very large with doors coming from all directions. There seemed to be a strong smell coming from the wooden stairway. I was afraid at first and was thinking what I left behind and now could this be my new home?
      There were pictures on the wall; it looked like a generation of people in the family. Could this be the family of the owner? There was one picture that caught my eye. He was an old man with big eyes that were brown and a large forehead with very little hair on his head, but had very large whiskers and he wore a uniform of some kind. After a few minutes Albert came back with an older man who looked just like the portrait. He was the master of the house and his name was Dr J. Anderson. He looked like a nice old man with a face I could trust and feel safe.