Geoffrey walked home through the twilight, grinning. He
would have been tempted to skip, but of course his dignity
would permit no such thing. He was going to France!
He looked down at the French learning book that he held
in his hand. "Le Chat est Mort," it said on the cover, which had
a picture of a very dead cat on it.
He looked around at the trees and the road and the small
creek that he was passing... he had walked past this area
AUGUST 1, 1889 • 27
hundreds of times but it all seemed more alive, more vibrant,
more wonderful than he had ever seen it before. This mood
lasted until he arrived at his house.
"Geoffrey!” His mother called, and he could tell from her
tone that Father had discussed the trip with her. "We are in
the parlour doing worship time. You are late!"
"Sorry, Mother," he said, hurrying in. "Chores went late at
the Thackers, supper went late, we were all busy discussing
the trip."
"Well, sit down!" she said. And he sat down in front of his
father, on the floor next to his siblings, facing his father who
had his Bible open and a slight frown on his face.
"Marilyn," his father said. "Your memory verse, please."
Psalm 48:1-3 A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the
city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is
mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of
the great King.
God is known in her palaces for a refuge.
"Very good. Now Geoffrey."
Psalm 119 ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy
servant, upon which thou hast caused me to
hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word
hath quickened me.
The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I
not declined "om thy law.
I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and
have comforted myself.
28 • BOBTAILS GO TO FRANCE
Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the
wicked that forsake thy law.
Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my
pilgrimage.
I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night,
and have kept thy law.
This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
"Very good. Now for our evening reading tonight we will
be in the book of Daniel."
An hour later Geoffrey and Carl were up in their room,
undressed for bed, and Geoffrey opened up the French book.
The inside cover had the same words "Le Chat Est Mort,"
and a picture of another dead cat, a different dead cat, and a
whole bunch of words in French, probably telling where it
was printed and all.
He turned the page but Carl said, “Mother isn't happy."
"No she isn't, but she didn't say anything."
"I wouldn't want to be you."
"You wouldn't want to go to France?"
"I'm... I don't know. It's a long way away, you're going to
be gone a long time, but I wouldn't want to be you over the
next few weeks."
"Yeah, well... She'll get over it. And Father said he would
take care... that she wouldn't bother me. And I'm going to
France. Now leave me alone, I need to study."
"What do you need to study?"
"I'm going to France. I need to learn French. I don't want
to wander around like a stupid tourist. I got the French book
out of the school."
Carl came and looked over his shoulder as Geoffrey stared
AUGUST 1, 1889 • 29
at the first real pages. This was a funny book! It had a picture
of a different dead cat with the words "Le chat est mort" under
it and then a cat walking around with the words "Le chat est
vivant" under it. All over the page there were pictures of cats:
a red cat, a blue cat, a wet cat (looking very unhappy), a dry
cat (with her fur all puffed out), two cats, three cats, all of
them with the words underneath them.
Geoffrey had heard enough French in school that he had
an idea of how these words were pronounced. So he worked
his way through the page, carefully pronouncing each phrase.
"What's that?” Carl asked.
"It’s teaching me French,” he said, “You see these two
words here? They mean 'the cat' and then each of the other
words have to do with the pictures. So this word here means
dead. And these mean like 'in life’. And then 'red' and 'blue'
etc. Now let me work."
He pronounced that page twice more and then turned the
page and chuckled. This page began with "the girl is dead," and
showed a young girl lying artistically dead. But then he
frowned and turned back to the cat page. The cat had the
word "mort" after it. "Le chat est mort" . But the girl had the
word “morte” after her: "La fille est morte" .
He looked back and forth and noticed more and more
differences. Bizarre. He would have to ask Teacher about it.
—
Thank you for coming round Arthur’s Substack. I hope and pray it will be a blessing to you.
Arthur publishes with Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:
The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid
and
As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations.
Quite a few chapters of the Bobtails and No Ordinary School are here on this substack as audio.
I also write as Von, and I encourage you to check out that substack. There is a lot of theology and politics there, as well as quotes, poems, other articles, and links to other Science Fiction. But ‘Von’ also is publishing some serial books and stories. Much more adult and serious books than here, for the most part. Some of them.
Von is publishing the stories:
Contract Marriage
Contract marriage is an adult dystopia examining the issues of marriage. Like 1984 and Brave New World, Contract Marriage treats the relations between the sexes as a fundamental aspect of how a society is formed and, thus, how a society can go wrong.
Unlike those dystopias, Contract Marriage isn’t all horrible all of the time. The characters for the most part have a good time and get along in their society. But the issues of sexuality, of marriage or not, monogamy or not, faithfulness or not, and gender roles… keep coming up and causing tension and conflict and joy and pain.
My desire is that my readers would be thinking along with my characters about these issues and perhaps even arrive at the same place (minus the flying cars).
Article 17
Article 17 is a military science fiction story with aliens and romance. It is set in a future reminiscent of Napoleon era Britain. The war was going very poorly until the military installed a dictator. This story follows one of the dictator’s great men: Cladin Tomirosh, Leader, and thrice decorated hero.
Island People
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.
The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.
…and his story ‘The Oracle’ is in haitus, but there are some chapters there. Feel free to check them out.
God Bless you as you read, and may you do all to the glory of God.
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