The Phone Box in the Attic

The kids were initially disappointed that they couldn’t play outside in the rain, but their aunt said that the meter read 200 rads so it wouldn’t be safe to go out til the next day. So they were confined to the big house. At least there was no school today. They headed for the attic as they hadn’t fully explored that yet,  not surprisingly, as it extended all the way under the roof, and into both wings. It was a maze of  boxes and rooms between the roof joists, bigger than it seemed, and it seemed bigger than downstairs.

“What is Xob Enohp Eht?” asked Wendy.

“Oh, you know in the past, they used to write the other  way - that’s a Phone Box: you see, its a box full of phones.”, answered Albie, who knew too much.  “What’s a phone?”, Wendy came back. “Dunno” replaced Albie. “Let’s open it and see”. So they did

Joan picked out the ones with aikon and iewauh written on each. Albie’s chose two called otom. Wendy was left with a white brick with the picture of an ellpa. She liked that. They  took  their  prizes and decamped to  their  own rooms  to see what they could find out about these curios.

Later, after dinner, they regrouped in the attic to disclose their treasures. Joan said hers were full of ghosts, reintarnations from the past, future that  spoke to her of many  wonders lost and yet to be found.

Albie had bought her cigar box guitar, and played some of the marvellous tunes that her otom had taught here.

Wendy was reluctant to talk about hers at  first. It  seemed that it had become too personal for her to reveal. Eventually, she tried to show the other two how the white god had tried to enmesh her in the bizarre cult which  made no sense whatsoever, and kept referring to clouds and terms and conditions and genies and gurus, which of course they all knew were myths and legends from before the Jackpot. Albie had a great idea - “Why don’t we leave them all here to talk to each other? I’ve got my tunes and don’t need any more. I am sure Siri would love to meet the others, and maybe they will know what to do with her weird suggestions”. They all agreed, and went to bed, looking forward to the next day, when the wind would be  from the west  and it would be safe to play  outside  the  museum once more.