Children story: Janne

Janne is standing at the beginning of the avenue. At the end of the avenue Janne sees sand. The sand belongs to a playground. And on the playground there is a climbing frame. That reaches high, almost to the sky. Anyway, there are winding ropes and tubes to climb up. Then, at the very top, a wire basket. There you can sit down in it and, like a cable car, make your way to the other side of the playground. swing over. Then when you get out, you’re still somewhere up in the clouds and there’s a slide leading down that’s so long it makes your butt itch at the end.

Janne thinks she sees Vinh. Her first grade boyfriend. “Vinh! Hello Vinh, here I am!” she calls. But Vinh does not turn to her. “Vinh, it’s me, Janne, will you come get me, please!” she tries again. But still Vinh does not turn around. On the contrary, he is just climbing the wire basket and Janne can see him whizzing around the playground.

The trees lining the road look down angrily on Janne. Janne knows she has disturbed them. The trees like the wind that ruffles their leaves. They also like the rain that showers them. And they like the sun, which dries them again. But what they do not like at all are birds. After birds they beat with their branches and leaves. And they do not like noise.

In the morning Janne is taken to school by mommy and mommy. To do this, you drive your car through the avenue. Mostly mom drives. Because mommy is dreamy in the morning. Most often, mommy also forgets something at home. Then they have to turn back and therefore they are almost always late. Mom usually rolls her eyes once and then goes super fast. You have a red car. They also call it Red Lightning. But only in the morning. So the trees don’t stand a chance. Mom dashes past them so fast that they can’t do anything about the disturbance. They look after the Red Flash with brows drawn together. Their ranting is suffocated in the airstream.

Janne carefully sets foot on the avenue. And then another. And one more. In the row on the left, a beech tree leans forward. It is lean. She looks irritated. Janne stands stock-still. She squeezes her eyes shut. When she opens her eyes again, the beech tree is back in line.

Once again Janne dares to take a step forward. Her sneaker squeaks as she does so. That’s how quiet it is today. You clenches his teeth to keep from whispering “oh no”. Then she bends down and takes off her shoes. On socks she creeps along. She makes it maybe four or five meters, when suddenly a branch swoops down. He pauses in front of Janne like a barrier. Startled, she runs back.

Arriving at the beginning of the avenue, she clenches her hands at her sides, breathing heavily. All the trees of the avenue now look at her. They rant and clamor. Janne presses her hands over her ears. She starts humming, “All men who go on a privateer voyage…”. The longer it makes sounds, the more peaceful the trees become. Their faces relax. A young birch tree begins to wave.

But when Janne looks closer, she notices that it’s not a wave. The birch tree dances. She waves the leaves in time so that they just fly. Janne begins to sing. Louder and louder and instead of the trees complaining, they start laughing. They hook their branches into each other and sway. But today there is no wind at all.

Everything Janne can think of, she now gives to her best. She claps her hands and turns in a circle. In doing so, it moves forward. Your heart beats fast. And faster and faster. But it is not far, then she has reached the playground. Behind her a rustle of leaves. So she finally reaches the sand. She throws the shoes next to the swing and climbs up to Vinh.

Only when Vinh is picked up by his father, Janne remembers that she has to walk the avenue again. She wants to go back home, to mom and mommy, right now. They are probably already waiting for them. But what will the trees do when they see them again?

Gradually the twilight sets in. Janne is standing by the avenue again. This time on the other side. None of the trees have discovered them yet. She carries her shoes in her hand, quietly creeping along. There a gnarled plane tree bends out of line. Instantly Janne jumps back. The young birch tree notices this. She winks at Janne.

Janne puts on her shoes. She knows she has no other chance. She claps her hands again and begins to sing as loud as she can: “My grandma rides a motorcycle in the chicken coop, a motorcycle…!”, laughing and dancing and running and arriving at the other end of the avenue faster than the wind. Behind her there is a roaring storm. Leaves circle, branches swirl through the air. The trees bend as if they could waltz with their roots.