Scoundrels put flowers on our doorstep

Today I had an amusing experience with some of the kids in our neighborhood.


A couple of days ago someone left flowers on our doorstep and my wife and I thought it was our children. But today it was revealed that the flowers had been left there by someone else. Someone unexpected. We were in the kitchen getting ready for lunch (today is a holiday in Denmark) and the door bell sounded. Out the window we could see some girls running behind a wooden fence to hide. They were about 13-14 years old and we knew they had to be the ones who rang the door bell.


Now, I could´ve gotten angry and told them never to do such a thing again. To be honest: if I´d been in a bad mood, that might just have been my chosen course of action. But really, what would that have accomplished for anyone?

So, instead I did something they certainly didn´t expect as far as their faces could tell. I swooped the door open and ran out yelling at them: "I´ll get you for this!" and coming round the fence, I saw three surprised teenage girls, when I said in a kind manner: "You didn´t expect this, did you?" At first, they were speechless, which in itself is quite the accomplishment when dealing with giggly teenage girls in my experience. But then one of them looked at me with a smile and said: "Did you like the flowers?" Flowers? I had rushed so fast out the door that I actually hadn´t seen the flowers they´d put on our doorstep and now it was my turn to be surprised. "Oh, you are the ones who are putting flowers on our doorstep. Sorry, I didn´t see them. But hey, if you´re going to be mischievous, this is the way to do it! Thanks for the flowers, you scoundrels!"


I had a big smile on my face and so did the girls. What a great way to start a holiday!

How did you start your holiday?

Excerpt from "Hickory Street"

Hi folks,

Here´s another excerpt from my upcoming novel "Hickory Street"
I wonder if I´ve written it in such a way that it´s clear enough to understand what´s going on without it being too clear. Looking forward to any comment:

Presenting two teenage boys: Harm and Mike

Harm and Mike had found each other as friends from the very first day and their friendship grew tighter for each day that passed. The Friedenhoff couple were a bit surprised to see this. Mike had never been very interested in reading books, unless there were more pictures than words, but within just a few weeks he had actually been seen reading the Harry Potter series. Of course they were thrilled and even began to reconsider their decision to enroll him at summer school next year.

One Saturday they were both sitting in Mike´s room reading. Mike was holding the first part of “The Lord of the Rings” with both hands sitting in his bed with his feet up and his back to the window. He occasionally rotated the book to one side to get a better look at the pictures and nodded with content at them. Sometimes the pictures were so amazing that he had to look up and ask Harm to join him. Then they would both look at the pictures with their eyes dilated and their mouths half open.

Yes, those pictures in that book really were worth studying thoroughly, they agreed.

So, what do you think?

Is it clear enough? Is it too obvious? And mostly: is it funny or just plain boring?