These short stories were written by Claudia Bakker.
Het Cadeau (The Present)
(Story written in Dutch) “We zijn hier allen bijeengekomen om afscheid te nemen van Mannes Eik. We kenden Mannes als een innemende man met een warm hart. Zijn filantropische instelling heeft velen van de armoede gered en de voornemens om een stichting ter ere van zijn goede werk op te richten zouden hem zeker deugd doen.” De kerkleider knikt gemoedelijk naar twee verzorgd uitziende heren op de voorste bank.
The Shurtle
Rashid had to look twice to make sure his eyes did not deceive him. Was that really a sheep he saw crawling uphill towards him? Actually, the crawling wasn’t even the strangest part about the creature that was coming towards him in a vast pace; it had the legs of a turtle and the solid shell of one on its back as well.
The boy wiped his eyes fiercely, yet it proofed useless – that same weird mixture of a sheep and a turtle was still there. “A sheep and a turtle, it’s a shurtle!” thought Rashid in disbelieve.
The Sword In The Stone
It was a chilly afternoon in July, when two teenage boys walked into a small clearing in the thick Cornwall forest. Tommy and Bill, best friends since birth, were in deep conversation. They did not hear the birds singing. They did not realise that the sun was desperately trying to warm their surroundings. They did not notice the little bunny who had been following them curiously for the past fifteen minutes. They were consumed with their mutual adoration for one thing, and one thing only: Master Defender, the popular videogame.
