Fiasol

Fasl is a ten-year-old fixer. And more than thatshes the head of her own Rescue Squad. Ing is special advisor to the squad. Hes two years older than Fasl, but that doesnt matter. Theyre the best of best friends. Even so, Ing will sometimes say things like: Youll get it one day, Fasl, when youre my age. Fasl lives in a little roomThe Nook, she calls itin a house on a street called Green Lane in a town called Grassville. She lives with her mom and dad. She also lives with her sister Bidda, who is a seventeen-year-old mirror connoisseur. Bidda owns thirty-seven mirrors that hang all over her room. The mirrors are long and skinny, short and wide, gilded with gold-leaf and adorned with pearls. There are mirrors fitted with magnifying glasses and mirrors with little lights on them. All day, she inspects herself in her mirrors, applying color and sweeping brushes across her face like the most accomplished of painters. Coach Lolli is often in Biddas room, too, but then, she locks the door. Fasl also lives with her sister Pippa. Pippa is a thirteen-year-old book junkie. She can read while walking, eatingeven biking and swinging. Thats not very safe, though. A lot has changed on Green Lane. But Fasl always has plenty to do. That hasnt changed at all. I really have way too much to do, she says. The Rescue Squad puts a lot of stress on meits an awful lot of work. Which is why I dont have time to pick up my room. When I dont have anything left to do, Ill pick up. Bidda says that Lolli isnt her boyfriend. She says hes just a friend who is helping with her homework. You know, thats strange, says Dad. Peculiar that you need so much help with your homework all of a sudden. They hold hands, murmurs Pippa, looking up from the book shes reading with her mouth full during dinner. Ive seen them when theyre getting off the bus.

Once upon a time Fasl was on the go. It started with Mum and sister Bidda going to Copenhagen. Just the two of them. Pippa was a bit fed up about that, and Fasl was furious. But then, totally out of the blue, Fasl and Pippa, together with Grandma Gg, got to join them. In Denmark they met Auntie Gla and her boy, Gutti. They visited Great-aunt Ll, and stayed with Big Stna, a belly dancer with hardly any teeth. Fasl lost her beanie in the Tivoli park and Grandma was tricked into having a ride on the Odin Express. After an extremely enjoyable trip they then returned to Iceland. But of course thats not the whole story. During the trip some crazy things happened that the family never talks about Fasl because she is so embarrassed about it; Grandma, Mum and Gla because theyre so shocked by what they did; and Pippa, Gutti and Bidda because they still think it was so stupid. The time has definitely come to tell this story. In order to understand how it all happened, it would be a good idea to check out the travel agreement that they all signed up to, back in Stnas kitchen. THE GRAND TRAVEL AGREEMENT Binding contract relating to recreational trips During this trip it is totally strictly forbidden to do anything that someone under the age of ten finds boring. Quite the opposite. It is actually every travellers duty to do ONLY, JUST AND ABSOLUTELY everything that anyone aged ten or under likes doing best when travelling. Whosoever infringes this Grand Travel Agreement must immediately cease travelling and return home. This rule to be applied within reason. Signed: Fasl, Mum, Gutti, Pippa, Bidda, Grandma Gg, Auntie Gla

Fíasól is an eight-year-old traveller. She celebrated her birthday in pouring rain in a trailer tent in the east of Iceland and gave everyone on the campsite a piece of cake and hot chocolate. Fíasól says that she's spent half her life sleeping in a tent but Mum says that's just rubbish. In the hallway at home is a small suitcase that nobody is allowed to touch. Fíasól has stuffed everything into it she might need, should she suddenly have to go travelling. "This family is always going off here there and everywhere," she says. "I may as well have my suitcase ready if I need to whizz off somewhere. One simply lives in a suitcase, always off somewhere, such a nomad," she says, shaking her head precociously. She has sometimes heard her grandmother say this when she and her grandfather come back from the Canary Islands. "You don't even know what a nomad is," says Pippa laughing. "Yeah, a nomad is a wanderer and I am a wanderer," replied Fíasól, pleased with herself. Fíasól still lives on Green Grove in Grasby with her mum, dad and her sisters Pippa and Bidda. She also lives there with the noisybags and lazybones Hansína and Jensína who bark non-stop when they're not sleeping. Then they lie on their backs in the basket in the kitchen, snoring like little monsters. One day there was an awful lot of rain in Green Grove and Fíasól was bored. She painted her face to look like an American native, using yellow, green and blue face paints, and then she implored her mum to let her paint her too. "Please Mum, let me change you into a native American chief," Fíasól begged, while her mum kept working on her computer. "No, absolutely not," Mum muttered, preoccupied. "So you're just a boring old hag," said Fíasól moodily. "Can't be bothered, don't know how to play and don't want to do anything that's fun."

Fasl is a seven-year-old crab living in Green Grove in Grasby. Well, she is not actually a crab. She is a girl born in the Cancer star sign, and in her opinion that stinks. So shes decided to adopt a brand new star sign for herself, its called the Flowery Butterfly and is a sign made specially for people who dont want to be Cancerians. She lives in Green Grove with her mum and dad, her big sisters Pippa and Bidda, and a couple of poodles, Hansna and Jensna. Fasls best friend is called Ingo. He is nine years old and lives in the house diagonally opposite hers. Harold, Herbert and Heba live in the house directly opposite. They are also specially good friends of Fasls. Ill never have to leave Green Grove, Fasl sometimes says. Ive got all my friends here, my stuff, my bed, and the food of course. Youll need to go to school, her ten-year-old sister Pippa retorts. Yeah, but then Ill come straight back home because everything I need is here, Fasl replies. What if you need to see the doctor? Pippa asks. Then Ill just make a call and get the doctor to come and see me here, Fasl says. But what if Pippa continues, and so it goes on, the sisters bickering day in and day out. Oh, I have such an amazingly big imagination, Fasl sometime says, sounding pleased with herself. She is right of course. You are queen of your very own enormous imagination, Fasls mum says to her. But youll have to be careful not to let your ideas fly so high that you lose track of them and they come to a sticky end. If you live in a big world of imagination youre either doing just fine, or youre in trouble. The thing is, its often so difficult to recognise whether an idea is good or bad. Good ideas can get you into trouble and bad ideas can look as if theyre rather good, to start with.

I got a letter! said Fasl happily, taking a closer look. It says: To the amazing and fantasticFasl at 8 Green Grove, Grasby. Thank you for being you! Coolest, coolest, coolest of them all! Youve got to be joking! said Pippa. What halfwit sends something like that? Fasl looked at her sister in indignation. Halfwit? A letter like this is definitely not written by a halfwit. Fasl opened the envelope and drew out a long letter and a number of drawings. Well, blow me, she said in surprise. This must be from a famous artist. Read us the letter, Pippa said impatiently. Fasl read: Dear Fasl, Ive been meaning to write you many letters to tell you what fun you are and so clever. Here are some pictures of you that I drew. I hope you like them. Im very good at drawing, just like you. Best of all I like playing with you and Im so glad to be able to be with you every day. I am always going to wake up with you in the morning and go to sleep with you in the evening and take good care of you all my life. I shall also look after you when others are horrible to you, and Ill take your side. Ill tell Pippa off if she winds you up and Ill help you to tidy up the frightful dump when your mum says you have to. Ill always be your best friend. Your oldest and best and funniest and coolest of all the friends in the whole wide world, Fasl who is the coolest. Pippa stared at her sister in indignation. Did you write a letter to yourself? Yeah, and so what? Does it matter who writes you a letter? Getting a letter now and then is the main thing, isnt it? And they have to be fun letters, that you can be bothered to read.

Fíasól is a seven year old explosion of joy who lives in the gruesome room in Green Grove in Grasby. She lives here with her mum, dad, sister Pippa, who is eleven, and sister Bidda, who is a teenager. There are also the bone idle poodles Hansína and Jensína. They are so lazy that they can hardly be bothered to eat their food. They definitely never want to go out in the rain, and they drag themselves out of bed just before noon. They are so terribly lazy that they only bother to chase cats when they're asleep. This is why they sometimes lie there fast asleep, barking at invisible cats that only exist in the land of Nod. Once, Fíasól thought that pink was the loveliest colour in the whole world. She wanted to paint all the houses in Green Grove pink, and she thought that the Icelandic flag should be pink. Now she has packed all her pink clothes away in a box. She only wants to wear blue and brown clothes because then you can't really see that they are dirty. Ingo lives in the house diagonally opposite Fíasól. He is nine years old and is Fíasól's best friend. "We can never move away from Green Grove," Fíasól says from time to time. "Why not?" askes Mum. "Well, because we always have to live close to Ingo." Then she has a little think about this. "Mum, if Ingo's mum and dad decide to move away, then we'd have to move too. However far away." "I see," mumbles Mum absent-mindedly. "In that case let's hope they never decide to move, because I really love living in Green Grove." "Yeah, me too," says Fíasól. "I'm happiest when I'm at home in my snug." "What's a snug?" Ingo asked in surprise one time when Fíasól said she was going home to the snug. "Ingo, a snug is a small and cosy place where everyone is safe and happy," Fíasól replied and ran back home to the snug.