THE WONKY OLD HOUSE c.Julie Duell 2019

Out in the countryside on a high and windy hill, a quaint old house can be seen sitting at a very strange angle due to small landslide. It happened so slowly that Gramps, the old man who lived there, hardly noticed. You see he already had one leg shorter than the other, so it was an easy matter for him to go from room to room and he just kept cutting the table legs shorter on one side to keep the tops level so the cups and plates didn't slide off.

“I do wish my grandchildren would come and visit me” he grumbled to Coal, his faithful old black cat. “It's too quiet around here”. “Meow” answered Coal from his little bed, now nailed firmly to the floor.

Soon it was school holidays and Gramps got his wish - although sadly the children didn't really want to visit. “It's so boring there” they winged “there's nothing to do!”

They trudged up the hilly path to the front door and there was Gramps with his funny old walking stick to meet them. “Come on in young'ns” he winked with his wide wrinkly grin.

Then a strange thing happened. As each of the children stepped inside, they slithered down the floor to the next room! “Oh dear” said Gramps “I hadn't realised my floor was at such a slope now”. 
He scratched his whiskery old chin and thought a bit. - Before long he had tied ropes for the kids to clamber up to the kitchen table for juice and biscuits ... but they didn't even want to stop to eat or drink! They were just having so much fun climbing up and sliding down, over and over again in Gramps' old wonky house.

Gramps couldn't be happier, sitting in his favourite chair (which long ago he had nailed to the floor alongside  Coal's little bed), watching his grandchildren playing happily. Best of all, when they left they asked Gramps if they could come again....soon!

So now you know why the old house on the hill is still wonky!  Gramps has no intention of fixing it!
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