Page 7 - Jeremiah Lollipop

To understand why it was a marvel you have to know a few things.

Firstly, Jeremiah lived in a small city that was built all over some hills.

Secondly, he lived on the side of a hill too, but on the lower side, near

the bottom. Right across the road the hill went up quite steeply, and on

this steep slope many people had managed to build houses.

Each house was set on posts, or poles, which looked like tree trunks.

The houses themselves were boxes on platforms, and each house had a

long, steep stairway up to the door. All except one house, this was the

house Jeremiah thought was a marvel.

It was right across the road, and it was the only all concrete house

Jeremiah had ever seen. It was built right into the hillside, not that it was

finished yet. It was still under construction, and it had no glass in the

windows, or furniture, except for the back room, where the man who

was building the house managed to live.

His name was Mr. Flannel and nobody knew anything about him. He

had come about two years ago, and as soon as he had arrived he had

started to dig into the yellow-brown clay of the hill with a pickaxe, and a

shovel and a wheelbarrow. Every day he worked, digging, and wheel

barrowing, day after day, and each load he dug and wheel barrowed was

tipped off the end of a plank into a truck with high sides, and when the

truck was full Mr. Flannel drove it away and came back with it empty

and ready to fill again.