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Author: langbot
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English[en]
THE FIRST LECTURE ‘For the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming, ...’ That old patriotic anthem from World War Two rolled about in my head as I sat in a cell beside my brother. I even started to sing it but David glared at me – he never did like to hear me singing. (Nobody does!) So, just as I had heard, there were foreign troops on the way to reinforce the local effort. What this meant, of course, was that the ‘war’ against the zombie menace was by no means over. And, if you thought about it, that was no surprise. As I had speculated at the time of the battle at Melbourne University, a primary area of 400,000 square kilometres had been taken over by the zombies – and outbreaks were occurring all the time beyond that zone. So, despite the fact that thousands of zombies had been machine-gunned and napalmed at the university, there were hundreds of thousands of them still roaming the countryside – and they, in their turn, were still actively ‘conscripting’ yet more to the cause (whatever that might be). And, as a result, David and I were to be used to show these fresh-faced doughboys what a zombie looked like. I was to be the ‘before’ image and David was to be the ‘after’ – like in one of those old comic-book advertisements for body-building equipment. Was I ‘Skinny John’? Would I have sand kicked in my face? Probably not. I guessed we had been taken to Puckapunyal, the largest army base in Victoria. It was in Central Victoria, two or three hours by army truck from Castlemaine. So, the interminable journey in the paddy wagon fitted with that geography (once corrected for time distortion due to blindfolding.) If my guess on our location were correct – and this would be a logical place to train foreign soldiers in Australian conditions, away from the primary zone of infection – that was good news. Once again, my cadet training would come in handy.
Cornish[kw]
AN KYNSA ARETH “Rag y teu an yankis, y teu an yankis ...” An antemna koth na, meur y wlaskerensa, a dheuth dhiworth oes an Nessa Bresel an Bys, a rolyas a-dro dhe’m ympynnyon ha my esedhys ryb ow broder yn bagh. My a dhallathas hogen y gana mes Davydh a lagattas heb hedhi orthymm – ny garas nevra klywes ow henys. (Denvyth ny’n kar!) Ytho, ow nowodhow re via ewn, yth esa soudoryon estrenyek ow tos rag krevhe stryvyans a’n tyller. Hemm a styrya, heb mar, nag o gorfennys vyth an ‘bresel’ erbynn godros an zombis. Ha, mar prederres yn y gever, ny via henna marth. Kepar dell dhesevsen dres termyn batel an bennskol Melbourne, yth esa chyf arenebedh ogas dhe 400,000 km pedrek lemmyn kontrolyes gans an zombis – hag yth esa pup-prys tardhow nowydh ow hwarvos dres an arenebedh na. Ytho, yn despit dhe vernansow a vilyow an zombis – dre jynn-sethow ha napalm – dhe’n bennskol, yth esa hwath kansow a vilyow anedha ow kwandra a-dro dhe bowdir – hag yth esens i, an eyl wosa y gila, ow ‘hesskrifa’, tan meur y’ga holonnow, moy a dus hogen dhe’n movyans (pypynag o henna). Hag ytho y feu Davydh ha my bos diskwedhys, avel mir gwir an zombis, dhe’n ‘dowbois’ ma (henn yw leverel, soudoryon amerikanek), pur fresk aga fismens. Yth en an imaj ‘kyns’ ha Davydh o an imaj ‘wosa’ – kepar ha’n argemmynnow- kommyk koth esa ow mynnes gwertha daffar rag krevhe an korf. A vien ‘Yowann kroenek’? A via tewes potyes y’m fas? Nyns o hemma gwirhaval. My a dhesevas agan bos kemmerys dhe Pukkapunyal, an brassa selva yn Budhykka. Kres Budhykka o vyaj a dhew po tri our dhiworth Kastlemayne dre gert-lu. Ytho, yth heveli bos an termyn ewn rag agan vyaj heb diwedh y’n kertik. (Wosa ewnans rag kammans a dermyn drefenn ow dewlagas dhe vos kudhys.) Mars esa ewn ow thybyans a-dro dh’agan le – nowodhow da o henna. Ha, wosa oll, Pukkapunyal a via tyller herwydh reson rag trenyans soudoryon estrenyek ow kul devnydh a gondysyons Ostralek – mes pellder lowr dhiworth chyf arenebedh an klevesans. Unnweyth arta, ow threnyans avel souder-brentys a allsa bos dhe-les.