Majka and Maxík were walking around town, discreetly looking around them. If their friends had seen them, they would have thought they were looking for a lost dog that had run away or that one of their friends was looking for. Or they would have thought they were looking for Mrs. Barkolus's lost cat, who had about twenty of them at home. But no - they were looking for something else.
"Can you see him?" whispered Majka.
"No," Maxík looked around him.
"Me neither," Majka shook her head.
"So, where could he be?" Maxík stopped and began to spin around like the figures on the Prague astronomical clock.
"We were already at his house..."
"We were at the cathedral tower..."
"We were even at his friends' houses," the siblings listed all the places they had looked for the lost boy.
"Aaaaa!" Maxík shouted.
"What happened?" Majka was startled.
"I know where we haven't been!"
"Where?"
"Where Kaško goes to think," Maxík whispered in his sister's ear.
"Do you think he got lost for so long because he was thinking?" Majka asked incredulously and began to doodle.
"Has Kaško ever been gone for three weeks?" Maxík opened his eyes wide, and Majka had to think about it.
"No."
"See?" said Maxík uneasily.
"Something must be happening to Kaško, that's for sure," said Majka, stopping whistling.
A few moments later, Majka and Maxík went to a beautiful place in Košice, the capital of Haravara - to Rodošto. It is a small place in the center of the city, where there is now a museum, and in the middle stands a statue of František Rákóczi with a beautiful park and...
"Kaško!" Maxík shouted.
"Where?" Majka looked for her friend.
"There," Maxík pointed somewhere toward the park.
And sure enough, Kaško was sitting on one of the benches, looking not at all like a ghost.
"He looks like he has no spirit, doesn't he?" whispered Majka fearfully, grabbing her brother's hand.
"Uh-huh..."
"I've never seen a ghost without a spirit before," said Majka, not believing her eyes.
"Since we only know one ghost, we've never had a chance to see one."
"Kaško?" The siblings approached him, still holding one another's hands.
"Kaško!" He didn't move, just sighed.
"Kaško, is something wrong?" Majka let go of her brother and held out her hand to Kaško.
"Friends... I don't know," Kaško said.
"You... you don't know?" His friends didn't understand what Kaško was talking about and what he didn't understand.
"Read this," Kaško handed them an old document on which the following was written:
Dear Mr. Ghost Kaško,
you have been chosen by the Ghost Council of the land of Haravara to prepare this summer's tourist season in Haravara for visitors from other countries.
"But that's great," Majka didn't understand what Kaško was afraid of.
"You mean it?" Kaško took the letter back.
"Sure, you know everything about Haravara and you know all the great sites," Maxík almost shouted at him.
"Just how many have you shown us already?" The sister confirmed her brother's words.
"But it's not about the sites."
"Then what is it about?" the children asked, perceiving a problem.
"It's about how I'm going to move among those sites," Kaško said, looking sad again.
"But you are ghosts," both siblings said in unison.
"So?" Kaško threw his hands up.
"So, you'll fly, right?" Majka tried to advise.
"Actually, that's not it," Kaško flew up at the nearest window of Rodošto.
"Not really?" Maxík shook his head in confusion.
"When a ghost comes on holiday, he has to rest," Kaško explained.
"So, they don't fly?" Majka raised her head toward the window.
"Exactly," Kaško confirmed.
"Then you'll travel by train," Maxík suggested.
"Look at the last sentence in the letter," Kaško blew the letter toward Maxík.
Our season with our guests will begin at the Morské Oko (Sea Eye) lake this year.
“See?” Kaško took the letter and started reading it again.
“But the Sea Eye is great,” said Maxík in confusion, looking at Majka.
“Really?” Kaško whined and flew around the museum in Rodošto.
“Well, we've already been there and it was nice,” Majka cautiously began to praise the Sea Eye again.
“The Sea Eye is cool, but how do we get there? And how do we get back with our ghosts?” Kaško wondered as he flew faster.
“On foot?” Majka suggested.
“Can't you see we don't have legs - well, only when we want to, and it's really hard to walk on them?” Kaško flew past Majka and Maxík.
“Uh-huh... there's only one solution,” Maxík pondered.
“And what's that?” Kaško stopped.
“Let's go and take a look at the Sea Eye.”
“We could... and maybe...” Kaško suddenly smiled mischievously, in his typical “Kaško” way.
“Maybe what?” Maxík perked up, sensing adventure.
“Let's go! But hurry-up,” Kaško commanded.
Maxík and Majka pointed to their backs, where they had their backpacks and handbags.
“Let's go somewhere where no one can see us,” Kaško whispered in their ears, in a visibly better mood.
"Why?"
“Because we're going to fly,” Kaško winked.
They flew all the way to the Sea Eye.
“We're here,” Kaško gasped.
“It's sooo beautiful,” whispered Majka.
“It looks like we're really at the sea,” said Maxík, dipping his hand into the clear blue water.
“That's why it's called the Sea Eye.”
“Like the eye of the god Okeanos?” wondered Majka, picking an apple and starting to bite into it.
“Who?” asked Kaško and Maxík, looking around.
“In ancient Greek legends, there is a god of the sea named Okeanos, and maybe this is one of his eyes,” continued Majka, munching on her apple.
“If it's his eye, then I have to say he had very nice eyes - not scary ones like I read about,” Maxík pondered.
“What are we looking for here?”
“You guys take a good look at the forests and the fish, and I'll think about how we can travel from here with my ghost friends...”
“And the book?” Majka reached out her hand to Kaško.
“What book?” Kaško didn't understand.
"Well, the one about the primeval forests," Maxík also reached out his hand.
"What would you want a book for?" Kaško slapped his friends' hands.
"So, we can read something about primeval forests, since you offered it to us."
"Look down here."
"Where?" Maxík and Majka looked down at their feet, and Kaško slapped his forehead.
"Here," he turned their heads toward the lake.
"Beautiful forests," sighed Majka.
"Not beautiful forests - beautiful primeval forests," Kaško remarked.
"What?" Maxík looked at the forests again.
"These are real primeval forests, dear Majka, and they are even listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site."
"So, this eye has been here for a million years?" said Majka reverently, looking down at her feet to see if she was standing on a dinosaur tooth.
"Well, more like 200 years," smiled Kaško.
"So little?" Majka dropped her hands in disappointment, realising that what she was standing on was not a dinosaur tooth, but an ordinary stone chip.
"Look up at that hill," Kaško pointed above the eye.
"Hmmm... beautiful trees and...?"
"And six springs of different rivers and streams."
"We still don't understand," the children shook their heads and looked for some springs.
"Once, about 150 years ago, the people decided that they could build a wall like this to catch the water from these six tributaries."
"Ah! And they created this eye," Majka was the first to understand.
"Which is 25 metres deep."
"Wow," Maxík stepped back from the edge of the eye.
"And when they opened it..." Kaško began.
"Were you here?"
"You bet I was here," Kaško day-dreamed.
"Wow," said Majka enviously.
"Everyone was surprised at how clean the water was," said Kaško, pointing to the surface.
"The blue surface," said Majka, remembering a poem or a song about the sea.
"Like at the sea," Maxík closed his eyes for a moment and smelled salt in his nose.
"And this is what it looks like..." Kaško began.
"A train," said Maxík in surprise.
"Eye, not train," Kaško didn't understand what Maxík was saying.
"Didn't you hear?" Maxík looked around with Majka.
"But a train - that would be great for your friends, right?" laughed Majka.
"Sure! And I'll get some builders - ghosts - to build invisible rail here," continued Kaško jokingly.
“You don't have to,” Maxík said casually.
“Maxík, I don't know what grade you're in, but even kindergarteners know that trains run on railroad tracks,” Kaško continued explaining, looking at Maxík to see if he had a fever.
“And some don't...” Maxík muttered.
“I'd like to see a train that doesn't need railroad tracks.”
“Then turn around,” Maxík pointed to the path that leads to the Sea Eye.
Kaško turned around - and behind him stood, or rather was leaving, a tourist train like the ones that run in large tourist towns, and now it had appeared at the Sea Eye.
“What's that?” Kaško's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the Sea Eye.
“A tourist train,” Majka mumbled.
“Veteran Express,” Maxík continued.
“Do you know what it's called?” Kaško's mouth opened so wide that he almost scooped water from the eye of the god Okean.
“It's written there,” Maxík laughed.
“I think it's decided,” Majka winked at her friends.
“You bet,” said Kaško and continued, “Hurry up so we don't miss it!”
Maxík and Majka ran towards the Express - a beautiful little tourist train that was just pulling away. Kaško took a deep breath and blew, but at the same time he looked into the Sea Eye, where his image appeared. He blew into the water and it splashed like a big wave straight onto the train.
“The man driving the train looked back:
”What was that?“ He stopped the train and looked in disbelief at the wave hitting the train.
”Didn't you see that?“ Maxík and Majka shouted, panting heavily.
”No, I was already leaving," said the driver, rubbing his eyes.
“It looked like the Loch Ness monster and it made that wave,” the children began to make a story.
“You monsters,” laughed the driver, starting the train, “it was definitely a catfish.”
“You think so?”
“Although... it would have to be a pretty big catfish to splash that much water...”
“Where are you going?” asked Majka, trying to divert attention from Kaško's wave.
“Where else... to Michigan.”
“To America?!” Max and Kaško shouted at once.
„Tu tak hovoríme Michalovciam – vy Amerika!“ smial sa ujo šofér a vláčik sa pohol.
“This is a wonderful ride,” said Majka, letting her hair down.
“Awesome,” said Maxík, taking off his cap.
On the way, the driver told them about the Vihorlat Mountains they were passing through, about rare animals and plants, about typical Slovak fish, and about how the original forests had been preserved here, where you can find hoopoes, woodpeckers, and eagles.
“You monster!” came a voice from somewhere.
“Excuse me?” the driver stopped.
“Monster!” came the voice again.
“I'm telling you stories and you're swearing at me? I don't deserve this!”
“Sit down, sit down...” continued the unknown voice.
“What?!” the driver almost shouted.
“Look at the roof,” Kaško whispered quickly to Maxík and Majka, who were too surprised to speak.
The man stopped and Maxík quickly looked up at the roof.
“What's that?” Maxík didn't understand.
“You're hiding from me...” muttered the driver and looked up at the roof where Maxík was.
“Oh, my goodness - a bird!” the man finally laughed and stopped shouting.
A large parrot was sitting on the roof - the largest Maxík and Majka had ever seen.
“You said there were forests and traditional animals and birds here, not forests with parrots,” Maxík and Majka wondered.
“This isn't even a primeval-forest parrot,” smiled the driver, slowly taking the parrot in his hand.
“Where is it from?” asked Majka, admiring the parrot.
“From this very farmland,” said the driver, pointing to a place where various sounds were coming from.
“Do you keep parrots on farms here?”
“On this farm in Klokočina, you can find llamas, donkeys, and ordinary animals - and there's also a bird sanctuary,” explained the driver.
“A bird sanctuary?” Kaško, who had never heard of such a thing, opened his eyes and mouth wide.
“A bird sanctuary is a place on a farm where they keep exotic birds, including large macaws. And it looks like one of them has just escaped.”
The driver placed the parrot on Maxík's hand. At first, he was afraid, but when the parrot started singing, he joined in, and so did Majka.
Ara Ara Ara
singing Haravara
Ara Ara Ara
let that steam push through
ara ara ara
the cart is coming
ara ara ara
and on it is an old llama
The train started moving and they arrived at a farm where various animals were running around and children were watching how the animals were being cared for. Of course, there were also horses, which were being ridden by both children and adults. In one of the buildings, they heard squawking and immediately grasped that these were their parrot's friends, so they joined in its singing.
Majka, Maxík, and the parrot entered the bird sanctuary and stood there transfixed. There were really huge and small parrots and other exotic birds.
“It's clear what our guests will be doing on the trip,” Kaško said, rubbing his hands together.
“You mean singing with the parrots?” Maxík laughed.
“A parrot karaoke show!” Kaško's eyes lit up.
“A parrot karaoke show - awesome!” Majka repeated after Kaško.
“We've seen all sorts of things in Klokočina - we've had concerts and stage play performances, even birthday parties. But parrot karaoke - that's a first,” said a man's voice behind them.
It was the caretaker who looked after the birds. He showed them all the birds, Majka and Maxík played with them, and when they wanted to sing again, they heard:
“Let's go!”
The driver had a cup of coffee to wake himself up from the parrot shock and they continued on their way to Michalovce.
“Kaško, are you lost in thought again?” Majka nudged him.
“Yes, I am.”
“But why?” Maxík didn't understand.
Kaško jumped onto the roof of the whizzing train:
“We found a train and an activity plan for your ghost friends.”
“Yeah, but there might be more of them. What if they don't all fit in this train?”
“Then they'll go by car,” Maxík found a solution.
“Do you know what kind of cars ghosts drive?” Kaško flew back to his friends.
“We don't know.”
“The ones they drove when they were young,” sighed Kaško, remembering his toy car.
“What does that mean?” Majka didn't understand.
“Old ones,” Maxík explained to his sister.
“The ones that don't drive on the roads anymore,” Kaško added.
“Oh,” Majka nodded, as if she understood.
"But there are also old cars that someone takes care of so well that they still run even after a hundred years," Kaško mused.
"No way!" Maxík didn't believe him.
"You bet they do!"
"Vintage cars," the driver said after a moment.
"Can he hear us?" Kaško asked, startled.
"Why would he hear us?" Maxík asked, startled.
"Because those cars are actually called vintage cars!"
"See? There's a vintage car museum. And there's our castle, where the museum is," the driver pointed out.
"So, he didn't hear us..." Kaško sighed.
"But what did he say?"
"You'll find cars there that are over 100 years old. Some are even 150," continued the driver.
"Over a hundred years old?!" shouted Maxík excitedly, followed by Kaško:
"Could you stop at the museum?"
course
The train stopped in front of the Vintage Car Museum, Majka and Maxík thanked the driver, and Majka gave him her drawing.
"You must really see this!" Kaško shouted, jumping up and down.
"Have you been inside?"
"I couldn't wait!" Kaško shouted enthusiastically. "But you really have to see this!"
The children entered the building, where a large hall with beautiful old cars awaited them.
"I've only seen cars like these in old movies."
"And I've only seen ones like these in cartoons," said Majka, who couldn't take her eyes off the beautiful cars.
"And our ghost friends drove cars just like these!" shouted Kaško, rushing into an old ambulance that looked like a small bun.
"I think if I present this year's hiking plan to our ghosts, they'll all be happy," said Kaško and lay down in a large car that looked like something out of an Italian mafia movie.
"What now?"
"Nothing, we'll get on the train and Kaško will fly after us tomorrow."
"We probably shouldn't wake him up," the children agreed.
"Probably not."
The children left Michalovce by train, and when they got home, they were already planning their next trip - and they didn't have to go to the sea, they were happy about the Sea Eye, Michalovce, and...
"And and and and!"
Haravara is beautiful - and it has got everything!
