Books by Kim M. Kimselius

Back to Pompeii, released in August 2004, revised edition
Book 1 in the Theo and Ramona series

Back to Pompeji was elected as one of the best youth books of the year by the booksellers on Iceland 2009

Text on the back cover of Back to Pompeii:

Terrified, Ramona stared at Theo - suddenly everything was a nightmare.

Ramona is on a school-trip to the ruin town Pompeii. She is feeling sick from seeing all the castings of the people that died in the volcano eruption that wiped out the whole town. She sits down to rest and falls asleep.

When Ramona abruptly wakes up she finds herself in a live Pompeii. Ramona realises she has travelled in time during her sleep, to Pompeii, before the eruption! She is terrified. She knows that the town is going to be wiped out; all of its inhabitants are going to die. If she and Theo don't get out in time they will share their fate. But she doesn't know the exact time the volcano will destroy the town: in a hundred years, in ten years or in ten minutes…

Here at last! The much longed-for new edition of Kim M. Kimselius's success "Back to Pompeii", her blockbuster debut of Christmas 1997.

An independent historical adventure featuring Theo and Ramona.

What the reviewers had to say about Back to Pompeii:

"Has Blekinge got an Astrid Lindgren of its own? Having read Kim M. Kimselius' debut you might start to wonder." Blekinge Läns Tidning.

"Brings story to life... Inspiring description of the people and places..." Bohuslänningen

"A pleasant book of knowledge"... a fun way of learning..." Mitt Livs Novell

"What a success! Kim M. Kimselius' debut 'Back to Pompeii' has reached several thousand copies sold!" Hemmets Journal

"This book is great! Thrilling, amusing, sad and horryfying too - just as a good book should be!" Allers

"The suspense grows through the unexpected turns in the story." Åbo Underrättelse, Finland

"Back to Pompeii - the most successful book of the year in the children's and teenagers' category." Smålandsposten

"This is the debut of Kim M. Kimselius - the immense success of Christmas 1997 that gave her the honourable nickname 'the Astrid Lindgren of Blekinge'."

Excerpt from Back to Pompeii: 

The man took a firm grip around Ramona's arm and she realised everything was too late. She knew she would never escape the inferno that awaited the citizens of Pompeii. She too would become one of the many plaster castings that she had seen in the museum earlier!

She raised her head and looked into the man's ice-cold eyes. A thrust of fear went through her. There was a silent cry inside her: Theo, where are you? Come and help me! The man curved his lips to a sardonic smile. He looked so hard and merciless that her legs started to shake.

Ramona tried fake a smile. The look in the man's eyes was sardonic and he smiled again. But it wasn't a friendly smile.
This wasn't a person you wanted to meet alone on a dark night, and yet it was exactly what she was unfortunate enough to do.

Ramona cursed the fact that her class had decided to go to Pompeii. She was upset that she had been transported in time. Angry because she had passed through the gate that she very well knew was the wrong one.

But most of all Ramona was angry with herself because she was so terribly scared.

The man gave Ramona a searching look. When he wrinkled his forehead he looked even grimmer and Ramona hardly dared answering him.

“I-I was only go-going…” Ramona said before her voice broke completely. What could she say? Explain everything to this stranger, or find up a trustworthy lie?

The man gave her a smirking smile.

“So! Have lost your tongue, have you? Well you had better come with me then, and I'll see to it that you get it back eventually.”

With a firm grip around Ramona's arm the man started dragging her along the shore, heading for the shabby houses. It was getting dark quickly now and before they had reached the houses the daylight was gone.

The darkness felt ominous. Especially in the company of a person such as… a…

Ramona was dragged helplessly through the alleys and was finally pushed through a narrow door. The room she entered was nearly dark. What she could finally see inside, when her eyes had adjusted to the lack of light didn't seem very hopeful.

Back to Books of Kim >>

This is the casting of Primus' dog.

In "Back to Pompeii" this dog is called Pluto and he plays a central part in the book.

After seeing this cast, Kim decided that the dog should be rescued. That is why she wrote "Back to Pompeii".

These are casts of people who perished in the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in 79 AD, an eruption that wiped out the entire town of Pompeii. The casts were made by pouring liquid plaster into the holes their bodies hade made in the layers of ash.

This is what Ramona sees in the bok "Back to Pompeii" when she wanders through the ruins of the town 2000 years later.

When she travels through time to a living Pompeii, Ramona realizes with horror that she, too, will become on of these casts if she can't get out of the town in time.

Back to the mainpage about the books >>

The first five chapters of Back to Pompeii:

Chapter 1

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly be landing in Rome and we kindly ask you to fasten your seat belts. The captain and his crew thank you for travelling with us and we hope to see you again soon."

Ulrika leaned towards the window to have a better look.

"Oh, it is so exciting, let me see. Look, you can see the airport down there. COOL!"

Ramona didn't think it was exciting at all. She thought it was awful. It was her first voyage by air and she was sure it would be her last. The flight had been awful, very bumpy, lots of turbulence and Ulrika laughing and shouting "COOL!" all the time.

At this moment, she simply hated Ulrika. Why wasn't she afraid of the turbulence? Didn't she want to throw up every time the floor of the aircraft felt like it was dropping away beneath her feet?

And now Ulrika was pushing her towards the window in order to see as much as possible. Ramona couldn't avoid seeing the ground so far below.

I hate this, Ramona thought. If it weren’t for the fact that we are going to see the ruins of the town of Pompeii, I would take the train back home as soon as we hit ground.

"Look, Ramona, do you see how small the cars are. My God, it's COOL!"

"Excuse me, you need to fasten your seatbelt now."

Ramona turned around and saw a smiling stewardess putting her hand on Ulrika's arm.

Thank God, Ramona thought, when finally Ulrika was fixed in her seat with the belt tightly fastened around her waist. Now she won't be able to push me out through the window.

Ramona leaned back looking calm on the outside, but fear clouded her mind. She was deadly afraid of the approaching landing. She knew that most aircraft accidents happened during take-off and landing. What if the aircraft crashed? What if the pilot couldn’t manage to stop the aircraft before the landing strip ended? Her body stiffened as she waited for the crash.

"Oh, look! We are soon going to land, COOL!"

Ulrika tried to lean as far as she could towards the window, despite her safety belt.

If she says "COOL" one more time I will go mad and strangle her… What if the brakes don’t work, what if...? Ramona thought.

A small thud and the screech from the wheels confirmed that the aircaft had indeed reached the ground.

The plane slowed down and she suddenly realized that her classmates were cheering and clapping. She opened her eyes and looked across the aisle. Had they also been afraid? Was that the reason they were all so happy? Ramona looked at Ulrika with a gentle smile on her lips and Ulrika returned her smile.

"That went well…" Ramona said relieved, "…very well!"

Then she collapsed in her seat, exhausted.

"Please stay together! Don’t run off!"

Ramona heard her teacher, Elisabeth, calling desperately to her classmates. She almost felt sorry for her. Elisabeth kept shouting to keep the class together. Although the teacher wasn't alone, she had three parents along to help, she had the main responsibility.

Ramona saw her classmates running around like maniacs in the airport. Her classmates were just as happy as she was to get off the plane. But, unlike them, her feet were heavy and she didn't feel like running just now.

"Come on, hurry up, said Ulrika", grabbing Ramona as she started to force her way through the crowd.

"What is the matter with you today?" Ulrika asked.

"Nothing, I am just tired,” Ramona said.

Her stomach was upset and her legs felt like jelly, she couldn’t stop shaking. Otherwise everything was good, very good.

Chapter 2

"In the show-case to the right, you can see a casting of a dog. The owner’s name was Primus. As you can see from the animal’s posture, he must have been fighting for air as the ash was burying him. The dog was chained, that's why his head is lower than the rest of the body. You can almost feel the animal’s pain fighting for his life. And on your left side..."

Oh, how terrible, Ramona thought, what a dreadful experience it must have been. Poor, poor little dog. Why didn’t the owners unchain their dog so it had a chance to escape? Some people shouldn't have dogs. Ramona wished she could have been there to save the poor little defenseless dog.

All around them there were castings of the people who had died in the ash that rained over the town of Pompeii. Nobody could ever have realized that the peaceful mountain of Vesuvius would turn into a live volcano spewing ash and deadly smoke.

Ramona could see that they had tried to protect themselves from the ash by holding their hands and arms over their faces. Many of the people looked as if they were just sleeping. Others seemed not to have been so calm. One man was in a sitting position, his knees pulled up to his stomach, hands pressed against his mouth and nose. But the air had run out and the man had died in that position. A pregnant woman lay on her stomach with her hands covering her face. She had probably tried to protect her unborn baby. But it had all been in vain.

Some reached out in desperation, their hands outstretched towards the sky. Were they trying to keep the ash away or were they praying to their gods for help? Others lay with their mouths open in a last desperate move to get more air into their lungs. Their features were contorted.

Ramona could feel their horror. The castings of the people moved her deeply.

What a terrible way to die. What were they thinking of when the ash was falling down on them? Did they feel pain as the ash gradually filled their mouths and noses? That was a question no living person could answer. But Ramona was sure that it had been a horrifying experience. Something she never wanted to experience.

"Elisabeth," Ulrika shouted, waiving her arms to get the teacher's attention. "Elisabeth, we read that there where four earthquakes before Vesuvius finally erupted. But how much time passed between the last earthquake and the eruption?"

"The eruption followed only a day after the last earthquake. I thought we covered that lesson before we came on this trip,” Elisabeth said reproachfully.

"What was the date of the eruption?" Ulrika whispered in Ramona’s ear. She didn't dare to ask Elisabeth another question.

It would certainly draw another spiteful comment!

“It was August 24, 79 AD" Ramona said, surprised that she remembered the date and year so exactly.

Usually numbers were not her strong point, but this date and year seemed to have been etched in her memory due to all of the terrible things that she had seen. Ramona thought about the castings of the mother that had tried to protect her child without success. She thought about that poor dog in chains.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a smack on her back.

"Ouch, what are you doing?" she said turning around.

Behind her stood Mathias, smiling at her.

"You seemed to be far away daydreaming, so I thought I would bring you back to earth," he said.

"I was thinking of how terrible it must have been for these people when it all happened. I am glad that we don't have volcanoes in Sweden," Ramona said.

She felt sad because of all the things they had seen. But Mathias seemed to have another opinion.

"Sure, it was terrible for them. But think about how exciting it is for us to see how things looked in their time. How they lived, what they ate, what tools they had. I think it was a good thing that the eruption happened, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see all of this," Mathias said.

"You are disgusting!" Ramona said and hurried away from Mathias.

How could she ever have thought that he was cute? How could he believe that it was a good thing that several thousand people died, just so he could have the opportunity to see how they lived?

"Elisabeth, can we visit the excavation soon?"

Per was very eager to get away to the excavation site.

"Yes, soon, but first we have to see the entire museum, so you will have an idea of how people lived in Pompeii," Elisabeth answered.

Ulrika pushed Per teasingly.

"Listening to the genius, so eager to learn new things, or...?"

"Let him be, Ulrika!"

Ramona grabbed Ulrika and pulled her away from Per.

"Don’t take any notice of him. Come and have a look over here instead. Look!"

Ramona pointed at a show-case containing food which had been found during the excavation.

"It is unbelievable that this food could be so well preserved after so many hundreds of years," Ramona said.

"It is only make-believe, don’t you understand? Food can't last that long, even I understand that,” Ulrika said, shaking her head at Ramona’s incredible stupidity.

"It is true. It was preserved in the sea of mud that covered the town. But, it couldn't have been Pompeii, because that town was buried in ash. It must have been the other town closes by, what was the name...?"

"Herculaneum."

Per was passing by Ramona and whispered the name in her ear at the right moment. She turned and looked at him. He is fun, she thought, it is a pity that every-body teases him because he is so smart.

"I remember it now. Herculaneum was the name," Ramona said and turned towards Ulrika with a smile.

"Don't you think I heard Per whisper to you."

Ulrika was jealous. It seemed that everyone liked Ramona; they were all so kind to her. If they teased her it was only to get her attention, as the handsome Mathias did. I wish he would tease me instead, Ulrika thought.

"And in this show-case you can see a bulla of gold. The bulla was a symbol worn from birth by boys to show they were born as free men, and not slaves."

The guide pointed at a big, round medallion, lying in the showcase.

It must have been very heavy to wear, Ramona thought. Couldn't they have worn something lighter to show that they were not slaves, like a bracelet around their arm?

The guide kept on talking:

"These small pins of ivory with decorated heads and figures were used by the women to put up their hair. And if you look over here..."

Ramona walked closer to the showcase to look at the hairpins. They were really beautiful!

"Look!" Ramona said to Ulrika and pointed.

"That one has a head on the end, and the other one has the body of a woman. I wonder why they looked like that; do you think it was only for decoration?" Ramona asked.

"Yes, it was probably because they wanted to look nice. Think of all the hairpins decorated with flowers and other things we have today," Ulrika said.

"Now we will visit the furniture department."

The guide’s monotonous voice repeated the well-learned history while the group entered the next room.

"The people in Pompeii didn't use as much furniture as we do, they moved chairs and tables around as they needed them. A very inexpensive and practical way, I believe," the guide said, as he turned round and pointed at a sofa of wood and leather.

"This well preserved sofa was found in Herculaneum. As you probably can guess, most of the wooden furniture was destroyed, but the excavators discovered imprints in the ash and from these they have been able to make castings and reconstruct the furniture. Now, look at this..."

Ramona thought the furniture was boring. It was more exciting to look at the castings of the dead people, even if they were rather scary. As long as she thought about them as castings she was all right. It was when she thought about them as living people, who had died and made imprints in the ash, that she felt awful.

She felt a twinge of remorse because the castings fascinated her. What Mathias had said earlier held some truth, it was lucky for her and her schoolmates that there had been a catastrophe in Pompeii; otherwise they wouldn't have been able to see all this.

She tried to suppress her thoughts. How could she think like this? These castings were once living people. They had lived, eaten, played and had families just like she. But everyone dies, a little voice said inside her, even you. Perhaps it is a good thing that these people were preserved for posterity, so later generations could observe how they lived during their time on earth?

Ramona fought with her thoughts. She was really tired, both from guilt and from all the walking through these great halls. She felt it both in her head and in her legs. It was so noisy, voices bounced against the stone walls and echoed in the big halls. If only she could sit down for a minute.

"Now we are back at the entrance, and I would like to thank you all for the pleasure of being your guide," the pompous and rather bombastic guide said.

Tremendous! Finally they were going to see the ruins of the town of Pompeii. It would be like taking a step into the past. The excitement was high as they walked towards the gates of Pompeii, or Pompeii Scavi, as the ruined town was called in Italian.

"Elisabeth, can we buy ice-cream first?"

It was Ann who asked.

"Why not, those of you who wish to buy ice-cream go to the ice-cream stand. The rest may sit on the benches and rest your feet," Elisabeth said.

Good suggestion, Ramona thought, and sat down on a bench in the sunshine.

"Don't you want ice-cream?" Ulrika asked with surprise.

"No, I don't think so. I am still rather full from breakfast," Ramona said.

"But it was ages ago that we ate. Are you sure you are all right? You used to love ice cream. And this is Italian ice-cream."

Ulrika looked bewildered at Ramona.

"I just don't want any!" Ramona said.

It was just as though the effects of yesterday's air travel still had a hold on her body. Her stomach was upset and she didn't want any food, especially not ice-cream.

"You go; I will sit here and wait for you," Ramona said.

"I can buy one for you if you want me to,” said Ulrika.

Ulrika is very kind, Ramona thought, and smiled at her.

"Thanks, but I don't want anything right now. Thanks anyway, go ahead and get yourself an ice-cream," she said.

Suddenly Ramona felt a funny tingling feeling running through her entire body. It felt like she was standing in a field with lightning striking all around her. At the same time she felt as though her hair was standing up. Slowly she lifted her hand to touch her hair to see if it was true. She tried to make the movement seem as natural as possible. To make it seem that she was just straightening her hair. No, there was nothing wrong with her hair, but it still felt like it was standing on end.

Ramona looked around at her classmates. Nobody else looked funny; nobody else was touching their hair. Was she the only one, who had this feeling?

"Are you alright, Ramona?"

Ramona felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her head. The sun was in her eyes and she peered up to see who was standing beside her. It was Elisabeth.

"I'm all right, it's just a small headache, I'm feeling a little tired after the flight, and otherwise I'm fine. It is all so interesting and I'm so happy that we made this trip," Ramona said.

She felt like she wanted to stand up and hug Elisabeth with gratitude. She always got that feeling when she liked someone. Sometimes she would hug people she didn't really know that well, but now she came to her senses.

Ulrika would tease her to death if she hugged their teacher.

"Yes, most of the class seems very pleased, and I'm too. Everything has gone much better than I thought. You are all so fantastic. But are you really sure you are OK? Are you not having some ice-cream? Are you thinking about your figure?"

Elisabeth looked worried and a bit concerned at Ramona.

"No, I just don't want any at the moment."

"All right, I'll leave you here to rest. I’m going to get an ice-cream," Elisabeth said and smiled towards Ramona before she went to join the line for ice-cream.

"What was that all about?" Ulrika asked as she threw herself down beside Ramona on the bench.

"She was wondering why I didn't want an ice-cream, she thought I was thinking about my figure."

Ramona giggled. She never had to think about her figure. She could eat anything she wanted anytime and still look the same. But perhaps she wouldn't feel OK if she did so.

"Well, we can't sit here all day."

Ulrika jumped up from the bench, grabbed Ramona's arm hard and pulled her up, at the same time as she held her ice-cream cone towards her.

"Hold this!"

"Why? What are you going to do?" Ramona asked as she took the cone.

"It's these bloody sandals. The straps are loose again. Thank God for jogging shoes," Ulrika said yearning as she rolled up her eyes to heaven.

“My mother is hopeless. She insisted on me wearing sandals. She said it would be too hot for jogging shoes. Mothers!"

"Yes, I agree with you,” Ramona said who had also been forced to wear sandals.

She watched as Ulrika untied and then retied the straps.

"Well, if everyone is ready, let's go! Part of the day is already gone and we have not come all this way just for the ice-cream, so let's move on," Elisabeth said.

Ulrika held a firm grip on Ramona and dragged her with her.

Why must she always pull me like this? Ramona thought. She realized that she was grumpy. It must be the headache, or because of the strange feeling of being in a gigantic field of force.

To walk arm-in-arm was one of the things Ramona hated. She wondered why she had never told Ulrika that she didn't like to be dragged around like this. Why did she always put up with everything that other people did? But, since she didn't want to offend Ulrika so, as always, she said nothing. Instead she walked calmly out through the gate, unaware of the mysterious and scary things that awaited her inside the town walls.

Chapter 3

Entering through the gates to Pompeii was like stepping back several hundred years in time. You could almost smell the excrement that the donkeys had left behind as they struggled through the paved tunnel that led through the city walls and into the town.

Ramona stepped out into the sunshine on the other side of the tunnel and was amazed to find a ruined town in front of her. Everything had felt so alive in the long dark tunnel through the wall, as if the town would be still there, intact and shimmering in the heavy heat on the other side.

Just a breath away, Ramona thought, because she felt so very close to the people who had once lived here. She followed the group, like a zombie, along the main street, which led to the heart of the town.

"And here is The Forum," Elisabeth said as she read aloud from the guidebook. "Around The Forum lay many important temples, the court Basilica and a big market hall. Before the eruption of the volcano, this building probably had two floors with pillars. Behind the big stone pillars you see here, the merchants would have had their stalls, here also were teachers with their students."

Elisabeth pointed to a long row of pillars.

Ramona tried to imagine life and movements here, but she found it hard to concentrate. Her headache had become worse since they had passed through the wall into town. The funny tingling feeling in her body was back again. Perhaps she was getting sick?

"Look down at the street,” Elisabeth said, as she stopped the class. "They had boardwalks already in the year 79 AD. If you look closely you can see the water-pipes embedded in them."

Elisabeth was beginning to sound like a very experienced tour guide now; she had really studied all about this town before coming on this trip.

Ramona looked down on the boardwalk. It was amazing, a boardwalk and water pipes all in one!

"Look at the street again. Do you see the big stones there?"

Elisabeth pointed.

"Pelle, Mats and Tobias, get down from the stones please, so the others can see them. Thank you. As you can see there are three big flat stones. They were laid there so the people could cross the street without getting dirty. Do you see those deep wheel imprints between the stones? They were made by wagons, which were driven in exactly the same place in order to avoid the stones. Isn't it amazing?" Elisabeth said fascinated.

"Come on! Let's jump over the stones," Ulrika said.

"No, you can jump. I don't feel like it,” Ramona said grumpily.

"You are tiresome today. What's wrong with you? Are you mad about something?" Ulrika asked.

"No, I just have an awful headache. Just leave me alone," Ramona said.

Ramona was surprised at how bad tempered she sounded and that she had dared to say something like that to her friend.

“All right sourpuss, I am so sorry. I can manage without you," Ulrika said and jumped over the flat stone to the other side of the street, where she joined Ann and Maria, and started to talk to them.

It's fine by me, Ramona thought, shrugging her shoulders as she turned away from them. At the same time she felt a twinge of conscience in her heart; she didn't want to be unfriendly towards Ulrika.

They walked slowly along the paved street. The air shimmered in the heat. A dust of ash whirled around their feet and made them black.

Elisabeth talked and pointed out one building after another. It was very interesting but also very tiring in the heat.

What Ramona wanted most of all right now, was to sit down in a cool shady spot and just enjoy looking. She also wanted it to be quiet, but that was impossible with a whole school class surrounding her.

"The house right in front of you was once a bakery."

Elisabeth pointed at a house with a beautiful vaulted arch. When they looked into the house they saw a huge oven made of stone. It was big enough to hold a grown man. The front of the oven also had a beautiful vaulted arch, edged by upright bricks, which were a different colour from the rest of the oven. It looked fantastic!

Inside the bakery Ramona caught a glimpse of some strange stones. They looked like mushrooms turned up-side-down with square holes in the middle.

Elisabeth pointed to the stones and said:

"These stones were used to produce flour. In the holes they would place a wooden rod and two men, one on either side, would pull the stones round and round, grinding the grain. Sometimes a donkey led by a small boy, would pull the stones around instead of the two men."

Elisabeth pointed to the marvelous oven.

"Several hundred years later when they discovered the ruins of Pompeii, they excavated the bakery, and they found eighty loaves of bread inside the oven. They were as hard as stone, but totally undamaged. They had survived the centuries because ash had completely penetrated the oven, acting as a preservative. The amazing thing about this bread is that it looked just like the bread they bake now. The bread isn’t there anymore, we saw it earlier at the museum, but have a look and see how a bakery functioned at that time," Elisabeth said, encouraging them to look closer.

Ramona looked longingly towards the dark oven. It was a perfect place for her to sit down and rest. She kept in the back from the group as they entered the bakery and while her school friends looked elsewhere, she slowly crept away into a dark corner.

Ramona looked around. No one seemed to have noticed her leaving. Quickly she bent down and crawled under a stone bench. It was dark and cold. Ramona leaned against the cold bakery wall. It is so nice and quiet, she thought. I will just sit here for a short while, and then I will catch up with the others. Just a short while, until the headache has gone away... only until the headache...

Chapter 4

"What are you doing here, brat? Get away from here, you are not allowed to be here!"

Ramona was brutally awakened by someone who was shaking and pulling her up from her hiding place. She looked up and saw a man with dark hair and a deep suntan leaning over her. He looked angry, his forehead was wrinkled in a deep pucker and his black, evil eyes were penetrating as he stared down at her.

There was something peculiar about him. At first Ramona didn't quite understand what it was, but then she realized it was his clothes. He was wearing something that resembled a sheet draped around him and tied round his waist with a thick string.

What a queer fish, Ramona thought and stood up.

"Get out! NOW! You shouldn't be in here. I should have you beaten. But you look harmless enough and you don't appear to have stolen anything, this time... But if I find you here again, then..." the man said threateningly, clenching his fist in front of Ramona's face.

Terrified Ramona stumbled back and looked at him. She was afraid of him and it made her feel sick to her stomach. Who was this man, a guard?

Ramona walked two steps towards the light. She had a funny feeling that something wasn't right. First, there was the man dressed in the peculiar clothes. The room was not dark and cold as it had been, when she had crawled underneath the stone bench to rest. It was now choking hot. Still dark, but extremely hot. And the noise! There was so much noise compared with the silence when she had crawled into her hiding place. Now it sounded as if a bus full of tourists making a lot of noise had arrived.

"Now you really have to get out of here" the man said. Grabbing Ramona's arm very hard he started to drag her towards the light.

Suddenly he let her arm loose but only to push her back so hard that she fell flat on the ground.

"Get away from here, and don't you dare come back again!"

Ramona couldn't see a thing as she lay there with her face against the ground. She heard many voices around her and felt the taste of the earth in her mouth. It made her wonder; earlier the ground had been covered with ash, not earth! Slowly Ramona sat up and looked around. Tears began to run gently down her cheeks. What had happened?

What had once been a big empty room, was now crowded with people working. People were making bread on large tables; the empty bench she had crawled under was now covered with fresh, newly baked loaves. People chatted and laughed and they all wore the same peculiar clothes as the man who had woken her up. What had happened?

A man came towards her carrying a large tray of newly baked bread, he shouted angrily at her to move out of the way.

Ramona didn't know what to do -- she was so confused. Was it a dream?

"Hey, let me help you!"

A suntanned, dirty hand about the same size as her own reached for her. Ramona grabbed the hand and looked up. In front of her stood a suntanned boy about her own age. His hair was black and he had lively brown eyes. He also had a sheet draped around him, but somehow this one looked much more expensive. And he had a bulla around his neck!

Ramona tried to concentrate and think: a bulla, what could that mean? A bulla... Was she dreaming? She must be, because otherwise this was too unreal to be true. Of course, she must be dreaming.

"Pinch me! I think I'm dreaming," she burst out.

"What?" said the boy with a puzzled look. "You want me to pinch you?"

Smiling, he pinched her arm.

"Ouch! That hurt," a surprised Ramona cried.

"Well, what did you expect?" the boy said, teasing her.

"Is she a friend of yours?" the man who earlier had dragged Ramona out of her hiding place asked.

When he saw the boy nod his head, his smile became broad and warm. The man seemed very friendly towards the boy, and suddenly he was embarrassed. Still smiling, he continued:

"Well, then there is no problem with her sitting by the oven. When I found her I thought she was someone who was going to cause a problem or steal something, but if she is a friend of yours I know she must be a nice girl. I hope I didn't hurt you?" The man asked looking at Ramona, smiling.

Ramona shook her head. She had cuts on her knees, but that wasn’t the end of the world. If the man wanted to be friendly, she wasn't going to say anything that would provoke him again.

"Well, you had better get your friend out of here. It's dangerous to play by the oven. You can easily get burned, and you are in the way of the workers. By the way, who is she? She wears such funny clothes."

The man pointed at Ramona's shorts and T-shirt.

"She... she is from... from Rome" the boy said hesitantly. "She is... my cousin from Rome."

"Indeed, do they wear such funny clothes in Rome? Well, well, that's a shame. You had better explain to her that as long as she is staying here in Pompeii she had better cover her legs up. Just like all the other young girls have to do, otherwise people will be very upset. Take her home and make sure she put some decent clothes on," the man said glancing at Ramona's legs.

Silently, Ramona stood listening with eyes filled with wonder. Could it be ... no, it was too unbelievable. But how could she otherwise explain all this.

"Come!" the boy said, indicating with his hand that he wanted her to follow him.

At least he didn't do as Ulrika always did and drag her, and she appreciated that. Slowly she followed him into the street but stopped abruptly. It had to be…

The street was crowded with people in sheet-clothes.

In the yard outside the bakery a donkey walked round and round a small tower grinding flour.

Just like Elisabeth told us, Ramona thought.

A woman in a long dress carrying a small child passed them. She looked critically at Ramona’s naked legs. Ramona wished she had worn a skirt or at least a pair of trousers.

A man came out of the bakery with another tray of fresh bread. He walked across the street and entered a shop on the other side. A shop! Was this a live Pompeii?

The truth hit Ramona like a stroke of lightening: Somehow, as she had slept in her hiding place in the bakery, she had traveled back in time and woken up in the Pompeii of long ago. Before the eruption that would destroy the whole town and kill all the inhabitants. If she couldn't get away from there, she would die too!

Terrified, Ramona looked at the surroundings. She hadn't a clue about when the eruption would take place, in hundred years, in ten years or in ten minutes!

Chapter 5

"Who are you, and why are you dressed like that?"

Ramona was swept back to reality by the questions.

It would be very strange indeed if the boy hadn’t asked Ramona. But right now she couldn't come up with convincing answers. What would he think if she said: I come from the future! Don't ask me how I got here, because I don't know and it seems I have traveled through time. I only know I'm here right now, and I have no idea how to return.

He would most likely never believe her. Besides there were too many questions inside her. Questions she didn't dare to ask, because she was too afraid of the answers. But one question was harmless and necessary to ask:

"And who are you?" Ramona asked to divert his thoughts.

“My name is Theodore, but my friends call me Theo. And what is your name?"

"Ramona."

"That is a beautiful name, Ramona."

It seemed like Theo was tasting her name, as if he had never heard it before.

"Ramona, come with me to a more private place so we can talk. We can’t talk here on the main-street. People are staring."

Ramona looked around. It was true. People were staring. She pulled at her shorts to make them longer. They just might since they were made of stretch cotton, but it was not enough. She felt ashamed. She felt eyes burning her legs. She did not like to draw attention; she hadn’t done anything wrong on purpose.

Theo led Ramona toward the town's big gate. She recognized it, but not like this. The one she had seen just half an hour ago was only a mere fragment of a gate from a time long past. The one in front of her was complete, well preserved with huge doors of carved wood.

The wall was also intact. Well, for that matter, everything around them was intact. The houses were undamaged. Commerce was lively with many different articles for sale in the ground floor shops. The shutters were open. Birdcages hung outside the windows and flowers in bloom climbed the walls giving the houses beautiful bursts of color. The roofs were intact and the red color of the tiles looked lovely in the sunshine. People sat chatting with each other. A mother was nursing her child. Further away some young boys chased a cat. It was certainly not the same empty, desolated Pompeii that it had been just a short while ago.

Theo and Ramona passed through the town gate to a narrow country road. On their right side was a small grove of trees, on the left the fields extended far off into the distance. Theo led her to the grove.

"Can you climb?" he asked.

Ramona nodded her head silently. She was struck dumb with amazement at the new world around her.

An almost hidden path led them through the vegetation towards a large tree, perfect for climbing. Theo grabbed the lowest branch and jumped easily up into the tree. He continued to climb and finally made himself comfortable in a fork in the tree.

"Come on!" he beckoned her.

Ramona also grabbed the lowest branch and jumped up, not as easily as Theo, but she was not ashamed, she was a good climber. She sat down beside Theo.

"All right. Now you can answer the questions you didn't want to answer before,” Theo said, looking thoughtfully at her.

Ramona thought he had forgotten his questions, but she understood that he must be too curious about her to forget such things. What should she do? Would he believe her if she told the truth, or should she try to come up with a believable lie? Ramona discussed this with herself and decided that it was best to keep to the truth.

"I think you mean the question 'Who are you', am I right?" Ramona said.

Theo nodded his head eagerly, with a look of expectation in his eyes.

"I don't know how much imagination you have, but hold on to your seat because here comes the truth. I can’t help but wonder if you can possibly believe my story."

I hardly believe it myself, she thought to herself, bewildered. Ramona took a deep breath and began to explain how she had arrived in Theo's Pompeii.

"I have come from the future. I understand that this may seem unbelievable to you, but it is true. My class was on a school-trip to look at the town of Pompeii," Ramona explained and then suddenly went silent.

Should she tell him that the town had been in ruins when she looked at it? She sat silently and thought about it.

"Yes, and then?"

Theo looked attentively at her.

"Do you believe me?" Ramona said surprised.

"I will decide that when you have finished your story,” Theo said looking full of expectation, as he sat with his legs dangling over the branch.

Seeking strength in the tree, Ramona took a firm grip on the branch where she was sitting, took a deep breath and continued to tell her story.

"Well, the town Pompeii that we looked at didn't exactly look as it does now. I'm not sure how I should explain it. I have traveled back in time nearly two thousand years to be here right now with you. The town that we saw then was no longer a town, it was just a ruin, and it didn't look like the town that you and I see around us, here and now."

Ramona knew that it sounded very complicated and tried again.

"Well... Pompeii is a ruined town in our time, in the twentyfirst century. Do you understand?"

Theo looked thoughtfully at her and nodded his head.

"Whilst I was walking around the ruined town of Pompeii with my classmates, I suddenly got a terrible headache and a funny tingling feeling through my whole body..."

They have disappeared, Ramona thought; the headache and the tingling are gone.

"...And I became dreadfully tired and suddenly I couldn't stand the chatter of my classmates and my legs wouldn't carry me. Then I found a ruin of a bakery. It looked so dark and cool inside, I thought that if I sat down just for a short while and rested my head and legs I would soon begin to feel better."

Ramona stopped telling her story and took a deep breath. The words had tumbled out so quickly that she had hardly taken a breath. Once she started she wanted to get it all out quickly. She thought that Theo was a very unusual boy with a lot of patience. He didn't shower her with questions and didn't seem to be irritated as she fell over her words in her hurry to get out her story.

"I understand," Theo said and nodded his head like a wise, old man.

He understands, Ramona thought. It was fantastic, it was more then she did herself.

"I must have fallen asleep as my classmates walked on, because the next thing I remembered was someone shaking me, and pulling me up while screaming angry words at me. I then discovered that I was in a real bakery with the smell of fresh bread and there were people running around who were irritated with me. And it felt so wrong, so very wrong!"

Ramona felt the panic come over her again and struggled to force it back. She swallowed hard to make the lump in her throat to go away. The last thing she wanted was to lose her self-control in front of Theo. She took a deep breath and forced her lips to a self-assured smile.

"All right, and what have you decided to do now?" Theo asked.

"I don't know. Do you? Or rather, do you have any good suggestions? Why did you help me, back there in the bakery?" Ramona asked and looked bewildered at the boy.

Theo shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, a moment of compassion or something like that. You looked so lonely and pitiful lying there with your mouth full of dirt and you had such pretty legs! Not that I have seen a lot of them..." Theo nodded towards the town and Ramona thought about all the women with their long skirts. "...But yours are the best so far", he continued.

These last words were said with a teasing smile on his lips.

Pretty legs! Ramona thought. Boys are the same everywhere. It doesn't matter which century you live in, though she couldn't stop the smile from breaking through. It was clear that Theo understood how she felt and that he wanted to cheer her up. Her smile came easily now and she looked confidently at him. Together with this boy, she thought, I can surely manage to get out of this trouble, even if she wasn't sure how!

"And now you want me to help you?"

It was more to establish a fact, than a question. Theo was the one person who knew everybody and how things should be done.

"The first thing we have to do," he said slowly, "is to get you into some different clothes. Even if you have pretty legs, I don't think it is right for you to walk around displaying them to everyone. We certainly don't want that sort of thing around here."

He winked at Ramona who laughed and shook her head. She felt so relieved when Theo joked.

"So, you actually do believe me? You think it is true? I hardly believe it myself!"

Ramona felt very happy when she looked at Theo sitting beside her on the branch. He smiled at her and said:

"Well, what do you think I should do? Either it is like you say, or you are one of the fools who hang around the harbor."

Theo scrutinized Ramona closely.

"But you certainly don't look like a fool. And not one of those people I have seen has worn clothes like yours, but strictly speaking... you would have to be pretty crazy to wear clothes like these."

Theo nodded towards Ramona's clothes and let his eyes roam over her body. His eyes, she thought, seemed to linger on her legs, but then it could have just been her imagination.

"But where do you actually come from?" Theo asked.

"What do you mean by actually?" Ramona burst out, suddenly afraid that he didn't believe her at all.

The next second Theo explained what he meant with his question and Ramona calmed down.

"Oh, yes, I think I believe you, but I wonder where you actually come from, I mean even if you come from, was it the twenty-first century you said? Nearly two thousand years from now, in the future, you most live somewhere, play, read, have a family..."

He didn't finish the sentence.

Ramona gazed through the branches. There was a look of longing in her eyes, and Theo realized what she was thinking... Would she ever see her family again?

"We will work this out, don't you worry" Theo said.

He wanted to put his hand on Ramona's arm to comfort her, but he could not reach her, she was sitting too far away from him. And, at the same time he had a feeling that she wouldn't want him to do that. He was thankful for the distance between them, for he didn't have to make the choice.

"Well, I'm off then to try to get you some decent clothes," Theo said.

"How shall you manage that?"

"I think my sister is about your size," Theo said.

His eyes roamed up and down her body.

"Yes, I think her clothes would suit you perfectly. We'll try. Wait here. I'll be back soon."

Theo climbed easily down the tree.

Instead of forcing his way past Ramona, he swung easily down to the branch below her and a moment later he was on the ground. As he was just about to disappear amongst the bushes, Ramona called out to him:

"Theo...!"

"Yes?"

He took a step back and looked up at her.

"Theo...? You will come back again?"

"Of course I will," he said with a laugh, and then disappeared into the foliage.