Home Planet

No lights showed as the gargantuan vessel slid through the dark void of deep space. On the upper surface, the dome that was the command module – the only part of the ship with windows – was in lock down and with the meteor shields in place, no light could escape. At this stage in the journey the low level lighting inside was set at green and this gave the command centre the ghostly look of the Marie Celeste. However onboard the Bovine Explorer – aptly named because she was as stubborn as an ox to handle, except when under computer control – there were none of the half eaten meals or the other clutter of a hurried exit, here all was calm and orderly as the ship continued to obey the commands of the onboard computer.

The rest of great ship was quiet too, the only sound being the muted throb of the pulse generators and the barely audible click, click, click of the injectors as they fed the concentrated Tiradium pellets into the main drive unit. Yet this was no automated drone, the ship carried one thousand settlers – all especially picked to rebuild humanity and all beneath the age of twenty – on a journey to a star, or to be precise one of the planets in orbit around that star.

For the past ten years the settlers had been in cryogenic suspension, but soon all that would change. As the ship neared its destination, the computer would awaken them.

Deck one; level three command zone, contained the individual cryogenic chambers of the equally young crewmembers – average age sixteen. The occupant of the chamber marked C/FH was dreaming of a lush patchwork of multi shaded green fields, stitched together by the darker green of trees and the silver threads of sparkling streams. A tribal memory from better times before she was born. Today there were very few fields green or otherwise now left on the mother planet.

Back there half of the planet was covered in ice, while the other half baked under a relentless sun and things were getting worse. Within half a lifetime what was left of the land would be unable to support even the vastly reduced population of the earth. Hence the journey of the Bovine Explorer and the other ships that followed behind. Not for them the luxury of exploring the new world and reporting back, there was no time for that. They must trust in the vision of the prophet David and reach the new world if the species were to survive.

There had been other prophets before David and they had all prophesied the end of the world, but David who was born in the midst of the great cataclysmic events that wiped out ninety percent of the globes population, was the only one who prophesised that life would continue beyond the death of the home world.

Not that everyone was a follower of David and who could blame those that weren’t. Here was a young man who dreamed of a new life on an unknown planet deep in space and many mocked his belief. Despite his detractors a goodly proportion of the population believed in this new world prophet and set about building the ships that they would need for the journey.

 In fact they were given a great deal of assistance by the rest of the population, who laboured under the premise mistaken or otherwise, that if large enough numbers joined the exodus to the stars, the earth would have sufficient resources to support those that remained behind.

 The repeated sounding of the gong, as computer began the process of recovery eventually penetrated the dream world of Commander Freda Holmes and she opened her eyes and closed them again, against the glare from overhead. Now that the cryogenic chambers were open the main lighting had kicked in throughout the whole of the ship, it was as if night had fled and a new day had dawned. An apt analogy for as it drew near the planet they approached would either become their new home, or if inhospitable would result in the death of them all.

Freda shivered, after ten years in suspension it felt strange to feel the air on her bare skin. She reached out and gripped the sides of the chamber and staggered as she stepped out onto the deck. ‘Not too bad,’ she thought, ‘No it’s better than that, it’s OK, I feel fine.’ Which was a relief, since no one knew what effect ten years in suspension would have on the human body. Oh, the scientists had done their calculations and vowed that everything would work, but that’s not the same as having done it before and knowing that it worked.

She looked around, the rest of the crew were emerging from the chambers and she called over to the tall gangly figure her second in command, Captain James Head, ‘Jimmy get them in the showers and into their suits.’

‘Aye, aye, Commander. Come on you lot you heard what the commander said.’

Half an hour later the crew were at their assigned posts and Freda sat in the command chair, ‘Ok, Jimmy let’s see what’s out there.’

‘Aye, aye … Ronson, Retract the meteor shields.’

Aye, aye, Sir.’

Freda, as they all did, wondered what was out there; she believed in the prophecy, believed in David himself. But now they were going to find out if they would live or die.

As the great ship lumbered onwards and the shields slid slowly down into the hull, the planet was revealed to those in the command module and any fears they had entertained fled. The prophet David’s vision was true, the globe before them brightened as dawn spread across the surface showing its true colours, the blue of the sea’s, broken by the green and brown of the land masses, all overlaid by great broken swirls of the clouds.

Freda waited until the cheering died down, then addressed her second in command, ‘Take her into orbit, Jimmy. Take us home.’

‘That man there,’ hissed Lord Watherill. ‘Yes you, you idiot, get out of sight, he’s coming.’

Lord Watherill a squinty-eyed, sour-faced individual, and his henchmen had arrived midmorning and some of them – the ones with the nets – were hidden on the walls surrounding the castle yard. The rest all armed with long spears and ropes were in hiding down below, around the sides of the yard itself. They were waiting there to capture Katie’s dragon, Kraw.

(How come Katie has a dragon I hear you ask, well it’s a bit of a long story, but the short version goes like this. Kraw arrived at the orphanage during Katie’s ninth birthday party, he had been sent by the head of the guardian dragons to adopt her, but she refused his offer. However Kraw looked so sad that Katie relented and allowed him to adopt her, but only until she could find a proper mum and dad.)

Earlier when his Lord Watherill had arrived and said that he had come to arrest Kraw on charges of terrorising the countryside, Edward Morgan the town’s mild mannered Sheriff had protested. ‘But, My Lord, Kraw wouldn’t do such a thing, he has done nothing but help everyone since he came to the area, he even has a medal for saving the princess and he doesn’t breath fire.’

But Lord Watherill wouldn’t listen to him. ‘Look, sheriff a dragon has been eating sheep and cattle and burning down barns all over the county and the only dragon living in the county is this Kraw.’

‘But, Your Lordship, maybe the dragon that did all these terrible things flew in from outside the county.’

‘Impossible. Beside all the reports say that he flew in from this direction and then returned this way.’

‘But, Sire …’

‘No buts, Morgan, we are here to arrest this dragon and see that he is dealt with. Now stand aside and let us get on with the job in hand.’

It was a waste of time talking to Lord Watherill, he just wouldn’t listen; all that sheriff Morgan could do was to wait until Kraw was captured and then speak up for him when his case came before the judge. Thank goodness Katie is in school, at least she won’t be riding on his back when he is captured.

‘Ready men here he comes,’ cried Lord Watherill.

High above Kraw finished looping the loop, spun into a barrel roll, followed by a corkscrewing dive straight for the castle yard. Lord Watherill squawked and dived under a pile of hay as two tons of dragon sped towards him. The Sheriff, who was used to Kraw’s Aerobatics stood where he was and watched as Kraw came out of his last twist into a hover and then settled gently to the ground. ‘Good afternoon sheriff,’ he rumbled. ‘It’s a lovely day for flying don’t you think?’

Unfortunately the sheriff didn’t even have time to warn him, because within seconds Kraw was entangled in the nets thrown from above and bound tightly by the men hiding below. He roared and lashed his tail but that was the best he could do. He couldn’t even breath flames; he had given up eating coal since the day he had accidentally set fire to Rob Barley’s trousers – luckily they were on the washing line at the time.

‘What’s going on,’ he roared. ‘Why have you tied me up?’

‘I’ll tell you why,’ said Lord Watherill who had crawled out from under the hay and was now busy picking straw out of his hair. ‘You are under arrest for eating livestock i.e. Sheep and cattle, also you will be charged with burning down at least a dozen barns.’

‘Rubbish,’ Kraw roared, I only eat meat on a Sunday and I’ve given up breathing flames. I’m innocent, I tell you.’

‘I don’t believe you, but I am a fair man and you will get your chance to put your side before you are executed. Now sheriff, lock him in the dungeons until the dragon slayer arrives.’

‘But Sire, we can’t lock him in the dungeons, he’s too big to get through the doorway or down the stairs.’

‘Well lock him in the hall then, it has double doors and the windows are too small for him to escape through.’

So poor Kraw who was still bundled up in rope and nets, had to suffer the indignity of being dragged across the yard, up the stairs and into the old hall of the castle.

‘Sorry about this, Kraw,’ said Sheriff Morgan when they were out of Lord Watherill’s hearing. ‘But I’ll do what I can to help, just don’t ask me to set you free, it’s more than my job is worth.’

‘In that case can you let Katie know what has happened and I wouldn’t mind a snack, a sack of turnips would do nicely for now.’

After having a sack of turnips delivered to the hall, the sheriff made his way to the orphanage to catch Katie when she finished school.

At two o’clock the school doors opened and the sheriff stood to one side as the children poured out. Katie was easy spot, while she was a little smaller than the rest of her classmates; there was no mistaking her red hair, freckled nose and infectious grin.

The sheriff caught her eye and waved her over.

‘Hello sheriff,’ said Katie as she reached him. ‘Why the sad face?’

‘Because Kraw has been arrested for eating livestock and burning down barns and Lord Watherill has sent for the dragon slayer.’

‘That’s silly Kraw wouldn’t harm a fly, besides, since he stopped eating coal he can’t breath fire.’

I told Lord Watherill all that, but he wouldn’t listen, he has got it into his head that Kraw is guilty and is going to have him executed.’

‘He can’t do that!’ Katie cried. ‘We’ll send a messenger to the palace, the king won’t allow Kraw to be harmed.’

‘I’ve already sent a messenger, but it will take two days for the round trip and the dragon slayer will arrives soon.’

‘In that case we will have rescue Kraw ourselves.’

I’ll do what I can to help, but I can’t let Lord Watherill see me helping or I’ll lose my job.’

‘In that case you can distract the guards while I talk to Kraw.’

So that was what they did; while the sheriff kept the guards talking by the doors, Katie went around the side of the hall, dragged a box over to one of the windows and climbed up a whispered, ‘Are you there Kraw?’

‘Of course I am, Mistress I’m all tied up.’

‘Well, you won’t be there for long, I’ll be back as soon as it’s dark, I’ve got a plan to set you free.’

That night two figures, one small and slightly built, the other tall, broad, and carrying a sack, stole silently through the darkness at the side of the hall. On reaching a window the smaller of the two climbed onto a box and slipped through the opening. ‘OK, Jim pass the sack through.’

Jim the blacksmith did as he was told and there was a muffled thump followed by a cry of, ‘Ouch!’

‘You all right in there, Katie,’ he asked.

‘Yes, the sack was heavier than I thought and I had to let it drop that’s all. It’s best if you get off now Jim. I can manage from here.’

‘I’ll be off then,’ he said

But Katie didn’t reply she was too busy dragging the sack over to where Kraw could reach it. ‘There you are Kraw,’ she said as she took a knife from her belt and slit the sack open, allowing the coal to spill out. ‘You eat that, while I cut you free.’

Half an hour later Kraw was free, the coal had been consumed and they were ready. Katie climbed up onto Kraw’s back, gave the signal and the doors turned to ash, as a blast of blue flame incinerated the wood. Before the guards could recover from their surprise they were through the opening and climbing high into the night sky.

‘Thanks Katie, ‘rumbled Kraw. ‘Now I’ll drop you at the orphanage, then go and find this rogue dragon and clear my name.’

‘Hey, not so fast, you’re not getting rid of me that easily, I’m coming with you.’

‘But – but – but…’

‘Never mind, but, but, but, I’m coming with you and that’s that.’

Kraw sighed and gave in, Katie could be very stubborn when she set her mind on something and he knew it would be a waste of time trying to get her to change her mind.

‘We’ll spend the night in the barn and begin the search in the morning.’

‘Good idea Kraw, it’s so obvious that it’s the last place they’ll look, at least for tonight.’

The barn stood in the field next to the orphanage and Mrs Tolly, the lady who ran the orphanage had allowed Kraw to live there.

As soon as it was light they took off and began to search for the rogue dragon’s lair. By noon they had checked out the caves on Cob Hill, the old copper mine in Green Valley and drawn a blank at each. That only left Bramble woods and the forest. Bramble woods seemed the least likely, as it was impenetrable due to the brambles that gave it its name. But they decided to check it out anyway. Kraw circled the outside of the woods, but it was clear to them both that there was no way in or out at ground level and since the tree canopy was thick and unbroken, nor was there any from above.

As they moved off towards the forest something made Katie look back, ‘Hold on Kraw take a look at this.’

Kraw turned and looked back, ‘What am I supposed to be looking at?’ he asked.

‘That green patch in the tree canopy.’

‘Which one? The whole canopy is green.’

‘There near the centre, the green is darker, sort of duller there.’

‘Oh, I see what you mean, let’s take a closer look.’

As they drew closer the patch seemed darker still and some of the leaves appeared to be drooping, ‘It’s an opening covered by branches,’ exclaimed Katie.

She was about to say more, but was interrupted as the patch of green exploded and through a blizzard of leaves they saw a large green shape shoot skywards. They had found the rogue dragon, now all they had to do was catch him. Kraw set off in pursuit and had almost caught up with the rogue, when he turned and attacked them. Flames belched towards them and Katie felt the heat as Kraw shot to one side and then dived towards the ground. ‘Get ready to jump,’ he called as he headed towards a haystack.

‘No, I’m not leaving you,’ Katie shouted.

‘Yes, you are! I can’t fight him properly if I have spend my time worrying that you might get hurt.’

Katie would have protested further, but as they drew level with the haystack Kraw twisted to one side, throwing her from his back into the hay and by the time she got to her feet, he was locked in combat with the other dragon high above. For an hour they streaked across the sky, first one in pursuit and then the other. Twisting and turning, looping and diving, as they blasted each other with great gouts of blue dragon flame. Finally they fought tooth and claw at close quarters until at the peak of the battle they became so closely entangle that they plunged to earth as one and when the resultant dust cloud settled, to Katie’s dismay both dragons lay still on the ground.

‘Kraw!’ she screamed as she raced over to where he lay.

Kraw lifted his head and groaned, ‘Oh, that hurt.’

‘Thank goodness, I thought for a moment that you were…’

‘What?’

‘I thought you were…God, you do look awful.’

‘If you think I look bad, you should see the other dragon,’

‘I have and he’s unconscious.’

‘Good, now all we need to do is get him back to town and clear my name. Hop on my back.’

Katie did as she was told and Kraw grabbed hold of the rogue and with mighty beats of his wings dragged him up into the air. It was a great strain and he could only manage to get six metres off the ground. It wasn’t very high but it would have to do and he set off for the town. Luckily they didn’t have to go far before they met Lord Watherill and his thugs, who were out searching for Kraw.

‘Here’s the dragon that has been causing all the trouble,’ said Kraw as he dropped the rogue at their feet. ‘You’d better bind him and get him to town before he wakes up.’

Grandma’s front lounge was one of those cosy old-fashioned rooms with a display of plates on a plate rack, a mantelpiece over the fireplace, several big overstuffed armchairs and an equal number of warm woollen rugs on the floor. Despite her only using the lounge on special occasions, she didn’t like the thought of it getting that cold and damp feeling that unused rooms often get. So once a week, from autumn through to spring, she lit a fire in the fireplace and kept it burning all day.

Marmalade the cat knew this and liked nothing better than to sneak in there, curl up on the rug in front of the fire and doze for a few hours. And today was no exception he squeezed through the part open door, made his way to the rug in front of the fire, did that little scratching thing that he always seem to do before settling and lay down for a nap.

As he slept his eyes moved behind his closed eyelids, his paws twitched and he gave low growling noises, as he dreamed of catching birds, rabbits and one sandy coloured mouse in particular. Feeling rather than hearing a fluttering above him, he opened one bleary eye just in time to see a birthday card drift down from the mantelpiece and settle on the rug alongside him. By the time he lazily opened the other eye he was too late to avoid the small empty cardboard box that had been perched on the end of the mantelpiece, as it fell neatly, open end down, over his head.

Marmalade jumped up as everything went dark and ran about bumping into the furniture, until finally he managed get his paw under the box and push it off. Looking up, he was just in time to see Sandy the mouse run along the plate rack and slip into a small hole in the corner of the wall near the ceiling.

Quick a flash he was out the door and his way up the stairs. Reaching the top he was just in time to catch Sandy emerging from a hole in the skirting board. He pounced but sandy skittered from between his paws, shot up the banister post and slid down the banister. At the bottom he flew off the end, sailed through the air and landed with a plop inside one of granddad’s Wellingtons that were standing by the door.

Marmalade spun around and raced down the stairs in pursuit. Unfortunately Rosie had carelessly left her skateboard at the bottom and as he jumped the last few stairs he landed on it and shot along the passage. His high speed trip came to an abrupt end however, when the front wheel hit the doormat and he was catapulted, howling, straight through the cat flap and out into the garden.

Meanwhile Sandy was stuck in the Wellington. He had tried climbing the sides but they were so steep that he only got halfway up before tumbling to the bottom. He ran from side to side hoping to rock the Wellington enough so that it would trip over, but the boot was too heavy and didn’t move.

Out in the garden Marmalade picked himself up, shook his head, returned through the cat flap and stood grinning as listened for moment to Sandy as he struggled to escape. Then he reached up a paw, pulled the Wellington over onto its side and waited for sandy to try and escape. When nothing happened he looked inside, sure enough the mouse was there, but he was making no attempt to come out – would you if you were a mouse and a great big cat was sitting outside waiting to pounce.

Extending his claws he reached inside and slashed at the mouse, but Sandy slipped into the foot out of harms way. Lying on the floor Marmalade stretched out his paw as far as it would go inside the Wellington but still he couldn’t reach.

At this point granddad walked into the hall and said, ‘What on earth is going on here? Get out of my Wellington you daft animal.’ And he bent down, picked Marmalade up by the scruff of his neck, pushed him out through the cat flap and bolted it so he couldn’t get back in.

What is the longest word in the world?

Smiles, Because there is a mile between the beginning and the end.

All Of A Tangle

This story is a follow up to ‘The Girls And Sandy’ and ‘Sandy And The Beast’ and tells what happened to Marmalade after his run in with Sandy in the vegetable garden.

After their unexpected meeting with and their failure to catch Sandy the mouse, Rosie, Chloe and Beth headed for the slide and swings that granddad had built. They were chattering excitedly.

‘He was going at a supersonic speed,’ cried Beth.

‘Did you see the way I dived to catch him?’ asked Rosie.

‘Yes and did you see how high I jumped to get over you?’ asked Chloe.

 Rosie giggled and said, ‘Yes and it was really funny when you did those two rolls.’

‘Did you see me catch him by the tail?’ asked Beth, ‘but he was going so fast that his tail slide right through my fingers.’

‘Yes, that really was brilliant,’ said Chloe.

‘Last one up the slide is a slow coach,’ cried Rosie as she raced towards the play area.

This time it was Beth who was the slowest, but she wasn’t bothered. While others climbed the slide she bagged first go on one of the swings.

They were having a great time alternating between the swings and the slide. When Rosie, as she was about go down the slide for tenth time, suddenly stood still and called out, ‘Quiet! Listen, I can hear something.’

‘What?’ Chloe asked.

‘It sounded like a cat. Listen there it is again.’ Rosie replied,

‘I can’t hear anything,’ said Beth.

‘Me neither,’ said Chloe.

Rosie shot down the slide, jumped to her feet and said, ‘If you both stop talking you’ll hear it.’

This time all three of them heard a muffled meow that sounded very sorry for its self.

Rosie was worried. ‘Come on, that cat sounds as if it is in trouble.’

Chloe and Beth frowned at the thought of any animal being hurt and hurried after Rosie. Following the sound of distress they crossed the lawn and turned onto the path through the vegetable garden. Though still muffled the cries were louder here and seemed to be coming from the rows of beans. They traced the sound to an area in the second row where some posts supporting the netting had collapsed and found the source of the pitiful meows. A large striped cat had somehow managed to become so deeply enmeshed in the bean netting that it was difficult to tell where the netting ended and the cat began.

‘This must be Marmalade, the cat grandma was telling us about,’ Rosie exclaimed.

‘Ah, poor thing, just look at the state he’s in,’ said Chloe.

‘Can you get him out?’ asked Beth, who dearly loved cats.

Rosie and Chloe dropped down beside Marmalade and Chloe talked softly to him, Rosie tried to free the netting. She did manage to unwrap a small amount but no way would she be able to free the cat.

‘We need help there’s no way to untangle this mess,’ said Rosie, ‘we better get granddad.’

‘I’ll go, I’ll go,’ said Beth and immediately ran off.

‘Wait,’ called Chloe.

Beth slowed and looked back.

‘Tell granddad to bring a knife and some scissors.’

Beth nodded and increasing speed raced to the house, burst through the door and shouted, ‘Come quick Marmalade is trapped, Rosie said to bring scissors and a knife.’

‘Where is he?’

‘Tangled in the netting in the vegetable garden.’

Grabbing the Scissors and a knife, Granddad hurried with Beth back to the garden and immediately took things in hand.

‘Chloe go around the other side and hold Marmalade still. Rosie get hold of the netting here and pull it tight. Beth you do the same at the other side.’

A couple of snips at one side then a couple at the other and he was left with a tangled ball of netting with a cat inside. Unravelling the netting a bit at a time and making a snip here and there, it wasn’t long before the cat was free. Marmalade must have exhausted himself struggling with the net because he just lay there. Granddad picked him up and handed him to Beth and said, ‘You hold him.’

The girls made a big fuss of Marmalade and like a drama queen he preened and lapped up the attention.

Granddad left them to it, while he picked up the broken poles and torn netting and then said, ‘Why don’t you take Marmalade to the house, while I get rid of this stuff.’

‘There, there, your safe now boy,’ said Beth as she carried Marmalade towards the house.

‘Look at him curled up in Beth’s arms, he looks so cute,’ said Chloe.

‘How did you manage to get yourself all tangled up, you silly cat?’ Beth asked Marmalade.

Marmalade just snuggled into her arms and purred.

‘He must have been chasing a bird or something to run into that net,’ said Chloe.

‘You don’t suppose,’ queried Rosie, ‘that he could have been chasing Sandy the mouse?’

Katie, Kraw And The Princess

Katie whooped with joy and tightened her grip on the harness as Kraw streaked skywards. Up, up they sped, bursting through the clouds and up into the blue sun filled sky beyond. Kraw climbed higher and higher until looking down there was no sign of the earth below. Just an unbroken carpet of cloud that looked like she imagined the snow covered north to be. Then she whooped again as Kraw did a double loop the loop and then corkscrewed back down through the clouds again.

Katie was nine and a half years old and lived in the orphanage run by Mrs Tolley. Kraw was a three metre high dragon from the mountains of the moon that had sort of adopted Katie on the day of her ninth birthday.

As they burst through the bottom of the clouds, Kraw turned his head and said in his deep rumbling voice, ‘See I told you my navigational skills were excellent, we’re spot on course.’

Katie hated to admit it – Kraw could get such big head at times – but he was right they had come out of the clouds directly over the road. ‘OK, OK, I agree you’re the worlds greatest navigator. But don’t you think you should look where you’re going before crash into that tree?’

Kraw gave loud squawk and turned to look forward again. ‘Ha! Ha! Very funny we’re at least a hundred metres above the trees.’

‘Not those trees down there, idiot, the one in front of you, on top of the hill.’

If anything Kraw’s squawk was louder this time and Katie hung on as he jinked to the left to avoid the collision. ‘Phew! That was close,’ he gasped. ‘Now, where were we?’

‘Looking for Princess Mariva.’

Princess Mariva was meant to have opened the new school, next to the orphanage at ten o’clock that morning and when she hadn’t turned up by eleven, the mayor got himself into a panic. He ran around wringing his hands and crying, ‘Oh dear, oh dear, where has she got too, I hope she isn’t lost.’

‘Calm down Mr Mayor, I’ll call out a search party,’ said the Sheriff. ‘In the meanwhile, Katie, could you and Kraw go out and see if you can spot her.’

And so here they were. ‘Oh, yeah,’ said Kraw. ‘We’d better move on then, there’s no sign of her here.’

Kraw had a habit of stating the obvious, but he was right, the road beneath them was empty and they would have to search further along the road. ‘Let’s go then,’ she said.

Half an hour later they had searched the road as far as Dobbs End and when they’d questioned the town guard, he told them that the princess and her escort had passed through there two hours before. Well, thought Katie as they doubled back – this time flying lower and slower – at least we know that the princess got this far.

‘Whoa, Kraw, bring us down over there,’ Katie said pointing to the forest on their right. ‘I’ve just glimpsed something shining amongst those trees.’

Kraw landed and they pushed through the trees, at least Kraw pushed through the trees, Katie being smaller slipped between them easily. They didn’t have to go far before finding the shining object. It was a jewelled dagger lying in the grass and beyond the dagger they found princess’s bodyguards, all four of them gagged and tied to a tree. In a slash of a dragon’s claw they were freed and after spitting out his gag, Sir Dwain, the knight in charge, told them what happened.

‘As you know we were escorting princess Mariva,’ said Sir Dwain. All was going well until we heard cries for help coming from amongst the trees. I wanted to hurry the princess away to safety, but she insisted that we leave her on the road and go to help whoever was in trouble. Unfortunately we walked straight into an ambush. A net dropped down from the trees, we were clubbed on the heads and when we came too we were bound to that tree.’

‘And the princess?’ asked Katie.

‘I don’t know, Mistress, but the men who attacked us wore the uniform of soldiers belonging to the Black Knight, so he must have taken her for ransom.’

‘Where can we find this Black Knight?’

‘He lives to the east, Mistress far beyond the forest, if you hurry you should catch him before he reaches his castle.’

‘Ok, wait at the roadside and tell the sheriff where we’ve gone,’ said Katie as she and Kraw took to the air.

It took an hour of steady flying to leave the forest behind and another half an hour before they spotted the group of horsemen in the distance. ‘Up Kraw,’ cried Katie. ‘Get as high as you can so that they don’t see us coming.’

With great powerful beats of his wings Kraw obeyed and within minute they were looking down on the horsemen below. There were seven of them six men at arms and one man in armour, ‘That must be the Black Knight,’ said Katie. ‘And that’s the princess on the horse behind him.’

‘Hang on tight Katie, I’ll soon sort this lot out,’ cried Kraw and he folded his wings and dived towards the figures on the ground. He dropped like a stone in silence, at the last minute opened his wings, plucked the Black Knight from his horse and dropped him on top of his men. Next he lifted the princess onto his back next to Katie and set off for home.

The sheriff captured the Black Knight and his men, whose horses had bolted, leaving them on foot. The princess opened the new school. Katie and Kraw were invited to a party given in their honour at the palace and were presented with medals by the king.

A Bad Day For Marmalade

Sandy the mouse was fed up. All afternoon he had been dodging here and there trying to shake off Marmalade the cat. It seemed as if everywhere he went he would catch glimpses of those orange and black stripes from the corner of his eye. The cat had stalked him through the flowerbeds in the borders, through the vegetable garden and now he was creeping after him through the woods. Sandy was not so much worried about the cat catching him. The cat had tried three times already this morning and he had evaded him easily.

No he was fed up because he was hungry, but he couldn’t stop to eat or the cat would pounce while he was eating. It was a situation that couldn’t go on or he would be liable to faint with hunger and where would he be then? At dinner with the cat, only he wouldn’t be eating, he would be on the menu. He needed a plan to get rid of the pesky cat. Maybe he could…no, wouldn’t work. What about if he…No good, the cat would spot it was a trap. I know, the clearing by the stream that should do the trick. Zigzagging around trees and bushes to avoid Marmalade he hurried to the clearing. Once there he moved to the very edge of the bank above the stream and sat down to wash his whiskers.

Marmalade was frustrated and angry. For the past hour he had been tracking Sandy the mouse, but every time he got ready to pounce Sandy would suddenly disappear and pop up in another location. It was almost as if the mouse knew that he was being stalked. He crossed from the garden into the trees hot in pursuit of Sandy and lost him almost straight away. He sniffed the air, he could smell the little beast and it was a distinctive smell. A smell that reminded him of something…what was it? Ah yes, that was it, the smell of freshly caught dinner.

With a grin like the cat in Alice in wonderland he dipped his head to the ground bloodhound fashion and set off after his prey. As he zigzagged between the trees the tantalising scent of mouse grew stronger. He lifted his head and the Cheshire cat grin widened to reach his ears, beyond the last of the trees he could see a clearing and at the far side sat the mouse. The little beast was sitting out in the open, without a care in the world, cleaning his whiskers. Well, he wouldn’t be cleaning them long he thought, as he dropped down onto his belly and began to squirm silently towards Sandy. Closer and closer he slid, until he reached the edge of the trees and could go no further without the mouse seeing him.

With a click he extended his razor sharp claws gathered himself up and sprang. Up, up, up he soared over the clearing, oh he loved this part, and down he came. The mouse had disappeared and too late he realised he had been fooled. Hitting the edge of the overhanging bank, he screeched as it collapsed and sent him cart-wheeling through the air, to land with a splat, right in the middle of the stream. Ooh! He hated water it was soo, soo, wet. After thrashing about for a while, he dragged himself out of the water onto the opposite bank and slunk away to find a place where the sun would dry him out.

Adventure In The Red Barn

Part Two

The Story so far:

While on a visit to Thompson’s farm, Rosie, Joe and Victoria hear strange noises coming from inside the red barn. They follow the sound to the back of the barn and find small door hidden behind some bushes. Despite being warned not to go inside, they do so when they hear someone cry out, and are amazed to find themselves not in a barn, but standing on a road outside a railway station. Sprawled in the bushes at the side of the station steps is the owner of the voice that cried out. He introduces himself as Tom and ushers them aboard the Adventure Express. The train takes them to a place called Lower Market where they ask two girls in the market square why everyone is staring at them. One of the girls is about to answer, when there is a commotion as Captain Blackbone and is men invade the town.

‘Come on,’ said the girl. ‘Follow me.’

              Rosie grinned at the face pulling and said, ‘I’m Rosie, this is Victoria and the…’

‘I’d better tell you what’s been going on,’ said Chloe, ‘A few months ago, the pirate’s came storming into the village. It was a market day just like today. They rounded up all of the men and boys. Some of the men did try to fight back, but they didn’t stand a chance against the guns wielded by the pirates. They were rounded up like cattle and marched away.’

‘And you think they’ve taken Joe and Tom?’  asked Rosie. 

This just gets weirder and weirder, thought Rosie, first we find a train station in a barn, and then Joe and Tom seem to have been captured by pirates. Now Chloe is talking about a treasure ship and a gold mine, whatever next? ‘The pirates have a gold mine?’

‘Why don’t they just fill the ship with gold and sail away using the ships crew.’

Again it was Beth who answered, ‘The one at the end of the market, but it is guarded and you’d never get through.’

‘I’m sure we can,’ said Chloe, ‘Beth bring your slate and chalk over here.’

The two of them sat at the table, Chloe giving directions, Beth drawing on the slate. When they had finished Chloe explained it to Rosie and Victoria. ‘We are here at the village, there is the harbour for the fishing boats and this is the cove where the pirate ship is anchored. It’s about a mile along the coast and this river runs past the mine down to the cove. The pirates use the river to transfer the gold to the ship.

              Karen left to rally the women of the village, half of them were to gather as many carts as they could and then make their way to the pirate ship. The rest to prepare lots of food to feed the men freed from the mine. Led by Chloe the five girls made their way down to the harbour, borrowed a boat, loaded a couple of fishing nets and set off to row along the coast to the pirate ship.

              It was just getting dark as they slid quietly alongside the ship. A rope ladder hung down the side, Rosie climbed up and peered over the side. There were only two guards and they sat talking near the stern. Giving the signal she slipped over the side onto the deck. While she kept watch, Chloe and Victoria brought up one of the nets. Climbing quietly up into the rigging they spread the net out and waited.

             They found the key almost immediately. It was attached to one of the men’s belts and bound with him into the net, but with a bit of jiggling the manage to slide it free. Now all they had to do was find the boys. As it turned out the task was an easy one, they all shouted, the boys answered, they opened the door and were practically hugged to death, as the boys thanked them for being set free. In the middle of all this the women arrived with the carts. It took a little while for the boys to settle down and then the girls organised teams to launch the rest of the ships boats. The bulk of the boys then began ferrying the gold ashore and loading it onto the waiting carts. Meanwhile, the girls accompanied by ten of the boys, loaded one of the ships boatswith rope and then began to row it, plus the boat containing the second net, upriver towards the mine.

            Firstly they tied one of the ropes to as support post then ran the rope across into one of the side tunnels on the opposite side. Taking another rope they did the same at the entrance to the cavern. Just beyond this rope they spread the net on the ground, tied ropes to the corners and fed them over one of the support beams that crisscrossed the roof. With the boys holding the ropes ready to haul on them, the girls headed back along the tunnel, putting out some of the torches as they went.

             The next morning the three friends and Tom who was by now a friend too, set off up the hill to the station with the whole village tagging along. At the top of the hill they hugged Chloe and Beth, Laura and Karen and said goodbye. The village leader thanked them once again and presenting them each with a gold nugget, said, ‘A small present to remember us by.’

            Tom laughed, ‘ No you’re not. No matter how long you are on an adventure, you always arrive back on the day you left. It’s now 4.30 and it’s still Saturday. So off you go home and remember, the train and I will be here, next time you feel like another adventure.’

‘Lets go round this side, there’s a path that leads to the back’ said Joe. 

As the neared the back of the barn, the voice became louder and they began to make out the words. ‘Oh dear…Where are they? Oh bother…Just look at the time… I do hope they get here soon.’ And all the time in the background they could hear the strange hissing sound. Reaching the end of the barn they turned the corner fully expecting to find the owner of the voice. But there was no one there and the back of the barn was hidden behind a mass of overgrown bushes.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel

Once upon a time in a green and pleasant land, where the hills rolled, dark forests grew and castles had the look of sweet confection, there lived two handsome princes, Alex and Reginald. They lived near to each other in adjoining kingdoms within this fairy tale land and were the best of friends. Like all royal children they had lots of servants catering to their every whim and were, to say the least, a little pampered.

Despite the spoiling influences of palace life, both boys grew to be strong, if a little dandified and with ruffles at wrist and throat were the very height of fashion. Inseparable as children they became almost welded together as young men and where one went the other followed. They double dated, had the same taste in fair maids of the flaxen haired kind and would often dance with them until dawn. When they weren’t dancing they attended great banquets, ate delicious food, imbibed fine wines and were not adverse to the occasional pipe.

Hunting was another of their pastime and many a day, they and the other popinjays of the court would ride out in search of sport. Deep in the forest they would hunt the boar, or wolf, or sometimes bear. Once they even hunted and overcame a dragon, though I have to admit the dragon was old and had lost all his teeth. All in all they lived a right royal life, but all good things come to an end and one day they were called to their respective castles and told by their parents in no uncertain terms that it was time to settle down.

They were to scour the kingdoms for wives and as usual they decided to do it together. One of the best places to find a fair maid, then, as it is even today, was at a ball. Which was great as far as they were concerned, they could still carouse the night away and keep their parents happy at the same time. Then one afternoon when they were on their way to yet another ball, a messenger looking for Prince Reginald caught up with them. A fair damsel called Rapunzel who had been imprisoned in a high tower deep in the forest by a witch, was in urgent need help.

The ever-gallant Reginald was about to ride off to the rescue on his white charger, when Alex not wanting to go to the ball alone persuaded him to stay,  accompany him that night and leave the saving of the fair maid until the morrow. Owing a debt of friendship to Alex, Reginald reluctantly agreed. That night however, Alex was smitten by a flaxen haired beauty called Cinderella and gazed into her eyes as if moon struck. They danced every dance together and poor Reginald was left to his own devices. Then just as the clock began to chime midnight Cinderella fled leaving a glass slipper behind.

To say that Alex was upset would be an understatement, he was broken hearted and Reginald seeing his friend so inconsolable decided to put off the rescue of Rapunzel until Cinderella was found. It took them four days but eventually the maid was found and of course Reginald had to stay for the wedding.

Two weeks later Reginald finally said goodbye to Alex and Cinderella and hurried off to rescue Rapunzel. When he reached the tower He called out, ‘Rapuzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.’

But there was no reply; Rapuzel sick of waiting, had run off with another prince instead. Dejected he wandered for many months but unable to find another princess he eventually returned home, only to find that Cinderella had run off with a woodsman.

An unhappy state of affairs all round and a sad way to end a tale, I hear you say.

But the story isn’t finished yet and it does have a fairy tale ending, Alex and Reginald gave up on blonde princesses, travelled to a far distant land of blue sea and waving palms and lived happily ever after, married to a couple of red haired, green eyed, mermaids.

Mrs Prince

Laurel cupped her hands either side of her face, pressed her nose to the glass and scanned the practice room. It was empty, good; she had been hoping it would be. There was two hours yet to rehearsals and she needed to work on the extra routine that Mr Rushford had introduced into the second act.

Mr Rushford was the school drama teacher, a brilliantly creative man who the kids all admired. He had arrived at the school five years earlier and had taken the small poorly attended drama class and turned it into a vibrant and innovative drama group that the whole school was proud of. He was a creative genius and like a lot of creative people his enthusiasm for the job often ran away with him. To the dismay of his pupils who had spent weeks in rehearsals for a show, he would quite often come up with an additional routine at the last minute.

Hence, Laurel needed to practise her new solo routine before the rehearsals began. Closing the door behind her, she took off her jacket and hung it on a peg near the door, walked to the end of the room and slipped her CD into the player. As the music began she adjusted the sound and began her warm-ups. Dancers, like athletes, warm up to prevent injury and Laurel was always careful to complete hers; no way was she going to allow any injury to get in the way of her dancing.

Fifteen minutes later she was ready and slipping a new disk into the player, began to practise the routine. As always with something new it was difficult, but with dancing it is doubly so. Not only have you got to remember all the steps, but also you must match and flow with the music and Laurel was in trouble almost from the beginning. She would get the first section perfect then while she knew the steps to the next, her timing would go and she would make a mess it and if she got that part right she would get another wrong. She knew she was trying too hard, but couldn’t bring herself to stop trying and at the end of an hour she was so frustrated that she screamed.

‘Having trouble?’ a voice asked, in almost a whisper.

Laurel spun around to find a smartly dressed woman standing at the other end of the room. The woman looked about the same age as her mum and yet the suit she was wearing wasn’t anything like the clothes her mother wore. They were somehow old fashioned, more like the clothes worn by her grandmother in the family photo album.

‘Pardon. Can I help you?’ asked Laurel, thinking that the woman might be lost.

‘No, but I may be able to help you,’ came the reply in the same whispery voice that had a hard rasp to it, like someone with a sore throat.

Laurel frowned and wondered what she was on about. Beside she didn’t know this strange woman and she was always wary of strangers. The woman laughed and despite the rasp the laughter had a comforting ring to it.

‘Oh dear, you should see your face. I should explain. I’m Mrs Prince. I was a dance teacher here and I was on my way to see the head, when I heard the music and couldn’t resist popping in.’

At the mention of the head, Laurel relaxed, ‘Sorry about the scream, but I can’t seem to pull this new routine together.’

‘Like I said, I can help you, but you will have to show me how to work your music thingabe,’

Laurel laughed at the strange word and Mrs Prince said ‘Don’t laugh, in my day we had to make do with a piano.’

Cor, thought Laurel. She must be older than she looks. Even mum knows how to work a disk player. She showed Mrs Prince how the player worked and despite her claiming ignorance of new-fangled things, as she called them, she picked it all up in a few minutes.

‘Right,’ said Mrs Prince, ‘I’ll start the music and count to three, then you begin.’ She hit the play button, the intro came on and she counted Laurel in, ‘Ready, one, two, three.’

At the count of three Laurel began the routine and as before it all came apart half way through. Mrs Prince called a halt. ‘It’s the timing. You’re starting a tad late, then subconsciously speeding up and over-compensating that is why it's all going wrong. Show me the steps for whole of the routine and for the moment forget about the timing.’

Laurel shrugged, but did as she was told. This time without the music and when she had finished, Mrs Prince said, ‘Excellent. Now, this time you start the music and I’ll show you where you’re going wrong.’

Laurel again did as she was told and stood with her mouth open in disbelief as Mrs Prince danced the complicated routine step perfect, as if she had danced it forever and a day.

‘Close your mouth, Girl, you look as if you are catching flies, and follow me.’

 For the next hour they dance the routine together over and over again and when they had perfected the routine Mrs Prince stepped to one side and Laurel performed solo. Laurel closed her eyes, felt the flow of the music and danced the piece in perfect rhythm. As the music died she open her eyes and did a little curtsey. Mrs Prince smiled and said, ‘Good girl, you’ve got it.’ and vanished. One moment she was there and the next she was gone.

Laurel was stunned. Either she had just dreamed the whole thing or she had spent the last hour dancing with and talking to a ghost. It never occurred to her to be afraid. If Mrs Prince had indeed been a ghost, she had been a nice and not a nasty one. Laurel was sure of one thing, no way would she mention this to anyone, they would think she had gone crazy. Maybe she was crazy and maybe she had dreamed it all. Somehow she didn’t think so, but on the other hand she might have. There was only one way to settle her mind. She needed to find out if Mrs Prince ever existed.

A great T-rex

My teacher turned into a dinosaur

A great T-rex with teeth galore

He scanned the class for his prey

And his beady eye looked my way

He gave a roar that shook my head

I thought, oh no, I think I’m dead

He smiled with a tooth filled jaw

And hit the desk with a ragged claw

He growled deep down in his chest

I squirmed inside and tried my best

But I blanked and could not guess

Sandy And The Beast

Stepping from the trees Sandy the mouse found himself at the bottom of the vegetable garden. Facing him at either side of the garden path, neat rows of plants one behind the other stretched back to the end of the vegetable garden.

 Nearest to him was the potato patch and beyond that orderly lines of turnips, carrots, beetroot, cabbages, radishes, onions, lettuce, shallots and two rows of peas. Beyond the peas at the very end – or beginning of the garden depending on whether you entered from the direction of the house or the woods – stood two rows of beans so tall and heavy with pods that they had to be supported by long poles and netting. Behind the beans was the lawn and beyond that was the house.

After scanning the area and sniffing the air, he decided it was safe to move on. Keeping to the shady side of the path he took care to check out the rows at either side of him, before moving to the next one.

He was nearing the end of the path when he heard the growl; it was low and menacing and came from behind the first row of peas to his right.

Sliding left into the space between the shallots and the first row of peas he headed away from the sound. Reaching the halfway point he eased his way carefully through a gap in the peas into the next row. To his right he could see across the path and along the full length of the row.

There was nothing to be seen. He checked left and froze! Like something from his worst nightmare, the beast was lying in wait for him not more than five metres away.

Twenty times his size if not more, the orange and black striped monster stared hungrily at him with wicked yellow eyes. The long sharp fangs gleamed in the sunlight as it gave an evil grin.

 Giving a low growl the monster began to swish its tail from side to side, then he heard a loud click as it extended its claws to the full length. This was the prelude to the attack and he stood as if hypnotised as the beast raced towards him and launched itself into the air.

Almost too late he snapped out of the trance and instead of running away, ran straight at the beast and dived to the ground. Already committed to the leap, the beast sailed over his head, but managed to lash out and catch him with one of its claws.

Sent flying through the air, he landed with a jarring thud some two Metres along the row. With the wind knocked out of him he staggered to his feet and turned just in time to see the beast hit the ground, spin around and come straight back at him. Dizzy, winded and staggering backwards, he only just missed being slashed by the great claw that lashed out at him.

Dodging to one side he ran as he’d never run before, his legs were wobbling, his head was spinning and he was gasping for air. By now the beast was so close behind that he could feel its breath on his back and he wondered if he would manage to escape. Then he spotted a small gap in the wall, of peas, to his right and scrambled through into the next row.

The beast unable to get through the small gap, screeched and hissed as it slashed at the peas with both claws, shredding leaves and sending pea pods flying in all directions.

With the beast occupied he took time to recover his breath before moving on towards the path. He was halfway there when it went quiet, stopping he held his breath and listened, not a sound. He crept slowly towards the path, only to be confronted by the monster, who unable to get through the peas, had circled around and now came at him from that direction.

Swiftly turning he ran in the opposite direction and once again dived through an opening, this time in the last row of peas. Unfortunately, the opening was much bigger than the last one and the hissing and spitting beast shot through after him. Quick as a flash he ran across to the row to the beans and wriggled under the netting.

Unable to stop, the charging beast slammed into and became entangled in the netting. Snarling and spitting it struggled to break free, but the more it struggled the more it became entangled, until final several of the support posts snapped and that part of the netting complete with beans collapsed trapping the monster beneath it.

Backing off to a safe distance he sat and watched the beast struggle, then when he was sure it couldn’t escape, he gave a cheeky grin and scampered along to the path and made his way towards the house. 

 Mirror, mirror, on the wall

When will I start to grow?

Can you help me, yes, or, no?

Mirror, mirror, oh so wise

Can you tell me about my size?

Will I always be a little mite?

Or will I grow to reach the light?

Mirror, mirror, on the wall

Tell me please will I be tall?

Can’t you help with my need?

Tell me if I’ll stay a weed.

Mirror, mirror, are you there?

Hang on a sec; I’ll get a chair.

There that’s better. This is me.

Tell me true what do you see?

Mirror, mirror, you’re awfully dumb.

 Copyright © Fred Watson. 2005

‘Laurel! If you don’t get up this minute, we’re going to be late.’

I keep my eyes closed; slide the cover down to my chin.

‘Ok, mum I’m up!’ I call, and pull the cover back over my head.

Seconds later, I jerk awake, as the covers are pulled from the bed.

‘Up! Now!’ Mum demands, in her don’t argue back voice.

‘I’m not going, I don’t want too’

‘I haven’t got time for this. Get up, and get ready,’ Mum shouts and stomps off downstairs.

I drag myself up, make my way to the bathroom and start to clean my teeth. Then I spot Mary Ann, she’s sitting on the closed lid of the toilet.

‘I wish you wouldn’t keep doing that,’ I say around a mouthful of toothpaste.

‘What’s that dear?’ asks Mary Ann.

‘Appearing suddenly, like that,’

‘Sorry dear, I fade out quite well, but when I try fading in, I just sort of…pop up.’

Mary Ann has a lovely warm voice and smells all sweet and spicy, like fresh baked biscuits, and she listens, she doesn’t shout. The problem is that Mary Ann isn’t really there; well, she is to me, but not to anyone else.

It all began when Nicky, my little sister reached the age of two – the terrible two’s, Mary Ann called it – and changed into a little horror. Up until then she had been cute.

But then she turned horrid, going into tantrums and screaming, she wouldn’t share her toys. Even if I played games with her, she would grab toys from me, screaming, ‘It’s mine! Get off. Give it me.’

Trouble was that mum and dad let her get away with it. Oh sometimes, they would say,  ‘That’s naughty, you have to share your toys with Laurel.’

 But other times they would just say,  ‘Oh! For god’s sake, will you give her back her toy, Laurel.’ As if it was my fault, and my feeling hurt, I would scream, ‘It’s not fair!’ And race upstairs to my room and the only one I could talk to, Mary Ann.

Until I was six I had mum and dad all to myself. Then Nicky came along and at first nothing changed, except I had a new baby sister and it was really cool. Everyone who came made a fuss of Nicky. But I didn’t mind, I loved my sister and besides, they always brought me a little present too. Some coloured pencils or drawing paper, which was great, because I loved to draw.

Now I’m eight, and Nicky is two and I don’t see why I need to get up, at eight o’ clock on a Saturday morning, and go with mum, while she takes Nicky to dancing. ‘It’s not fair,’ I moan, pulling on my tee shirt.

‘What isn’t dear?’ Mary Ann asks gently.

‘I don’t see why, mum can’t leave me in bed, while she takes Nicky to dancing,’ I pout.

‘Come here, let me do your hair,’ Mary Ann says.

‘Ooh, that’s nice, I always get tats, when I do it,’ I purr.

‘I’ve had plenty practice. I had long hair down to my waist just like you, and my mum used to make me brush it, one hundred strokes in the morning and one hundred at night,’ chuckles Mary Ann.

I close my eyes, the feel of the brush so soothing.

‘Don’t you think it would be wrong?’ asks Mary Ann.

‘Pardon?’

‘Wouldn’t it be wrong, if your mum left you in the house alone?’ Mary Ann asks.

‘Yes, I suppose so, but….’ Just then mum calls.

‘Laurel, are you ready, we’ll have to go.’

I sigh, and Mary Ann fades away.

‘Coming mum,’ I call.

Fifteen minutes later we arrived at the dance school and hurry inside.

‘Take Nicky’s coat off Laurel,’ mum says, as she delves in the bag for Nicky’s dance shoes.

‘No! Don’t, want coat off.’ Nicky shouts.

‘Come on, darling,’ I coo, ‘you can’t dance with your coat on.’

‘Don’t want to! Get off. Noooo,’ shouts Nicky, as she swings out wildly, knocking my hands away and falling onto her bottom, screaming.

‘Come on, darling, let’s get that coat off,’ Mum says, as she lifted Nicky to her feet.

‘Laurel, push me down.’ Nicky cries.

‘She was only trying to get your coat off, darling,’ mum soothes.

‘I never pushed her, mum!’ I cry.

‘I know you didn’t, but try and be a bit more careful, she might have banged her head,’ mum replies.

‘Humph!’ I fold my arms and fling myself into a chair.

After getting Nicky’s coat off and coaxing her into the dance class, Mum sits down next to me. Since Nicky is only two, we have to wait for her.

‘You want your magazine, while we wait?’ Mum asks.

‘No.’

‘She’s only a baby, you know.’ Mum says.

‘Yes, but I didn’t do anything,’ I reply.

‘No, But your older than her, and she’s only little.’ Mum says.

Ooh! She just doesn’t get it, I think to myself, I might be older, but I still didn’t do anything. I take my magazine from the bag and pretend to read. Mum gives a sigh and takes out a book.

We get back home at eleven thirty. Nicky drops her coat on the floor and heads into the lounge to play. I come in behind mum, hang my coat on the banister post and I’m about to go up to my room.

‘Laurel put your coat in the cupboard, and put Nicky’s away too.’ Mum orders, before disappearing into the kitchen.

Argh! I screamed inwardly as I hang up the coats, slam the cupboard door and run upstairs. Banging the bedroom door shut, I fling myself onto the bed, put a pillow over my head and scream.

‘What was that all about?’ Mary Ann asks, when I removed the pillow.

‘She! Blames me for everything,’ I cry angrily.

‘Who’s She? The cats, mother?’ asks Mary Ann.

I give her a puzzled look, Mary Ann smiles softly and explains, ‘It was one of my mothers sayings, she said it wasn’t nice to call someone she, if you knew who they were. Now, what were you saying?’

‘Mum! Mum, blamed me when Nicky fell down and she made me put Nicky’s coat away. It’s always me, never Nicky,’ I moan.

I smile, I’ve been dancing since I was three, and I really loved it, particularly, street jazz.                                                                                                                           

‘Yeah, I can show you my routines!’ I cry, and begin to search through my CD’s. Finding the one I want, I slide it into the player, click on to track three and begin to dance. The dance routine has taken a lot of hard work to learn, but luckily, everything clicks into place and I manage the complicated moves easily.

When the piece ends, I dip into a curtsy and Mary Ann claps her hands in delight. I beam and switch to another track, all my former upset forgotten – Mary Ann watches with a satisfied smile and then fades away.

I dance with my eyes closed, going over the steps in my head, when there is a knock and mum pops her head in, ‘Come and get your lunch darling, then I’ll take you to dancing.’

‘Coming mum,’ I say as I finish the moves.

After lunch mum drops me at dancing, there is an exam due next week, so there are two special routines, with quite a lot of difficult steps to learn. But I’m determined and so wrapped up in getting the steps right, that I looked up in surprise, when Mrs Scott Claps her hands, to signal the end of the session. I pull my top and jeans on over my leotard, change my shoes, call goodnight to the class and make my way out to reception.

‘Had a good session?’ Mum asks.

‘Yeah. Great, I’ve got some brilliant steps to practice for the exam. I’ll show you them when we get home.’

‘That’ll be great, put your coat on, it’s freezing outside,’ Mum orders.

‘Where’s Nicky?’ I ask.

‘She was tired, so I left her at home with dad, you know, how ratty she gets when she’s tired,’ Mum replies.

I smile to myself, ratty when she’s tired? She’s ratty all the time.

First through the door when we get home, I put my coat and bag straight into the cupboard and go into the lounge. Dads on the settee, watching the TV, with Nicky, fast asleep beside him.

‘Hi! Dad!’ I say cheerfully.

‘Hi! Princess! Ask your mum to take Nicky, Then, tell me about dancing,’ Dad says with a grin.

‘I’ll put her in the pushchair, she’ll only sleep for an hour,’ says mum, who has followed me into the room.

I snuggled next to dad on the settee and began to explain the new moves I’ve learnt, but I know by the look on his face, he isn’t getting it, ‘I’ll get my CD player, and show you,’ I say.

‘Why don’t we wait until after tea, princess,’ Dad says. ‘Then mum and I will both watch you.’

 ‘You Promise?’ I ask.

‘It’s a promise princess,’ dad replies, already reaching for the TV control, to get the football scores.

I spent the time until tea, practicing my routines and come straight down when mum calls. Nothing much happens during the meal, other than dad telling mum about this great goal and Nicky acting up and throwing her spaghetti on the floor.

After tea I jump up eagerly, ‘Now, can I show you my routines?’

‘ You get ready, I’ll be with you as soon as I clear up this mess,’ Mum says.

I run upstairs, stripped back to my leotard, grabbed my CD player and I’m back in the lounge in five minutes. Mum comes in with Nicky and sits next to dad. I select track five and begin, the music seems to flow through me and I dance the piece in perfect rhythm, taking a low bow to the applause.

The second piece is slower and more difficult, so I closed my eyes as I move and have hardly started, when, Nicky rams into me screaming, ‘No! No! My turn, I want to dance now.’

I try to push her away, but Nicky begins to lash out and screams and kicks and rolls on the floor. Mum picks her up and tries to calm her but she screams all the more until mum gives in, ‘Let her dance, laurel, she’ll only go on and on.’ Mum pleads.

Upstairs in my room I fight back the tears. The little monster has done it again. The bed dips beside me, as Mary Ann sits down and gives me a hug.

‘Why is Nicky so horrid? And why do mum and dad, let her get away with it? I sob.

‘Do you love Nicky?’ Mary Ann asks.

‘Yes I suppose so, but not when she’s horrid.’ I reply.

‘Do you; remember me telling you, about the terrible two’s?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, some small children, change when they’re two, I don’t know why; maybe they try to learn, do too much and get mad, because they can’t do all the things they want.’

‘Do you think Nicky’s like that?’

‘Yes I do. And I also think that when she turns three, she’ll change again, this time, for the better.’

‘All right, but that doesn’t excuse mum and dad.’

‘No it doesn’t, but I know they love you and wouldn’t ever hurt you. I think they just get so frustrated coping with Nicky, that they get things wrong without really meaning too.’ Mary Ann explains gently and gives me another warm spicy hug, before adding.

‘Remember, I’ll, always be here, when you need me.’

I smile as she fades away and whisper,

‘Love you, Grandma,’

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 A poem, a ditty

Isn’t it a pity

I haven’t the time

To make up a rhyme

 

Maybe I’ll try,

To reach for the sky

Or count to ten

And start over again

 

But then I might not

For I don’t give jot

If you listen to me

or go off for your tea

 ____________________________________________________

  

BETHANY AND THE TURNIP

  

Down in Yorkshire on the very edge of a small village stands a row of handsome stone built houses. Being on the edge of the village has its advantages. To the front is a large grassy field, while to the rear, each house has a small yard backing onto dusty back lane that runs from the main road quarter of a mile away, turns right along back of the houses to a dead end at the last house. From that point on it turns into an equally dusty footpath that wanders on through the countryside.  On the other side of the lane are the gardens that make ideal, play areas for the children.

 

  But today the gardens and the back lane are deserted. Except for the figure of a small girl in the yard of number fifteen, the second door from the end of the lane. She stands there sighing, her elbows resting on the top of the gate, chin in her hands, staring wistfully along the lane.

 

   Bethany is small and pretty, with blond hair, a bright and lively girl, who normally has a big cheeky grin and a warm loving nature. But like all children she can be naughty and this afternoon she is driving her mum mad.

 

Bethany is bored and feeling a little sorry for herself because she has no one to play with. Mum is busy doing the washing, Chloe is away on a school trip and none of the other children in the lane are playing out.  Taking a last look along the lane she gives a big sigh, turns from the gate and walks across the yard to the back door. ‘Mum! Mum! I’ve got nothing to do.’

 

‘Oh Bethany, there’s loads to do,’ said mum. ‘You can play on the swing and the slide.’

 

‘No! I don’t want to,’ said Bethany, stamping her foot,  ‘anyway, I’ve been playing on them all morning and I’m sick of them. I want to do something else.’ 

 

 ‘Well, why don’t you get out your pram and doll then?’

 

‘No I don’t want too.’ She said putting on her sulky voice and sticking out her pet lip.

 

‘I’ll tell you what, why don’t we put on the DVD of Beauty and the beast you like that don’t you?’

 

 ‘ No!’ 

 

‘OK,’ explained mum, ‘I’ve played with you all morning, but now I’ve got to get on with the washing. So why don’t you go and read in your room, for a bit.’ 

 

‘But, mum, I don’t want to read, I want to play outside.’

 

‘All right, then why don’t you go along the lane and see if any of your friends are coming out to play. But just in the lane, don’t go wandering off.’

 

   Bethany cheered up as she headed off along the lane. Surely someone will come out to play, she thought. But her good mood disappeared when she knocked on the last door to find that Tom, like the rest of her friends was busy with something else.

 

  Fed up she walked back along the lane, kicking an old piece of stone in front of her. When she reached the end of the lane she took one last kick and the stone flew down the path.

 

Turning to go back into the house, she stopped, decided to go along the path and kick the stone back to the lane, well, she thought, it’ll be something to do.

 

 As she walked along the path next to the field, she heard a high squeaky voice. ‘Where are you going, girl? Wait for me,’ she looked around: there was no one there.

 

She started to walk on, but has gone no more than six paces, when the voice came again. ‘Hold on! Wait for me.’

 

Turning, she looked all around, there was no one to be seen.

 

She was about to carry on walking, when the voice came for the third time, ‘I won’t be long, wait for me.’

 

The voice seemed to be coming from the field of long grass on her right. Moving closer she stood on her tiptoes and peered over the top of the very high grass. She could see movement, as if someone, who was shorter than the grass was coming towards her.

 

Suddenly a head popped up above the grass, and disappeared again.  She got such a shock that she stepped back quickly, caught her heel on a clump of grass at the edge of the path, and promptly sat down.

 

She was still sitting there, when the grass parted and a face grinned out at her. My, what a funny face it was.  Big round eyes, a small button nose, a wide smiley mouth, and green floppy hair, ‘Hello,’ it said and stepped out of the grass onto the path.

 

Bethany gasped in surprise; it was a turnip, with two long thin legs, two equally skinny arms – and the green hair that she has seen, was actually green floppy leaves.

 

‘H-Hello,’ Bethany said, ‘Who are you?’ 

 

‘I’m Tammy,’ the turnip replied, ‘What’s your name?’ Then without waiting for her to reply, rushed on. ‘I’m lost, I was hoping that you could help me find my way back home’.

 

‘I’m called Bethany, I’ll try to help if I can,’ said Bethany, ‘but I really haven’t any idea where turnips live.’

 

‘In a field,' said Tammy, quick as a flash.

 

‘I know that! Silly,’ said Bethany, ‘but I don’t know where the turnip field is. Don’t you know which way you came?’

 

‘No not really, I’ve been walking round and round in circles, in that field of long grass, for ages and ages trying to find my way out'

 

‘Come on then, we’ll see if we can find out, but you better hold my hand, in case you wander off and get lost again.’

 

Hand in hand, they set off to try and find the turnip field. Coming to a fork in the path, they are deciding which way to go, when a rabbit hops into view down the left hand fork.

 

 ‘I’m lost,’ said Tammy. ‘Do you have any idea where the turnip field is?’

 

To Bethany’s surprise, the rabbit replied, ‘Sorry, I don’t. But if it’s any help, I can tell you where it’s not. It’s not down there,’ she said, pointing back along the path she had just come down.

 

‘Thank you – er,’ said Bethany.

 

‘Rosemary, Rosemary Rabbit,’ said the rabbit.

 

‘Well thank you very much, Rosemary, ’ said Bethany, a little surprised that she was actually talking to a rabbit. But then after all she had been talking to a turnip, hadn’t she.

 

‘Come on,’ said Bethany, ‘We better try this way.’

 

Saying goodbye to Rosemary, they head up the right hand fork in the path. As they walked the path starts to climb uphill and run through a small stand of trees.

 

Coming around a bend in the path, they bumped straight into a fox who was hurrying in the opposite direction. Picking themselves up off the ground, Bethany said, ‘Why don’t you look where you’re going? Rushing about like that, you could hurt someone.’

 

‘Me, look where I’m going, I like that. What about you two, standing in the middle of the path, so that no one can get past,’ shout the fox angrily, as he picked himself up and brushed the leaves from his legs.

 

Bravely, Bethany asked, ‘Do you know where the turnip field is? Please?’ 

 

‘No I don’t know, and anyway, I don’t like turnips,’ the fox snapped, and he hurried off down the path.

  

‘How do you know you don’t like turnips, if you’ve never met one,’ Tammy shouted after him. But the fox did not look around.

 

‘Never mind, Tammy. He’s just a grumpy old fox, and he doesn’t know anything.’

 

They continued along the path until they came to a field with cows in. Bethany climbed up the gate and leaning over the top, shouted to the nearest cow, ‘Do you know where the turnip field is? Please.’

   

‘What? I can’t hear you,’ said the cow.

 

‘The…turnip…field…where… is…it?’ shouted Bethany, loudly and clearly.

 

‘What? I still can’t hear you.’

 

Bethany thought she must have been hard of hearing, because she could hear her mumbling to herself, as she walked over, ‘ I don’t know, this younger generation, can’t talk clearly, they always mumble so you can’t hear them.’ As she reached the gate she said,  ‘Now, child talk slowly and clearly without mumbling and repeat your question.’

  

‘Please – could – you – tell – me – the – way – to – the – turnip - field – Mrs cow?’ Bethany asked, in a very clear voice.

 

 ‘That is better, I can hear you now,’ said the cow, ‘but I’m Miss, not Mrs, and my name’s Cora. Now back to your question, I’ve been there, I know I have, but it was such a long time ago, I…’

 

At that point, Cora broke off as Tammy climbed up next to Bethany. Cora moved along the gate, stuck out her rather large tongue and licked the whole of his face with one slurp. It was horrible and slimy; Tammy lost his grip on the gate, fell to the ground and rolled into a ditch.

 

‘Oh, dear me, what is that?’ asked Cora.

  

‘That – is – Tammy – he’s – a – turnip,’

 

‘Are you sure? Because the turnips that I remember, weren’t like that with legs and arms, they just sat in long rows in a field and didn’t move at all.’

 

‘Yes – I’m – sure – he’s – a – turnip,’ replies Bethany, nodding her head.

 

‘Well, as I was saying, I think that the turnip field is on the south facing side of a hill. This path should take you there, but I’m not certain. Try asking someone else, down by the river.’

 

‘Thank you very much, Cora, we’ll ask that duck down there.’

 

‘Your mumbling again, child. I’m not Dutch and I wouldn’t dream of going in the muck down there.’ With that she wandered back across the field muttering, ‘Nice girl, but I do wish she would talk clearly.’

 

Leaving Cora With her friends, they follow the path down to the river and Tammy walked over to the duck, ‘Do you know where the turnip field is?’

 

‘What?’ asked the duck.

   

‘Do you k…’ 

 

‘Never mind that,’ said the duck, ‘I heard what you said the first time, but you didn’t say the magic word.’

 

‘But I don’t know any magic word, I’m a turnip not a magician, cried Tammy.

 

Bethany nudged him, ‘The magic word, You know - ‘The-Magic-Word.’

  

Tammy grinned, ‘Oh, that magic word. Please, do you know where the turnip field is? Please.’

   

The duck smiled, ‘That’s better. Now, before we get into all that, why don’t we get to know each other, I’m called Don. Tell me your names.

 

‘Pleased to meet you, my name’s Bethany and, this one, who forgets to say please is Tammy.’

 

‘Pleased to meet you both, I’ve a good idea where the Turnip field is, that is, not quite exactly, but I can get you very near. You can ask again when you get closer.’ And he continued. ‘ This path follows the river until it comes to a bridge. At the bridge turn right and follow that path till you come to another right turn. Now this is where you will have to ask again, as I’m not sure if you need the first or the second turning.’

 

‘Thank you very much for your help, Don,’ said Bethany and she set off down the path, with Tammy tagging along behind. 

 

‘Oh, young Turnip,’ Don called after them, with a smile on his face. ‘Don’t forget to say please next time.’

  

‘I will,’ promises Tammy, as he waved goodbye.

 

When they arrived at the bridge they saw a frog  and Bethany called out, ‘Hello, frog.’

  

‘Freddy,’ croaked the frog.

 

‘Pardon.’ 

 

‘My name, it's Freddy.’

 

‘Oh, I see, this is Tammy, my name’s Bethany, and we were wondering if you know the way to the turnip field’

 

‘I used to know a turnip once,' croaked Freddy.' He had a beard, a black patch on one eye and a wooden leg.  His name was Long John Turnip, him and his parrot used to sail down the river and out into the sea. They said he was going to dig up buried treasure. But I didn’t believe it, how can how can anyone dig a hole in the sea.’

  

‘So you’ll know the way to the turnip field, then?’ asked Tammy.

 

‘What Turnip field?’

  

‘The one that Long John Turnip came from.’

 

‘Oh, That one, I never did asked him where he came from. But I think he might have come from that direction,' croaked the frog, pointing over the bridge.

 

‘But that’s opposite, to the way, the duck told us to go,’ cried Bethany. 

 

‘ What duck?’ asked the frog. 

 

‘That duck, along there by the river’

 

‘So you asked the duck and he told you the way to the turnip field.’ croaked the frog, starting to sound a little angry.

 

‘Y-Yes,’ Bethany replied timidly.’

 

‘Well I like that! You have me standing here for half an hour talking about turnips. Wasting my time. When the duck has already told you the way to go,’ he exclaimed, and with a sniff of his nose, he hopped off down to the river.

 

Bethany looked at Tammy, shrugged her shoulders and carried on walking until they come to the first turning on the right. At the side of the path was a small goat, with a long rope tied to a collar round his neck, the other end of the rope was fastened to a post hammered into the ground.

 

Going over to him Bethany smiled nicely, ‘Could, you tell me if this is the turning, that will take us to the turnip field? Please.’

    

‘Turnips! Turnips, Oh Yummy, I do love turnips,’ bleeted the goat, licking his lips, as he stared at Tammy. ‘Would your friend like to come a little closer, so I can eat him. No! No! I mean meet him.’

 

The two friends moved backwards, along the path, keeping their eyes on the goat. Once they are far enough away to feel safe, they turned and hurried along the path.

 

Behind them the goat called, ‘Girl, ask your friend if he would like to be my tea. No! No! I mean would he like to come to tea.’

 

Ignoring his calls they continued on their way and soon came to the second turning. Sitting on a fence post was a little fat mouse. Going over to him Tammy said, ‘Is this the turning to get to the turnip field, please?’

 

‘What’s a turnip?’ asked the mouse.

 

‘Me, I’m a Turnip,’ said Tammy, ‘Have you seen any thing that looks like me?’

 

‘Oh, why didn’t you say so in the first place,’ said the mouse, ‘There’s a Field full them, what did you call them, turnips, was it?’

 

‘Yes, but where?’

 

‘There,’ he said, pointing to the next field along the path, ‘There are hundreds of them in that field.’

 

As they drew near to the gate into the field, a crowd of turnips came running out waving their arms in the air. The tallest one shouted. ‘Where have you been, our Tammy? Our Mum’s been worried about you, and who’s this with you?’

 

After introducing Bethany to his brother Tom, Tammy said, ‘I got lost and Bethany helped me to find my way back home.’

 

‘ Thanks Bethany, we’ve been searching for him all day,’ said Tom, ‘Come on we better let mum know he OK, she’s had search parties out looking for him.’

 

As they walked through the field, the crowds of turnips seemed to get bigger and bigger and they were all waving and cheering. Bethany noticed that a group of large strong turnips were travelling in front of them clearing a pathway through the crowds. While others, equally strong, linked hands and lined each side of the pathway, holding it open so they could walk through in comfort.

 

Nearing the middle of the field, they suddenly found themselves in a square flat area, surrounded on all four sides by cheering Turnips.

 

In front of them in the centre of the square, was a throne on which sat a round plump turnip with a very severe frown on her face. With a nod of her head, she signalled to the large turnips and they marched over to escort Bethany, Tammy and Tom to a spot in front of the throne. 

‘Curtsy,’ whispered Tom from the side of his mouth, as both he and Tammy gave a low bow to the queen.

  

As they straightened up, a large smile lit up the queen’s face, she held out both arms and Tammy ran over to be given a big hug from his mum the queen of the turnips. Tammy and his mum talked together for a while, then the queen beckoned Bethany over and said, ‘I would like to thank you, my dear, for bring back Prince Tammy, goodness knows what would have happened to him, if you hadn’t found him.’

  

 At this the whole crowd of turnips cheered, ‘Hip! Hip! Hurrah! For Bethany.’

  

Pleased at the return of her son, the queen declared that the day was a holiday. The crowd cheered and began setting up stalls round the sides of the square. Soon the stalls were bursting with all kinds of things with strange sounding names. Every thing began with a T, Lemonade was Temonade, Lollies were Tollies and Ice cream was called Tice cream. There were also Tream Tuns and Tweets, plus much more and despite their strange sounding names they all tasted delicious.

  

In one half of the square they set up a faiground with even stranger sounding names. There was a Turnipabout, a Big Turniper and a Turnipyboat. In the other half they set up a Turnippole, with ribbons hanging down from the top, where everyone grabs a ribbon and dances around the pole. In addition there were games, like, Leap Turnip, Turnips knock, Pin the tail on the Turnip, Pass the Turnip, Musical Turnips, and many more.

  

Bethany had a wonderful time and really enjoyed her self, but all too soon it was time to go home.

  

Turning to Tammy she said, ‘Tammy, I’ll have to go home; my mum will be looking for me. I had better go and say goodbye, to the queen.’ 

 

‘ We’ll come with you,’ said Tom, and the three of them walked over to where the queen sat on her throne.

  

‘ Your Majesty,’ said Bethany, as she curtsied to the queen. ‘I’m sorry, but if you don’t mind, I have to go home now.’ 

 

‘Could you wait just a minute, while I make an announcement,’ said the queen, and giving a signal to one of the other turnips, she stood up.

  

The turnip raised a trumpet to his lips and gave three large blasts, and the crowd turned to the queen. Once they had settled down the queen announced in a loud voice, ‘I Queen Tatina, queen of the Turnips, declare that having saved the royal prince, Tammy from being lost. Bethany shall from this day forth be known as, Princess Bethany.’

  

The crowd cheered, ‘Hip! Hip! Hurrah, for Princess Bethany.’

  

When the noise had died down, the queen turned to Bethany, gave her a hug and said, ‘Thank you again, Princess Bethany, I’m sorry you have to go. I’m sending Tom and Tammy to escort you back to where you first met Tammy. Tom won’t get lost, he knows a shortcut so it won’t take you long.’ 

 

When she finished speaking the queen gave Princess Bethany a big hug, and they set off, with the crowd following them to the end of the field. Waving goodbye to all the turnips, the friends turned onto the shortcut and were soon out of sight. When they arrived back at the path near to Bethany’s house, they hugged each other and said goodbye. Tammy and Tom waved and walked off into the long grass. Bethany headed home.

  

When she reached the end of the lane, Bethany turned to see if she could catch one last glimpse of her friends, but because of the high grass she couldn’t see them at all.

  

Raising her voice she shouted, ‘Bye, Tammy. Bye, Tom,’ turned and walked on. As she reached her gate, she heard faintly in the distance two voices shouting, ‘ Bye, Princess Bethany,’ and she went in for her tea.

  

_________________________________________________

 

 

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Twinkle, twinkle, little star

once I bought a motor car

loving cared for, by a monk

 it was just a heap of junk

 

The Girls And Sandy

 

Copyright © Fred Watson 2004

 

It was the weekend and Chloe and Beth had been up since first light. They were going to stay at grandma and granddads house, in the country for a few days, and best of all, cousins Rosie and little Katie were going to stay too.

 

They were so excited that they kept pestering mum, you know the sort of thing, ‘Mum what time are we going?’ and ‘Mum what time is it now, can we go soon?’ Mum, who was trying to pack their things and finish off some housework before they left, chased them in the end. ‘Go outside and torment your dad, he’s washing the car.’

 

‘But, Mum…’ cried Bethany

 

‘Never mind but, go on and let me get finished, the sooner I do, the sooner we can go.’

 

Chloe seeing that Bethany was about to say something else, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out the door.

 

‘Let go, what did you do that for, our Chloe?’

 

‘Because if you go on at mum, she’ll get mad and send you to your room and if she does that, we’ll never get away today,’ said Chloe.

 

‘Mum wouldn’t do that.’

 

‘No, you want to try her?’

 

‘Nah, Let’s go and see Dad.’ Bethany grinned.

 

They walked round to the garage, where dad was busy polishing the alloy wheels on the car. ‘Hi Dad,’ Chloe said, ‘Need a hand cleaning the car?’

 

‘No, I’ve just about finished, why don’t, you help mum.’

 

‘No can do, mum told us to come and help you,’ said Bethany.

 

‘Oh, chased you, did she?’ Dad said with a grin.

 

‘No, Dad, she just a little busy that’s all,’ said Chloe haughtily.

 

‘Why don’t you play in the garden and when I’m finished here I’ll go and help mum get finished.’

 

Half an hour later dad called them and they set off for Durham. Grandma and Granddad has move to an old farmhouse on the outskirts of the city when they retired, and it would take them an hour and a half to get there if the traffic was light. The roads were pretty clear and they turned into the lane leading to the farmhouse bang on time.

 

‘Good news girls, look who’s behind us,’ said mum.

 

‘Great,’ shouted Bethany, ‘It’s aunty Clare with Rosie and baby Katie.’

 

‘Cool,’ said Chloe, with a grin, as she turned to wave at Rosie in the car behind.

 

The two cars pulled into the drive one behind the other and there were squeals of delight as all four girls ran over to hug Grandma and Granddad, who were standing at the front door waiting for them.

 

After the hugging was over Grandma said, ‘Take your cases upstairs girls, you are in the big front room together, then wash your hands, dinners ready.

 

When the girl came back down they found that Granddad had put extra chairs round the table and all the rest of the family, were sitting down.

 

‘Hurry girls, said Grandma. “I’m just about to dish up,’

 

When they had eaten their lunch, Grandma said, “who wants Strawberry’s and ice cream?’

 

‘I do,’ said Chloe.

 

‘So do I,’ said Rosie.

 

‘I don’t like Strawberry’s,’ said Beth, ‘can I just have ice cream please,’ said Bethany.

 

‘Mee, Meee,Meee, wan ome I Ceam!’ shouted little Katie.

 

While the girl tucked into their ice cream, the adults had some of Grandma’s Apple tart with custard, followed by a cup of Tea.

 

‘How are you liking it here?’ asked Martin, Chloe’s and Bethany’s dad.

 

‘OK, but when we first moved in we were overrun with mice; they seemed to be everywhere. Then about a week after we arrived Grandma heard a Scratching at kitchen door and…’ said granddad.

 

‘Yes, I heard this scratching, and when I opened the door this large cat was just sitting there, so I got him a bowl of milk and he’s been here ever since,’ said Grandma taking up the story.

 

‘And since he has been here the mice have disappeared, all bar one with sandy colour hair, and he seems to lead a charmed life,’ chipped in Granddad.

 

‘What do you call the cat Grandma?’ asked Rosie.

 

 ‘Marmalade,’ said Grandma.

 

 ‘Marmalade? Why?’ asked Chloe.

 

 “Because of that lovely orange and black fur, he just seems to look the colour of Marmalade, replied Grandma.

 

‘I think it’s a really nice name Grandma,’ said Beth.

 

‘Me ike Marmade too,’ piped up baby Katie, and everyone smiled.

 

‘Right,’ said Grandma, ‘have you all finished your Ice cream girls? OK, go and play in the garden, while the adults can clear the table and wash up.’

 

‘Not Katie,’ said aunty Clair, ‘she hasn’t had her afternoon nap yet.’

 

Outside the girls walked down to the lawn and across the grass heading for some swings. As they neared a small crab apple tree, they were laughing and carrying on, and didn’t at first notice the mouse, Chloe was the first to do so, ‘I don’t believe it,’ she said, ‘there’s a mouse over there sitting up holding a tiny apple in its front paws.’

 

‘That’s really so cool,’ said Rosie.

 

‘Wow!’ was all that Bethany could manage.

 

This was the first time that Sandy the mouse, and the girls had met. He dropped the apple and ran straight towards the girls, but at the last minute he shot sideways and headed for the corner of the house. Rosie twisted to one side and dived to head him off, but missed. Chloe jumped over the top of Rosie as she sprawled on the ground, tripped, did two forward rolls and still missed him.

 

That left Beth who was the smallest, but possibly the quickest of the three.

Even before the other two had started to move, she set of at an angle to intercept Sandy, and reaching the drainpipe at the same time as him, managed to grab his tail. But Sandy was going so fast that his tail slipped between her fingers and he shot into the drainpipe.

 

Climbing quickly upwards he turned right at the junction with pipe that brought waste -water from the bath. Heading along this pipe he came to a section where over the years the constantly running water had rusted a hole in the back. He Popped out of this hole and ran along the top to the point where it entered the wall, here a big chunk of cement was missing going right through the wall, ducking inside he came out under the bath. From here he had dozens of ways to get about the house.  All he needed to do was to follow the boxed in pipes that travelled down to the bottom floor, up to the loft and branched off to run between the ceiling and the upstairs floors, to feed the washbasins in the bedrooms. In addition there were the many pathways inside the hollow walls and behind the skirting boards, that made it easy to get from one part of the house to the other, with only the odd place here and there that he had to break cover to get into the next section.

 

Using these secret passageways, he made his way downstairs inside the pipe ducting. Passing through the kitchen, still inside the ducting he could hear all the voices, so he knew it was no good popping out there to get a bite to eat. Moving on he slipped out of a small hole into the pantry to have his tea.

 

Choosing a new packet of Chocolate Digestive Biscuits, they were his favourites. He gnawed his way through the wrapping and ate until he was full. Squeezing back into the ducting he came out near to the water tap in the utility room and paused to take a drink from the cats bowl of milk, before going into the garage and climbing up into the loft. Feeling tired he made his way over to the bed lay down and was soon fast asleep.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

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 What do you get if you cross a cat with a lemon?

 

A sour puss

  

KATIE AND HER DRAGON

  

Copyright © Fred Watson 2006

  

Katie brushed her blond hair from her blue eyes, tipped her head back, looked up at Kraw and said, ‘Can you see them?’

 

Kraw shook his head, ‘There’s no sign of them, mistress,’ he said, his voice a deep rumbling sort off purring sound.

 

Katie giggled, she still wasn’t used to being called mistress by a dragon standing three metres tall. After all she was only nine and what nine year old had their own dragon; none that she knew of.

 

It was at her ninth birthday party that she met Kraw and he sort of adopted her.

 

Since it was such a nice sunny day, Mrs Tolly who ran the orphanage, had set up a table in the garden and the children had a party for Katie’s birthday. They had sandwiches, cakes and jelly. Katie had blown out her candles and made a very special wish.

That was when Kraw had appeared, he came swooping down from the sky and landed on the lawn. Mrs Tolly and the rest of the children ran off screaming, but Katie got mad, this, flying lizard had frighten the other children and spoiled her party and she wasn’t having that. She was so mad that she didn’t think about his size, she just shouted at him, ‘Shoo, go away you horrible monster, go on off with you.’

 

The monster looked down at her and spoke in his deep rumbling voice, ‘But…but I…’

 

‘Never mind but, you’ve spoilt my party, now go away.’

 

‘But I’ve come to fulfil your wish.’

 

‘What wish?’

 

‘You know, your birthday wish.’

 

‘No you can’t have, I wished for someone to adopt me.’

 

‘Yes that’s me.’

 

‘Dragons can’t adopt children, that would be silly.’

 

‘Why would it be silly?’

 

‘It just would, besides, I want a Mum and a Dad to love me and look after me.’

 

‘I can love you and look after you.’

 

‘No, I want a Mum and a Dad.’

 

‘How about I look after you until you find a Mum and a Dad?’

 

‘No, I’ll wait.’

 

‘But the head of the guardian dragons sent me.’

 

‘Sorry, like I said, I’ll wait to be adopted.’

 

The dragon hung his head and a tear ran down his cheek, it was so big that she had jump back to save being soaked. ‘B-bye, Katie,’ he said sadly and turned to walk away.

 

Katie sighed, he looked so sad with his tail trailing on the ground, that she couldn’t stand it; she had to call out, ‘Dragon?’

 

‘Kraw.’ he said.

 

‘What?’

 

‘Kraw, it’s my name.’

 

‘Oh, well Kraw, maybe, just maybe…’

 

‘Yes,’ he said eagerly.’

 

‘Maybe you can be my guardian until I get adopted.’

 

Mrs Tolly wasn’t very happy about it, but from that day on Kraw became Katie’s guardian. Mind you, Mrs Tolly wouldn’t let him stay in the orphanage, but she let him use the old barn at the bottom of the field and Katie and her best friends Michael and Jenny help him to make it cosy.

 

Now Michael and Jenny were missing, they’d gone off to the river to fish, and should have been back an hour ago, but there was no sign of them.

 

‘Kneel down, Kraw till I climb up,’ said Katie.

‘Ready, mistress?’ Kraw called, as he felt her settle behind his neck.

 

‘Yes let’s go,’ she called and Kraw began to circle, higher and higher he flew, until they could see the whole of the river below them, all the way down to where it joined the sea. There was no sign of Michael and Jenny. All they could see was a small boat with a single sail, heading downstream.

 

‘Drop lower, we’ll have check out both banks, something must have happened to them.’ Katie said.

Kraw dropped down until he was just skimming the treetops, and beginning upstream, followed the river towards the sea. But there was no sign of their friends not near or in the water; they had simply vanished. They caught up with the boat and as they passed overhead the man in the cockpit looked up and waved.

 

As the Kraw approached the boat Dodgy Black hissed towards the cabin, ‘Keep them kids quiet, Rolly we’ve got company.’ Then he smiled and waved as the dragon flew by.

 

In the Cabin Rolly Jones put his hands over Michael and Jenny’s mouths and didn’t take them away until the shadow of the dragon passing overhead was long gone. He needn’t have bothered both the children were still only half conscious.

 

 Dodgy had clubbed them from behind while they were fishing. Dodgy was good at that, he could club someone with just enough force to knock them out for an hour without causing them any permanent injury. An important knack when you spent your time kidnapping children and selling them as slaves.

 

They’d caught these two, an hour ago and were now on the way to Thanet, where the Frankish traders would pay a good price especially for strong youngsters.

 

The boy and girl hadn’t come around fully, so Rolly took the opportunity to pop up on deck. ‘What’s happening with the dragon?’ he enquired.

 

‘Gone downstream, doesn’t suspect a thing, but just in case he comes back you better get back down and keep those kids quiet.’

 

‘Yeah OK.’

 

‘Here, what, you doing?’ he exclaimed as he opened the cabin door and spotted Jenny at the small window. ‘Come away now,’ he demanded and he reached out to grab her. But before he could come to grips with her, Michael butted him in the stomach causing him to fall to the floor gasping for breath.

 

‘Come on let’s get out of here, ‘Michael said. But as they turned to the door it slammed shut and no matter how they tried, there was no way that they could get it open again.

 

‘I’ve managed to hang my scarf out the window, but the opening is too small for us to get through. What are we going to do now?’ said Jenny.

 

‘Pass me his club, the first thing I’m going to do is belt him with it.’

 

As Rolly regained his breath, Michael bopped him on the head and he collapsed to the floor, with a grunt.

 

‘OK, now run from that side of the cabin to this.’ said Michael.

 

‘But, I don’t understand?’ queried Jenny.

 

‘Katie and Kraw will be on their way back upriver and if we can get the boat rocking from side to side, they might come to investigate. Ready, Go.’

 

Together they ran back and forth and each time Rolly grunted as they trod on him. They didn’t do it on purpose; the cabin was so small that they had to run over him to get to the other side. From one wall to the other they went, and soon had the small boat rocking from side to side.

 

As he flew back up river Kraw concentrated his attention on the reed beds lining the banks, in case their friends were hidden there, and he didn’t break his concentration until Katie climbed up his neck and shouted in his ear. ‘Kraw look at the boat it’s wobbling.’

 

And sure enough when he looked the small boat was rocking madly as it sailed towards them.

 

‘Fly lower, Kraw, there’s something fishy going on,’ Katie cried.

 

Kraw dropped down and headed for boat and as they drew near, called back to Katie, ‘look isn’t that Jenny’s scarf hanging out of the window?’

 

‘Yes, see if you can force the boat into the bank.’

 

‘Oh, I can do better than that, hang on tight,’ said Kraw, with a wicked grin.

 

Swooping down, he shredded the sail with one swipe of his claw, and while Dodgy cowered in the corner of the cockpit, settled onto the cabin roof and dug his claws in.

 

 The was silence for a moment, then Kraw began to beat his wings faster and faster, straining against the power of the river, final with a great wet slurp the boat broke free of the waters suction, and he shot upwards carrying the boat.

 

A five-minute trip and he lowered the boat gently into the castle yard, right next to the sheriff’s office.

 

Once the Kidnappers were behind bars, Kraw flew them all back to the orphanage, where Mrs Tolly fed them milk and chocolate brownies, she even gave Kraw two-dozen buns and a bucket of milk for himself.

____________________________________________________ 

 

 

Tongue peeking from the corner of her mouth, Chloe sat at the table; head bowed and long fair hair hanging at either side of her pale face. Carefully, she finished shading in and sat back to admire her handiwork. She’d drawn what she always drew, a pony.

 For as long as she could remember she’d wanted a pony, and from the day she was old enough to hold a pencil, all she’d ever drawn were ponies. At first they resembled nothing more than a potato with four matchsticks for legs, with another matchstick at one end, supporting a smaller potato head. But the drawing she’d done today was nothing like that; through constant practice she had developed an artistic talent far beyond her eleven years.

‘Put that away and get off to school, or you’ll be late again,’ said her mum as she came in from the garden.

‘I’ll just--,’

‘No you won’t, you’ll put that sketch away and get off to school, now.’

‘OK, Ok, I’m going,’ she said as she finished attaching the blobs of Blue Tack, stuck the drawing on the fridge and headed for the back door.

‘Hold it!’ You’d forget your head if it wasn’t screwed on,’ said mum holding out her school bag.

Chloe grinned and held out her hand for the bag; she knew what was coming, mum gave the same speech every morning, only the content of the sandwiches and the fruit varied. She recited them in her head as her mum spoke. ‘Have you got a clean hanky, are you sure two sandwiches are enough? They’re Ham and cheese, you favourite. Make sure you eat your apple and banana and take care on the main road it’s busy this time of the morning.’

Chloe nodded in all the right places and still grinning, pecked her mum on the cheek and was out the door in a flash. She didn’t have far to go, the school was only around the corner and while the road was busy, she didn’t have to cross it because the school was on this side.

‘Hi, Chloe,’ her friend Matilda called as she approached the corner.

Hi, Tilly what time is it?’

‘Five to,’

‘Good, we’re on time then.’

Chloe had a thing about wearing a watch, she had a perfectly good watch in her bedroom, but she never wore it. She said that time didn’t matter, yet like now, she would ask her friend the time.

‘Liked your drawing, it’s brilliant,’ said Tilly.

Chloe looked at her friend, wondering if she had gone loopy, ‘but you haven’t seen it yet.’

‘Yes I have, I saw it yesterday.’

‘But you can’t have, I only finished it this morning.’

Now it was Tilly’s turn to look puzzled, then it dawned on her, they were talking about two different drawings and she began to laugh, ‘The drawing you did in art class, Mrs Wilson’s put it up in the gallery, come on I’ll show you.’

The gallery was large pin board that ran the whole length of the main school corridor and it was where the teachers displayed the best of their pupils work. There were boards in all the corridors, but only the very best work made it to the main one.

Chloe was stunned and pleased at the same time, she knew she was good at drawing, but didn’t think she was good enough to go on display to the whole school.

‘Hurry, we’ve just got time before the bell rings,’ said Tilly, pulling her towards the main entrance. But the bell rang before they even reached the bottom of the steps leading to the doors.

‘I’ll have a look at break,’ said Chloe, turning away from the entrance.

‘Just a quick look, come on.’

‘No, I’m heading straight for the annex, I’ve got Mr Topper for maths and I’ll catch it if I’m late again.’

‘Ok, see you at break,’ called Tilly.

Chloe, who was already halfway to the annex, just raised her hand and hurried on. She was only a little late and managed to slide into her seat without Mr Topper noticing, or she would have if the boy at the next desk hadn’t let out a loud neigh. Mr Topper who was busy jotting figures on the blackboard turned and peering over his glasses said, ‘Pleased you could join us, miss Sampson, and nearly on time too.’

As all eyes in the class turned to her, she gave a weak smile and wished that the floor would open and swallow her up. That spotty Dwain was such a stupid dork, if only he’d kept his mouth shut. However the feeling of complete embarrassment eased as Mr Topper’s gaze shifted to the right. ‘Ah, Forester as much as I enjoyed your impression of a, Hyena was it? I would request that you desist.’

Serves him right thought Chloe, as the class burst out laughing and Dwain turned a rather pretty shade of pink. The rest of the lesson continued without incident and she even began to feel sorry for Dwain.

She needn’t have bothered; he was waiting for her outside at break. ‘I’m going to get you Sampson for making a fool of me in there.’

God, he is such a Dork, she thought, he did it to himself. But she could give as good as she got, ‘Listen, Dwain, why don’t you go and boil your head?’

‘Donkey girl,’ was the only insult he could come out with, as she pushed past and walked across the yard to Tilly.

‘I see Dwain’s being a pain as usual,’ said her friend

.

‘Can you believe it, he tries to get me into trouble with Mr Topper and when it comes back on him, he blames me, the dork.’

‘Never mind that loser, come and see, you’ll never believe where they’ve put your sketch.’

‘Oh,’ was all Chloe could manage when she saw the location, not only was it on show in the gallery, but it shared pride of place with Dwain’s landscape. Right in the centre, straight opposite the entrance to assembly, where everyone, coming or going, could see. ‘This is so embarrassing, why couldn’t Mrs Wilson have found somewhere out of the way to hang it?’

‘Why would she do that? It’s fantastic, so get over your embarrassment, and enjoy your fame,’ said Tilly.

‘Cool drawing, Chloe,’ called an older girl from a group that were passing by.

‘Yeah, really outstanding,’ called another.

Despite what Tilly had just said to her, Chloe couldn’t help blushing, but she did manage to stammer, a quick, ‘Th, thank you,’ before dragging Tilly off in the other direction.

After break they made their way to Mrs Wilson’s class, art was one of the few classes that the girls took together; unfortunately it was also one of the classes that Dwain took.

Dwain the pain was the nickname they’d given him, sat luckily for them, at the far side of the class and apart from making faces at them as they entered, he was too far away to cause any trouble.

 Not that he ever caused trouble during Mrs Wilson’s class he was her blue-eyed boy, and not for nothing, he had talent for sketching that none of his classmates could match. None that is until Chloe joined the class and that was the problem, Dwain seemed to feel that she was the competition and went out of his way to be nasty.

‘Today we are going to concentrate on working with charcoal and erasers,’ announced Mrs Wilson, ‘so pick an animal from your sketch pads and we’ll begin.’

Chloe and Tilly took out the small pads they had used on last weeks field trip to the zoo and flicked through them. Chloe chose an elephant for her subject, and Tilly a Tiger. Heads bowed as the class set to work and the only sound to be heard was the scratch of charcoal and the soft murmuring voice of Mrs Wilson as she gave encouragement, help and advice to those in need.

 Chloe had work with charcoal before but not the soft eraser and was pleasantly surprised at how it could be used in creating highlights. In fact she was so immersed in the drawing that she was surprised when Mrs Wilson called the class to attention before the bell rang.

‘OK, everyone every one put away your sketches and materials, I want to have a word with you about entries into this years Gaired arts festival.

At this announcement an excited buzz ran through the class and cupboard doors clattered as work and materials were hurriedly put away.

The Gaired Arts Festival took place each year in June and Mrs Wilson always picked two pieces of work from her class and entered them in the under twelve’s competition. In the ten years the competition had been running her class had managed two third and three fourth places, but none of her pupils had managed to take first place and win the £10,000 prize money.

‘Alright, settled down and return to your seats,’ called Mrs Wilson as the last cupboard clicked shut. Finally, silence reigned and she began, ‘Firstly I would like to commend every one of you, the standard of work this term has been exceptional and has made the job of selecting the two entries for the festival extremely hard. However after a lot of deliberation I can now announce the pieces selected, they are, ‘Summer Dawn’ by Dwain Forester and ‘Star Girl’ by Chloe Sampson.’

‘Brilliant,’ cried Tilly flinging her arms around her friend, ‘you deserve it.’

Just then the bell rang and Chloe felt as if she was floating as she left the class arm in arm with Tilly. It was a dream come true that only got better as they were surrounded by classmates, all of them offering congratulations. All of them, that is, with one exception, Dwain the pain, who pushed his way past the crowd with a frown on his face. Chloe and several of the others called out to congratulate him, but he ignored them and stomped off down the corridor.

‘Ignore him, Chloe you know what he’s like, he’s jealous,’ said Tilly.

 But that was just it, thought Chloe; he had no reason to be jealous, his work is excellent; turning to Tilly she said, ‘He can’t be jealous, he stands a much better chance of winning the competition than me.’

‘ No chance, you can beat him any day,’ said Tilly.

While Chloe was pleased by Tilly’s support she wished that she wouldn’t go on about being in competition with Dwain. She drew because she enjoyed drawing and she drew ponies, because she loved them and longed for one of her very own. Still it was a fantastic honour to be picked and she spent the rest of week in a daze.

It was Friday that disaster struck. At morning break Chloe and Tilly went down to take one last look the sketch and found an empty space on the wall. At first Chloe thought that Mrs Wilson had removed it to send off to the competition. Then she realised that Dwain the pain’s sketch was still on show.

‘It’s been stolen,’ cried Tilly.

‘Who would steal a sketch?’ said Chloe.

‘Dwain the pain, that’s who,’ said Tilly.

‘Why?’

‘To have a better chance at winning the competition.’

‘He wouldn’t do that.’

‘Oh, Chloe you always think the best of people, of course he would. He would do anything to beat you.’

‘You don’t know that for certain.’

‘Duh, Hello, Chloe, I’m telling you it’ll be him, come on let’s go find him.’

Neither of them had classes with Dwain on a Friday, so they searched the playground. But if Dwain was about, he was keeping well out of the way. Unable to find him they made their way to the art class to let Mrs Wilson know that the sketch was missing. Tilly was all for telling Mrs Wilson that Dwain had stolen the sketch, but Chloe talked her out of it since they couldn’t prove it.

Mrs Wilson was in the classroom; busy setting up for the next class and when they knocked she called out, ‘Come in.’

Chloe popped her head around the door, Mrs Wilson looked up, smiled and asked, ‘Can I help, Chloe?’

Up until then Chloe had been quite calm, but as soon as Mrs Wilson spoke she burst into tears, ‘My sketch it’s gone,’ she wailed.

‘What do you mean, gone?’

‘She means it has been stolen, Mrs Wilson,’ said Tilly butting in.

‘What are we going to do? I need to send the entries off by Tuesday.’

‘If we don’t find it before then, can I enter another sketch?’ a tearful Chloe asked.

‘You can, but I’m afraid your other class work isn’t as good and I don’t think you’d stand much chance of getting anywhere in the competition with them.’

Crestfallen Chloe turned to leave.

‘Wait,’ called Mrs Wilson, ‘Do you have some more of your work at home?’

‘Yes, Mrs Wilson.’

‘Good, why don’t you bring them in on Monday so that I can check them out.’

Chloe cheered up a bit at that, besides they were still going to search for Dwain and if he did steal the sketch, maybe they’d get it back. At lunch break they hardly ate at all, they were so busy searching, not that it did them any good, Dwain seemed to have turned into the invisible man, or boy, or whatever. When they were still unsuccessful at afternoon break they decided to catch him on his way home.

As soon as the final bell rang they shot out of the class, grabbed the their packs and were first out of the gate. Halfway along the street they slipped behind the overgrown hedge of an empty house and peered through the bushes. They didn’t have to wait long, Dwain was the first one to come along the street; obviously he had dashed out hoping to avoid them. As he reached the open gate Tilly grabbed him by the arm, dragged him inside and trapped him in the corner, ‘OK, Dwain where’s Chloe’s sketch.’

‘I don’t know what you’re on about,’ he said, but he couldn’t look her in the eye.

‘ Don’t give me that, Pain, you know exactly what I’m on about, now where is it?’

‘I haven’t got it.’ he said, eyes darting in every direction, but there was no escape, Tilly had him trapped in the corner.

‘But you had it didn’t you?’

‘No, I never touched her stupid sketch.’

‘You’re lying, Pain, I know you took it.’

‘If you know it, prove it then,’ he said a smirk on his face.

‘Why you lying toad, I’ve a good mind to…’

‘Let him go, Tilly, he’s not worth getting into trouble for, he’s right we can’t prove a thing,’ said Chloe.

As Tilly dropped the fist she had been threatening him with, Dwain was out of the corner and through the gate in an instant. Once he was far enough away he shouted, ‘You’ll never find your stupid donkey sketch.’

‘You should have let me belt him one,’ said Tilly.

‘And that would have got my sketch back?’

‘No, but I would have enjoyed giving the little toad a clout.’

‘Come on let’s go home and forget all about him,’ said Chloe.

Chloe met Tilly early on Monday morning and they handed in a folder of sketches to Mrs Wilson, who promised to look through them and let them know the outcome. When she hadn’t been in touch by lunch break, Chloe was so upset with worrying that Tilly dragged around to the art class saying there was no harm in seeing if Mrs Wilson had come to a decision yet. But when they reached the door it was locked, which was strange since Mrs Wilson had class straight after lunch and would normally spend part of her break setting things up.

‘Can I help you, girls,’ asked Miss Twedle the school secretary as she came down the corridor.

‘No, miss we’re waiting for Mrs Wilson,’ chorused the girls.

‘I’m afraid you’ll have a long wait, Mrs Wilson’s mother has been taken ill and she has had to take the afternoon off to look after her.’

Chloe was crestfallen, there was no chance now, she might as well forget all about the competition. There was no way now that Mrs Wilson would be able to check her work in time for tomorrows deadline. Despite the disappointment, somehow with Tilly’s help she managed to get through the afternoon. But on reaching home she went straight to her room, put a CD on the player, lay on the bed and cried into her pillow, it was so unfair.

She must have cried herself to sleep, because the next thing she knew her sister Bethany was shaking her awake, ‘Chloe, mum wants you to come down.’

‘Go away, Beth leave me alone.’

‘But you have to come down now, there is someone here to see you.’

Reluctantly Chloe followed her sister down to the lounge, where she was surprised to see Mrs Wilson sitting talking to mum. ‘Ah, Chloe I’m sorry I had to dash off this afternoon without letting you know about the sketches, but it was an emergency.’

‘Yes, Miss Twedle told us your mother was ill, how is she?’

‘She’s fine now thank you, and once I got her settled, I had time to look through your work and I though it is very good, I feel it’s not good enough for the competition, sorry. I suppose you given me everything, you haven’t any more in the house.’

‘No I’ve given you them all,’ said Chloe.

‘Mum, mum,’ cried Bethany.

‘Shh, don’t interrupt while people are talking.’

‘But, Mum, what about Chloe’s Drawing on the fridge?’

Mum smiled, ‘Why are you still standing there, Chloe? Go and get it.’

Needless to say the drawing was good enough, maybe not to win the competition. But certainly to take the second prize of £6,000 pounds, enough for Chloe to buy her very own pony called Star Girl.

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